DanB

Took my 7 year old son to this show - his first rock concert. It was a special privilege to see my son so excited to see a band I have loved for so many years. He always liked listening to "Dad's music" in the car, and he was elated for me to take him to a "real rock concert". Yes was fantastic that night - I believe it was near the end of the tour and they were very tight. We bought t-shirts on the way out - he still has his and wears it regularly. Definitely my most precious Yesperience!

mr schu

excellent show. i have been a fan since 1978 when i first heard turn of the century on an old broken copy of going for the one. this is truly the first yes show i have seen where rick wakeman was actually a team player rather than a solo act accompanied by the rest of the band. BRAVO RICK WAKEMAN, keep up the good work. he has certainly secured a place in my book as an all time key member of yes. the first two songs and the last two songs we're cool, but in a completely diffrent world from the rest of the show. i like in the prescence of. i hadn't before this performance. and again bravo rick wakeman for playing the song with proper passion. i think the song sounded BETTER without the orchestra. truly a yes masterpiece. we have heaven and south side were literally out of a dream i had once. great revealing, great awaken. on the silent wings during the fish, very nice, very impressive. i had no idea that the part would be so full without the keys and guitar, but it was. the whole movement was in tact. BRAVO!!! alan's drumming, especially on revealing, magnification, and awaken was awesome. alan is always very fun to watch, and i believe he is more suited for yes than bruford. steve howe was also sporting a teamwork attitude and performance. he and wakeman both have taken their sweet time to impress me as much as all the other members i've seen on stage with yes have. including kaye, rabin,sherwood and khoroshev. steve and rick at the abwh, union and slo shows, often tended to be getting away with playing poorly, but were still heavily applauded, simply because of who they are, but between howe on the masterworks tour and wakeman on this one, i can HONESTLY think of them as the childhood heroes i'd always thought they were. i thank yes for delivering the goods time and time again. it doesn't matter much to me who's in the line up. if they're calling it yes, it's going to be a damn good show. especially for the fans.

Greg Vincent

Great show! Without a symphony orchestra, revolving stage, crab nebula, 2nd guitarist, extra singer, dry ice, or shiny laser beams, these five CORE members proved something that is fundamental about YES which so many folks overlook: YES are a FIVE piece ROCK 'n' ROLL band. Period. Tonight hopefully reminded people of that. When they are motivated to do so, YES can rival any band in any genre in any venue big or small --without all the bells & whistles.

I now understand all the Wakeman hysteria that has gone on for years. He really is something special and can recreate 'those sounds' that we remember from the recordings.

Steve was all smiles after the show and was signing autographs backstage, which is always a good sign.

YES really seem like a unit again. A BAND. The music press seems to treat YES as some faceless corporation with an ever-changing roster which churns out heartless math-rock for middle-aged ex-hippies while hiding behind smoke & mirrors. I hope someone in the press took notice of this show. It DOES matter who is in YES, and it DOESN'T matter whether the stage spins around in circles or not.

PAZ

Yes Live at Universal Amphitheatre, LA

On the drive up to Studio City, I played Yes music I would unquestionably NOT hear this evening. (i.e. Drama, Yeswest and pretty much everything since Union, save the two MAG tracks.)

I had never been to Universal's Amphitheatre and for some reason I had it in my head that it was an outdoor venue; i was pleasantly surprised to find this wasn't so. I felt the outdoor environment was one of the things that last year's orchestral show at the Bowl had going against it. On the other hand, you certainly get a lot more secondhand pot smoke at outdoor venues in California.

Now a word about pre-show house music. I never pay it too much mind (remember the hidden ambient track on the OYE tour?).... but I must make a statement here. The preshow music at the UA was terrible. Awful. Repulsive. Abhorrent. Imagine Jon Anderson at a Chinese restaurant where they play a weird conglomeration of chinese elevator music. Now imagine that, instead of stir-fry vegetables, the waiters bring Jon a plate of Pat Metheny. And Jon eats Pat Metheny. I mean actually consumes him, with sauce. And then Jon poops out Pat Metheny in a sort of foul, watery diarrhea form. And now imagine that watery diarrhea molds for three days. The preshow music was the equivalent of that 3-day old moldy Pat Metheny diarrhea.

egh... moving on....

My seats are in Orch 7, very close to the front but on the left. I've got the best view of Howe, and a very comfortable and close view of the large screen displaying closeups.

I am very pleased to report that there are a LOT of young people in the audience. Not enough to comprise a significant percentage, but enough so that anywhere you turn your head you can see someone under 25. And they are enjoying it. This makes me happy. There were few young people at the Bowl show last year, and let's face it... at the HoB during the Ladder tour I was the youngest cat there.

I won't post complete setlist because you all know it or can access it here on AMY. Show opens and Yes walks on. Siberian Khattru starts, slower than evolution, but picks up speed by Howe's solo at the end. And while we're on the subject of Howe:

YEAH! No sitting down (except for one 5-minute period the whole evening) for Howe, no boredom or stiffness or lack of energy. The man was ON and he was hot. He stole virtually every song and they even had his fender steel turned way up in the mix, something I was grateful for. America, HoS, YinD... Steve Howe didn't miss a beat. He quirkily looked at the audience at key moments, bobbed his head back and forth and generally moved around a lot (at least a hell of a lot more than at the dreadful House Of Blues show during the Ladder tour.) I was worried by some early tour reviews I'd read about Steve's enthusiasm, but have no fear. As long as you're close enough to get a good glimpse of him, you'll see none of the proposed tiredness. He even looks better than he did three years ago (ever so slightly, mind you...) Steve Howe epitomizes virtuosity and he eschews elegance with every note.

The sound at the UA isn't great, but it really isn't bad either. Being close to the speakers helped. The sound was sharp and just a bit tinny. PLenty of bass, but lacking some much needed low-mid range. "America" was strong and loud. Rick's Moog was turned up, just as it should be. When Rick burst into his first solo (SK), we roared. When he ripped through his solos in RSoG and HoS, we were in awe. Rick was such a privelege and pleasure to watch. Whether the best, the fastest, the greatest... who cares? Rick Wakeman is a master of his craft and it is simply poetry in motion. I enjoyed watching him jump across his rig from Korg to Moog in the middle of HoS. What a guy.

We Have Heaven was a very nice surprise and was just the perfect length... nice segue into SSotS, which really rocked but I didn't think th

Drama Messiah

Got to Universal City at about 7:00...spent some time at Sam Goody on the Citywalk like I usually do before each Yes concert. ( The Universal Amphitheatre has basically become the regular venue for my Yes concerts...I love it there. )

Found my seat quite easily...Although I didn't realize that it was going to be on the balcony. In fact, I never noticed the balcony before! I started up the stairs and got into my seat. Thankfully I wasn't bored as previous times, as I had brought my walkman with some Yes cassettes I made. I also had binoculars this time, which made a huge difference. Being so high with a birds-eye view really didn't matter from where I was sitting. I felt like I had a front row seat. The only problem was that I was far back enough so that people talking interfered with the quiet parts of music...ugh. Behind me was some chick in her 20's who sang along to each song ( which I didn't mind, that's nice ), but she tried to strike up conversations with people during the most quiet parts. Here's a cool new synth intro to "The Revealing", but no, I can't hear it thanks to her. Here's a brand new duet with Jon and Rick, but no, I can't hear the last half because she's yakking. She said she saw Yes 8 times before. How about shutting up during a new song you've never heard before?

And then there was the typical people passing by me in the cramped seats, getting there 10-15 minutes into the concert. I don't see why people are so slow, buying tour merchandise, using the bathroom or buying food so close to the first song. I'm never late, and I don't bother anyone...

Anyway...the opening strings of "Firebird Suite" rang through the hall as Yes came onstage. The first thing I noticed was 4 new video monitors that the Amphitheatre never had before. Made it much easier to see the band, although I still used my binoculars 90% of the time.

Yes launched into "Siberian Khatru", the same set-opener from my 1998 concert. It was great to see Wakeman play his original parts...I love his harpsicord solo.

Jon introduced the next song...( paraphrasing )"It's been great going around and playing in America...This is a song written by Paul Simon"..then they played "America". I've never been a huge fan of it, and the fact that it's a cover song, technically, but this performance of it blew me away...especially Alan's drumming. It was also funny to see Jon pretend to puff on a cigarette during the line, "So we bought a pack of cigarettes, and Mrs. Wagner's pies..."

Next up was "In the Presence Of". I've not been a big fan of this song, as I think some of it is a little sappy, but I was again impressed by the whole thing. There's some great ambient moments and good lyrics.

Then came "South Side of the Sky", not performed since 1971 or so, and even then at only like 3 concerts. Recordings of it are VERY rare. As many fans know, Yes had actually tried rehearsing it since 1994, but always dropped it before each tour, citing difficulty with the middle vocal and piano section. I for one never noticed what would be hard about singing and playing that part, but the band did it magnificently tonight..."South Side" was an early favorite of mine from Fragile, and it was good to see it dusted off and played for the album's 30th anniversary.

Next was "The Revealing Science of God". Like I said, I couldn't hear most of the keyboard intro, but it sounded good, and I wonder if it was from the original unedited version of the song, recently released in the boxed set, but I don't know. Anyway, it's my favorite song from Tales, and they played it awesomely. Jon used some maracas, some other percussion instruments on a rack, and some chimes that at times seemed to even crowd out Rick's keyboards. Jon was going apeshit on chimes! : )

At this point, the band exited the stage and left Steve for his acoustic set. He sat at the front of the stage on a small foldout chair and played "Leaves of Green", and

Monique Yvette

What a small range the one of the fan whose heart sunk at Juan Gabriel sharing a poster with Yes! I am a latin person who travels all the way from Central America to The United States in order to see Yes in concert because they are simply my favorite band in English. Juan Gabriel is my favorite singer in Spanish, a great music composer, and a reason of pride to all Spanish speakers. I consider that comments that have nothing to do with Yes should be refrained from being made in order to not hurt others` feelings.

Yes was fantastic!

...

And then you saw Juan Gabriel's picture next to Yes on the flyer, and your heart sank. DaAaAaaAaAaW noooo!

Vocalize

Somehow heartening to see a LINE to buy tickets for August 23 on the first day of sale today. . .