John Perez

Saturday, December 28, 2013 10:27 PM

I was 10 years old and already a devoted YES fan! My first show was a year before age 9 and saw Yes in the round during the Tormato Tour, at the International Amphitheater in Chicago, IL... so a year later we hear a new Yes tour was scheduled and the dates for Chicago were announced, we ran and got our tickets we had awesome seats, at the lower balcony level, smack on the middle of the theater. I was excited, then the album was announced to be released I became even more crazy excited, it was like Christmas for me... So when Drama came out My brother took me to our fav record store ROLLING STONES in Norridge, IL and I bought it with my allowance the day it was out! Got home open it and played Machine Messiah and I was WOWED!!!!!! mesmerized and actually inspired me to become a musician... the Drama album became my all time favorite Yes album ever and is still is. So I was loving the the Drama album and of course excited about the Chicago show, I was a happy fan! So later I hear that Jon and Rick were not part of the tour to be honest I did not care because the music of the Drama album was just amazing and I wanted to see and hear that regardless of who is in the band and mind you I wore out the Going for the One, CTTE, Tormato and the Yes Album... don't get me wrong love the classic line up Alan,Chris,Steve,Jon and Rick and the ones with Bill. Yet, this new album was so damn good and fresh in the now! and to me is the album that saved Yes because if no Drama no subsequent amazing albums 90125, Big,Talk, Fly from Here etc... Now about the show! the incredible opening song just got the whole crowed going, then you see some dime lights in the middle of the stage on and a circular blue drape fall and then it begings to rise slowly and amazingly you see the band appears standing in the middle of the stage... a quick wave of the hands hello and they run to their spot and then you hear Chris playing the opening bass line of Does it really Happen? and I tell you WOW!!! the audience was really into it and the energy was so crazy high The set list was simply flawless and Yes I was bummed when the show was stopped due to the technical issues however, when they returned they just rocked it out even more the intensity did not fall! no one left during that intermission, so to me it was no big deal! same for the rest of the fans... and yes Chris, Alan and Steve were so damn on fire like I never have seen them since. The highlight songs to me were; Does It Really Happen?, Yours Is No Disgrace,Into The Lens, You and I did not miss Jon sorry,Tempus Fugit, Amazing Grace Chris was freakingly amazing!!!! and lastly Machine Messiah!!!!! WOW WOW WOW!!! Phenomenal in closing it was a great time for me... such wonderful memories.

Tony Jaiye

Thursday, February 21, 2013 4:08 PM

Me and my cousin went to this show (the first night). After so much speculation about whether to go see this after the Anderson/Wakeman split, and hearing Trevor Horn croak his way through the Madison Square Garden broadcast weeks before, I decided what the hell, why not? I remember there was a power failure due to problems with Geoff Downes's keyboard system and I liked the fact that they played In The Round, and the sound mix was excellent! But I have to admit, the band sounded great and I don't recall Trevor Horn hitting any bad notes, and I also loved Alan White's tilt-a-whirl drum riser! The only minor disappointment to me was during the Wurm segment of Starship Trooper that Geoff Downes didn't do a solo like Rick Wakeman used to do, I don't know why i expected that! But Chris,Steve and Alan were on fire that night! And my cousin was initially disappointed that Rick wasn't there (she's a big Wakeman fan) but I kept reassuring her that Geoff was good, but she enjoyed it nevertheless. But we all had a great time and enjoyed the show, and I'm glad I did go because I didn't know at the time that it would be the last Yes tour for another 3 and a half years!

Anon.

Have just heard a recording of this show. The opening is 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' (not 'Apocalypse' - same for Tulsa show too), and on this night Steve plays 'Surface Tension' in the middle of 'Clap'.

Mark

This was an example of greed at its worst. They put tickets for these two Chicago shows on sale in March--as the radio commercials said "Because of the unprecedented demand for tickets last year!" Then a couple of months later they announced that Buggles were coming. A total rip-off.

The show itself wasn't bad...it just wasn't Yes.

Chris Lenox

That "where's Pat" thing stumped me too..then I thought, oh! patrick moraz?! but he's been gone for 3 years..maybe that fan missed GFTO and Tormato when they came out.

Jeff K

Tonysounds, Drama came out in August of 1980. Do you mean to tell me that the Yes management (at the time)would be able to book a tour and hope to sell enough tickets in LESS THAN A MONTH before the tour started(with yesfans being aware of the personnel change in the band since the previous SPRING of 1980)? I don't Think so.In the late 70s, Yes were at the height of their touring career.They announced when tickets went on sale at least 2 or 3 months in advance,especially to allow for sellouts/add-on dates.Does anybody out there agree or disagree? Sorry,I don't mean to start a debate about this.

Ray K

I had seen yes for the first time the year before so I was really bummed that jon and rick had left. I bought drama anyway and thought it was great all things considered. On friday the 19th I saw Queen, they were at their peak. The combination of the Killer Queen show and being bummed about jon and rick made me not appreciate the show as I should have. I thought steve and chris played brilliantly and when i aquired a bootleg a couple years later I found this to be true. I'm glad I found the bootleg because now I really enjoy the show and realise this was much better than the commercial pop of the trevor rabin yes that I saw in 1984 on the 90125 tour at the rosemont.

Tonysounds

Pinheads, freakin PINHEADS!!!!! I've seen Yes 35 times, and I can say unequivocally, that the Drama tour was one of the fiercest concerts Yes has ever put on. On the Drama material, they were simply on fire. Trevor didn't do quite as well on the classic Yes stuff, but it was passable. The Ampitheatre was packed to the gills, but luckily, I had 3rd row for this 'in the round' show. The crowd was very accepting of Trevor Horn, and I have the bootleg to prove it. The response was overwhelming, and if that band had continued, it could have been enormous.

And contrary to the pinheads who say otherwise, the tour wasn't even announced until AFTER Drama had come out. And since Jon and Rick weren't on that album, only a pinhead would have thought they would do that concert.

But I guess the dope was better back then.
T

Jeff K.

If this was the night their power went out, Then I was there.Like many people, I bought my tickets when Jon and Rick were still in the band.Being a die-hard JON ANDERSON fan,I couldn't Handle someone else taking his place as the lead singer for YES.I do give some credit to Trevor Horn for(rather unsuccessfully)attempting such a chore.They did Great on the DRAMA tunes,But on the classic tunes...NAH!Especially"AND YOU AND I ".Chris Squire Stoled the show IMHO.He was Incredible Throughout, as were Steve Howe and Alan White. A great moment during the "ROUNDABOUT"encore:Someone threw one of those HUGE cowboy hats (that were popular at the time)on the stage,and Squire wore it for the rest of the song.It just wasn't the same Yes without JON( and RICK).Sorry.

Mike U

I too was at one of the 2 shows and I distinctly remember that the power went completly out and the rodies had to reset all the electronics.

David C

I too attended the YES show in Chicago on 9/22/80 and 9/23/80, I'd like to set the record straight in my opinion anyway.For the first show I sat in the very last row of the ampitheatre if the place wasnt full,why did me and my fellow yes buds have to sit in the last row.As far as the show went the band was great,real yes fans already new that Jon and Rick were gone but the spirit of yes remained.Never did Chris, Steve, and Allen jam any more fiercely(I've seen YES 18 times),Trevor and Geoffrey did a fine job as well.Those who didnt enjoy the show were predisposed to do so.The second show though they had the sound go out twice and stopped playing for quite sometime,when the boys came back they played there respective butts off and the show ended after midnight.Those were two of the best nights of my then young life!

Unknown

When I saw Geoff Downes playing on the Drama tour at the Amphitheatre in Chicago, he had scores layed out on the top of his keyboards for several of the songs that were performed.

Alexander Smith

I saw either the 9/22, 1980 or 9/23, 1980 Drama tour show at the International Amphitheater in Chicago.

This concert was a tremendous disappointment, as I found out AFTER paying a scalper over $20/each for fifth row seats that Jon and Rick were leaving the band. I had just seen the Tormato concert at the Amphitheater a year before (the one that was simulcast on the radio). There was no comparison between the two shows.

Geoff Downes "solo" (he's no Rick Wakeman) prompted screams from me of,"Get Rick back!" Everyone seemed to share this feeling. In addition, Geoff's equipment screwed up the power to the stage, and the band stopped playing for what seemed like forever. It was easily 30-45 minutes. (Of course, the concert still ended on time!)

Peter Piraino

The Chicago shows were in the round. The building was not full, and I remember a big long banner in the balcony which read, "Where's Jon, Where's Pat". My friend who I thought was as prolific a Yes fan as I, turned to me and said, "Who the hell's Pat?"