1.01 Firebird Suite (1.33)
1.02 Siberian Khatru (9.52)
1.03 I've Seen All Good People (8.00)
1.04 Tempus Fugit (6.04)
1.05 Onward (5.15)
1.06 Astral Traveller (8.28)
1.07 Close To The Edge (20.47)
1.08 Parallels (6.59)
==============================
2.01 And You And I (11.38)
2.02 Arada ~ Country Mix (8.54)
2.03 Long Distance Runaround (3.39)
2.04 The Fish (Shindleria Praematurus) (4.05)
2.05 Aliens (Are Only Us From The Future) (5.40)
2.06 Machine Messiah (11.12)
2.07 Soon (6.54)
2.08 Starship Trooper (fades out) (11.43)
2.09 Owner of a Lonely Heart (6.32)
2.10 Roundabout (9.05)
==============================

Yes
House of Blues
Cleveland, Ohio
2008-11-25

"Talkus Fukkit"

Source:
Giant Squid cardioids > Sony MZ-R700
Transfer:
Sony stand-alone MD > optical out > Marantz CDR 630 CD writer > EAC > Nero Wave Editor (volume adjust, fades) > CD Wave Editor (tracking) > Flac-8

RxR Warciple

Setlist:

1.01 Firebird Suite (1.33)
1.02 Siberian Khatru (9.52)
1.03 I've Seen All Good People (8.00)
1.04 Tempus Fugit (6.04)
1.05 Onward (5.15)
1.06 Astral Traveller (8.28)
1.07 Close To The Edge (20.47)
1.08 Parallels (6.59)

2.01 And You And I (11.38)
2.02 Arada ~ Country Mix (8.54)
2.03 Long Distance Runaround (3.39)
2.04 The Fish (Shindleria Praematurus) (4.05)
2.05 Aliens (Are Only Us From The Future) (5.40)
2.06 Machine Messiah (11.12)
2.07 Soon (6.54)
2.08 Starship Trooper (fades out) (11.43)
2.09 Owner of a Lonely Heart (6.32)
2.10 Roundabout (9.05)

When you download or swap for an audio bootleg, you resign yourself to going back in time and putting on the taper's ears. Barring expensive, top-shelf gear or sublime microphone placement, what you hear is pretty much what taper heard from his or her location.

This is one of those recordings where, because it's Yes (or 3/5 of the classic lineup), most fans will take a little bad with the good.

Taper was running two sources at this show--and was lucky to get either piece of equipment in the venue past security (hand-held metal detector wands). The first source was a Zoom H2, which recorded the complete show but was sadly switched to input "high gain" due to an inadvertent bump on taper's part. Which means the resulting digital wave file was "brickwalled" and so distorted as to be rendered unlistenable (or at least, bad enough to not do the music any justice). Fortunately, taper dummy-proofed himself by utilizing a Plan-B for this performance, in the form of a pair of Giant Squid Cardioid mics with battery pack and a Sony MZ-R700 minidisc recorder.

This minidisc version won't win any prizes but is a good audience recording and a fair representation of the sound of the band in the venue. That said, the recording is also an accurate document of the unwanted extraneous sound occurring in taper's location--and there's a lot of it. Taper sat in the back row of left balcony surrounded by late-comers who wanted to talk, talk, and talk some more. There was also a security guard stationed at the top of the aisle in the balcony whose radio went off a couple times during the show. There was a seating snafu in our section and some guests had to shuffle their spots until everyone was properly situated. You can hear some of the banter between the ticketholders and the usher, followed by a brief radio squawk from the security guard and some annoying chatter from my neighbors. "Onward" is the most glaring example of this cacophony.

At the beginning of the encore ("Owner") a fan shouts out "Cleveland Rocks!" While this impulsive outburst could be attributed to the fellow's hometown pride, it was more likely prompted by Benoit David's wardrobe change; the singer came out for the encore wearing a black tee with "Cleveland Rocks" in large white letters. And how about Benoit? He did a superb job, at times channeling Trevor Horn as well as Jon Anderson. His voice cracked badly on a couple high notes and he flubbed a chord or two on the acoustic guitar ("Machine Messiah"), but Anderson himself was guilty of these faux pas and loved in spite of them.

Chris Squire, with Benoit, appeared to be having the most fun at this gig. Alan White brought his game but rarely smiled during the set. Steve Howe was in brilliant form, as usual. The guitarist didn't get too animated until "Starship Trooper," when he executed a couple of his trademark Steve Howe seizure-leaps. And during "Owner" he entertained himself by moving his head side-to-side in automaton fashion along with the chords we all know he loves to play so much.

Do not buy or sell this recording. Free trade only! Share lossless!