marshall

Yeah, I remember Steve looked mighty pissed about that moth. It was weird because it seemed to be only interested in him for at least 20 min on and off.
But the grand moment of this concert was the acoustic set, when the seemingly timid audience finally approached the stage. I was also somewhere near the 6th row center. I had been itching to get up there right next to the stage, but nobody was going there. But once the acoustic set began, only fools could not resist walking up to the band in an almost hypnotic daze. The band gathered up close to one another, center stage, and seemed to be playing for only the 30 or less people who could not pull themselves away from the stage. I felt as if I was having some sort of small tea party with close friends, with Yes gracefully providing the angelic ambience. Hearing Wonderous Stories in this setting will be a treasure of a memory for the rest of my life. Just seeing Jon playing, in my ideal memory, a jewled harp straight out of the most exquisite fantasy story one could imagine, made me lose myself in a way only certain people understand.
But at some point in the acoustic set. My friend Ron, who got me into Yes in the first place, was cussed out by some guy in the first row who was throwing a fit over the amount of money he payed for his great seats. It boggles my mind why he didnt just walk up to the stage himself and enjoy the band with the hinderance of maybe 4 or 5 feet. Instead the guy got thrown out of the show. And after he paid all that money too. It actually makes me feel kinda bad, because I hate to see a fellow Yes fan have such a great concert ruined by his own hot temper.
Anyways, great show. My first Yes show too. And damn that moth frustrating Steve Howe so. On a short side note. I saw a David Bowie concert once where he was pestered by a large mosquito. Eventually it flew into his mouth during China Girl. And the line that says "OH Baby, just you shut your mouth" was substituted, after a few coughs, with "I've got a mosquito in my mouth" Classic!

mjochim

What an awesome show!! What a great venue!!

Sandia Casino Amphitheatre is only a few years old and less than 10 miles from my home, but I had never attended a show there until ZZ Top on 9/12. It's very scenic with the Pueblo style architecture and wide-open New Mexico sky above. (The mountains to the west really lit up during the sunset -- "Sandia" means "watermelon" in the Tewa Indian dialect and it really is an appropriate name.)

But on to the show: Dream Theater was truly excellent. I was wholly unfamiliar with their material (only having the "A Change Of Seasons" EP) but was impressed enough to seek out more of their releases. A solid one-hour opening set under the still hot sun -- but it was breezy enough to cool us down.

I'm almost embarrassed to admit that this was my first time to see Yes live, although I have enjoyed their music since I bought "Classic Yes" on LP almost 20 years ago. My buddy Bryan came down from Kansas City for the show (he's a longtime fan who has seen them live numerous times).

I enjoyed every minute of the concert. Jon talked quite a bit about coming to Albuquerque before they launched into "America" and really seemed to enjoy the crowd (unfortunately, not a sellout in the 4,700-seat venue). The audience was EXTREMELY enthusiastic (at least as seen from my 6th row center seat -- which changed to standing against the stage just below the center monitor for the last 45 minutes or so).

Without reviewing every single song (this post is already too long), I wanted to mention something funny: Steve Howe had some real "problems" being attacked by a rather large moth throughout the second half of the show. He tried brushing it away, then started ducking to avoid it and several times seemed almost frightened by it. He and Rick had some laughs about it during the acoustic set.