Joey wise

Thursday, August 29, 2024 2:23 PM

'YES' provides excitement at Hampton Roads concert
By MARK LOCKWOOD (June 9th 1976)

The concert did not begin until 10 p.m., but the wait was well worth it. The YES concert in Hampton had to be one of the most spectacular concerts
of the year.
Due to the intricate stage setup, YES did not begin the concert until two hours later than scheduled, but when they appeared, the crowd enjoyed a concert of more than two and one-half
hours of solid music. The stage was a sight to behold. Huge plastic fish with beaming searchlights formed a canopy for the group as they entered the stage. A back- ground by Roger Dean (de signer of the groups album covers) formed an impressive
stage backing.
YES began the set with "And You and I," a song from the Close To The Edge album. This song featured five parts;"Lord of Life' "Eclipse", "The Preacher and the Teacher and a resounding crescendo ending with "Apocalypse" featuring Steve Howe on guitar. From "And You and I", the group moved to a cut off their latest studio album en- titled "Relayer".
The intro to the song featured both keyboardist Patrick Moraz (formerly of Refugee) and drummer Alan White in "dueling"' solo parts. The song further progresses into lightning fast runs by bassist extraordinaire Chris Squire, and, as always, the enchanting and ghostly voice of Jon Anderson. The group ended the set with an impressive Moog Synthesizer piece by Patrick Moraz. The group then performed a song from the YES album, entitled "I Have Seen All Good People" , featuring the vocals of Anderson, followed by an acoustic piece featuring Anderson and Steve Howe on an instrument called a vachalia, which is similar in sound and
structure to a mandolin. This soft, moving piece served as a kind of interlude before the group played a nother driving, resounding
piece entitled "Gates of Delirium"', which also came from the Relayer album, Once again we found
Anderson's ghostly, yet powerful voice offsetting dynamic, driving solos featuring all members of the group, the most impressive of which was Steve Howe. His clean, fast style definitely set off the song from others in
the sheer power it generated. Moraz also proved to many
that he is a more than adequate replacement for Rick Wakeman with his mastery of the synthesizer.
The most fitting touch to the entire song was a spectacular smoke and laser show heralding the bass
solo of Chris Squire. Following the "fireworks'" the song preceded into a soft, mellow acoustic segment fea
turing Howe and Squire. Squire began the next set with two songs from his recent solo album, entitled Fish Out of Water, featuring himself on bass and lead vocals with backup vocals by Jon Anderson. The two songs, "Hold Out Your Hand"' and "You By My Side' stood out not only as tributes to the writing genius of Squire, but it also showed that Anderson is not the only vocalist in the group. The following song was a delightful acoustic piece by Howe (perhaps to the relief of all). Anderson then followed wit, a cut off of his soon to be released solo album. The song featured-Anderson's vocals
with Howe on steel guitar. This cut was followed by a synthesized drum solo by Alan White, synchronized with a stupendous laser light show moving into excerpts from Patrick Moraz's solo album. The first song, entitled "Impast", featured some impressive acoustic piano by Moraz, very much reminiscent of Keith Emerson. This was followed by what appeared to be synthesized voice moving into a kind of Latin piece entitled "Ca Cha Cha". The climax of the set was " Impres sions", which moved into a solo piece by Anderson on harp and Moraz on mellotron, with the interesting visual effect of the fish onstage turning different colors,
as planets and stars moved in the
background. Howe once again came to the foreground with his impressive guitar playing in "The Fish" from the YES album, followed by a moving
vocal rendition of "Heart of "chimes"
entrance into "Roundabout"', the highlight of the evening. As the group left, the Hampton Coliseum shook with roars for an encore, and the group returned with the un- expected, if not pleasant sur- prise of "Sweet Dreams', an oldie from the Time and a
Word album. Thus, two and half hours later, thousands left Hampton Coliseum amazed at the spectacle they had witnessed. (NOTE: I would like to thank the good people at Record Bar
for their help.)

zolias

Tuesday, May 28, 2024 4:50 PM

Hello FY, this setlist is bizarre!

Eric Thiessen

Monday, August 3, 2020 3:42 PM

We had been anxiously awaiting a Yes concert in Tidewater - the 1973 TFTO tour only came as close as Roanoke - way too far for us to hitch hike to at the time. The Coliseum was almost completely full, with a great deal of energy and anticipation, along with cigarette and pot smoke and incense burning in the upper seats.

The Pousette Dart Band played some very catchy original songs and weren't treated badly by the crowd, but as no one present had ever heard of them before, they were careful not to overstay their spot. They did get an encore though.

After being revved up by the more familiar opening songs, the crowd clearly lost interest during the numerous solo pieces, . Finally Heart of the Sunrise woke everybody back up, with a journey thru Gates and the anthemic Roundabout getting the stage and audience energy higher and higher. Had that band placed Gates in the middle of the solo pieces, the show would be been more balanced imho.

Scott Sechrist

Friday, June 13, 2014 7:20 PM

Greetings all - I too was at the Hampton Show in 1976 - I took some slides of the show - and am just now scanning them into JPG format - I was fairly far from the stage - but some came out OK. I was blown away by this show - the music, the spectacle - the three headed dinosaur/snake?

Don

Yes, it was a while ago. I was rummaging through some old slides and found pictures I'd taken at this show. What an awesome sound! Neil Kernon, who I later met and hung out with a while in NYC, was the soundman on this tour. Here are some pics:
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Fred

The Pousette-Dart band was a very good band and opening act. I'm not sure what happened to them, but I'll look it up to satisfy my curiosity. I suppose the reason it took so long for Yes to come out was the stage set-up, making it seem like there was something wrong and we wondered if they were going to cancel the show. Then when they finally came out I remember the space ship appearing and the first laser that shot to the back of the Colloseum causing some guy to scream loudly (as if he had been shot) and breaking the awe-struck audience's silence. Nobody had ever seen anything like it and the rest of the night seemed magical as well. I don't remember the playlist so well as it seemed forever ago but I did hear the favorites. It was my then new wife's first "rock concert" and her last for some reason (perhaps the volume and rowdy crowd). Just as well, as I don't think any of the numerous other concerts I've seen ever topped it. To me, no band ever sounded as well live as in the studio -- except Yes.

Paul Stradley

I remember this so vividly. It left a lasting impression on me of how much this band loves their fans. Jon walked up to the mic and starting speaking something not completely audible to the entire Coliseum. He then made an inviting motion with his hands. The next thing I saw was everybody rushing the stage, virtually eliminating the reserved seats floor section. Then the drum beats thundered out the first notes of Sweet Dreams. It was awesome. It was the most memorable part of a very tremendous show for me. I'll never forget it.

Bill Fisher

This was my first Yes show ever, I had discovered them so to speak (although had heard Your Move and Roundabout on the radio before) via the Relayer album.... i remember the large Rickenbacker bass guitar rug(?) that crossed Chris' side of the stage, and as a bass player myself, was really impressed with it, I wanted one too, and I wanted a Rick bass just like Chris (I wanted to BE Chris, I was about a month from my 18th birthday) my impression of Gates Of Delirium was that it was the most massive peice of music i had ever heard, so much larger than on the record (as almost all live performances were).

I was also very impressed with Moraz. I didn't remember much of the solo material except for Chris' tune, I had just gotten that album the day of show and was looking forward to hearing it the next day (a sixty mile drive from the country to the city for the concert and album)

The only show I ever saw by yes that topped this one, was a show in Norfolk VA some years later, the tormato "In The Round" show....

The boys most definitely played GOD in Hampton..... with the snake heads flashing, and the lasers shooting, and my heart pounding to a beat that I can't possibly count out, although as a Yes fan and musician (bass player, of course) I have tried to do so for years. as I recall, they played Soundchaser, some of the solo stuff, and if i'm not mistaken, I'm Down was the final encore! I was happy to find that song live on the box set, and have wondered if it was that Hampton show, but I guess the odds are against it. probably LA or somewhere, but for me, its close enough, I saw them play the song, so I pretend it was the Hampton show that was recorded. we should all hang on to our fantasies, eh?

Vic Johansen

The band had the "Three Headed" Roger Dean set and did indeed "push" the solo albums. Squire's "Hold Out Your Hand" was really good but the other solo selections made me generally wish for more group performances. Another memorable aspect of this show was the fact that everyone in the band wore white clothing. The opening act for this show was the Pousette-Dart Band, a country-rock band who was pushing their first of four albums for Capitol Records.

I do remember that the "solo" stuff didn't go down terrifically well and that the band seemed to sense this. The final group songs and encores were much more intensely performed.