Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, and How(e)!

I was going to write about my very first concert next. But today is the 17^th anniversary of seeing my favorite band Yes in concert for the first time. Well, they weren’t really Yes, and they weren’t my favorite band yet, but I was just getting to know them. March 19, 1990 at the Spectrum Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, Howe was a band of former Yes members who got together in the late 1980s. These were the some of the guys who did Fragile and Close to the Edge, absolute masterpieces. I stumbled onto ABWH, and from there Yes, when I was 14. I missed them in concert. They played a show in August 1989, just as I was finding out about them, and it sold out quickly. But they came back.

I heard it on the radio that they were doing another concert, this time in March, 1990. I had a few of their cassettes by now: ABWH, Classic Yes, and maybe Fragile and 90125. I had also seen their pay-per-view concert, and practically had the setlist memorized. I was ready.

None of my friends liked Yes. My usual concert partner A refused to go along. I learned later on that A divided bands (and other things) into three categories: bands I was allowed to like; bands she didn’t like, so I wasn’t allowed to like; and bands she kept to herself so she would be cooler and more knowledgeable than me. Yes was a band I wasn’t allowed to like. Woops.

At the time, I was supposed to have a parent chaperone to go to a concert. (That’s what my parents thought, but A’s mom decided it was easier to drop us off and provide a cover to my parents.) Since I had to go to this one, we decided my dad and I would go by ourselves. My dad was 57 at the time, did not like rock music, and was the oldest person ever to go to a concert. This was his 4^th concert.

I waited in line for tickets at Strawberries on Cottman Avenue near the mall. This was my first time waiting there. Bill was in line, but we didn’t meet til later that year. I got the best tickets of my concert-going life! I was going to be on the floor! Section 104, row 14. Square in the middle of the Spectrum floor. I grew to hate floor seats, with everyone standing on their chairs and not able to see a thing, but everyone sat at this show. I had a great view, and good sound about 30 rows back.

The day of the show, I was sick. It was more like, the year of the show, I was sick. I was tired, had a low fever, no appetite, sore throat that lasted forever. The doctor kept testing me for mono, but that wasn’t it. He eventually gave me diagnoses of exercise-induced asthma and chronic fatigue syndrome, to give my school something to call it. When I felt up to it, I went to school and went out, no matter what my stats said. I went through something similar in grad school, and looking back, I think both times were caused by stress. I was not going to miss this concert. My parents relented, because my dad would be there and could drive me home if I got too tired.

I had watched the pay-per-view so many times; I knew what was going to happen at the concert. In that show, Jon Anderson opened by walking through the audience and singing. I was on the floor, right near the center aisle, but he didn’t do it this time. I have a bootleg recording of this show. My memories are pretty vivid, but confirmed by getting more listens to it. The show opened the same way – solos from all the band members and then the songs proper.

I hoped they were going to do my new favorite song, Heart of the Sunrise. They did. It was on the pay-per-view, but after the corny “Any requests?” where the audience was encouraged to shout out song requests and Jon always heard someone yelling for HOTS. There was a chance it didn’t have a regular part in the setlist. But even at age 15, I wasn’t naïve enough to think they’d pull off a song that intricate without rehearsing, just because a fan yelled for it.

There were some other musicians on stage too. I was not yet familiar with Tony Levin, but he’s become one of my favorites. I love 80s era King Crimson. I still remember how cool the bass/drums duo with Tony and Bill Bruford was. The backing guitarist, I didn’t like so much. Who needs a second guitarist when you have Steve Howe in the band?! He was too loud during And You And I.

What I really remember is how Starship Trooper was as an encore. It had so much energy. We cheered and cheered. I didn’t know how they could follow it up. They needed something just as high energy. They came back out for a second encore and did just the second half of I’ve Seen All Good People. I didn’t know it at the time, but that was the first time in Yes history they played just the All Good People part of the song. According to Forgotten Yesterdays, they only did this twice ever. It was the perfect ending.

We didn’t have school the next day; I think it was an in-service day for teachers. My parents wouldn’t let me go out, because of the sick thing. Debbie came over, and I showed her my program. My dad surprised me, by knowing all the band members’ names and instruments. He said the show was better than he thought it would be, and he even liked Wakeman’s solo.

This was the first Yes concert of many, I be telling you.

Edited to add: I forgot the stats.
ABWH
Spectrum Arena
Philadelphia, PA
Monday, March 19, 1990
Section 104, Row 12, Seat 17
$17.50