21 years, 6 months and 4 days ago Tuesday, June 3, 2003 Dublin, Ireland Vicar Street 1,400 capacity
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Dave Fagan Vicar Street provided the perfect setting for the opening show on this leg of the tour. Quite a small venue for the huge Yes sound but it worked really well and given that the capacity audience was of the Faithful and Long Term variety there was a wonderful energy in the room which the band seemed to appreciate very much, taking their collective brilliance to even greater heights. An incredible show throughout the whole evening and one that will stay long in the hearts of all those who were lucky enough to be there. See these guys wherever you can on this tour. I'm sure they've started as they mean to go on and the next few months will yield some equally astonishing performances. Delighted to be seeing them again in Edinburgh in a few weeks time, pity there isn't a fast forward button on June though! A huge Thanks to YES for some great shows in Dublin over the last few years. Come back anytime! Jacek Where is Close To The Edge - the greatest song ? Why is absent ? Michael Can't really add to Charles' excellent review. I never got to see the "perfect" Yes lineup until tonite; what can I say, if there is a better gig on the tour than tonite's epic, then some lucky punters are in for a treat. I took my boyband-loving partner along, and she has now seen the light after slagging my music preferences all these years. Ah jayney, from the first bars of "Siberian Khatru" to the last chops of "Starship Trooper", this was jaw-dropping musicianship. I was a little sceptical as to how Yes would convert their mighty show into the intimate surroundings of Vicar Street, but this was totally unfounded. The sound was excellent, even when standing less than two feet away from Steve (where else can you do that?). It was all there for the Yes afficionado; Steve chopping away on his Gibson ES, Chris bridge plecking the Rickenbacker, Rick shaking the building with the MiniMoog; I'll stop now............THANK YOU YES FOR A GREAT NIGHT!!!!! SEE YE IN LIVERPOOL!!! Charles Slane What can I say ???? Missed cues. Bum notes. Lacklustre performances. Bad choice of songs. None of these things happened !!! It was BRILLIANT !!!! Sorry if this review is a little scattered, but I'm still trying to get my head around this great gig. Firstly, Vicar Street is a small venue holding 1000 people at the most. It seemed to be full to capacity, but I know there were tickets available until near showtime. The crowd were obviously mostly diehard fans, so the response to the guy's efforts was really great. They came on stage to the Firebird Suite, which was very exciting (isn't it always exciting to hear that piece of music ?) Jon was wearing white trousers, white jacket and a yellow t-shirt. Steve was mostly in red. Chris was in white. Rick wore a sparkly jacket which was visually engaging and a nice reference to the old days. Alan was his usual inconspicuous self behind the kit. I'll list the setlist at the end of this, but the highlights for me were Don't Kill the Whale, Jon talking about the Irish weather ("three days of lovely weather and suddenly we get real Irish weather - rain"), And You and I, Chris and Alan's bass and drum duet, Rick's solo, Jon becoming transcendent toward the end of Awaken, and the great vibes between the musicians and audience. It was fantastic to see Rick onstage with them again (I only saw him with them once - Wembley during the Union tour). He really makes a difference. Himself and Steve even traded licks at times - just amazing to see these two musical giants daring each other to greater heights of expression. Chris was sooo cool !! You only have to look at him to know that he LOVES what he's doing. And he really tries to involve the audience as much as possible. And his enthusiasm was repaid by cheers and huge applause. Jon was his usual pixie/hippy on-stage self. Very generous with introductions to the rest of the guys. Probably did less keyboard/percussive work than I'd seen before, but played guitar on his own for a song that was left off Fragile ("This song was left off Fragile, and when I played it the other day .... I realised why" - that got loads of laughs) It turned out to be a lovely song and Rick joined him for the end of it. Steve was very gracious in his comments (after his solo) about how lovely it was to be playing in Dublin again, and his guitar work went down a storm. I was so delighted to hear Chris playing part of Tempus Fugit in the Chris/Alan duet. They pretty much zipped along. Never a dull moment, and despite the fact that it was a standing gig, I never felt tired for even a second. It was also Alan's mum's birthday (she was there), so we sang "Happy Birthday" to her. What can I say ? The folks I was with were blown away (as was I). I hope all you guys who are going to see them in the next few weeks get to see as great a show (although I've no doubt that you will). Enjoy the tour. And here's the setlist - Firebird Suite Siberian Khatru Magnification Don't Kill The Whale In The Presence Of We Have Heaven South Side Of The Sky And You and I Steve's solo (something from "Natural Timbre" and Clap) Show Me (not sure of title, Jon on his own - a song left off Fragile) Rick's solo ( so many tunes, you'll probably guess what they are) Heart Of The Sunrise Long Distance Runaround Chris and Alan's duet Awaken Encore Roundabout Starship Trooper (or maybe you say Starrship !!) Michael I've waited 30 years for this!!!!! Anthony YYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSS !!!!!!!!!!!!!! |