Fred Simpson

Overall a great evening! 1st time to see Yes. Had tickets to see them in about '88 but their stage/lighting rig wouldn't fit in the venue and had to cancel. That was the last time they were scheduled in Fort Wayne. Jon remarked that the last time they played Fort Wayne was in '75 which was just before I was old enough to attend concerts. The Embassy is a "grand old" theatre and even my seats in the balcony were very good.

Based on the setlist from the immediately prior shows, it seems as if they flipflopped a few of the songs. Magnification was early on in the show, and it got off to a little rocky start. Jon started singing but stopped very quickly and went over and chatted with Chris while everyone else kept playing. Then went back and started singing over again. A little awkward. It seemed to me that the mix for the 1st half of the show was a little strong on the Steve Howe riffs. Almost painfully at times. Also lights were blinding at times, at least in my seat in the balcony. I felt that the first half dragged a little but finished off nicely with Steve's acoustic solos.

2nd set started with Anderson and Wakeman solo's. Very nice. The rest of the set really kicked into gear. I thought the mix was much better. South Side was awesome as were Heart / Awaken /Long Distance. They were really grooving at that point. Jon's voice was very strong through most of the night, but may have weakend slightly near the end. Everyone seemed to be having a good time. At one point during a Squire solo, he wasn't spotlighted so he went over to the spotlight on Howe and smiled and waved to get the operator's attention. Cracked me up. Of course Alan was the relentless timekeeper holding it all together magnificently. A blast watching Chris and Rick having a great time. Finished with Roundabout and Starship Trooper as encore to a great show!