Jon Anderson
Intimate - Solo - Acoustic
Mongo's Saloon
Grover Beach, CA
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Level Floor, Section A, Row 2, Seat 5
$45
Jon Anderson has been my favorite singer, favorite songwriter, favorite musician, favorite rock star, hero, idol since I was a teenager. I've loved his music for close to twenty years and I've been a fanatic for over the last fifteen. Roy and I both love him as well as his music.
Jon got seriously ill last year, suffering from acute respiratory failure. There were stories around that he was suffering from other health problems as well, and was on doctor's orders to rest for at least six months. It felt to me like this was happening to a dear friend rather than a distant rock star. He had asthma problems on a previous Yes tour in 2004 and has only done low-key touring of a few weeks at a time since then. Last summer was supposed to be the first Yes tour in four years, but it had to be canceled. Who knows if Jon will ever recover enough to do a big tour like that again?
We didn't know if he'd be able to sing again, if this would force the end of his career. Thankfully, that wasn't the case. Jon started sending updates through Facebook and Twitter, song lyrics, some new music, notes about how he was feeling. In the last month, a tour of Europe was announced. I think he's doing this the right way, a very light touring schedule that is more like a vacation with occasional shows than a daily grind of traveling. I thought how I would love to see his first show back, but I couldn't justify going to Poland for it!
I'm a Facebook addict. One morning, I was already running late to work, but I had to go to my computer and check for updates one last time. This one instance justifies all the time I waste on the computer. Jon posted:
"6th of June, I will be doing a solo show here at 'Mongo's in Grover Beach to celebrate my 'Honey' Janee's birthday, weeeeeee"
This would be the first show. I wanted to go for a number of reasons: I love being at his concerts and thought I'd never see one again, I went to the greatest concert of my life at nearby San Luis Obispo and Roy and I loved going back to the area, and like my friend Dian said to me, we wanted to show support for Jon, that we were there for him.
There was no question that Roy and I were going. I called the venue and confirmed that the show was taking place. We booked our flight that night. The show was on a Saturday night, and I was trying to conserve vacation days. Roy called it a whirlwind tour - we flew out to LA Friday night, drove up to SLO Saturday morning, saw the show Saturday night, and on Sunday, drove back to LA and flew home. We hit bad traffic on the drive back to LA and I was scared we'd miss our flight, but everything else was relaxed and well-paced.
Roy and I met in San Luis Obispo at the Yes concerts in 1996 at the Coffee Merchant and sat next to each other at dinner at the 1865 restaurant. Five years later, we visited the city again, and Roy proposed to me at the gazebo at Apple Farms. We didn't have any real plans for the day, just to visit our favorite spots in the city again. We walked by the Fremont Theater, where Yes played those legendary shows. It was between movies, so I asked the staff if we could take a look around. It's wonderful being in that room again. I softly sang the opening of Revealing Science to Roy to relive it a little bit. I wanted to tell Jon about this later on if I got the chance.
In addition to seeing Jon and SLO again, I also got to see some friends. We didn't make any plans beforehand, but a bunch of us went to Mongo's for dinner. Roy and I caught up with some acquaintances we hadn't seen in years. The place was really a bar with seats set up for the concert and tables for communal dining in back. We talked to another couple at our table. The guy was a long-time Yes fan, but had never seen Jon in a solo setting. I described my expectations to him: Jon wasn't a great instrumentalist, but the show would be very intimate and special. I was a little worried about how he'd look and sound after his illness.
A great surprise was learning our friend Steve would be at the show. Steve has been suffering from a degenerative disease for over a decade now. We last saw him in 2004 when he was living in Ohio. Since then, his e-mail addresses were no longer in use and we lost touch with him. It was such a relief to see him doing relatively well and to exchange contact information again. Steve is living in California again and is engaged to be married. This was his fiance's first Jon show; she seemed very nice. We talked to Steve for a while. It really is the people as much as the music that makes traveling and attending shows so important to me.
We got to our seats with plenty of time before the show started. We were in the second row, dead center. The stage setup was very nice. There were a number of candles resting in little swings hanging from the ceiling. There was an Olias symbol in back. It didn't look expensive, but it was effective in setting the mood. There were some tables in a raised section off to the side for Jon's friends and family. This show was in honor of his wife Jane's birthday. I've spoken with her a few times, but some of my acquaintances know her better. The tables were decorated with birthday balloons.
Jon came on stage a little after 9 (11pm St. Louis time). The first song was Yours Is No Disgrace. His voice sounded great, no issues at all. This song came across well all the other times I've seen him perform it at his solo shows. This time, he stopped in the middle twice to tune his guitar. He made some jokes that he had paid a guy $25 to tune it for him and later that this was like a nightmare come to life. I honestly didn't notice the guitar sounding that off. The next song, Long Distance Runaround, he also had a problem with, and stopped the song partway through.
It was a shaky opening. Afterwards, it was dramatically tighter. The next two songs were a couple of early Yes songs, Time and a Word and Sweet Dreams. Time and a Word was done in a reggae style and Jon sang a little bit of the Beatles' She Loves You with it. Sweet Dreams was a favorite of Jane's, he told the audience.
I don't know if it was because of the birthday party or just that it was a local show, but Jon seemed very relaxed. He joked about recognizing most of us from the local grocery store. While his voice sounded fine, he looked like he had lost a lot of weight. I didn't see it so much in his face, but he wore jeans that were quite narrow, but they looked baggy on him. He also had on a t-shirt with an open button-down shirt over it. I was so close and Jon was talking to us, rather than doing on-stage patter, I felt like we were all in a living room listening to music. Roy described the show as being heartfelt.
Jon played a few new songs, lyrically dealing with his illness and recovery. He spoke about it too, how this was his first show in 16 months, but he didn't get into any details of his illnesses or with his relationship with the other Yes guys.
The song that hit me the most was I'll Find My Way Home. I remember seeing Jon in Philly in 2004. I was visiting my hometown and very homesick. I reunited with a bunch of my old friends. Jon hadn't played that song the night before and it really got to me. This time, I found my way home in a different sense - in the audience at one of Jon's shows with so many ties to Jon and my friends in the audience - and I thought I might never get that opportunity again.
But if my spirit is strong
I know it can't be long
No question, I'm not alone
Somehow I'll find my way home
That song always gets to me, this night particularly so. And Jon is home too, back on stage, bringing us together. I am so glad I went on this trip.
Jon did fewer of his solo songs than I expected. He did a couple unreleased songs that he performed on his previous solo tours, and three strong new ones. But the bulk of the show was Yes songs. In addition to the four he started out with, he played: Wonderous Stories, Owner of a Lonely Heart, a full Long Distance Runaround, And You And I, Starship Trooper, I've Seen All Good People, Roundabout, and Soon.
There was a fun moment for me during Wonderous Stories. Jon is notorious for forgetting lyrics. During the lines "In the giving of my eyes/to see your face", he got to "In the giving of my" and got stuck. People were yelling out the next line, but he was stuck on the word "eyes". I yelled out "eyes". Jon heard me and said okay.
It's actually on YouTube already. I can hear myself at the :06 second mark.
Owner was another highlight for me. I remember how he did this on his first solo tour - it was karaoke style and just awful. Now, he was playing it on guitar and vocalizing parts that he couldn't produce himself on the guitar. It was still lively, but it suited him better.
Owner was the end of the first set. Jon took an intermission. Everything was so low-key, people were still up and about when he started the second set on electric piano. He played a melody similar to what he had done on previous tours - a song called Set Sail, joined with snippets of Close to the Edge and Revealing Science of God. There was a new piece in there this time, a love song to his wife. I can only imagine what they've gone through during the past year. The chorus was "Will you marry me again?" and he sang it directly to her. It was sweet.
I started laughing during I've Seen All Good People. I've only seen Jon do the first half of this song in his solo songs, not the repetitive second half. A few years back, my friend Angela took me to a karaoke bar and sang this song for me. She told me it felt much longer than eight minutes. That refrain kept popping up on the lyric screen over and over again. "I've seen all good people turn their heads each day, so satisfied I'm on my way." Well, Jon went into this part of the song and it just seemed to me that he was thinking the same thing. It's a lot easier to play this song when the band is taking short solos in between the vocal sections and everyone is up and dancing. Otherwise, it's very repetitive, there's no cues, and he's just singing the same thing over and over again. After a few times of singing the line, he got the audience to clap along. That helped. But I can't imagine he'll want to do the full song live again.
After Roundabout, Jon led us in singing Happy Birthday to Jane. A fan had called out earlier for Gates of Delirium. Jon obliged with the last part of the song, Soon. That's a song that's a good test of his vocals. Yes have played that song on some tours early on in the tour, and then dropped it as it gets too hard to sing night after night. Jon sounded wonderful, although he messed up on the guitar part a little. That was the end of the show. He left the stage. Jane stayed at her seat for a while, and everyone was applauding for an encore. But that was it. Jon looked tired by the end of the show. He had played less than 90 minutes. I am so glad he feels well enough to perform, but I also understand that he's a long way from being able to do a Yes tour with long shows and traveling every day. He's still so fragile.
Had Jon and Jane left for good? I was hoping to get a chance to talk to him. I know he saw us in the audience.
After the show, Roy and I spent some time catching up with Dian. I talked to Steve again, and a group of friends that know Jon and Jane better than I do. Jon's road manager, Paul Silviera came over to us and said that Jane asked us (meaning the others in my group) to stick around because they were coming back. The venue wasn't making anyone leave. I asked Dian if she thought it was okay if Roy and I stayed too, and she thought it would be. A group of us went outside to the patio to talk and had a nice time catching up.
Jon and Jane came back to the venue. Jon had changed his clothes. He was still wearing jeans and sneakers, but he had on a dress shirt, suit jacket, and bowtie. Jon looked adorable. He came over to talk to us. He gave Dian a hug, and then came over to hug me. I tried to tell him my Fremont Theater story. I got out "We went to the Fremont Theater today", but other people were talking too and I didn't think he heard me. I said as much to Roy. Jon surprised me though, because he turned back to me and said he heard me and that he had played there before. I replied that I was at the show, but more people were talking while I rambled on about singing Revealing there that afternoon. After Jon had greeted everyone, I told him I'm glad he's doing better and we're all pulling for him.
Then, the party started.
When this show was listed on Mongo's website, it said
"After the show dance and party with Jon Anderson. Dancing & Cocktails til 1:30am."
I didn't believe it. It looked like something they'd write about a local band's concert and just stuck Jon's name there. But Jane was having her birthday party and we were still there. Jane came over and greeted some of my friends. I don't think she knows me well enough to recognize me. Dance music started playing on the loudspeakers. Clearly some of my friends were invited, and Roy and I were allowed to be there, but we felt like we were trespassing. I danced with Anne for the first song and then went back out to the patio. We said our goodbyes to everyone.
I walked back inside and saw the most surreal thing I've ever seen in my life. Jon Anderson of Yes dancing to some disco song with his wife. KC and the Sunshine Band's Do a little dance, make a little love, Get down tonight. I pictured Jon back in the late 1970s, always sounding so serious and sincere in talking to the audience or in interviews, making music, dancing to Get Down Tonight. It doesn't even seem like he existed in the same world as disco. Now, I've seen everything. We left while the song was going on.
The next day, we heard the song in the rental car shuttle to the airport.
I think this will be one of those special shows that people will talk about for the rest of our lives. We were able to celebrate Jon's returning health and strength along with him and his family and friends. Dian, who has been to many more Yes concerts than I have, but missed the SLO concerts wrote on my facebook wall: "After all these years, now SLO has personal significance for me too." All the shows Roy and I have seen there have been so special, so life-altering. I think it's the journey there, the music, but more importantly, the people - the musicians know something special is going on and the fans are open to receive it. It's the equivalent of a big group hug. We're all together there, all friends, the same things are important to us. It would be hard to turn down any Yes related show at SLO, just to capture that feeling again.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Rhea's 2004 Jon Anderson weekend Pt 3
Jon Anderson
Count Basie Theater
Red Bank, NJ
Sunday, January 11, 2004
Section Orchestra Left, Row B, Seat 11
$50
One of the hidden expenses of traveling is eating out every meal. We got lucky on Sunday - my parents took us out to brunch and we had dinner at a friend's house in New Jersey. It would have been a fun day even without the concert. The timing was a bit tight. We checked into our hotel right at 7, and then drove a couple blocks to the theater. If there had been any traffic, we might have been late.
This evening's venue was the Count Basie Theater in Red Bank, New Jersey. It seemed similar to the Keswick, being an older theater in the downtown of a small town. It could use some renovating - most of the seats had ripped fabric and the ornate decorations on the walls had cracks. Still had lots of charm and is so much nicer than going to a smoky club for a concert like this.
We stopped to talk to more friends in the lobby before the show. A group of us went to all three weekend shows, but we traveled separately and only caught up at the shows themselves. We decided to leave the auditorium and meet up in the autograph line early if Jon decided to play Owner as an encore again. One friend handed Roy two unmarked CDRs. On our ride back to the airport the next morning, we put them in and discovered it was a recording of the night before's show. Sweet.
This show was similar to the Glenside show, but with fewer mistakes. Jon did have some trouble with State of Independence, but he pulled it together. Yours Is No Disgrace and Richard were impressive all three nights. What I remember most about the performance were the unplanned moments. One of the questions was a request for Jon to sing Amazing Grace. He sang it unaccompanied and with no effects on his microphone. This man's voice is gorgeous. It made me wish he did more a capella.
One guy in the audience kept yelling for A Venture. It was getting on my nerves, but there was a big payoff for it. Towards the end of the show, Jon sang the first line. I was surprised that he remembered it after all these years. Was this the first ever performance of any bit of A Venture?
The other thing that stands out is little tidbits about Yes that Jon mentioned. Come to think of it, I'm not sure which night he told us these things, but I think it was Sunday. Jon said that Yes was talking about doing On the Silent Wings of Freedom this year. There was a good crowd response, and then Jon said that he should give all of us Chris Squire's phone number, to talk him into it. See, I thought that Chris would have been the one to want this song, since he plays a bit of it in his solo and it's so bass-y. Jon also made a little poke at Chris' falling down on one knee act during The Fish. The other interesting thing is that Steve Howe doesn't like the harp section of Awaken.
We were in the front row again, this time off to the side on the left audience section. During the intermission, I met up with YesSwap and progcookies members Fred and Stephen. I didn't know how I was going to find them, but they met up with my friend Carrie, so she pulled me over to their group. Fred and Stephen had identical seats to me, but on the right side. It's nice to put faces and voices to names, even though we didn't have a lot of time to talk.
It was time for the encore. Jon said he was going to do the same song as the night before, but last night's version was "silly". We got up and walked towards the back of the theater. I found that I couldn't actually leave the room while Jon was on stage. So Roy and I watched it from the back. It really wasn't as bad as Saturday night's, but I couldn't take the whole karaoke thing seriously.
There were already quite a few people in the autograph line. I had gotten everything signed that I brought with me, but I can't pass up an opportunity to talk to Jon. I ended up getting my ticket stub signed. I told Jon I sometimes wished I could quit my job and just go to all of his concerts. He said he'd see us in the spring.
I wasn't ready to leave yet. Roy and I hung out in the lobby, talking to friends and watching Jon sign autographs. When Jon was getting ready to leave, I approached him again and wished him good luck for the rest of the tour. Roy and I had talked a little about flying down to Florida the next weekend for more shows, but it looked like this was going to be it. The first show was my favorite, and had a real special quality to it, but my favorite overall moment was Amazing Grace the last night.
There's a little post script to this story. We stayed at a hotel that was listed on the venue's website. It was a nice place, and only a few blocks away. We went to the hotel restaurant for breakfast the next morning, and Roy was wearing a Yes sweatshirt. The host asked if we were with the Andersons. They didn't come to the restaurant while we were there, and I didn't see them anywhere else in the hotel.
Count Basie Theater
Red Bank, NJ
Sunday, January 11, 2004
Section Orchestra Left, Row B, Seat 11
$50
One of the hidden expenses of traveling is eating out every meal. We got lucky on Sunday - my parents took us out to brunch and we had dinner at a friend's house in New Jersey. It would have been a fun day even without the concert. The timing was a bit tight. We checked into our hotel right at 7, and then drove a couple blocks to the theater. If there had been any traffic, we might have been late.
This evening's venue was the Count Basie Theater in Red Bank, New Jersey. It seemed similar to the Keswick, being an older theater in the downtown of a small town. It could use some renovating - most of the seats had ripped fabric and the ornate decorations on the walls had cracks. Still had lots of charm and is so much nicer than going to a smoky club for a concert like this.
We stopped to talk to more friends in the lobby before the show. A group of us went to all three weekend shows, but we traveled separately and only caught up at the shows themselves. We decided to leave the auditorium and meet up in the autograph line early if Jon decided to play Owner as an encore again. One friend handed Roy two unmarked CDRs. On our ride back to the airport the next morning, we put them in and discovered it was a recording of the night before's show. Sweet.
This show was similar to the Glenside show, but with fewer mistakes. Jon did have some trouble with State of Independence, but he pulled it together. Yours Is No Disgrace and Richard were impressive all three nights. What I remember most about the performance were the unplanned moments. One of the questions was a request for Jon to sing Amazing Grace. He sang it unaccompanied and with no effects on his microphone. This man's voice is gorgeous. It made me wish he did more a capella.
One guy in the audience kept yelling for A Venture. It was getting on my nerves, but there was a big payoff for it. Towards the end of the show, Jon sang the first line. I was surprised that he remembered it after all these years. Was this the first ever performance of any bit of A Venture?
The other thing that stands out is little tidbits about Yes that Jon mentioned. Come to think of it, I'm not sure which night he told us these things, but I think it was Sunday. Jon said that Yes was talking about doing On the Silent Wings of Freedom this year. There was a good crowd response, and then Jon said that he should give all of us Chris Squire's phone number, to talk him into it. See, I thought that Chris would have been the one to want this song, since he plays a bit of it in his solo and it's so bass-y. Jon also made a little poke at Chris' falling down on one knee act during The Fish. The other interesting thing is that Steve Howe doesn't like the harp section of Awaken.
We were in the front row again, this time off to the side on the left audience section. During the intermission, I met up with YesSwap and progcookies members Fred and Stephen. I didn't know how I was going to find them, but they met up with my friend Carrie, so she pulled me over to their group. Fred and Stephen had identical seats to me, but on the right side. It's nice to put faces and voices to names, even though we didn't have a lot of time to talk.
It was time for the encore. Jon said he was going to do the same song as the night before, but last night's version was "silly". We got up and walked towards the back of the theater. I found that I couldn't actually leave the room while Jon was on stage. So Roy and I watched it from the back. It really wasn't as bad as Saturday night's, but I couldn't take the whole karaoke thing seriously.
There were already quite a few people in the autograph line. I had gotten everything signed that I brought with me, but I can't pass up an opportunity to talk to Jon. I ended up getting my ticket stub signed. I told Jon I sometimes wished I could quit my job and just go to all of his concerts. He said he'd see us in the spring.
I wasn't ready to leave yet. Roy and I hung out in the lobby, talking to friends and watching Jon sign autographs. When Jon was getting ready to leave, I approached him again and wished him good luck for the rest of the tour. Roy and I had talked a little about flying down to Florida the next weekend for more shows, but it looked like this was going to be it. The first show was my favorite, and had a real special quality to it, but my favorite overall moment was Amazing Grace the last night.
There's a little post script to this story. We stayed at a hotel that was listed on the venue's website. It was a nice place, and only a few blocks away. We went to the hotel restaurant for breakfast the next morning, and Roy was wearing a Yes sweatshirt. The host asked if we were with the Andersons. They didn't come to the restaurant while we were there, and I didn't see them anywhere else in the hotel.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Rhea's 2004 Jon Anderson weekend Pt 2
Jon Anderson
Keswick Theater
Glenside (Philadelphia), PA
Saturday, January 10, 2004
Section Pit, Row CCC, Seat 6
$35
On Saturday, Roy and I drove to Philly. I grew up there and I still consider it home. I try to get back there for shows when I can. We had dinner plans with a couple friends before the show. I used to work in Jenkintown, about a mile from the Keswick Theater, and I chose a place that I thought would be easy to find.
Linda was there waiting for us. She was one of my hotel-roommates at SLO and she's known Roy for longer than I have. Even though she bought her ticket weeks after we did, she ended up with a seat in the orchestra pit. Our seats were 18 rows back. At one point when we were making plans, I asked her as a joke "Any chance you'd want to catch up with Roy during the show and switch tickets with me?" with a winky face. Before the show, Linda asked me if I still wanted to trade seats with her. Wow.
My friend Scott was also supposed to be at dinner, but he didn't make it. He got lost on the way and went straight to the theater. We saw him there, along with a lot of other Philly Yes friends. The biggest surprise was bumping into my friend Bill. He had dropped out of fandom ages ago, so I wasn't expecting to see him at the concert. I hadn't talked to him since moving to St. Louis, so I yelled from my seat that I got married and was still living out there. Ironically, he only noticed me because I was sitting a few rows in front of him in Linda's seat.
The show started, the same as usual. Jon played Boundaries this time, and dropped Soon. There was an intermission, and Your Move closed the first set. Revealing was a little longer this time, with the "what happened to this song" section added in. Jon did a little joke all three nights when he sat at the keyboard. He told us how he broke his back over a year ago, and spent a lot of time sitting at the piano with his brace on. He started to play around a little bit, and then went into a fast show-offy piece. Everyone applauded. He spoke some more, and then played that bit again. This time, he very obviously took his hands off of the keyboard and adjusted his microphone, so everyone could see that he wasn't really playing it. This got a big laugh and an even bigger applause. A fan yelled out "Heart of the Sunrise", and Jon sang the beginning instrumental part and said "Yeah, I can play that" with a little sarcasm. We laughed with him on that one.
At the intermission, I ran back to talk to Bill. He was the first fellow Yes fan I met, back when I was 14 and most of my friends still listened to New Kids on the Block. He's a dozen years older than me, and became a big brother and a role model. For those of you who know the Yes jacket I have with the back cover of Fragile airbrushed on the back, Bill painted it for me. (If you have a recording of Yes when they played on Fox After Breakfast, you can get a good look at the jacket.) We did some quick catching up, and he told me that I was all grown up and that he was proud of me.
Jon came back on stage and played I'll Find My Way Home. I don't know if it was the song itself, or all the feelings of homesickness, or just seeing all these people from my past, but it really got to me. This was the most emotional I got during the shows.
Jon answered some more fan questions, including mine. These questions were completely unscreened - no one read them in advance to filter out certain ones. I wrote down a two parter - "do you ever look at fan Internet sites or discussion groups?" and "What do you think of releasing live archived recordings?" Jon didn't answer the first one. The second one, he said that when Rick rejoined the band, he wondered why there were so many bootlegs and why Yes wasn't releasing this stuff. This turned into a rant on bad management.
There were some funny questions the next night. Someone asked Jon if he believed Jesus was god or just a prophet. Jon kind of walked around the question. The next question was about influences, and Jon proclaimed that the Beatles were gods. I think that answered the first question as well!
The show itself was somewhat of a letdown after opening night. Some of the things I chalked up to nervousness at the previous show were looking sloppy. Jon had trouble with Nous Sommes du Soleil and it fell apart in the end. I think it was the first time I didn't give a standing ovation to a Tales song. It didn't deserve it.
The true low point was the encore. Before the tour, I didn't know how much Jon was going to rely on backing tapes. I didn't want this to be Yes karaoke. And it wasn't, until this point. Jon sang Owner of a Lonely Heart as the encore. It was bad. He messed up the lyrics and lost his place in the song. It was a catastrophe. Later on, I discussed with another YesSwapper that this was the worst live Yes moment we had ever seen, even worse than No Way We Can Lose in Hartford opening night of the 1997 tour. (To be fair, I wasn't at Toronto in 1998 for Close to the Edge.) This brought the whole show down. It was a bummer to have this as the last song, and not have a
more successful song to send us off. I was hoping he'd do Soon as a real finale, but he didn't play it this night.
I met up with Roy, and we got in the autograph line with Scott. I had hoped to see Bill again, because he planned to wait to meet Jon, but he must have left already. Darn, I just realized I forgot to introduce Scott to Rene! They know each other through YesSwap. We were towards the end of the line, so we had lots more time to chat. Scott had never had the chance to meet Jon before, and he was really excited.
I brought the new remasters of Tales and Relayer. (Yet another good thing about the remasters is more CDs to get autographs. I already got my old Tales and Relayer autographed by all the respective band members.) I told Jon the story of how I didn't like Tales when I first got it, but my friend Scott raved about it so much that I gave it a second chance and listened to it over and over. It's now my favorite album of all time. Jon said that it's a hard album to get into, and that it's Jane's favorite too. She was sitting next to him and chimed in that she only listens to it when he's not home because he doesn't like listening to it anymore.
Keswick Theater
Glenside (Philadelphia), PA
Saturday, January 10, 2004
Section Pit, Row CCC, Seat 6
$35
On Saturday, Roy and I drove to Philly. I grew up there and I still consider it home. I try to get back there for shows when I can. We had dinner plans with a couple friends before the show. I used to work in Jenkintown, about a mile from the Keswick Theater, and I chose a place that I thought would be easy to find.
Linda was there waiting for us. She was one of my hotel-roommates at SLO and she's known Roy for longer than I have. Even though she bought her ticket weeks after we did, she ended up with a seat in the orchestra pit. Our seats were 18 rows back. At one point when we were making plans, I asked her as a joke "Any chance you'd want to catch up with Roy during the show and switch tickets with me?" with a winky face. Before the show, Linda asked me if I still wanted to trade seats with her. Wow.
My friend Scott was also supposed to be at dinner, but he didn't make it. He got lost on the way and went straight to the theater. We saw him there, along with a lot of other Philly Yes friends. The biggest surprise was bumping into my friend Bill. He had dropped out of fandom ages ago, so I wasn't expecting to see him at the concert. I hadn't talked to him since moving to St. Louis, so I yelled from my seat that I got married and was still living out there. Ironically, he only noticed me because I was sitting a few rows in front of him in Linda's seat.
The show started, the same as usual. Jon played Boundaries this time, and dropped Soon. There was an intermission, and Your Move closed the first set. Revealing was a little longer this time, with the "what happened to this song" section added in. Jon did a little joke all three nights when he sat at the keyboard. He told us how he broke his back over a year ago, and spent a lot of time sitting at the piano with his brace on. He started to play around a little bit, and then went into a fast show-offy piece. Everyone applauded. He spoke some more, and then played that bit again. This time, he very obviously took his hands off of the keyboard and adjusted his microphone, so everyone could see that he wasn't really playing it. This got a big laugh and an even bigger applause. A fan yelled out "Heart of the Sunrise", and Jon sang the beginning instrumental part and said "Yeah, I can play that" with a little sarcasm. We laughed with him on that one.
At the intermission, I ran back to talk to Bill. He was the first fellow Yes fan I met, back when I was 14 and most of my friends still listened to New Kids on the Block. He's a dozen years older than me, and became a big brother and a role model. For those of you who know the Yes jacket I have with the back cover of Fragile airbrushed on the back, Bill painted it for me. (If you have a recording of Yes when they played on Fox After Breakfast, you can get a good look at the jacket.) We did some quick catching up, and he told me that I was all grown up and that he was proud of me.
Jon came back on stage and played I'll Find My Way Home. I don't know if it was the song itself, or all the feelings of homesickness, or just seeing all these people from my past, but it really got to me. This was the most emotional I got during the shows.
Jon answered some more fan questions, including mine. These questions were completely unscreened - no one read them in advance to filter out certain ones. I wrote down a two parter - "do you ever look at fan Internet sites or discussion groups?" and "What do you think of releasing live archived recordings?" Jon didn't answer the first one. The second one, he said that when Rick rejoined the band, he wondered why there were so many bootlegs and why Yes wasn't releasing this stuff. This turned into a rant on bad management.
There were some funny questions the next night. Someone asked Jon if he believed Jesus was god or just a prophet. Jon kind of walked around the question. The next question was about influences, and Jon proclaimed that the Beatles were gods. I think that answered the first question as well!
The show itself was somewhat of a letdown after opening night. Some of the things I chalked up to nervousness at the previous show were looking sloppy. Jon had trouble with Nous Sommes du Soleil and it fell apart in the end. I think it was the first time I didn't give a standing ovation to a Tales song. It didn't deserve it.
The true low point was the encore. Before the tour, I didn't know how much Jon was going to rely on backing tapes. I didn't want this to be Yes karaoke. And it wasn't, until this point. Jon sang Owner of a Lonely Heart as the encore. It was bad. He messed up the lyrics and lost his place in the song. It was a catastrophe. Later on, I discussed with another YesSwapper that this was the worst live Yes moment we had ever seen, even worse than No Way We Can Lose in Hartford opening night of the 1997 tour. (To be fair, I wasn't at Toronto in 1998 for Close to the Edge.) This brought the whole show down. It was a bummer to have this as the last song, and not have a
more successful song to send us off. I was hoping he'd do Soon as a real finale, but he didn't play it this night.
I met up with Roy, and we got in the autograph line with Scott. I had hoped to see Bill again, because he planned to wait to meet Jon, but he must have left already. Darn, I just realized I forgot to introduce Scott to Rene! They know each other through YesSwap. We were towards the end of the line, so we had lots more time to chat. Scott had never had the chance to meet Jon before, and he was really excited.
I brought the new remasters of Tales and Relayer. (Yet another good thing about the remasters is more CDs to get autographs. I already got my old Tales and Relayer autographed by all the respective band members.) I told Jon the story of how I didn't like Tales when I first got it, but my friend Scott raved about it so much that I gave it a second chance and listened to it over and over. It's now my favorite album of all time. Jon said that it's a hard album to get into, and that it's Jane's favorite too. She was sitting next to him and chimed in that she only listens to it when he's not home because he doesn't like listening to it anymore.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Rhea's 2004 Jon Anderson weekend Pt 1
Jon Anderson
Trump Marina - The Shell
Atlantic City, NJ
Friday, January 9, 2004
General Admission
$39.70
These are some stories from the archive. Roy and I flew out to Philly for the first three dates of Jon Anderson's Work in Progress Tour of the Universe. I e-mailed this one out to some Yes and prog mailing lists on 1/13/2004, just days after the concert weekend. I'm adding this series to the blog in honor of Jon Anderson's upcoming return to live performance. Welcome back Jon!
I'm still digesting this weekend. I went to the first three shows, had great seats, got to talk to Jon all three nights, and met up with friends I don't get to see too often. There are spoilers below.
My husband Roy and I flew out to Philly on Friday and drove to the Trump Marina hotel Atlantic City. It's where we stayed and where the concert was. I am anal about general admission shows. I like to get in line ridiculously early to make sure I get a good seat. This club had maitre d seating, and I didn't know whether we'd have to bribe some usher to sit us up front. I kept some money in my front pocket just in case.
We found out where the club was, and no one was in line yet. It was 3, and doors were supposed to open at 8. So I agreed to gamble a little and meet up with some friends for dinner. Right after dinner, I practically ran to the line. I was 5th. Roy joined me, and the rest of our dinner party wasn't too far behind in line.
The doors opened, and the first two groups got seated. Our usher asked how we were doing. I gushed "I'm so excited. We came all the way from St. Louis to see the show!" He said we could sit anywhere we wanted. :-) We took the seats in the front row next to the chair with the reserved sign on it. Our friends weren't quite as lucky. Their usher was going to seat them further back, and they had to bribe him to sit by us.
The show starts out with a new song, then Long Distance Runaround, then another new one. After that, it changed a little from night to night. I noticed that most of the Yes songs had no backing tapes, but most of his new songs did. Jon is a competent instrumentalist - he plays guitar, keyboards, and harp during the show. He looked nervous that night, but held everything together well. A friend of mine planned to tape the show with his cassette recorder. He got the first 45 minutes of it. Being in the front row, he couldn't pull out his tape deck to flip the tape!
Jane sat next to me. I like to dance around in my chair and sing along quietly, but I wasn't sure quite how to act with her right there. I noticed that she was singing along to the Yes songs, so I did too. During State of Independence, I yelled out "Third World" at the same time she did. She turned to me, put her hand on my arm, and said "good job!" That song was one of the highlights for me. The next song was really impressive. Yours Is No Disgrace. Jon didn't play a difficult part on guitar, but it worked well and went beyond a few chords to accompany his voice.
This was supposed to be a multi-media presentation. There was a screen behind Jon that had different graphics on it. At one point, it showed a smiley face person playing guitar. I don't know if Jon meant it to be funny or just cute, but lots of us started giggling at it. At one point Jon turned around to look at the screen. He said after the song that at first he thought we were laughing at him for some reason.
Jon didn't give the names of many of the new songs. The songs I did recognize were Long Distance Runaround, State of Independence, Yours Is No Disgrace, Soon, Revealing Science of God opening chant, Nous Sommes du Soleil, Your Move, a song from Earth Mother Earth, and the biggest surprise - Richard! Jon said that Jane had requested that one, so I turned to her and thanked her.
There were a couple flubs, but they were more charming than anything else. At one of the new songs on the piano, Jon forgot a line and paused before looking at the lyric screen. YesSwapper Rene yelled out "You're so cute you can get away with it" in her Southern accent to Jon. He looked more relaxed after hearing that, and Jane turned around to say "bless you" to Rene. He went into Revealing after that, my favorite song. It seemed impromptu, and he had some trouble with the lyrics there. I wanted to yell them out for him, but he made it through.
There was an open guitar case at the end of the stage. Jon invited us to write down questions (along with $5 for charity) and put them into the case. He did two sessions of questions and answers.
Your Move was the encore. Jon started singing "Give Peace a Chance" during the first "dit dit dit" section and most of the audience joined him. It lost a bit of its direction. The next two nights, it worked much better. Jon shortened the song and instructed us to sing "dit dit dit" while he did Give Peace a Chance over us. I spoke to Jane for a little bit after the show, asking her to tell Jon how much we enjoyed the show. She thanked me, saying they were both so nervous about it.
Jon signed autographs after each show. The catch was, you had to buy a tshirt to get an autograph. We bought one the first night, and then figured we'd just drag it to all the shows. Ah, but the second night you got your hand stamped when you bought a shirt and the third night you got a ticket. We got away with getting in the meet and greet line each night with only buying that one tshirt.
I brought some of the new remasters and a limited edition copy of Magnification to get signed. The Magnification came with a purple jewel case with a silver Yes logo on it. I don't usually get jewel cases signed, but this one looked cool. I told Jon it was a import copy of Mag. He and Jane had never seen it, and spent some time looking at it. Jane recognized me, and told Jon that I had been singing along at the show. My big comment this night was to tell Jon that I became a fan of Yes during ABWH, and that Mag was my favorite CD of theirs since then. Jon said that it was the band's favorite too. Then he said, "well, the four of us". I asked whether they were going to do any more songs from Mag in concert. He said he wanted to do Give Love Each Day, but I'm not sure if he meant solo or with Yes. We were about to leave, but Jane asked if she could look at the Magnification package again. I don't know why I didn't just tell them they could have it.
That gave us an extra moment, so I thanked Jon for doing Revealing and told him that we'd be at the next two shows.
Trump Marina - The Shell
Atlantic City, NJ
Friday, January 9, 2004
General Admission
$39.70
These are some stories from the archive. Roy and I flew out to Philly for the first three dates of Jon Anderson's Work in Progress Tour of the Universe. I e-mailed this one out to some Yes and prog mailing lists on 1/13/2004, just days after the concert weekend. I'm adding this series to the blog in honor of Jon Anderson's upcoming return to live performance. Welcome back Jon!
I'm still digesting this weekend. I went to the first three shows, had great seats, got to talk to Jon all three nights, and met up with friends I don't get to see too often. There are spoilers below.
My husband Roy and I flew out to Philly on Friday and drove to the Trump Marina hotel Atlantic City. It's where we stayed and where the concert was. I am anal about general admission shows. I like to get in line ridiculously early to make sure I get a good seat. This club had maitre d seating, and I didn't know whether we'd have to bribe some usher to sit us up front. I kept some money in my front pocket just in case.
We found out where the club was, and no one was in line yet. It was 3, and doors were supposed to open at 8. So I agreed to gamble a little and meet up with some friends for dinner. Right after dinner, I practically ran to the line. I was 5th. Roy joined me, and the rest of our dinner party wasn't too far behind in line.
The doors opened, and the first two groups got seated. Our usher asked how we were doing. I gushed "I'm so excited. We came all the way from St. Louis to see the show!" He said we could sit anywhere we wanted. :-) We took the seats in the front row next to the chair with the reserved sign on it. Our friends weren't quite as lucky. Their usher was going to seat them further back, and they had to bribe him to sit by us.
The show starts out with a new song, then Long Distance Runaround, then another new one. After that, it changed a little from night to night. I noticed that most of the Yes songs had no backing tapes, but most of his new songs did. Jon is a competent instrumentalist - he plays guitar, keyboards, and harp during the show. He looked nervous that night, but held everything together well. A friend of mine planned to tape the show with his cassette recorder. He got the first 45 minutes of it. Being in the front row, he couldn't pull out his tape deck to flip the tape!
Jane sat next to me. I like to dance around in my chair and sing along quietly, but I wasn't sure quite how to act with her right there. I noticed that she was singing along to the Yes songs, so I did too. During State of Independence, I yelled out "Third World" at the same time she did. She turned to me, put her hand on my arm, and said "good job!" That song was one of the highlights for me. The next song was really impressive. Yours Is No Disgrace. Jon didn't play a difficult part on guitar, but it worked well and went beyond a few chords to accompany his voice.
This was supposed to be a multi-media presentation. There was a screen behind Jon that had different graphics on it. At one point, it showed a smiley face person playing guitar. I don't know if Jon meant it to be funny or just cute, but lots of us started giggling at it. At one point Jon turned around to look at the screen. He said after the song that at first he thought we were laughing at him for some reason.
Jon didn't give the names of many of the new songs. The songs I did recognize were Long Distance Runaround, State of Independence, Yours Is No Disgrace, Soon, Revealing Science of God opening chant, Nous Sommes du Soleil, Your Move, a song from Earth Mother Earth, and the biggest surprise - Richard! Jon said that Jane had requested that one, so I turned to her and thanked her.
There were a couple flubs, but they were more charming than anything else. At one of the new songs on the piano, Jon forgot a line and paused before looking at the lyric screen. YesSwapper Rene yelled out "You're so cute you can get away with it" in her Southern accent to Jon. He looked more relaxed after hearing that, and Jane turned around to say "bless you" to Rene. He went into Revealing after that, my favorite song. It seemed impromptu, and he had some trouble with the lyrics there. I wanted to yell them out for him, but he made it through.
There was an open guitar case at the end of the stage. Jon invited us to write down questions (along with $5 for charity) and put them into the case. He did two sessions of questions and answers.
Your Move was the encore. Jon started singing "Give Peace a Chance" during the first "dit dit dit" section and most of the audience joined him. It lost a bit of its direction. The next two nights, it worked much better. Jon shortened the song and instructed us to sing "dit dit dit" while he did Give Peace a Chance over us. I spoke to Jane for a little bit after the show, asking her to tell Jon how much we enjoyed the show. She thanked me, saying they were both so nervous about it.
Jon signed autographs after each show. The catch was, you had to buy a tshirt to get an autograph. We bought one the first night, and then figured we'd just drag it to all the shows. Ah, but the second night you got your hand stamped when you bought a shirt and the third night you got a ticket. We got away with getting in the meet and greet line each night with only buying that one tshirt.
I brought some of the new remasters and a limited edition copy of Magnification to get signed. The Magnification came with a purple jewel case with a silver Yes logo on it. I don't usually get jewel cases signed, but this one looked cool. I told Jon it was a import copy of Mag. He and Jane had never seen it, and spent some time looking at it. Jane recognized me, and told Jon that I had been singing along at the show. My big comment this night was to tell Jon that I became a fan of Yes during ABWH, and that Mag was my favorite CD of theirs since then. Jon said that it was the band's favorite too. Then he said, "well, the four of us". I asked whether they were going to do any more songs from Mag in concert. He said he wanted to do Give Love Each Day, but I'm not sure if he meant solo or with Yes. We were about to leave, but Jane asked if she could look at the Magnification package again. I don't know why I didn't just tell them they could have it.
That gave us an extra moment, so I thanked Jon for doing Revealing and told him that we'd be at the next two shows.
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