Parallels

I''m not saying this show was bad. I enjoyed it regardless that they are not nearly as good as the 1970''s. I have many friends that thought this show was terrible compared 1970''s YESSHOWS. I told them who cares, it''s still a miracle to see them. Anyway, someone has to be stick up for what''s correct. Not opinion, fact. Saying that this show was better than a In The Round Show in 1979, is like saying you would rather have $100 in your bank account instead of $1,000,000.

Parallels

I''m not saying this show was bad. I enjoyed it regardless that they are not nearly as good as the 1970''s. I have many friends that thought this show was terrible compared 1970''s YESSHOWS. I told them who cares, it''s still a miracle to see them. Anyway, someone has to be stick up for what''s correct. Not opinion, fact. Saying that this show was better than a In The Round Show in 1979, is like saying you would rather have $100 in your bank account instead of $1,000,000.

Dave Wilson

I agree with Brad and Rich

Parallels is a douche!!

Rich

Gee, "PARALLELS" sounds a lot like "WURM" - prancing around the site, spouting on about how many light years better 70s Yes is than anything after, and assailing anyone who dares to disagree. Enough already - put a sock in it. If I had a time machine, I'd send you back to 1979. We'd all be better off.

Brad Baker

You know, I am tired of all of the comparisons to the 70's Yes. Yes have been great in every decade. If there is a difference of 1,000,000 degrees between decades then Yes really can't be that good any more. I have seen Yes in three decades and they are still awesome. Things are done differently for sure, technology changes and things will sound different. Things that are not so fresh in the memory always seem better than something we can readily compare it to that are recent. Yes themselves say that the Montreux show was one of their best ever, and, having attended that show, I agree. But the 2004 shows I attended were all amazing and I need not compare them to validate this. Love Yes for what they are, not what you think they were.

PARALLELS

IN RESPONSE TO THE LAST REVIEW THAT SAYS What an amazing show. I had seen Yes 4 times between 1978-1980 but hadn't been all that interested in seeing them since. The best show was June 1979 in NYC. This show was substantially better than that performance and that is saying a lot. STEVE IF YOU THINK THIS SHOW WAS BETTER THAN 6/79 AT MSG, YOU EITHER WERE NOT AT MSG ON 6/13,14 OR 15/79 OR YOU'RE ABOUT TO PLEAD TEMPORARY INSANITY. NO WAY DOES THIS SHOW COME CLOSE TO THAT. THE STARSHIP TROOPER AT THAT SHOW WAS BETTER THAN THIS ENTIRE TOUR PUT TOGETHER. THERE IS NO WAY YOU CAN MAKE THAT STATEMENT WITH A STRAIGHT FACE. MSG 1979 "IN THE ROUND" WAS 1,000,000,000,000 LIGHTYEARS ABOVE THIS SHOW.

Steve H

I’ll try not to repeat the previous reviews from this tour, but add to them.
My perspective – saw Yes concert tours Going For The One, Tormato (“In the Round”), 90125, Union, plus this one. Fave albums are TFTO, Relayer, and CTTE, although I pretty much love them all, except Talk.

The Office Depot Center is a hockey arena, similar to a large basketball arena. The stage was set up about a third of the way into the floor, rather than all of the way at one end, so it was roughly 2/3 the full size of the arena. That made it plenty big, yet somehow still intimate, and so that every seat would be close enough to have a good view. Even scaled to this size it was not sold out, even in the lower bowl, though some chose to economize and sit in the cheaper seats higher up. It was a good crowd, and an enthusiastic one.

Merchandise:
Key chains - $5, Posters - $10(?), Coffee mugs - $15, Programs - $25.
Many different shirts, will try to post the two I bought. Range is $35 - $50, plus some “Fragile” shirts from the 2002 tour for $25. Current tour shirts include a red/gray tie dye with Yes and a “bug”, and a gray long sleeve Relayer picture shirt for $50 each, a ¾ sleeve jersey style shirt for $45, a blue Yes and “bug” shirt for $35, and a black Yes and “coral” (part of the set design) for $35, as well as a couple of other more generic designs, one including pictures of the band members. Guess what? At these prices, they do take credit cards…
It is a cool and unusual program, with many pages dedicated to each previous tour and mention of bootleg recordings of each tour, with a complete ‘bootleg-ography” listing at the end. eBay, here we come to find those boots!

THE SHOW: The show was tremendous, as anticipated. It started out a bit quiet and the keyboards and pedal steel were almost not there, but after the first two songs, the mix and sound quality were excellent. You could hear any parts that you chose to hear, as well as enjoying the whole of it. It lasted almost exactly three hours of playing time, not counting the break before the acoustic set.

The whole band seemed “on” this night, even though the arena was not full. They had a good rapport with the audience and you could tell they were enjoying each other, the audience, and playing together.

Steve’s performance was amazing, even by his standards. It was as good as I have ever seen and heard from him. He was on fire with passion and energy. Every note was crystal clear and we could even hear clearly in a live setting the unique tone quality of each instrument he played. There was one humorous aspect, each time he played the pedal steel guitar - it would start to move toward the side before he was finished with it, then move back into position. Somebody was either missing their cues or having some fun with him. He was unfazed and didn’t miss a note.

Jon was also especially superb in this show. When he spoke I half thought he was sick, he was so quiet, but then there he was, that brilliant voice soaring through each song. His ever-present joy was evident throughout the show and connected with the audience.

Chris was his usual boundless bundle of energy. Contrary to previous reviews, I thought he sang plenty of harmony vocals and he was on the money! The only down side I heard here was that the soundman did not always manage to maintain consistent volume levels each time Chris changed basses. The Rickenbacher did growl, but was a bit thin in the mix, while other basses were sometimes boomy, typical of an arena show and consistent with other Yes tours. Being a bass player, I might be overly picky on this point. Chris still rocked, as always.

Alan was tremendous. The sound and mix of the drums were spectacular. Chris and Jon also played drums on the drum solo in Ritual. It more closely resembled a performance of the song as written rather than a true drum solo. And it appeared to me that ther

Gordon

Just got back from the Ft. Lauderdale show, and it was an amazing, magical night. The boys were in excellent form! The setlist was the same as in the most recent shows, so I'll hit the highlights as there were many.

Opening with the Firebird Suite, the curtains raised, the bird, claw, whatever started to rise and the band kicked into a rousing version of Going For The One. Unlike other reviews, the sound was perfect. Everything crystal clear right from the get go. Sweet Dreams had an almost anthem feel to it. Your Move/I've Seen All Good People, a given in most Yes shows, was nothing spectacular but still welcome to hear again. Mind Drive Part One - great. South Side Of The Sky blew me away. The lick swapping between Steve and Rick was everything other reviewers had said it was! Jon's voice was simply angelic on Turn Of The Century. Lastly in the first set, Yours Is No Disgrace didn't dissapoint.

At the intermission, some guy came up to me and said that Steve wasn't all that impressive. I said, are you watching the same show I am?? Steve was nailing everything in sight, as were all the members. They have aged really well.

The Second Set was the acoustic set. From reading the other show reviews, I was cautious but curious. Let me tell you, THE ACOUSTIC SET IS KILLER!!!! The Meeting and Long Distance Runaround were cool. Time Is Time was absolutely stirring, with Steve on Dobro guitar. Wonderous Stories - wonderous! And then the much talked about new version of Roundabout. The boogie-woogie version is not to be missed. It's that good! Jon and Chris explained that Rick came up with the idea for the new arrangement. Just like the other reviewers mentioned - they must get tired playing the same stuff year after year. This was fun!

Rhythm Of Love followed the acoustic set, and while it was strange seeing Steve with a Stratocaster, he brought a new feeling to the song. Like Sweet Dreams earlier, ROL had that arena/anthem quality.

And You And I brought tears to my eyes. I try to think of myself as a pretty together guy, but the emotion I felt during AYAI was something I couldn't hold back. That what this whole show was about for me - emotion! Same goes for the last song in the regular set - Ritual.

Encores were Every Little Thing and Soon. Some people have said that they didn't like having Soon (the last movement in Gatesd Of Delerium) end the show. I think it brings a certain closure to the event. And that what this show was - an event not to be missed! And although I would have liked to hear some of the epics like Close To The Edge, Gates, Awaken, and even something from Tormato, I thought the song selection was perfect. Like I said before, DONT MISS THIS SHOW!!!

Steve

What an amazing show. I had seen Yes 4 times between 1978-1980 but hadn't been all that interested in seeing them since. The best show was June 1979 in NYC. This show was substantially better than that performance and that is saying a lot.

Jon Anderson's voice still sounds amazing and the rest of the band plays with great intensity. I thought the song selection was great. Several people have commented on And you and I. I can say that this is the best live version I have ever heard them do by far. Turn of the century was intense and I was very happy to finally hear Ritual live. Of course there are always a few songs you'd like to hear (I never saw them play Close to the edge) but they really pulled a good cross section of material out. My only complaint would be that Chris Squire's bass could be little louder in the mix, it didn't have that distinctive wirey sound he's known for. Otherwise the sound was very clean and loud.

The lighting and set design were ok, maybe a little silly but didn't distract from the performance. I was surprised at how good the accoustic section of the show was too. Wonderous stories sounded great with Wakeman on Piano. If I get the chance I will probably try to see them again on this tour. Don't miss the show even if you're not a huge Yes fan.