FayeC

Tuesday, October 15, 2024 1:50 PM

I was there with my boyfriend at the time. I was 17. I remember it was so crowded outside I was having a hard time getting air. He would pick me up so I could get some. We had tickets so thought it would be better inside, but people pushed forward so we were crushed against the people in front. They pushed back and I ended up on the floor with a much bigger guy on top of me. My boyfriend pulled me out and I watched people climbing in the windows. Otherwise, a great concert. Didn’t realize what was going on outside until after.

Michael D

Friday, July 21, 2017 4:51 AM

I was there as well and had know and owned Yes album. The were fantastic, Tull was also very good. A crazy time for sure. I was right up next to stage for both shows. Someone said they had pics on vintage.com I would love to see them because if they were of the stage I may be in them.

Bill Harter

Tuesday, December 27, 2016 5:40 PM

I worked for the Casino and in those days if you worked for the casino you could be a bouncer. So me and two of my friends stood right in front of the stage. We had no idea what was going on out side. I still have my complete ticket that I bought for the show it was memory that I will never forget. Back in those days I saw all the concerts there. I was 18 then.

Jim Fay

Sunday, November 8, 2015 10:00 AM

This is the single BEST concert of my life ! We were there early and sat so close that the band that they asked us to move back.It was impossible to move back more than 4-5 inches. At one point,my foot was resting on a mic stand base ! I can remember seeing people dropping into the crowd from the windows. I had no idea there was such problems outside.
I recently saw Jethro Tull in Boston and ran into Ian Anderson at the hotel the next morning. He was checking out. I went up and thanked him for a great show. He was friendly enough to chat for a moment and let me take his photo. I reminded him of this earlier show and how well I remembered it.

R North

R Lutz just because you were clueless about Yes before July 8, 1971 doesn't mean everyone was! Yes had 3 albums out by that time including their new album "The Yes Album", which was released February 19, 1971. My friends and i had the first two Yes albums and picked
up "The Yes Album" in February 1971 as soon as it came out. By the time i saw Yes for the
first time at the Whisky A Go Go June 28, 1971 i had completely worn out the album by
playing it continuously for 4 Months! Yeah the guy at the record store who told you The Yes Album wasn't out yet was Full Of Crap!!

your_host

Riots due to oversold tickets led to the closure of the venue for five years.

Photos of the Ian Anderson during the Tull performance:

[Link]

R.Lutz

Went to this show from Newburyport Mass. Had a great time was crowded and hot. No one was there to see YES, Tull was the headliner. Quite frankly no one there had heard of YES there was no airplay at the time. I recall the day after the show trying to get the album with no luck, was told that it wasn't released yet and wouldn't be for a week or so. Anyone who says they were there to see YES at that time is full of crap. I became a fan after that night but was really surprised that such a great band was the lead in for J.T. Later in the year they played the Orpheum in Boston, with Humble Pie. Remember a chick trippin out front saying she was the 'Queen" I don't recall the Guard or any riots in Hampton, I had a great time....

Barry

I was there, front row. Riots ensued. My first exposure to YES. Concert was oversold, I think it was $5 general admission. National Guard was called out.

Pete

well maybe not for decades - I remember seeing B-52s and Rachel Sweet
and a few others there in '80 or so. But yes it was shut down for quite a spell. So, I didn't see this show but I wanted to put in a note for one of my best friends, who saw this show but has since left us. Like others here, he went to see Tull and didn't even know Yes. Later he told me that this opening group Yes had completely stolen the show, and he held up the Yes Album and said how great the music is on it. I got it, and that was that. But I never saw them until '77, in Portland ME, which was incredible. My only Yes show.

RIP Norman

anonymous

My first exposure to YES. Nuts. Oversold show, front row seats (sitting on the floor, general admission), had to help Ian Anderson steady column speaker on my way out. Riots that night stopped concerts at this venue for DECADES, National Guard called out, the next day the beach was a MESS, with overturned lifeguard chairs, everything spray-painted. I was an avid Yes fan from there on in, coincidentally, the next week went with my parents to Montreal Canada, and I bought all 3 Yes albums. A defining moment in my life.

anonymous

I still have vivid memories of that show.

I was staying at the beach for a few weeks and got tickets the day they were made available, right on the boardwalk at the booth.

The night of the show it was REALLY hot and muggy.

I was outside the hall, in front of it on the boardwalk, before the show began and started chatting with some folks.

I met some young guy who claimed to be George Harrison's cousin and we were talking when some couple came up asking if anyone had tickets. I had bought two but had broken up with my summer beach gal right before the show. They explained that they had hitchhiked all the way from NY and couldn't get tickets.

I sold them mine for what I had paid (somewhere around $5.00 each if memory serves). I really felt for these folks.


So I'm standing outside and the place goes wild, people trying to climb up the walls with makeshift ladders-one girl fell down and landed on the roof of a car. I can hear this incredible music streaming out the open windows...

Someone comes over to the balcony and empties a box of ticker stubs over the heads of the crowd. No one thinks this will work. I figure it's worth a try, some good karma may be coming my way for helping out the couple.

Sure enough, I stroll up the long wooden back staircase and walk right in...

By far the best Yes show I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot. I still remember the heat, the way Howe's stereo Les Paul sounded in that little hall, the riot, my brother trying to hold up speakers that were tipping over at the side of the stage during Tull's set...the way they banned rock concerts in Hampton for years after.



My father used to tell me about seeing big band shows back in the day, how it felt like the whole building might come crashing down and nobody cared. That's how it was that night.

MIKE BILODEAU

THIS WAS MY FIRST TIME SEEING YES. HAD GONE TO THE CASINO TO CATCH
JETHRO TULL, AND IT WAS EXTREMELY CROWDED & HOT! EVERY TIME THEY TRIED TO OPEN THE ROOF WINDOWS, PEOPLE WERE DROPPING IN FROM THE ROOF. HAD NEVER HEARD OF YES BEFORE THIS, BUT BY THE TIME THEY HAD DONE A COUPLE OF NUMBERS, I COULD HAVE CARED LESS IF TULL EVER CAME ON. MY BIGGEST IMPRESSION OF THE BAND WAS OF COARSE CHRIS SQUIRE. I HAD NEVER SEEN ANYONE PLAY A BASS LIKE THAT. (AND I HAVE SEEN MANY,MANY SHOWS). I HAVE BEEN, AND ALWAYS WILL BE A DEVOTED FAN.
YES IS LIKE NO OTHER BAND, ON CD OR LIVE. WHEN THEY PLAY LIVE, IT'S LIKE LISTINING TO A RECORDING. EVERY NUANCE IS THERE.

Donald Mancini

It was the first time I saw Yes. They opened up for Tull. I had never even heard of YES before this show. I thought the only band we were seeing was Jethro Tull and after waiting in line for hours and being compressed in a small hall with a temperture over 100 degrees, I was pretty angry when the announcer came out and instead of announcing Jethro Tull, he instead said "From England, let's welcome Yes". After a couple of minutes I totally forgot the crowd and the temperture. It was a show like no other, I had ever seen. The muscianship was astounding. It's 25 years later and I'm still hooked.