On my way to the Stockholm YES concert

[ThomasJedenfelt]

Hi Everyone!

Just let you know about a fantastic event for me.

In a few hours I will see YES live for the first time.

This will be a day to remember.

Thomas :)

[Avian(Admin)]

Alright! Have a great time!

I remember my first time... at a Yes concert... !

Avian

[ThomasJedenfelt]

Avian, All,

An evening to be remembered, indeed.

The last time this line-up visited Sweden
was in 1977. (http://www.svenskayes.com/konsert/index.html)

Arriving early at Cirkus, I could hear, very faint, the end of their soundcheck through the closed doors. The sound had rough edges, similar to a garage-band. Bad omen.

A slight tinnitus (which I'm not much aware of and with still perfect hearing) causes me to use ear plugs. With that mind, the sound was not great. Not well mixed with the orcherstra, too much low end notes from the bass-synth, slight distortion from the speakers every now and then, Alan's bass-drum did sound too much heavy-metal-like on accented notes and the tom-toms didn't have the usual characteristics.

Even Chris noticed the speaker distortion when standing in front of them.

What I can remember, the playlist was...
Orchestral intro
1. Close to the Edge
2. Don't stop
The Clap
Long Distance Runaround
Gates of Delirium
Ritual
Starship Trooper
I've Seen All the Good People
And You And I

I don't remember the order, saved for the first two.

Chis' solos (two, I think; Gates, Starship) was not up to his (early?) standards and seemed unfocused and not well executed.

An orchestra can't replace Rick. He was needed, though the orchestra did a fine job. As did the keyboard player, who was very skilled.

(Bear in mind that I have their live and studio records as a reference, and this is but my personal perception of the performance.)

Only one encoure (one song). It seemed a bit strange with prolonged standing ovations after every song. They were long aspired for. But, they are not youngsters anymore. Age and much touring probably takes its toll.

Nevertheless, it was a wonderful exeperience and everybody had a great time. It wouldn't have mattered to me if their guitars weren't in tune or of false vocal notes.

Thomas

[Powerslave]

Reminds me of my first Rush concert (TFE tour). A great show all-around. The highlights were the complete "2112" (which started precisely at 9:12 PM by my watch, or 21:12 in military time!) and Natural Science (the guy next to us had been to 12 concerts and had never heard that one live!). But the encore was just a big tease. They came back and played YYZ, and as they neared the end, the opening notes of Cygnus X-1 were played. I freaked. My favorite Rush track as the concert closer! Then they just stopped playing. I felt so used. But hell, they'd been playing for almost 3 hours, and the rest of the show was awesome. Can't wait to go to my second.

[progdirjim(Admin)]

Natural Science? The only time I saw them play that was on the Permanent Waves tour (great show, BTW). Yes, that was 1980. I really am that old...

[Powerslave]

They really did play it. It took everyone at the Target Center about 45 seconds to realize it, but everyone enjoyed it thoroughly. The next year "Three Different Stages--Live" was released and the first two discs contained the set list for the TFE tour, including Natural Science and 2112. One of the few live CD's I own. The new "Rhythm Method" was also THE BOMB! I never checked to see if you have it, but the best drum solo ever definitely belongs on AM (my personal fave was the version from ASOH--not too long, concise, and complex--but the new one was about twice the length and I can't really tell whats parts were new). I should pull that monster out again and give myself a fix.

[Harpo1973]

I saw Yes in July at a spectacular venue at Clearlake California. Third time I saw Yes. BEST CONCERT in my life. Playlist is accurate, they did play a song from "Magnification" and of course "Roundabout". I think our concert was longer than others on the tours; they also played - I am blanking on the title - "Hot color turning the anger to stone...did we really count to 100". Women really liked that song. The finale was "Starship Trooper" with about 8 members of the Symphony Orchestra. BETTER THAN STUDIO VERSION. Also Yes played a total percusssion piece with some hu magus drums.

I have always loved Yes since the early 70s. However, I did not even realize that "Prog" existed until this concert. I was fascinated that there were many 20 somethings in the audience and asked someone , how they know about such an ancient group. One guy replied, "They are the Gods of Prog."!

Thank you for such a great site as I use it to screen purchases - I have boughten Camel's Snow Goose and Renaissance from what I have heard here.

**NEWS ABOUT YES' MAGNIFCATION ALBUM**** Comes out Dec 4 in US. Go to YesWorld.com for details but stores like Borders will have a bonus CD to go with Magnification. What CD depends on store.

[Powerslave]

Unless I'm horribly mistaken, the song you mentioned was "Long Distance Runaround." It's been a while since I listened to Fragile, though, so I can't be sure.

[Yesspaz]

Yeah, it's Long Distance Runaround, and the "all drum piece" is part of Ritual.