The Fall Theater Tour

1997 was a pivotal year for me. I hit a major stumbling block career-wise, or maybe it was a breakthrough. I knew I was going to become a math teacher. I got a BA in math, had blinders on to other career opportunities, and was in grad school for a Master's in Education before I actually started student teaching and realized how much I hated it. I eventually dropped out of grad school. I had no job prospects. In 1997.

Yes had reunited with Steve Howe and Rick Wakeman. I was at the reunion shows in San Luis Obispo, California the previous year, and I was so looking forward to their tour. I saved up money and got new credit cards. I needed to do something to get over the school defeat and close this part of my life. My plan was to see as many shows and friends as I could and do as much traveling as I could that summer. Of course, Rick Wakeman left the band and the summer tour was canceled. I bought tickets that went on sale in hope that the show was really just postponed, but Ticketmaster refunded the money to me.

The year picked up in June. I had so much pent-up wanderlust and I was not ready to move back home and plan my new future. There had been a few people who gave me so much advice and help during my year of grad school. Roy, this guy I met at the Yes SLO reunion concerts was one of them. I had been looking forward to seeing him again on this tour. I did something outrageous - asked him if he wanted a visitor for a little while. Roy had saved up vacation days in anticipation of the Yes tour and was also in need of something exciting. He invited me out there. Understatement of the year ahead: we clicked. We started a long-distance relationship. It's now happily ever after time, but in the second half on 1997, the relationship was still new and we didn't get to see each other too often.

I got two new jobs. One was a math tutoring position. I did love math and working one-on-one with students, but I couldn't find a way to make it a full-time job. This was just a couple hour a week job, but it was using my degree. The other job was with a temp agency. My first position was a receptionist/admin assistant with a stock broker. Stocks were still sold in fractions, and they liked that I could add and subtract fractions in my head. That's what my job prospects had come to. Plus, I was still working part time at Kid's Corner at WXPN.

I was temping at the stock brokers when the Fall Theater Tour was announced. Yes were playing multiple nights in small venues in Philly and New York. Around the same time, USAir started a regional line called USAir Express and offered discounted tickets from Philly to Boston.

The tour was scheduled to start in Hartford, with one or two shows in Boston next. Roy and I worked it out where he would fly to Philly. We'd see the Musical Box, a Genesis tribute band, here, and then fly to Boston together. We'd go to the Hartford and Boston shows. We'd fly home our separate ways. I would then Greyhound to my friend Scott's in Baltimore, and he would take me to the Fairfax, VA show. Then, Roy would fly back out for two of the three nights in Philly. He had to miss the last show for a family obligation. I'd Greyhound to central Pennsylvania for the Hershey show, and then Zoey would drive me up to New York City for the three shows there.

Are you with me? It was

Hartford - Friday
Boston - Saturday
Fairfax - Wednesday
Philly - Friday
Philly - Saturday
Philly - Sunday
Hershey - Tuesday
New York - Wednesday
New York - Thursday
New York - Friday

Ten shows in fifteen days.

I actually missed two shows during that period, between Boston and Fairfax. We'd hoped Yes would add a second Boston show and booked our flights around it. Yes didn't and played New Brunswick instead. They also did a show in Albany, but I was already en route to the Fairfax show.

The second half of October brings so many "concert anniversary dates" and this is the tenth anniversary of the Fall Theater tour. It was a unique time, because I had no real work obligations and could take as much time as I needed to go to shows. The shows were so clustered together and so nearby that I was home every couple of days and still managed to show up at Kid's Corner occasionally. I got closer to the band than I ever had before. After the tour, I got a new temp job that led to full time work. 1997 ended up being a pretty good year. It certainly was my most memorable.

I originally started this blog to write about concerts I attended in the past. I've been to a lot of shows recently, so I've written about them as well. Now, I plan to do a series on the 10th anniversary of the Open Your Eyes tour, with a new blog entry to coincide with each show I attended.