Mark Alan

Thursday, February 21, 2013 8:01 PM

Posted from my facebook profile's blog:

Ok. So, I know most of my friends on here are either fans of Yes, have heard one or two songs but not big fans or they just don't care for that band of wankers who likes to go off on wank offs with the guitar, bass and keys whilst the lead singer kicks himself in the balls to sound like an elfin fairy.

That being said, obviously, I am a great fan of the band. Always have been. A majority of their work I hold very high. Then, there are the minority of black marks in their catalog that I really don't care for (whilst still showing moments of greatness) but they're still great in my book. They just put out a new record within the last month, their first in ten years. It's different from the usual Yes fare but it's an excellent record. Since I didn't get to see them earlier this year or last year, I figured I would try to catch this tour for a few reasons: a) New line up. This is pretty much 4/5th of the Drama line up with the addition of Benoit David on vocals taking the place of Trevor Horn. So, I've never seen this configuration before. b) New music. My hesitation in seeing any Yesshow between last year and earlier was the lack of new music. Being the kind of tour it is, they're only playing one song from the new record on tour and that's better than no new music at all. c) I needed to get hell out of Florida. lol

So, my buddy Wayne and I split for Atlanta as soon as I was packed up from my evening gig. What entails is a review of the show I wrote up on both yesfans.com and the ever bitter Notes From the Edge page.

This was not the best Yesshow I've attended thus far, but not the worse. I made the statement on Yes' official facebook page that I think that this tour with Styx is a horrible mismatch. Even though both bands has prog rock similarities, they are both polar opposite of each other. Perhaps a tour like Tull/Yes (especially since they toured together 40 years before) or another Yes/Kansas show would've made a better fitting. And fans, myself included, can complain about the pairing of Yes/Styx but Yes is starting to make their way up back the Ladder (no pun intended) after being at the bottom for the nearly the last 2 decades. They have to start somewhere. So, why not do this tour?


Whilst I read all the negative review that the band's been getting on this tour, I kept an open mind in hoping that this show would be far from the criticisms that I've been reading. And I'm glad I was right. A bit peeved that they started at 7:30, 8:00ish while the sun was still out but what are you going to do? They stepped it up a bit at the start of the show and got off to a hot start with Tempus Fugit. This was followed by a burning rendition of Yours Is No Disgrace. The ever virtuosic Steve Howe manned his guitar solo as if it's his own song with in a song. For all the years that critics has called Yesmusic cold and emotionless, last night's solo from Discgrace is proof that the boys could make the hair on your arms raise up. It was obvious that Benoit David was indeed ill early on in the tour but he was recovering and giving it his all nonetheless.

Heart of the Sunrise: I've heard better and I've heard worse. In fact I think I've heard more worse than better. People tend to forget the occasional messy-ness of the 2002 tour and particularly on HOTS. I had seen that tour at the West Palm date and the Clearwater, FL date, which was opening night of the fall leg of that tour. West Palm had Jon Anderson being very distracted by a dancing airy, fairy hippie that he forgot