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"Still flooded with light"

Yes feat. Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin, Rick Wakeman live at the Rhein-Neckar tent festival

Sascha Kilian - regioactive.de

Saturday, April 27, 2024 4:02 PM

Still flooded with light

Yes feat. Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin, Rick Wakeman live at the Rhein-Neckar tent festival

By Sascha Kilian.
published on June 6th, 2018

The prog legends of the 70s are celebrating their 50th birthday at the Rhein-Neckar tent festival in Mannheim and at their two-hour concert they leave no doubt about who has the Yes DNA in them and can completely inspire the audience.

At the induction into the Rock'n'Roll Hall Of Fame in April 2017, they were all on stage together again. The many different factions and line-up changes of the English prog band Yes are legendary and were recently reviewed by us on the occasion of their 50th anniversary .

Yes twice
However, even the death of founder Chris Squire was no longer able to bring the band together. So in the anniversary year you have to take into account the fact that two groups are touring under the Yes banner. Guitarist Steve Howe and keyboardist Geoff Downes can afford the publicity-generating luxury of celebrating their milestone birthday as Yes together with a new singer and guest appearances from Tony Kaye, Alan White and Trevor Horn.

However , naming singer Jon Anderson , guitarist Trevor Rabin and keyboard god Rick Wakeman is more difficult, so the band tours under the name Yes feat. ARW. Jon Anderson's voice and Rick Wakemann's idiosyncratic sound also convey the impression of the definitive Yes feeling this evening.

Entry of the old heroes
The only German concert on the short European tour takes place at the Zelfestival Rhein-Neckar on the Maimarkt grounds. So on this hot summer evening, old and young Yes fans from all over Germany populate the well-filled, seated palace tent as the three protagonists enter the stage individually like gladiators to the instrumental intro "Cinema".

The anthemic “Hold On” is one of four tracks from the most commercially successful Yes album “90125”. Trevor Rabin, who later sings "Changes" to great acclaim, was the band's lifesaver in 1983. It was primarily thanks to his influence that they conquered the US market with catchy, rocky, radio-friendly singles and thus gave the band's line-up a second spring.

The bridge between old and new
It is impressive to see how the current cast presents pieces from 50 years. Rabin and Wakeman last played together on the "Union" tour in 1991, when they tried to bring all eight essential band members together.

Rick Wakeman didn't originally take part in the more commercial, Rabin-inspired pieces like the 1987 single "Rhythm Of Love" or even the 90s obscurity "I Am Waiting", but he gives them one with his sprawling, proggy 70s keyboard playing changed character.

One towers above all
The real star of the evening is Jon Anderson. From his small podium, the singer outshines the entire auditorium. The petite Englishman is now 73 years old and you can tell in every second that this music is his passion and his life. Anderson has always been open to all styles of music, whether world music, rock or pop. Just take his collaborations with Vangelis as an example.

His voice, his spirit and the goodness he radiates unites the old and new Yes pieces. In addition, his almost spiritual stage presence is unbroken. After inglorious cancellations of previous Yes tours, illness and leaving the main band, this is the place where he can express his gratitude to the fans.

The old classics
The supporters naturally came to celebrate the English progressive phase. With Wakeman on board, the gorgeous "And You And I" from the magnum opus "Close To The Edge", "Perpetual Change" and "South Side Of The Sky" are exactly to the taste of the crowd. These pieces represent the early seventies, when pop music was innovative and progressive in its search for new, expansive song structures.

"I've Seen All Good People" rocks and is accompanied by multiple voices from Trevor Rabin and touring bassist Iain Hornal. He makes his big appearance in the much acclaimed "Heart Of The Sunrise" when his bass plays massively to the fore, as the sorely missed Chris Squire once did so inimitable. Drummer Louis Molino III completes the line-up with his song-oriented and flowing playing.

The legendary keyboard player
It's actually no secret that the blonde giant is the crowd's favorite. Also working as a stand-up comedian and TV presenter in England, Rick Wakeman towers almost two heads taller than Jon Anderson, wears his legendary, glittering robe and, behind his cockpit of vintage keyboard instruments, looks like he's in a spaceship from another planet. His presence alone offers a wonderful show element - and the 69-year-old from Middlesex lives it up with relish

In the 15-minute "Awaken" towards the end of the set, Wakeman makes his big appearance and - like on the 1977 album "Going For The One" - delves deep into his world. Classical elements, church organ and sound cascades are repeatedly complemented by Anderson on the harp and energetic vocals.

With this, Yes created one last big prog piece before the band had to pay tribute to the zeitgeist with "Tormato" in 1978 under pressure from the record company and compose songs in a more useful way, which led to the band's first big break.

The biggest hit of the finale
“Owner Of A Lonely Heart” inevitably ends the regular set and now the whole audience stands up clapping. The ultra-commercial single from 1983 represents the antithesis of what Yes stood for in the first ten years of their career. An almost mechanical rock beat, paired with the keyboard sounds that were popular at the time, still pushes onto the dance floor and the band extends the piece with relish.

The band savors the moment, adding another verse and the chorus of “Sunshine Of Your Love” by Cream. Wakeman stalks the stage with the portable keyboard and duels with Rabin. The auditorium cheers and celebrates the legend. The band is visibly moved to say thank you and everyone in the tent can feel that the protagonists are having fun.

Celebrated encore and an outlook
The Yes veterans return to frenetic applause and play a spirited "Roundabout", the piece from "Fragile" (1971) that sums up all the strengths of the line-up at the time. Rabin, who actually has a completely different guitar style than Steve Howe, reminds us here, as he did 2-3 times before in the evening, of the legendary and idiosyncratic playing of the "other" Yes leader.

But even such a fine nostalgic evening comes to an end and to a piano instrumental of Bowie's "Life On Mars", which Wakeman was a part of at the time, the overjoyed tent visitors are bid farewell to a still warm June night. There remains anticipation for new music from ARW, which is currently being recorded and is scheduled to be released in early 2019. "Future times will stand and clearly smile."

Setlist
Cinema / Hold On / South Side of the Sky / I've Seen All Good People / And You And I / Changes / Perpetual Change / Rhythm Of Love / I Am Waiting / Heart Of The Sunrise / Awaken / Owner Of A Lonely Heart / Roundabout