Bernardo Pulgar

Hi,

This is not a review, but more a short message to clarify that Steve Howe's solo comprised the following:

To Be Over
Clap
Winter (from Natural Timbre)
In the Course of the Day (from Natural Timbre)

Thanks!

K.Y.

(First, since I am Japanese, even if there are strange expressions and spellings in my English, please understand.)

Before Yes tour to Japan of this time,
the decline of the Yes member's technique and physical strength accompanying a member's age was spoken about among fans.
But, as a result, it became clear that it was mere rumor.
I felt the same or more power as the time of the "Yessongs".

I comment about "Owner of a lonely Hearts"
which was played only in Japan so far in this tour.
Rick's Orchestra-shot is almost perfect.
Howe's guitar play is completely different from Trevor's except for the intro guitar phrase .
There was a little awkward touch in arpeggio after a guitar solo and cutting play near ending.
But it was very very lucky that I was able to hear Howe and Rick's "Owner of A Lonely Hearts".
I want to know what Howe and Rick thought about playing this song.

A request to Yes members.
Please come to Japan again and play "Going for the One" next tour!!

THE ALIEN

This was the tenth Yes concert, I went to. The first time I saw them was at Gaeliec Park on on 8/16/73,and then on 11/20/73 at the Nassau Coliseum on the Close to the Edge tour. Then I saw them twice during the Topographic Oceans tour on 2/18/74 and 2/20/74, and then again on 11/20/74 on the Relayer tour. I later moved to Japan and saw them on 4/5/88 in Tokyo, 3/4/92 in Yokohama, 10/4/94 in Tokyo, and again on 10/8/98 in Tokyo. In other words on every tour they came to Japan. This time I was a little afraid I was going to be disapointed because a few days before they played in Tokyo and Yokohama, it was all over the Yes fan sites in Japan that they always wind up playing the same songs every time they come here. A fan wrote that instead of only playing "Heart of the Sunrise", "And You and I", "Roundabout" and "All Good People" every time, why can't they play something like "The Revealing Science of God", "Ritual", "Gates of Delirium", etc. when they come over to Japan! Now, I know of two types of Yes fans in Japan. One that likes the long pieces like "Close to the Edge", "The Revealing", "Ritual, "Gates of Delirium" and those that want to hear the hits like "Owner of a Lonely Heart", which was used in a TV car commercial over here, quite recently. The set list this time wouldn't really satisfy either of these types of fans.
They played every major song off Fragile, but that album had a lot of input of rhythmic motives from Bill Brudford, while, Alan White is said to have participated in the writing of such great Yes songs such as "Turn of the Century" and "The Remembering" from "Topographic Oceans". These are the kind of songs I would love to hear this lineup play.
My own favourite of the Yes concerts I went to, were those from the "Topographic" tour and from "Relayer". I still remember the long synth solos that Rick Wakeman took during the first two pieces of the Topographic Ocean, which were different and longer than those from the album. The mood of these shows still had a lot of space for the musicians to improvise. It was like a combination of what you'd expect from an ancient religious ritual, with the comforts of a modern planetarium. I could see images like the beautiful photos of colorful clouds and waters on the jacket of "Topographic Oceans".The audience was relaxed, friendly, perhaps a bit stoned, but really peaceful. I remember sneaking down the aisle, bit by bit during the Relayer concert, surrounded by friendly stoned teenagers, really into the music. I sat down with a lot people that I'd never met before in the middle of the aisle towards the front, while Yes played "Ritual", and during Steve Howe's guitar solo, the other members including Alan White sang bits of "The Remembering" with a tambourine. The music at the time really moved me like nothing else, and I thought this is the kind of feeling that I'll always cherish for the rest of my life.
There was also more improvisational elements, as well as being slightly more rough, but interesting. The band experimented with the sound being panneed from one part to another in those huge arenas. Jon Anderson would occasionally forget the words like during "Heart of the Sunrise" in the Nassau Coliseum concert on 11/20/73. "I wrote this for my wife", I remember he said before he sang it, and I thought "what a long song, so different from your average love song, but better".

Now with this show, I was glad I went, as soon as they were playing "Siberian Khatru". Chris Squire would purposely drive the tempo slightly slower during the parts without drums and I liked that kind of playfulness. Steve Howe improvsed a solo, which is probably slightly different each night. (The solos Steve did when they played here on 4/5/88 were really great too. He was the real star of that show.) Magnification is really their best album in years, and works great with Rick Wakeman. "In the Presence of", I thought was much better that night than on the CD. "Don't kill the W