The Fish at Sea World

Yes
Nautilus Theatre - Sea World
Orlando, FL
Saturday, February 27, 2010
General Admission
$128 (Sea World Admission + Bands Brew and BBQ VIP pass)

It's rained every time I've gone to Sea World. I thought about that when Yes booked a show there, and when Roy and I decided to attend. The forecast called for a high of 50-some degrees and a 40% chance of rain. I thought about times it's rained at recent outdoor Yes shows at Great Adventure and National Harbor near DC; the stages were open to the elements and the rain forced the band to play severely shortened sets. Friends described the shows as depressing. I also thought about the movie This is Spinal Tap, where the fictional band is playing a concert at an amusement park, billed as second to a puppet show. How bad was this show going to be?

I also remembered ProgDay a couple years ago, when it rained. ProgDay is held outdoors, and when it rained, most of the audience ran for shelter. But I was dressed for it, and stayed up by the stage. There were just a few of us remaining there, and it was kind of fun. Maybe the bad weather would keep everyone else out of the line, so I could be right by the stage. Maybe my enthusiasm, despite the weather, would buoy the band's spirits, regardless of a small crowd. I think it's happened before. I packed my raincoat and hoped for the best.

I didn't have to worry. Sea World stepped up and took care of us. With cold (for Florida) temperatures and on-and-off rain, they moved the concert to a back-up venue. The Nautilus Theatre was dry, warm, and offered really good sound. This was probably my best sound mix of this era of the band. I could even hear what Oliver Wakeman was playing. Sea World was very good to us.
The whole couple days surrounding the trip were nice. Roy and I chose the Florida shows partly because a trip to Florida is nice in winter, but also because the two shows were on a weekend. I try to conserve the time I take off from work. We could fly out Friday night, see the shows on Saturday and Sunday, and then fly home on Monday, only using one vacation day for two shows. But then, we're flying to Orlando, might as well work a half-day on Friday and book an afternoon flight to get into town early. By the time Friday rolled around, I was taking the whole extra day off from work.

Friday was a good day. Roy and I watched my car reach 100,000 miles on the odometer, bought some Hamentashen at Pratzel's Bakery for Purim, listened to some Yes and walked around the Loop. Nicer weather than we'd get the next day in Orlando. It was an easy flight, and we drove to Downtown Disney for dinner. I bought one souvenir - a Mickey Mouse themed reusable grocery bag for $3. The hotel was a nice mix of clean, inexpensive, and stylish. We saw a car at the hotel with a license plate of "125 Yes". We were in the right place!

On Saturday, we got to Sea World around 11AM. It was already raining. I brought my raincoat along in my backpack, but I didn't want to get it wet unless it was really bad out. The umbrella would do for the time being. We found out that the show had been moved indoors. I bought VIP passes for the show. The advertisements touted "reserved seats", but it really meant general admission seats within a reserved section, up front and center. The VIP thing also came with early entry to any of the rides and a free barbeque lunch. The concert was going to be at 4PM, and the doors were opening at 2pm.

I wanted to find the venue and scope out the situation first. We started walking there, but we found the Whale and Dolphin Theater just as a show was about to start, so we did that first. The Blue Horizons show was really good, with the highlight being the human dancers and divers, rather than the sea creatures. We got to the Nautilus Theater after that. There were already two people in line.

Roy and I each wanted to do different things. For me, the only thing that mattered was that Yes would be playing in a few hours, and the sooner I got in line, the better our seats would be. Roy didn't want to waste the opportunity of enjoying Sea World. This was a general admission show, but there would be seats. I felt that I could wait in line by myself and hold a seat for him. If I couldn't, we wouldn't be able to sit together, but he'd still be in the VIP section. We got lunch, and then Roy walked me back to the theater. I ended up being 5th in line. The people in line said that the other concerts in this series lasted only an hour. I hoped we'd get more than that.

The doors opened. The venue had metal benches for seats and a catwalk jutting out from the stage to the third row. The ushers led us down to the that third row and started seating people. The first people in line sat there, in the center of the row, right at the end of the catwalk. They looked happy. What about the front row? I walked up and asked the usher if I could sit there. The row was split in half by the catwalk. There were half a dozen actual seats towards the middle and then a shorter bench closer to the aisle. The usher didn't answer my question. Other people were filling in the third row. I needed to know quickly whether to try for these seats or take something else. Finally, she said I could sit on the bench there. I saved a spot next to me for Roy. Whew! Front row, in front of Oliver's keyboards.

I wonder if I'm pushy about asking for what I want or if other people are just following the usher's lead. All the seats around me are empty for a little while. It looks like the seats by the center are saved for some VIPs. A younger couple asked me if the seats on the bench are taken. I told them I was saving one for Roy, but the rest is free. Four people can sit there, but it was a tight fit. I chatted with them while we waited. Mark played in a Yes cover band and had seen them a number of times. He was very knowledgeable about their music. Starr was a good six inches shorter than even me. I was glad she got a seat up front; I know it's hard to see when everyone around is blocking the view. The conversation was a strain because of the loud country music playing. I could hear Starr fine, but Mark had a lower voice and was sitting further away. I had some trouble hearing him. Roy came in and found me. He filled me in on what he did at the park.

The show was introduced by some local TV weatherman. He addressed the recent tragedy, where a trainer was killed earlier in the week. I did feel a little weird about going to Sea World and having fun as if nothing had happened, but he said we needed to change the mood and this concert would help do it. This concert was free with admission to Sea World, so I'm sure Yes imagined a large crowd coming to see them. The bad weather kept a lot of people away. This venue only held a couple thousand people, and it wasn't full. I wonder how many people there attended who weren't already fans.

Yes came on stage. My first impression was the sound. I could clearly hear what Oliver was playing throughout Siberian Khatru. Usually, he's inaudable except for his lead parts. My second impression was one that I've had at all the Yes shows I've seen since Kansas City last year: this song doesn't take off until Steve's solo towards the end. It didn't help that Roy and I just listened to Yessongs the day before. Siberian Khatru has explosive energy on that live version. It didn't here.

During I've Seen All Good People, Benoit David walked out on the catwalk to sing. I wonder if they practiced on it at all during the sound check, or if it was a spur of the moment decision to make use of it? Later on, Chris Squire played bass from the catwalk during Starship Trooper. Great reaction from the audience.

The first stage announcement has been before the third song, Tempus Fugit. The band takes turns talking to the audience, and Chris changed up his usual spiel. He welcomed everyone to the special matinee performance at Sea World, did his usual intro of the new guys and Tempus Fugit, saying they'd be doing one song from Drama. (No Machine Messiah. Bummer!) People on the Yesfans site had been saying that the band should play Don't Kill the Whale in light of performing at Sea World. I don't know how serious they were. Chris added that for those of us in the audience that knew their music, there was one song the band wouldn't be doing, and that the statement was a private joke for Yesfans (or maybe it was Yes fans in general). I thought it was a fun way to acknowledge the requests for Don't Kill the Whale.

Roy's favorite song of the night was Yours Is No Disgrace. Steve Howe was great on that song, even doing a little call and response with the audience. Someone yelled during a pause in his solo. Steve must have liked it, because he paused again for the crowd to yell, and then a third time, with more people cheering. He tried doing it again during the next show in Boca Raton, but the audience didn't know they were supposed to participate. It was a unexpected cool moment here.

I was aware of the usual setlist and what songs Yes were skipping over. They dropped Onward, Astral Traveler, Steve Howe's solo. I don't know if they were only given a ninety minute set, but it worked well. All the songs that have a change of pace were dropped, and it was a tight rocking set of one amazing song after another.

I noticed more mistakes during this show than the ones last week in Chicago. The group of us on the bench - Mark, Starr, Roy and me - all looked over at each other every time we noticed one. It made it more fun, like we noticed our favorite band messing up rather than putting a damper on our mood. I can't remember what songs they were now, but Benoit was off on a note and Oliver played something wrong. Chris was late on a booming bass part of And You And I. I noticed Alan peering around his drum set to see Chris and get back on track. Steve didn't play anything obviously wrong, but he made a weird announcement before Owner of a Lonely Heart. He said the song was from the infamous 80s lineup from the great 90125, and they were going to play the title track. He must have meant lead track. Afterward, Roy joked that we did hear a new Yes song at this show - the infamous title track of 90125.

After seeing two standing room only shows in Chicago, I sat for this one. Benoit gestured for us to stand partway through Roundabout. We did, only to sit again during the encore. I wondered what would happen during Starship Trooper. Quite a few people were standing in the aisle to take pictures. There was a lot of space on the floor between our seats and the stage. Would they push their way into the front row? I had my coat and backpack sitting on the floor. We moved them out of the way, but it wasn't necessary. Security kept people out of our row. I stood back up towards the end of Starship Trooper and danced along.

I was really happy with this show. I need to take back every joke I made comparing this gig to Spinal Tap.

The weather was a lot better after the show. I hoped to meet the band. We tried to walk around the venue to see where they might exit, but the back was fenced off. Roy and I ended up seeing a couple more Sea World shows. We sat several rows up from the "soak zone" but I still got soaked. The park was closing, so we went back to the hotel so I could change clothes. At this point, I was ready for dinner and we ate at the Fridays near the hotel.