mike rae

I had gotten my tickets real early for this show, BEFORE the announcement that Jon and Rick had left the group, from what I remember; after I found out, I was a bit perplexed, wondering what the new line-up would sound like, but with a seat about 7 rows from the stage on the floor, I knew that at least the live energy would carry me through....after all, this was YES, and they were moving on, undaunted, and I knew that I would move on with them too.
So, not even having heard the DRAMA album (save for Tempus Fugit) I went to that show, glad to see that they had put a wooden barrier from one of the exits to the stage (to protect them from the mobbing experienced on the Tormato tour).
Even though I was mildly skeptical, I went away from this show impressed that YES were on their way forward, even without Jon & Rick; while Trevor and Geoff had their own strengths, at least they weren't really trying TOO hard to fill THOSE shoes....I remember being most impressed by the newest material that hadn't been included on DRAMA, though Machine Messiah was definitely a peak moment in the show....other memorable moments were the crowd letting go of their skepticism during Tempus Fugit and 'getting into it' and the Geoff Downes keyboard-dominated 'Man in a White Car' Suite, which may have been the first time I experienced a Vocoder at a live show.....the weak spots, I suppose, were the old tunes, and while they were played competently enough, Trevor just didn't have the high range of Jon Anderson's voice....I think all that pressure to live up to those Olias-like expectations were a definite bummer for him, and from what I've read the British were rather unforgiving of the DRAMA line-up, and I'm sure all those pressures contributed to him (and them) calling it a day......I really liked the DRAMA line-up, much more than the 90125 line-up, but that's just me I suppose, and I was bummed when the YESDrama proposed tour from a few years back never materialized.

Rick Graf

This was my first Yes concert, and though it wasn't the classic line-up, it was still a ball. They played "in the round", and our seats were nicely located so that we could see everything, and since it was a small arena, everyone seemed close. My girlfriend had seen Yes on the Tormato tour, so she was a little disappointed by the performance, but less than she thought she would...she hated the idea of a Yes without Rick and Jon. The Drama songs were very powerful...I particularly remember there is a point in "Machine Messiah" where the music goes from intense to near silence, and how the entire arena seemed frozen for a few seconds. Chris was the star of the event...so many of those Drama tunes were founded on his bass lines, and he was startling throughout.