ms

I saw this show and was disappointed by the sound in the Aj Palumbo. I'm sure the band was great but it was hard to tell. Anyway, after the show my girlfriend and I were taking a walk around the Civic Arena which is a couple blocks away. A white limo pulled up to the curb and out comes Jon Anderson & Rick Wakeman. (This made up for the rotten sound at that crummy venue). I said "Great show guys";. And Jon Anderson responded with:"Yes, there really was some sort of great cosmic energy in there tonight" To which my chick responds: "Yeah,whatever Jon, go drop another hit of acid" ! Then we walked away laughing at Wakeman's stupid cape. Don't get me wrong-I love Yes but we were young stupid and high and got caught up in the "cosmic energy" of it all.

Unknown

My wife and I made a banner for the ABWH concert in Pittsburgh. It reads "Yes they're back" (Also it was the only banner). The next day we picked up a Pittsburgh Press to read the review of the show. The headline of the article was "Yes they're back and as good as ever" The first paragraph read as follows: "Complete with Roger Dean style lettering the banner at the back of the AJ Palumbo center read 'Yes they're back'". To say the least we were amazed.

*merry* celeste

The summer of '89, featuring ABWH on tour, was an incredible time period for me. I was pregnant with my third child. My husband, Jonh, and I took a 2-week summer vacation to coincide with the eastern leg of the tour, and purchased tickets for Pittsburg, Cleveland, and Detroit. We brought my mom along to babysit fo Alanna, aged 4, and Damien, aged 2.

I had prepared a parcel to give to Jon, a care package of sorts: a long, long letter, candles, incense, sweets, tea, bubblebath, shoelaces, kid drawings, flowers, etc. It was about shoebox-sized, wrapped in purple zigzag strips of tissue paper with little xeroxed faces of jon pasted here and there.

My mom, Alanna, and young Damien stayed in Pittsburg with a friend of my mom's while Jonh and I went into town for dinner and the show. I talked Jonh into going by the venue first to try to deliver my care package during the sound check (around 4:30 pm for most shows). We parked and walked over to the backstage area, where I talked to a security guard about how best to get my gift to Jon. He said he could deliver it himself, so we returned to the car to get it.

On the way back, we had to cross the street. I was so anxious, I stepped off the curb and nearly got run over -- by a LIMO -- JON'S limo! "A fitting end," I thought, while hurrying Jonh who was lagging behind me. He flagged me on ahead. A group of Jonfans ran to the back of the building after the long, black car. I knew a shortcut to the place it pulled up, past the same security guard. He wouldn't let me by, though, until he saw the whole group of running fans, and turned to assess if they might present more of a danger to Jon. I hopped a fence and snuck past the man, arriving by the cardoor just as Jon was stepping out.

I handed Jon the purple parcel! He placed it under his left armpit and I just stared at him in awe, smiling, seeing him, near me. The group caught up to us and fairly assaulted him with kind words, handshakes, laughter, panting. I stood and watched as he extended a hand to each of them in turn. I just kept seeing my precious package under his precious arm.

"Come to see the show?" he asked. Of course we all had. He took my hand last. I was so shy. "Thank you," he said, and turned to go. I knew he would soon be exposed to many handwritten pages of daily thoughts and feelings for him that I had composed while waiting for this moment, this day of days. I didn't feel bad for not having spoken.

I ran back to where Jon was waiting, on the other side of the fence, and couldn't stop grinning. At a nearby deli I could barely eat, and the grin would not go away. The show was beautiful, amazing, wonderful, extraordinary beautiful. Jon's entrance was so surprising, making his way through the audience, singing, as he did.