Current YES tour (Steve Howe & Company)

Wow....it was only a year ago I witnessed a great YES concert. Got lucky, I guess.

 

This looks set to be a slightly more polite, middle-class (and higher grossing) version of the situation with the two Wishbone Ashes.

If owning the Yes catalogue from the debut up to 90125 makes me a Yes fan, I'm a Yes fan yet I've never seen the band live. I think a Yes without Chris Squire and Jon Anderson is pretty redundant proposition.

 

Well I didn't like much of what I saw from them over the last few years but YES things have greatly changed. Alan can't play much anymore, Howe can't keep up etc. I guess you're right a lot can change in one year. I'd rather stick to my memories of the last REAL YES show I saw at Madison Square Garden in 2004 when they blew the roof off.

 

Lot of discussion in the thread below about the tour. I posted the setlist from the opening night of the tour in NC. I also will be going to the show in Coney Island and Holmdel next weekend.

Steve Howe's son to play drums on current YES tour

 

Well, I guess I asked for it.. now I am bummed out by this discussion. I have tix for the September show at one of my favorite venues near me. I can't say I am as stoked as I was before reading this thread.

 

We all have different experiences. I go to a lot of concerts, and this year I've seen greatness (King Crimson), nice surprises (Roger Waters) and complete embarrassment (Yes).

Maybe they are just rusty, being first night and all. But in the end, we all expect our $$$ worth. Yes gets cut way too much slack by a fanbase with astonishingly low expectations.

 

Did you notice CURRENT in the thread title?

Not from the threads I've witnessed.

 

Well there are YES fans and there are YES fans. Many of the fans have set the bar lower and except the current Steve Howe's YES as fantastic. I've tried to like YES with Jon Davison but he just doesn't have a very good voice. I've said this several times. He has a high voice sure just nothing exceptional about his voice. Anderson's voice is a one in a billion voice and can't be replaced. I'm proud to be part of the YES fanbase with high expectations and like I posted above the last great 'real' YES show I saw was in 2004 and that is how I remember the almighty YES a force to be reckoned with back in the day!

 

I have to say that many YES fans on this forum definitely cut them way too much slack accepting just about anything they will deliver and call it YES.

 

I guess I'm a burned out fan with low expectations because I thought the Greensboro show was great.

Granted, this was my first time ever seeing the band so I'm not as versed on what they've played before. Davison was a pleasant surprise for me. I thought he did a credible job on vocals that can't be replicated very easily, at least by my 59-year-old croak of a voice. My son and I were guessing he's probably in his mid 20s. Pretty stunned to learn he's 46. He did not assume the role of a frontman, but I think that was in deference to a band that's been playing for longer than he's been on the planet.

I was blown away by Howe and Downes, and thought the sound was terrific. A great summer night rock show for me, up to and including the downpour during Roundabout. My only regret was not getting Starship Trooper, but I guess the weather prompted them to cut things short.

I agree with the previous poster about Rundgren. I wish I had been more familiar with the songs because I enjoyed them quite a bit. A fun stage show, too.

Anyway ... just one first-timer's opinion.

 

The last time I saw the Howe version was like 2 years ago when they toured with Toto. It was the first time I was seeing them since Squire's death and they sounded pretty weak imo. If I'm going to see a Yes now it'll be the Jon Anderson version.

 

Then prepare for the in-your-face wall of compression sound. However, the good news.....you won't think it's weak sounding.

 

Damn shame. There are some great vids on YouTube and elsewhere you should checkout. And extensive live recordings.

 

I, too, was at opening night and agree with everything TurboDriver wrote above. Definitely do NOT miss Carl Palmer. I like all three acts, but would not consider myself a "fan" of any (I don't own any of the albums, but am familiar with "hits"). I went when a friend invited. It was a nice evening. Palmer was wonderful. Rundgren redeemed himself for a lame gig I saw about ten years ago, but Yes was a little boring and pedestrian to me. Lots of technical stuff going on, but this version of Yes seemed to be missing passion. Then again, like I wrote above, I'm not really a fan. They were competent and sounded good. Just didn't move me. I am sure that others will see it differently.

 

I have YesSongs and Progeny. Love them both, and part of the fun of going to Greensboro was a chance to see Progeny come full circle. I wasn't expecting the band I saw Friday night to match the fire of the '70s, but I understand your points. I've seen Springsteen twentysomething times since 1980. I still love him, but a show I see today probably isn't going to resonate with me the way it might with a first-timer. In the case of Yes, I was that first-timer.

 

The sound was fine for ARW and at least it's Anderson singing and not Davison. Do you have something against Anderson as you seem to be very tolerant of the Steve Howe YES band defending Davison at every corner.

 

No.

 

Hope to enjoy Howe's Yes, but consider it a free concert and will only stay as long as it grabs me after having gotten my money's worth from Todd and Carl.

 

Thats a good attitude to have going in, so long as you don't mind paying that much $$$ for abbreviated setlists from both.

 

$25 lawn tix. Would pay more to see a full set from either in the more intimate settings they play. Will still catch a full Todd show touring his latest album if a good opportunity arises.

 

The mighty Yes sounding great here on Machine Messiah in Baltimore 2 nights ago. Only Alan on drums for this one. Superb riffing begins about 4 1/2 min in.
Steve "Abe" Howe still has it.

 

Thanks for sharing. I thought this was quite good.

 

While the current version of Yes is quite loose in places, Steve's on typically great form, Geoff's keyboard work remains amazing, and I'm surprised by how well Alan seems to have recovered from his recent back surgery - he's still capable of pounding that snare like nobody else, plus it sounds if as he was trying to get in some breakneck tom fills once again, which is a contrast from performances just a few months before. My hope has been restored somewhat by this latest video...

 

Sounds very good. Glad to see Alan playing.

 

last clip there sounded pretty good to me.