Bruce Edwards

After having seen YES at the Anaheim Pond, I was going to pass on the second swing of their North American tour, however, YES added Dream Theatre to their tour. I had never seen Dream Theatre, but I love listening to progressive rock. What a line up this was going to be! With that said, Dream Theatre did not dissapoint. They were absolutely awesome(even if that word is overused nowadays. Most of the songs that Dream Theatre played I remember from their earlier CD's from about 10 years ago. During the middle of their set they went into a cover of YES' Machine Messiah. INCREDIBLE. In fact, I bet half the YES fans that were there at that time didn't event know that they were even playing a YESSONG.

When I am asked what progressive rock is, I usually point to some of the bands that came into prominence during the 70's, such as YES, ELP, Jethro Tull, Genesis, etc. However, there are many newer bands, such as Dream Theatre, Spocks Beard, countless other Eurpoean groups. Prog rock lives but is very underground and has never topped the "charts".

I won't go into all the details of the YES concert song by song. At the Universal Amphitheatre, the sound was flawless and LOUD. The flawlessness was probably due to the UA having a "house" sound system. I have never heard a concert there with a bad mix. YES was right on it tonight. I commented to a YEShead next to me that tonight I would trade an hour of Dream Theatre for an hour of YES.

If Dream Theatre was awesome this night, YES was incredibly awesome. Everything they did was so tight and inspired. The whole concert was a highlight of the evening. I have to say that some standout moments above others were Steve Howe and Rick Wakeman playing off each other during South Side of the Sky, Chris Squire's story about the blues shuffle version of Roundabout with Wakeman pulling out his newspaper with the headline about the "World Gone Naked", the whole song Awaken.

Again, there were no dissapointments, however, the only way YES could have improved on this set would have been to work Close to the Edge into the set. Again, the addition of Dream Theatre was worth it.

I look forward to the release of the DVD of this tour in a few months and YES' live boxed set CDs. Hopefully, YES has at least one more studio release with the Anderson, Howe, Squire, Wakemen, White lineup.

YES and Dream Theatre, Thanks so much for a such a special evening.