Christopher Bacon

Sunday, February 24, 2013 5:14 AM

I remember this because although I had seen yes and ABWH four times before, including the Union tour, this was the first time I had seen the classic lineup. Having moved to Italy from the UK, I doubted whether I would ever see them, but then suddenly there was this date in Brescia, not far from where we live. Wow! It was also memorable because we took my 2 and a half year old son with us because he already knew a lot of Yes music and loved it. I swear this was not brainwashing on my part - I have an eclectic taste in music but he always wanted Yes (or "Wah Wah" as he called them for some unknown reason...) on the CD player. Anyway, before the show, they were showing live shots of the audience on the banks of video screens, and my wife said to me, "It you take Lawrence over there, near the cameras, I bet they'll focus on you and him because he's the youngest person here." That's just what I did, and sure enough, next thing we knew we were up there on the video screens! The crowd burst into spontaneous applause when they saw such a tiny kid there, and my wife burst into tears at the emotion! I think everyone saw this little kid as the future audience of Yes, and saw in him the next generation of Yes fans in the making. It was an emotionally charged moment which I'll never forget, and which we still remind Lawrence of - and, at 11 years old, he's still a Yes fan!

Sorry this is not a proper review, but I wanted to share this memory. In my opinion, the gig was fantastic, although my view is probably coloured by the fact that for me just to see those 5 guys up there, and to share it with my family, was (almost) enough. They played excellently, though I remember Going for One being a little on the slow side for my taste. And You and I was the highlight for me. My favourite Yes song played by my favourite lineup. BTW, my wife was pregnant with our second child at that time, so in a sense I can say that our entire family have at least 'heard' the classic lineup live.

Incidentally, we went on to see Jon's solo show in Vicenza in 2007, at which we managed to meet Jon. He was such a lovely guy, very kind and quite taken by our kids. I think he radiates positivity, and for that reason Yes will never be Yes without him.

Giorgio

Yes are clearly tired.
Another shortened set, this time in a really nice venue, adequate to the band necessity.

We got the Howe, Wakeman and Squire solos, but the highlight of the evening was watching Jon Anderson jumping from the stage in order to dance with his wife and misjudging the height from the pavillion.

After the show Alan White told me they had difficulties in breathing on stage because of the humidity, and that they shortened the set because they are playing lots of festivals in this leg of the tour, so they left part of the equipment behind...

I hope Yes remember this Italian tour. They owe us no less than 40 minutes of music!!!

Domingo

maybe Yes is wearing out, fine. but what they drop and what they play
is poor choice. no disgrace, owner, you and i, roundabout, almost
the whole second half of show is repeat from previous. and they drop
turn of the century. they got to be joking. out of 2 hours, there is
20 minute of new music to hear, going for the one, sweet dreams, and
half of mind drive. southside was a high moment, sure. but dropping
turn of the century and every little thing and the new acoustic set
were disappointing. shortened show for the old geezers. sure. dropping
the new songs in favor of the worn out music, no.

Andrea

First: I'm a big fan, young but been following them for 8 years now, this was the second time I saw them live.

Second: they were great. Excellent performance (except maybe for Chris vocals) good sound, good stage presence.

Third: What was wrong was the set list. I was not very fond of the set list of this tour...but I was eager to experience Ritual, South side of the sky, all the acoustic medley...as somoone said in previous reviews "a bit shorter than 3 hours" show.

Fourth: Quantity is not quality, of course, but this show reached 2 hours sharp, as if they tried to get to that lenght because they had to...no Ritual, no acoustic set, and tha's is the 50 minutes which were missing. They added The Fish as a filler but that was not an adeguate substitute.

Fifth: I'm disappointed. Although still and always will be a fond and faithful fan I must admit I expected more. They were not bind to play the acoustic set or Ritual which I was expecting...but they could have played something else (countless options here). 2 hours is a good lenght for some other bands...for Yes it is sub-par.

Sixth: The highlights were Southside of the sky, Sweet Dreams, I've seen all good people, And you and I.

Seventh: I'm waiting for a DVD of this and previous tours...it' gonna smoke, as the Symphonic tour did.

Eight: Maybe my expectations were too high...but you know real fans were made this way. All my esteem to Jon, Steve, Chris, Alan and Rick...just a bit of un-satisfaction.