Koen Dejonghe

It was my fifth concert of YES ever and the sound in the venue of the Cirque Royal in Brussels was one of the best I've heard.

The band began their performance after Strawinsky's wonderful Firebird tune at 20.15 with "Siberian Khatru". This song, with his magnificent repetitive motive from the album "Close to the Edge", ended with a solo of Steve that I didn't heard before(improvisation?).

My never ending Yes story began 30 years ago with this great album when I was 16 years old.It was the period where I went to the Music Academy to learn piano.It was in that day's for a musicstudent a shame to listen to such music!

The balance was in the beginning of the concert good but not optimal. Especially Rick's keyboards were to soft, but it became better afterwards. Before the concert I was lucky to see the whole band in the artists entrance where Rick was the only one who gave some autographs. It was really a shock to realize that everybody becomes older but what a power from these oldies on the stage! The public was very silent during the concert and gave after each piece a standing ovation.It seems to me that I was sitting on a classical concert with a Classical Chamber Music Ensemble who plays excellent together.On important musical places, where the tempo changes, you could see how they make really musical contact with each other. Steve Howe played in a very expressive way and much more slowly the intro of "And You and I". Really fascinating how he tries to make sound of each note.I have a few highlights:the Wakeman solo from his "The Six Wives" where his piano technique and his feeling for timing and show haven't lost anything from before. Another highlight was the already classical YES song "In the Presence of". A piece with a nice message "Standing on sacred ground".I admire the great talent and power of the composer Anderson. It's very special to feel that his notes follow exactly the words in a natural manner. Every composer (especially of classical music) will understand the difficulty to write a good melody without loosing the fluency of natural speaking. The Yes songs are a good example how to manage it."Heart of the Sunrise" and especially "Awaken" were the two other highlights. "Awaken" with all this virtuose scales in the piano, the wonderfull melody and the chain of chords in the circle of fifths at the end, gave me an enormous good feeling.Anderson played during the concert on a strange guitar:after the keys you could see the curl of a cello.Chris Squire gives as usual his pleasant performance of the Fish. His funny grimaces let people laugh.Instead of the obliged "Starship Trooper" at the end, they played "Yours is no Disgrace" and of course "Roundabout" where the public was singing the words together.During this encores, Jon was dancing for a few moments with his wife.

I enjoyed this concert and I hope YES will survive their own members!
Koen Dejonghe

Ruud Ermers

Hi Everyone,

it's Tuesday, 15.06.
In an hour or so we'll be leaving for our next Yestrip.
Not that I expect much of it. It's in the Ahoy Hall in Rotterdam
which sucks. It's a big place, but nothing for Yes nowadays (or otherdays, I hate large venues).
But he, that's not what this is about.

It's about our FANTASTIC evening we had on Sunday in Brussels!!

WE were there waaaay to early so decided to stay at the back of the venue to see
the guys arrive. Well, they only arrived at 19.50, ten minutes before show.
No handshaking (anyone can spare a shake of Jon ?)
We even had to rush to get inside at time. But we managed.

the venue was a Circus Theatre (Jon later said there were lot's of clowns in the band :} )
and was very beautiful and intimate.
Fantastic seats, nearby our returned Son, the wizzzzard of the keuboards.

I just can say I was greatly surprised by this performance. Offcourse everyone writes it's great,
but seeing is believeing. What an energy, it ROCKED! So this is not the dreamtime tour, it's
Rock time. The setlist IS great, too bad they screw up AYAY a bit (as they did in Cardiff, haven't
listened the others yet...Try to be a bit economic on Yesmusic now).
Awaken was awesome, the best I ever heard live (ha ha, not too difficult as I missed 77 (hm {: ))
Rick's playing in the middle was outstanding and LONG.
Well the full setlist is Magnificent (ok, ok, I normally talk it down, but then again,
they only played great music).
So for me, Yes is the only group which can bring me to tears and that again and again.
Howe played To Be Over (fantastic, but different!) and the second encore was YIND (I wish
they'd played Wurm, but you can't have it all).
The only drwaback I can think off is that this show is waaay to short! It was finished before you noticed...

Bye, Ruud

Luc

Astonishing and very powerful concert. A fantastic evening with
each member of the band at their peak and in a wonderful shape!
They have conquered all the hearts of the audience and Rick has brought the uppermost technical touch to all the pieces especially during South Side of the Sky and Awaken of course. The solos were
appropriate and reflected the inborn talent of each musician.
Once again big thanks to one of the most influential band on Mother Earth the Divine.