Steve Marks Petaluma, CA

Saw Yes at Clearlake (Kelseyville), CA

Yes started off real weak - this is my 6th Yes concert since the early 70s so I can compare.
Jon Anderson did an audible at the line of scrimmage and called a 20 minute timeout. After solo and duet warmups,
the group came back real strong.

Playlist includes: 4 songs from Magnification - Rick had to put on thick glasses and look at
sheet music; South side of the Sky (Fragile I think); Awaken; Roundabout ( Of course!!);
One song from Topo Oceans and a real surprize - A revved up version of "The Fish" if this one comes out
on a CD I GOT to have - Chris and the drummer did a 3 minute finale of a piece that was originally
2 minutes!

I think as the group gets more practice and Rick comes up to speed - the show will only improve.
I saw Magnification tour last year and it was much, much better - but an average Yes concert beats the
heck out of virtually everything else one could be doing!

If amyone in Petaluma wants to get a Prog Club going (Maybe we can have Progressive Progressive dinners?) give me a call at Te_gal x 5242

JonYo

Yescapade / Konocti show - July 17, 2002

Yescapade was pretty ok. I'm told that last year there were many more people there. A guy playing a Chapman Stick solo, rather well, and sandwiches that did not appear to make anyone sick. Lots of giveaway/raffle stuff, and some cool Roger Dean art that normal people could never afford. I was just sorta people watching. I didn't realize the band was going to actually come and see us and talk to us. Duh, the 5 mics and chairs up at the front should have been a clue, right? So, I didn't bring a dang thing from home for them to sign. I got a cheesy 'Yescapade 2002' mini poster for $5 and had all 5 sign it. I was waaaay at the end of the line, but I just got the sigs in before Steve bailed, followed by the rest about 2-3 minutes later. Our Yes guys were gracious if not exactly talkative and such. Can't blame 'em. I certainly wouldn't want to deal with 100+ gawking psycho-fans (no, it's a term of endearment, really!), making my instrument-playing hands tired as hell from signing all kinds of odd stuff about 3 hours before going on to do a 2-3 hour show. Sooo anyway, they made their exit to a lot of positive shouts, much of which was directed Rick's way.

Side note - I almost ran over Rick. When I was about 1/2 mile from the Konocti entrance off of Soda Bay Road at around 12:30-ish, I came around a blind curve, and there was Rick, walking towards me, taking a little walk or hike or whatever. There are NO sidewalks around there, just endless roads with tight blind curves. Very slight swerve, the Konocti entrance comes into sight, and I thought, 'Hey, that was Rick Wakeman.' Weird. I'd be a pretty crappy Yes fan if I killed the keyboard player.

So, Yescapade's over, I go to the lodge for a lemonade, come back, hang out on a little grassy area under stree right by the entrance to the amphitheatre. Blah blah, wait wait. But that's this? Soundcheck, loud and clear as day? And it's not roadies, it's Yes members themselves? Pretty cool. We heard Jon doing a bit of DKtW by himself with an acoustic. Maybe there was some drums too, I forget. Then, Chris and Alan did little bits of what would later be his solo Fish/TempusFugit/OnTheSilentWingsOfFreedom/SoundChaser. It sounded like they were trying to get the end bit right by doing it over and over. I think Steve noodled a bit, but nothing I could recognize. Konocti's amphitheatre is really pretty small, so the sound right outside is plenty loud. This was no muffled snippet of sound were hearing during soundcheck, it was clear as day. The whole day had pretty good karma going for it so far.

So, wait wait, blah blah. Doors open, show starts with what I think is Young Person's Guide to Orchestra playing. Then they plaaayyyy:

1. Siberian Khatru
Almost every Yes show I've seen with Steve Howe playing gets a slow start, and it often seems that it's Steve Howe who's either too mellow or dragging down the tempo or both, until they get the groove going. Sure happend with Close To The Edge on the YesSymphonic tour. Sure happened with YIND at the House Of Blues show if you watch the DVD. It didn't happen this time. Siberian Khatru was really cruising along right away. I noticed something encouraging right away as well - Steve's guitar tone was way more stinging and he was attacking his notes with a lot more fire than I saw at YesSymphonic 2001. This bodes well! So they tore up SK quite well, standing O's all around.

2. America
Interesting. Rick seemed to be really digging this one. A couple of cues a tiny bit off, I think it was Steve, but nothing that hurt the impact of the song. Not a dud, but not a highlight.

3. South Side of The Sky
This started with the sound effect from the orignal studio version - wind, a door slam sort of sound, stompy footsteps. All the real Yesheads who recognize those specific sound effects right away got really huge eyes. I suspect

Don Rogers

At the Konocti show they were selling:

Black T-shirts with The Yes Logo & Tales picture on the front, and tour dates on the back

Black T-shirts with The Yes Logo & Fragile Earth on the front, and tour dates on the back

White Tour T-shirts with the new tour logo -see Yesworld- on the front and tour dates on the back

White tank tops (for women) with the tour logo on the front (not sure about the back)

Black coffee mugs with the tour logo (normal sized - not like the big ones from the last tour)

Small black stickers with the tour logo (Finally! - A bumper sticker!)

Plastic Keychains with the tour logo

Programs

...and maybe more small stuff...

Greg Chance

I really enjoyed it. I think that a few of the posters going off about the way Rick looks is a bit off-base, though, not everyone holds their complexion the same way. At least he doesn't look like Keith Richards up close!

Finally, I was REAL close to not getting any pictures AT ALL. The people around me will know what I'm talking about: a security guard came up to me and said my camera lens was "questionable" (it's a 28-300mm zoom). He asked about it and said that I stood a good chance of getting my film confescated if I used it. He said this came from band management, so I asked if possibly I could talk to a member; I talked to his boss instead.

What they said was that while Konocti allows cameras, the band has strict rules about what is allowed. He said they only allow lenses that are UNDER 35mm(as in, not even a 50mm lens would count). Honestly, I think he didn't know what he was talking about, but anyway, he said that if "that guitar player" saw me shooting photos, he'd motion to one of his guys to have security take my film. All of it. In my pocket, in my camera, in my camera bag. He said they allow consumer cameras, but not professional ones like mine. Even after multiple people said that my Rebel 2000 is a consumer-level camera, he insisted my lens was pro-grade.

After he talked to me, someone behind me said hey just wait until the show begins, but I waited until it was almost completely dark for good measure. I lucked out, and got some wonderful shots (zoomed in from 5th row). So enjoy, everybody!

Indy

I attended at Kelseyville last night and the symphonic tour at the same location last year. Comparing the two, Wakeman at the keyboards was very impressive, but I found the set list not as good as last year. There were no songs from the Rabin years such as 90125 hits. Recognizability is important in concerts, and I believe this tour is for the hardcore Yes fans, downplaying the more familiar melodies.

My favorite song they performed was Your is no Disgrace, an extended version. Chris Squire was less animated this year. It was a satisfying, three hour concert, but not as fun as last year with the symphony.

Marshall

Just back from Konocti and I can say this was a really great show. "America" rocked. People went nuts when "SSotS" began and was played exceptionally well. After hearing this finally played I can't figure out why they could never get together in the past. Steve is sitting on a chair for his solo spot and played "The Ancient" and "Little Galliard". Ricks spot was very good and no 6 wives :)

After intermission and a clothing change, Jon came out and did his solo spot. It was nice but nothing special. I assume it's something from the new album he is working on. "HotS" was powerful and I really enjoyed "DKtW" as I have never seen that one performed before. Squires sol o (following DKtW)was a Squire solo (mixing in Tempus Fugit, OtSWoF and Sound Chaser. His introduction was "That was a song about a mammal, this is a song about a fish"

I did not notice and obvious miscues, Steve did not bark at the guitar tech and other than a small problem with Jon's mic, the sound was really well mixed from where I was sitting (13th row center).

YinD is back after a one show absence being the first encore followed by Roundabout.

The only stage decoration was the clear plexiglas Yes logo thing suspended above the stage.

For those interested in the merchandise, they had white, black and tie-dyed 2002 logo t-shirts (the tie-dyed one was $50, geeze). They also had black Topographic, Fragile and Magnification t's. Also, coffee cups, hats, keychains, tour books and the symphonic live DVD (for $40, LOL)

The last three tours I have seen them on the second or third date of the tour and this was the most "together" they have sounded. I guess they had enough rehearsal time.

I took a bunch of pictures and depending how they turn out, will post them on my site and provide the link here.