20 years, 2 months and 10 days ago

Saturday, September 27, 2003

Honolulu, Hawaii

Neal Blaisdel Arena

10,000 capacity

Jon Anderson:
Thank you so much. It’s great to be with you all this evening. I want to thank you all so very much for coming out and, ahh, it’s great to meet everybody. It’s a beautiful, beautiful place to be. It’s the arts chakra of the planet, as you all know. To be able to play with the Honolulu Symphony is quite amazing. I just wish you could see them. There they are, there. [??]. Can you see him? In fact, anybody who knows our music, ‘Close To The Edge’, this is the only time we’ve played it this year, so [??] and another new experience, we’re going to sing a song now, and it’s in the key of lahhh. You can sing along if you know this song.

Jon Anderson:
Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you so much. [??] We usually play that song at the end, but ahh, it’s written for orchestra as well, so we thought we’d play it at the beginning and I’ve just lost ten pounds! One of the most amazing reasons that we’re here tonight is the fact that it is thirty-five years since we started as a band. And, ahh, two things. Thankfully, we can still play. Secondly, we’ve got an audience, so thank you very much! And ahh, we’re surrounded, we’re surrounded constantly by the divine, constantly by the divine. This is one of the songs we wrote a couple couple, of years ago, I was going to say a couple of weeks ago, didn’t go that fast. The song is about the divine mother that surrounds us, comforts us, makes us feel at home, energy, beautiful.

Jon Anderson:
Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you for listening, because it is a new song and most of you have pnever heard it before, but it’s a new song and we had a chance to play it. And ahh, as it happens, we’re going to another new song for you. This is from our last album, the album was called ‘Magnification’ and ahh, thank you. Thank you so much. And ahh, this song is the title song. The idea, very simply, if you magnify the goodness within you, then everything that surrounds you will also magnify the good in life. The song is called ‘Magnification’.

Jon Anderson:
Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Very much, very much. Many years ago, many years ago we were in a studio, ahh, and we started recording. We were in a very, very free space at that moment in time, some thirty years ago, as it happens. And we sort of, ahh, started to make music and we were very lucky, the record company never hassled us or anything, so we just made music in that period. And this next song came out of that time, and ahh it’s for my beautiful wife, Jane, thank you. And ahh, we travel together constantly. And, of course, the divine Audrey. And ahh, here we go.

Jon Anderson:
Thank you so much. Thank you. I’ve got one or two friends here in Hawaii, and this beautiful lei, it’s just amazing. A bit before we started the tour, I started to write down things that really turn me on in my life. The first thing that came to mind was, things that I really enjoy in my life, you know, Daffy Duck, that was one, Muhammad Ali, Ghandi, Jimmy Witherspoon, ah, we went on and on, so.

Jon Anderson:
Sorry, sorry, a got a bit carried away. I’d like to sing a song for you, it’s a song that, ahh, I kind of started writing it, I think in ’73, but I’ve just got it sorted out. It’s taken a while, but, ahh, I’ll try and play it for you. I’ll try and play it for you now.

Jon Anderson:
The original wizard of the keyboards, Mr. Rick Wakeman!

Jon Anderson:
Mr. Rick Wakeman! He’s definitely been practicing, I can tell. Here we go, here’s a song called ‘Siberian Khatru’.

Jon Anderson:
Thank you so much. Thank you. It just so happens, this is our last show on the world tour and you’re the happiest bunch we’ve seen. Many years ago, we were fortunate to spend a little time in Maui and we actually got [??] and one of the great things we used to do is go out and whale watch, and I’m sure you all know, watching the whales is the most, probably the most highest physical thing you can do in this life. The whales. We wrote a song years and years and years ago, we’re going to play for you tonight, ‘Don’t Kill The Whale’.

Jon Anderson:
Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you. It’s a very, it’s a very rare, very rare moment, we’ve got a mosh pit here. I can’t believe this. Yes, a mosh pit! Wooh! Here’s a song from, ahh, the ‘Fragile’ album. If you know anything like this, ahh, song, please sing along, if you can remember it comes from.

Jon Anderson:
That same day, we recorded that song, we recorded this next one. The song is about mountain climbing, as we all know, we climb mountains most every day. Every day we have to climb some sort of mountain. The song is called ‘The South Side Of The Sky’.

Jon Anderson:
So, someone asked us, ahh, would we do this song tonight and we’ve never done this song for quite a while, but, ahh, just tonight we’re going to do it. As long as you sing in the chorus, with a big break, so everybody sing in the chorus please. Here we go. Ahh, one, two a three and a four, eighteen and four.

Jon Anderson:
On bass guitar, Chris Squire! And on the drums, Mr. Alan White on drums!