CHANOLAN2017@YAHOO.COM

Monday, June 3, 2024 1:32 AM

I attended 2 of the 3 Philadelphia Spectrum Drama tour dates here.
October 17th , 1980 was an important Philly Friday.
The Philadelphia Phillies baseball team was on it's way to winningthe World Series. This night they were playing away in Kansas City.
The Spectacor staff actually let us take a battery operated TV in to watch the game during the concert! We were on the first level, section 'C' which provided excellent views of the revolving stage!
What Alan's circular drum riser lift from the main in the round stage, during the intro and outro of Machine Messiah was extraordinary!
The band was in tight, excellent playing form, Brilliant IMO!

I didn't know it at the time but My next YES concert at the Spectrum, in April, 1984 would include only 2 members of this excellent performance 10/17/1980 !!
M

Paul G.

Sunday, February 12, 2017 2:25 PM

I'm not sure why they came back for this show but I was there and had seen the first show they played less than 2 months earliler in Sept. I clearly remember Downes in the Phillies uniform and the Phanatic dolls. The raised drumset was very kool. White used raised drums during the Tormato tour when they played Arriving UFO. I was bummed they played essentially the same setlist.

Paul Haefner

Although I've enjoyed the band in at least 12 different shows over the past 20-plus years, this show stands out for me for it's un-Yes-like demeanor and attitude.

I was also at the first Philly show of the tour when the band (particularly Horn and Downes) seemed sheepish about filling the shoes of their larger-than-life counterparts.

By the time the tour crossed the country and returned to Philly, Horn and Downes personalities had abounded. Downes in fact did perform in a Phillies uniform and had several small Phillie Phanatic dolls perched on the keyboards. I could only shake my head, imagining Wakeman's reaction to such a commercially-crass move.

This was not (and I shall never accept it as) the band I knew and respected.

What really caught my eye that night was the ashamed and embarassed way in which Squire performed, almost to say "Sorry about this" to the Yes graybeards.

As the night wore on, he drank heavily amid his percieved depression and nearly fell off the stage at the encore's end.

It was a sorry night for the band and left me sadly facing the fact that the relentlessness of time was winning against myself and the band as well.

Doug Dorer

Drama: On October 17, 1980, Yes performed at the Spectrum in Philadelphia. I know that this is not what is listed in the Program, and I don't know what happened, but there they were. I believe that Geoff Downes performed in a Phillies uniform, and before the encore, Trevor announced the progress of the Phillies' World Series game that was going on that night.