The Remembering

Tuesday, July 8, 2014 7:24 AM

They used to rip it up in the old days, but that energy and precision just ain't there now.

Anonymous

Monday, July 7, 2014 2:26 PM

This was a review taken from Yesfans.com's "yesmike0215" -

Nothing like flying from L.A. to New York to visit one of my brothers so we could see a Yes show together! We arrived at the venue, "The Egg." It was shaped like (you guessed it) an egg, which called for some interesting acoustics from the inside of the building. The opening band Syd Arthur was pretty good. There's definitely some young talent there. But now to Yes.......

They walked out to the Young Persons Guide to the Orchestra. Wish they did the Firebird. It flows so much better, especially when the opening song is Siberian Khatru. They played the full Close to the Edge album in reverse order, as Chris Squire joked just after the album. They did a nice job. I liked the reverse order better than the regular (for starting the show). It just felt right.

They then did two of the new songs from Heaven & Earth. "To Ascend" and "The Game." I could tell they need to rehearse them more. They seemed to hesitate in spots. Davison's voice actually seemed out of tune for "To Ascend." They definitely need to work on that more. Steve, during The Game was looking over at some notes the whole time that his guitar tech taped onto his Fender Steel just prior to the song. I like the two songs on the album recordings, but they were probably the lowest moments of the whole live show.

They then played the entire "Fragile" album start to finish. I must say, it was very good. Roundabout was what you'd expect, Cans and Brahms was excellent...you can tell Geoff worked hard to replicate the song by using orchestral strings sounds, a piano sound, and he was actually reading the music off his iPad while he was playing this (I can tell because he wore his glasses and stared at the iPad the whole time). Then they played "We Have Heaven." Jon Davison's voice was looped, but then he sang over top it (similar to Live at Montreux 2003), with Squire, Howe, and Downes even pitching in some backing vocals. It ended with the explosion and man running, which led into South Side of the Sky.

I was very impressed with SSOTS. It started with Geoff playing that orange keyboard on the top of his rig, which produced the wind sound. They then played it like normal, and during the piano bits, Davison walked up to Downes' rig, and he even played the orange keyboard for that wind noise in the background..very cool. At the end, to my surprise, Geoff even did a Hammond Solo and a synth solo (similar to that of Wakeman in the 2002-04 shows).

I must say I am shocked that 5% for Nothing wasn't a trainwreck. They were all spot on 100%! You can tell these guys worked hard for this whole album, putting every last ounce of effort to match the original recordings. Long Distance Runaround was solid, so was "The Fish." The Fish was actually sounded like some sampled basses, with Squire playing on top. They even used sampled singing for the Schindleria Praematurus part). Mood For A Day was also good...to my surprise Howe did not get upset even though the crowd was quite loud cheering him on. Heart of the Sunrise was excellent except for one glitch in the beginning...Downes' piano intro for Roundabout played through the P.A. while they were playing. He must have accidentally hit one of his pedals on the ground that triggers it. Also, the piano section towards the end was kind of messed up. Not playing wise...the sound. Either the piano sound got very distorted, or the acoustics in The Egg did not make the piano sound very good, and made it all fuzzy. Other than that, it was great.

No intermission at all for this show, after Fragile they jumped right into the "greatest hits" section. They played All Good People...everyone got into this one and was going nuts. Steve actually yelled at a fan in the front row for being to loud at the beginning. After All Good People, they bowed and made an exit. T

Yesmike0215

Sunday, July 6, 2014 10:47 PM

Setlist from the 6th:
Young Persons Guide to the Orchestra
1) siberian khatru
2) and you and i
3) close to the edge
4) to ascend
5) the game
6) roundabout
7) cans and brahms
8) we have heaven
9) south side of the sky
10) 5% for nothing
11) long distance runaround
12) the fish
13) mood for a day
14) heart of the sunrise
15) i've seen all good people
encore:
16) owner of a lonely heart
17) starship trooper