Culture in Boca Raton

Yes
Sunset Cove Amphitheater
Boca Raton, FL
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Section C, Row 1, Seat 15
$80

I'm posting this on March 11th - my blog's third birthday!

Sunday in Boca Raton was the last show of this short tour. Roy wondered if they'd be doing anything different or fun, like we'd seen in previous end-of-tour shows. We were certainly doing this one in style. We would be in the front row again, with reserved seats this time, and we were attending the after-show meet and greet. I still wasn't sure of the point of this tour. They did about 20 shows, few different songs, playing some of the same cities they did previously. Working on new music seems like a better idea to me than potentially wearing out their welcome. Still, I can't miss chances to see my favorite band.

Roy and I drove down from Orlando on Sunday morning. We stopped in the town of Palm Beach for lunch and a walk along the beach.

We wanted to check into the hotel before the show. We missed some turns along the way, and it took longer than I wanted it to. We got to the hotel around 5:50, and the show started at 7. I was in a foul mood when I realized I wouldn't have time to rest up before the show. I was so worried about being late, I didn't even want to stop to grab something to eat first. I was right to want to be there early: it didn't take much time to get to the turn-off for the venue, but there was big backup getting to the parking lot. The only access was a long, single-lane road, with cars backed up all the way. I still needed to pick up our tickets from will call, and I was tempted to get out of the car and hike over. I found out that this traffic caused quite a few people to be late for the show.

Once we parked, things got better. There was no line to pick up our tickets, and the employees were friendly. We had a weird time getting tickets for this show, but it worked out great. By accident, Roy and I both bought tickets right when they went on sale. Roy got third row center, and I got the first row of a section off to the side. Ticketmaster had an auction for true front row center seats, complete with a parking pass and access to a meet and greet with the band. I planned to check it out near the end of the auction, but I forgot until it was too late. A month later, I happened to check how tickets were doing, and saw they had another auction going on with front row seats. There was no publicity for this. I won, with the minimum bid even. We were able to sell the extra sets of tickets. Now, we picked up our meet and greet passes and our tickets.

Roy stood in line to get pretzels while I found our seats. The front row was a good ten feet away from the stage. The security guard restricted access to this space to only the people sitting in this row. No one else could walk up to use it as an aisle or take close-up pictures during the show. Every group of two seats were tied together. I was the first one sitting in the row, so I shoved some of the other seats over a bit to give Roy and me an extra couple inches to ourselves. Even 20 minutes before the start of the show, the venue was not very full. Our seats were right in front of Oliver Wakeman's keyboards, just like the night before. According to the seating chart, I thought we'd be on Steve Howe's side, but the sections were in the reverse order.

Roy joined me. The venue was called Sunset Cove Amphitheater. We could easily see why. We stood up and turned around, facing the rest of the audience. I saw the most beautiful sunset I'd ever seen. Very vivid colors, unobstructed view. I was surprised more people weren't looking at it.

Just before the show was about to start, I looked around, and saw some friends of ours walking in. I hadn't seen Diana and Rick since we came to Florida for a Yes show in 2004. We hadn't reached out to any friends to meet up on this trip. We had a few minutes to catch up, and made plans to meet up afterward. They hadn't seen a show yet with this incarnation of the band and wanted to be surprised about the setlist. An usher came over to tell us the show would be starting soon and we needed to get to our seats.

I don't know how empty the rest of the amphitheater was. But when the show started, the four seats directly next to me and the four seats next to Roy were still empty. That's eight seats right in the front row. Later on, six of those seats were filled. I guess they were all stuck in the slow crawl to the parking lot.

Siberian Khatru was played with more energy than the night before. It set the tone for the night, happy and light-hearted. The sound was excellent. I don't know if Chris Squire saw us and recognized us or was just looking at the happy people bopping along to the music in the front row, but he looked over at us and even played his bass towards us for a little bit.

Chris really made me happy during his introduction to Tempus Fugit. He mentioned that this was the last show of their tour and that this is the 106th show this lineup has played. He acknowledged that people were still coming into the venue because of the traffic tie-up. Then he said they were going to do two songs from Drama tonight. Two! We were getting Machine Messiah back tonight! I applauded more for this than anything in the actual show. We got a shorter show in Orlando at Sea World the night before, but this one brought the Incredible Shrinking Setlist back to what I had seen the first night in Chicago. Still no South Side of the Sky though.

During Yours Is No Disgrace, the ushers brought out two chairs and placed them in front of the front row, off to my right. A woman sat down with a toddler. I knew that Chris and his wife had a baby over a year ago, and Roy wondered if this was Chris' family. I thought the little girl looked too big to be that age, but we found out later, she was. The baby sat on the chair, stood and danced a little, and then started crawling around. Chris looked down at her. This is one of my favorite songs of the night, and watching the little girl experience the concert distracted me, but it was fun to watch. They got up and left before the song was over. (The baby was wearing a lot of sound protection from the loud noise of the concert.)

I would not go to an outdoor concert in February at home in St. Louis, but I figured the people in Southern Florida knew what they were doing. After the sun set, I'd bet the temperature dipped into the 50s. I was wearing a t-shirt with a sweatshirt over it and cropped pants. I didn't notice it being that cold while the band was playing, but even bopping around in my seat, I didn't need to take the sweatshirt off. Benoit asked the audience how we were doing in the cold. He said it was warmer on stage. I saw Steve Howe frequently blow on his fingers, trying to keep them warm.

The one part of the setlist that changes from night to night is Steve's guitar solo. On this night, he played a solo piece called Second Initial and part of Vivaldi's Lute Concerto in D. The crowd was much quieter here than at the club-like atmosphere of the shows in Chicago, and Steve didn't have to berate the crowd for making too much noise. He was funny in talking to the audience, announcing the songs he played and what Yes was going to do next. The Vivaldi music was a bit of "culture, culture, culture," he repeated. "And here's culture from the 1980s" with Owner of a Lonely Heart.

I kept an eye on the rest of the front row. Would people rush up to the stage at the end? I didn't want to be left out. Benoit gestured for the audience to stand up partway through Roundabout. I saw a few people in the center left section walk up to the barricade by the stage. Ushers indicated for them to sit down, and then it seemed to be okay. Roy and I grabbed a spot. The sound was noticibly worse up by the stage, but it was fun being so close. When the band came back for the encore, Chris mentioned again that it was the last night of the tour. He named all of the road crew and thanked them for their work.

The encore was Starship Trooper. Benoit changed the lyric to "long winters colder than time can remember". During the instrumental final part of the song, he was playing a tambourine and walked towards our side of the stage. I could tell that he saw us. I waved, and he waved back. When the band did their final bows, Chris brought his baby daughter out on stage. He waved to the audience, and then she did a little wave. I don't know if Chris even saw it, because he took her arm and moved it to wave to the crowd. It was really cute.

There were many people with meet and greet access after the show. We were organized in lines based on what type of pass we had - real backstage passes, the auction winners, the premium packagers got t-shirts, and so on. There was some confusion about what we were getting. A woman came by and told us first that we'd get pictures with the band but no autographs. I hadn't brought a camera, and I was just glad to have another chance to talk to the band. Later on, it was decided we'd get autographs too, and the woman handed us a photo of Yes to get signed. We stood in line outside for a half an hour, until the band was ready for the meet and greets. That's when I noticed the cold. It would have been fine if I were dressed for it. I really felt bad for the guy wearing shorts and some women in flip flops. Some people in our group left, rather than wait a little bit longer to meet the band.


We were ushered into the meet and greet room. Alan, Chris, Oliver, and Steve were sitting at a table. Someone in line asked where Benoit was. He's being fashionably late, one of the band members replied. Benoit walked in and saw me. He walked over to me, put his hand on my shoulder and said hello, before walking over to the table. He sat between Alan and Chris. I heard Alan telling another fan that the tour lasted a month, but it felt like two, because of the snow and show cancellations.

I had a couple goals in speaking to the band this time. First was to find information about their next tour. My friend Greg spoke to a couple of band members at an earlier show and was trying to find out more information, when the shows would be and where, if they were hitting the midwest at all. I also had a question about comparing venues like this one to the all-standing shows at the House of Blues. Did the band notice the crowd being more energetic at the standing shows and where did they prefer playing?

I asked Alan the first question. He told me Yes would be playing in June and early July with Peter Frampton. Since the concert, this news has been announced on YesWorld. In Alan's words, "I have no idea where we'll be playing. I just get on the bus and show up." I'll find my way to a couple shows, no matter where they play.

Benoit surprised me by asking me a question, to confirm that I've been to four shows on this tour. He's keeping track?! That's really flattering! I confirmed it and said I've seen this lineup nine times total. The person in front of me was talking to Chris, so I asked Benoit my question about the venues. He said that yes, he noticed a difference without elaborating. I didn't have a chance to ask what they preferred before I had to move on.

I didn't have anything planned to say to Chris. I just blurted out, "You were awesome!" Chris didn't give an indication that he recognized me, but he joked back that his goal was to be awesome.

I smiled and nodded at Oliver, without saying anything. I told Steve that I thought his playing was great on Yours Is No Disgrace. Roy asked him if he felt his playing was affected by the cold temperatures.

I guess I wasn't paying attention to the rest of the people in line. We finished talking to the band, got my autographed promo picture, and headed back to the door. Alan White stood up and walked over to stop me. I then noticed that the other fans were in line again, presumably to get pictures with the band this time. I didn't have a camera with me anyway, and Alan said I probably already had pictures with the band. The woman who was organizing things said that our group wasn't getting pictures and we were done. I was glad that it wasn't too rushed.


Diana and Rick didn't have access to the meet and greets. They waited in their car in the parking lot for us. I called Diana's cell phone when we got out. Roy and I both got the autographed photo and a poster, so we gave our extra ones to Diana and Rick. It was almost 11pm on a Sunday night. We stopped at a few restaurants that were already closed before passing a Cheesecake Factory with cars in the parking lot. We ate there, catching up and reminiscing about the old days.

I was interested in getting their take on the show. This was their first time seeing this lineup, and I know for Roy and me, it took a show to get over missing Jon Anderson and to accept this version of the band for what it is. Also, Rick is a musician, and having more knowledge about music could make him more critical. But they both really enjoyed it, especially the Drama songs.

The next morning, Roy took me to Delray Beach, where his parents used to have a condo. We got out to walk in the downtown section before heading to the airport.

It's tough for me to objectively review a Yes concert. It's my favorite band, my favorite music, I'm expecting to love it. And there are so many things outside the band's performance that can add or detract from the show, distractions from people sitting around me, bad soundmix, my own mood. But there are a few changes I'd like for Yes to make on future tours:

I don't think opening with Siberian Khatru and I've Seen All Good People is working well. I know Khatru is the classic opener, and we're all conditioned to hear it after Firebird Suite ends. But the band has only occasionally been playing it with the energy it deserves. They should open with something that doesn't take half the song to warm up, Yours Is No Disgrace or Roundabout, maybe. Roy says Sound Chaser, like on the Relayer tour!

I think All Good People worked better in previous tours where they played it as the last song of the main set. People would stand up and dance to it, without the band prompting us. It works better that way, than with everyone just sitting and listening to it. As much as I want to hear more classics from the 1970s, I think this lineup would do a good job with It Can Happen.

Especially with the shortened set we'll have on this summer's tour, I don't want to wait half the show for it to "pick up" and come alive. I hope they make some change to the flow of the first half of the concert. I truly loved a number of these recent shows, and I will see multiple shows on each leg of every US tour. However, it's getting harder to get excited about so many short tours with basically the same set, even for me. I hope Yes freshens up the setlist soon.

Okie Dokie in Muskogee

Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame
presents
Yes
with special guest Asia
Muskogee Civic Center
Muskogee, OK
Thursday, July 16th, 2009
Section 101, Row A, Seat 5
$55

There's something about Yes music that makes me want to dance to it. I need to feel every note and sing every word. Usually at a Yes concert, I make do with bopping around in my seat. But I love those shows when I can get up and dance. Oh, I won't do it if the rest of the audience is sitting and I'm blocking someone's view. My seat needs to be on the far aisle or back row. Front row is tricky, I'm right there with the band and we're all feeling the adrenaline rush together, but I don't want to create a bad atmosphere with the people behind me, standing when they want me to be sitting. I've tried to analyze why I like dancing at shows so much - part of it is that the music is moving me physically and I'm just following along. The other part is that standing up gets me away from the rest of the audience. I have a clear view of the stage with no one's head in the way. And talking, conversations, bad behavior seem so far away. It's just me and the music. And the band. I got to dance in Muskogee.

I had to wonder why Yes was playing in Muskogee. It's a small town an hour away from Tulsa. They were booked to play a small arena. I knew it wouldn't sell well. I was telling one of my coworkers about it, and he wanted to know why I was so sure. I said, because I saw them in Bloomington, Illinois last year and the same thing happened. Yes were booked in too big of a venue with an area with low population density. I hoped the show wouldn't be canceled because of the poor turnout. I was right. The venue held 3,300 people, and I guess it was a quarter full. There were people filling up the floor up to the 20th row and a few rows of people in the tiered seating. I later learned that this show was a benefit for the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame. A benefactor paid for the bands, with all of the profit going to the Hall.

The location made it easy to get good tickets. The Muskogee Civic Center did not use Ticketmaster and did not hold any tickets back for VIP packages. I got front row, audience right for Roy and me. Our new friend Greg got front row, center.

The drive down from Kansas City was easy. We got to the hotel, rested up, and then drove to the venue. It was still early. We wanted to park at the Civic Center, scope out the venue, and walk around town. It was a weekday, around five in the afternoon, and the downtown was dead. We found one home accessories store that was open, so we looked around there. Muskogee had a public art program, with eight foot tall ceramic guitars painted by local artists. We saw about four of those before dinner.

I'd never been to Oklahoma before, and I wasn't sure what to expect. Roy picked up their alternative paper, with articles about concerts. The article about the Yes and Asia show was positive, but it had a whole lot of mistakes. This was the ad we found. I haven't seen one like this before - liquor and Yes. And it lists the wrong date!




None of our usual Yesfriends went to either the Kansas City or Muskogee shows, so we had dinner with some people from the Yesfans site. Everyone was so friendly, like we had known each other a long time. This was the hottest day of our trip, upper nineties, so someone gave us a ride back to the venue.

We found the probable stage door; we saw the tour manager Paul pull up in a dark-colored van and walk in a door near the front entrance. Roy and I went in and found our seats. Front row, in a group of seats tightly pushed together. The seats were connected, so I unhooked my chair and shoved some of the seats down a bit to give me some extra room. There was a huge amount of space between our row and the stage and a huge amount of room in the aisles. I got ready for the show, and I was pleasantly surprised that the bottled water was only $1.50 for a 20 ounce bottle. I'm used to being gouged for these things. Roy and I talked to another guy from dinner, originally from England but now living in Oklahoma, named Paul. He had the seat directly behind me.

The show started. When I saw Asia at the Keswick Theater in 2007, they had a screen above the stage showing their videos and closeups of the band. They didn't use it in Kansas City, but it was in use this night. This time, the screens were hanging over the audience, over the fourth row. I could turn around and see the mirror-image display on the back of the screen. I wonder if it was distracting for the band to be able to look up and see themselves. I noticed John Wetton looking at it a couple times. I don't think this was as good a performance. Wetton looked bored during most of the show. Someone described it as looking like he was mentally writing a grocery list while playing. Roy pointed out that he was very expressive during their new song An Extraordinary Life.

I was keeping an eye on the audience during Asia's set. Would people be allowed to stand up by the stage away from our seats? The front row was a good distance from the stage, and I could stand up there to dance without blocking anyone's view. I noticed people were walking to the open area to take pictures. One woman got up a few times to dance by the stage. Security seemed pretty easy-going.

There were some cool moments during the Asia set. We had an excellent angle to actually watch Geoff Downes play the keyboards, actually seeing his fingers hitting the keys. And I think John Wetton saw me bopping around to Video Killed the Radio Star when I did one of the handclaps. The sound was much better than the previous show in Kansas City. I could tell this time that Wetton sounded wonderful, especially in the "You are the radio star" lines. Carl Palmer added a gong to his drumset since the Kansas City show. I didn't like his solo in Fanfare as much this time. I'm usually not a fan of drum solos, so liking it the other night was more of a surprise than not caring now.

The really exciting part for me was towards the end of the set. My friend Greg came over and asked if either Roy or I would like to take his seat for a song, in the front row center section. I ran over there and enjoyed Sole Survivor. He didn't come back to reclaim his seat. I looked towards my real seat, and he gestured for me to stay there. The next song was the last song of Asia's set Heat of the Moment. People in the center section started getting up and moving towards the stage. I did too, and it was a lot of fun! I thanked Greg a whole lot afterwards.

The Yes show started and I was going to dance. I moved up to a spot near the stage and stayed there for Siberian Khatru. I was right by the speakers, and I had earplugs in, but the sound was really good. I said before that dancing gets me away from distractions, but I was very aware of security and other people moving up near the stage. Security at first was letting people come up to take pictures. Then, as people were walking up from their seats and taking too much time up front, security was telling them to go back to their seats.

The new singer Benoit David saw me over there. I was standing at the far end of the stage, in front of my real seat. He came over and sang part of Tempus Fugit to me. Greg captured it in this photo. I'm so glad I have this moment preserved.




I think if everyone in the audience had been cool, security would have been cool too. Someone stood up by Steve Howe for too long. I was at the opposite end of the arena, and I don't know if they were using flash on their camera or just taking too many pictures. But Steve gestured for them to move away. Security picked up after that, asking everyone to clear the area. Everyone except me. I wasn't taking pictures or in the way, so I guess I was okay. The security guy even said "excuse me" to me as he walked past to tell other people to sit down. I felt relieved to be in my happy place and have everyone be cool with it. I heard there was another problem, where some people walked up to the stage and rested their beer bottles on stage. Steve wasn't happy about that either.

I was able to dance for Siberian Khatru, I've Seen All Good People, Tempus Fugit, and the first part of Astral Traveler. I sat down during the drum solo, but part of me knew that sitting down would mean I wouldn't be able to move back to my space afterwards. It was true. I wanted to dance to the next song, And You And I. I got back up, but the security people had switched around, and a new person walked up to me and told me I couldn't stay there. I went back to my seat. I noticed that all the people in the second row behind me were already standing up. So I stood and danced at my seat, careful not to get into anyone's personal space. I guess I was distracted, because I missed my favorite part of the song - singing along to Chris' backing vocals up from Turn Round Tailor to Float Your Climb while the lead vocals are doing Coins and Crosses. Our seats were such an angle to the stage that my standing up there actually blocked Roy's view. He wanted me to enjoy the song, so he didn't tell me til after the song was over.

Chris Squire addressed the crowd a couple times, first before Tempus Fugit, where he greeted the town as Muskeegee, like a cross between Muskogee and Tuskegee. Later on, he introduced Steve Howe's guitar solo by saying, "You might think Steve deserves a break now, but we're not going to give him one. Now that James Brown is no longer with us, Steve is the hardest working man in show business." Steve played Intersection Blues and a Chet Atkins song for his solo break.

The rest of the show passed quickly. I watched Benoit the most. He was using the larger stage this night to move all around it. He looked like he was having fun. Chris seemed less ebullient than usual. He normally has a lot of stage presence, but he'd been sick earlier this year and done a lot of traveling in the last couple days for this tour. Yes played much longer on their tour last fall, when they were playing by themselves, but this didn't feel too short. It was still a full night of music.

I stood up for Roundabout. The people behind me were still standing. I was able to push my chair back a ways, so I was standing in the space where I had been sitting. Roy could see, so I was happy. I was jumping around towards the end, and amazed how my shoes were holding up. I had sandles on, but I seemed to land exactly right in them; they never went flying off or hitting my foot in a bad place. The guy to my left continued standing for the instrumental first half of Heart of the Sunrise, so I did too.

Yes came back out for their encore. People started to stage rush - gather in that area up by the stage. The security guard was still there and I was being good. I hadn't moved from my seat, but I wasn't going to let other people stand in front of me. I walked slowly towards the stage and glanced towards him. He told me it was okay now because it was the last song. I waved Roy over to join me.

I was so surprised when Yes came out and tore into ... just the final part of Starship Trooper, the instrumental Wurm, but not the whole song. We've been talking about this on the Yesfans site. I'm not sure whether this was due to the time, Steve being upset with the crowd, the band being tired, or what. I loved the adrenaline rush of being able to dance and the very good sound, but I think Kansas City was a better performance from both bands.

Roy and I met up with our dinner companions, hung out to talk for a while, and then made our way to the stage door to wait for the band. We saw Steve Howe come out of one exit, and walk around outside to enter the venue through the stage door. Later on, he was the first to leave. He didn't acknowledge us while walking to his car, but then he rolled down his window and waved to us.

The rest of the band came a little later. They started walking towards us, rather than their van. Chris and Alan both looked exhausted. I shook hands with both of them, but didn't say much. Benoit greeted me with, "Hi Dancer!" Charming! I specifically wanted to tell him something, and I got the chance. Roy and I are going to the FMPM prog festival in Montreal in September, and Benoit's other band Mystery will be playing there. He seemed excited and asked what I thought of the Mystery CD. I was put on the spot, I had to honestly say that we only just bought it at Kansas City and hadn't listened to it yet. I didn't get a chance to talk to Oliver this time.

After the show, Roy and I met up with Greg at the IHOP near our hotel. We had some after dinner munchies and hung out talking for a while. We didn't get back to our room until after two in the morning! We slept in the next morning and took our time driving home the next day. It was a good trip.

An Extraordinary Life

Yes
Special Guest Asia
Uptown Theater
Kansas City, MO
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Section Center Orchestra, Row AAA, Seat 9
$155

I like to go to as many Yes concerts as I can on each tour. For past tours, I've tried to maximize the number of shows using a minimal number of vacation days from work. I had a mental decision-tree to work out which shows to attend:

- first was a local show
- then shows on a weekend in driving distance
- then flying to shows on a weekend (favoring Philly or wherever our friends would be attending)

After booking flights on two tours that had been canceled, I announced to Roy that I changed my mind on that. I wanted travel plans that would be easily refundable, and that might mean driving to shows during the week and using more vacation time. We decided that two shows was a good number for this tour and hoped the shows nearby would still fall on a weekend. I just assumed that one of those shows would be in Chicago, or somewhere north of here and cooler, but they didn't book a show in Chicago this time.

And that is how we decided on shows in Kansas City, MO and Muskogee, Oklahoma. These shows were in the middle of the week, so I was using four precious vacation days in order to see a measly two shows. But it turned out nicely to come home from a trip and still have a full weekend to recover.

This tour was a bit different from the one we saw last fall. For one thing, "Howe Squire and White of Yes" were now just touring as Yes. And some of the band members were playing for less time. Yes was bringing along an opening act this time, so they were cutting their own set down to under two hours. I say some of the band members, because amazingly, Steve Howe played lead guitar both with Yes and the opening band Asia.

Buying tickets for this show reminded me of the bad old days. In the old days, I'd buy tickets at a ticket outlet, and have no say in where my tickets would be. I requested the number of tickets, and maybe what price I wanted to pay, and I was sold whatever tickets they gave me. Buying tickets online via Ticketmaster isn't wonderful, but Ticketmaster tells us exactly what tickets we've received. We can buy them or not. Some other ticket sites actually show me all available tickets and let me choose which ones I want. Like at most shows on this tour, the best seats were put aside for an exorbitant VIP package. The best of the regular seats were $155. I bought regular seats, but Ticketmaster wouldn't tell me where the seats were! All it would say was front left section, no Row number. I didn't want to spend this much money and not know where my seats were. Roy told me we should hold off on buying tickets until this gets resolved, but I bought them anyway. After buying them, I learned they were row CCC, third row on Steve Howe's side. Not bad. Way too stressful though.

The VIP seats didn't sell too well. A few weeks before the show, the unpurchased seats were released as general tickets. I kept an eye on the Ticketmaster site, and managed to buy two front row center seats. I also managed to sell my extras, but at less than face value. Someone I knew from the Yesfans site got the two seats next to mine. Even better, if I can't sit on an aisle, I'm at least sitting between people I know.

The trip had a bad start, but it was the only setback. The day before we left, I literally had $500 worth of preventative maintenance done for my car. Tune up, oil change, new whatever it needed. Before we even got to the interstate, the back window opened by itself, sliding down, and it wouldn't go back up again. We tried driving like that, but the road noise was too much. And it was going to rain. We stopped at a Walgreens and got duct tape to hold the window up. Not the prettiest thing to do to my car, but it stayed closed for the rest of the trip. We stopped at the college town of Columbia to have lunch and drive around, and then got to Kansas City in plenty of time for the day's events.


Roy and I also bought the Asia VIP package. The package came with access to the soundcheck and having at least two Asia members at a meet and greet. The website seemed disorganized, but said to arrive at 4:30pm. Other fans gathered there, but no one from the band had arrived yet. The guy who owned the Uptown Theater was there, and he invited us into the air-conditioned lobby to wait. We walked down the hallway and could see the roadies setting up the stage. The theater even arranged a lounge with appetizers for us. Close to an hour had passed before the VIP arrangements took place. We talked to some of the other fans.


We all got VIP passes to wear. The organizer told us Geoff and Carl would be meeting with us. Another woman who was there was a big fan of John Wetton and even brought a gift for him. She asked the organizer if he could please pass a message to John that she was there.

We were ushered into the auditorium and seated about halfway back. Steve was just starting his soundcheck. He played for about 15 minutes, this probably served as practice for him more than checking how his guitar was sounding. He played a part of All's a Chord, some piece of Topographic Oceans, Mood for a Day, and lots of bits I didn't recognize. The day after Roy and I first met, we were able to attend a Yes soundcheck and hear Steve Howe play similarly. This reminded both of us of that time. This VIP experience thing was $99 per person, but it was so worth it. Steve made one comment out loud, that it smelled like burning rubber on stage, but nothing music related.

Carl Palmer and Geoff Downes also came out, separately, to do their soundcheck. I heard Carl say Astral Traveler and Roundabout, but I don't know what he was talking about. What really surprised me is that John Wetton walked into the auditorium and over to our group. He was talking with the woman who so wanted to meet him. I didn't know if he was going to talk just to her or to the rest of us as well. I didn't know if I should approach him. He chatted with her for a bit, and then she got a picture with him. I stayed in my seat, but he did walk over to us. (There were only six people in the VIP thing, not a big crowd.)

I was wearing my King Crimson Larks' Tongue in Aspic t-shirt, and that was the first album he did with King Crimson. He walked over and said "Nice t-shirt". I replied that it was one of my favorite albums. Roy said he saw John look at his t-shirt, a Yes shirt, and then say nothing. John Wetton, the two guys sitting next to us, Roy, and I had a little conversation about King Crimson and the Red remaster that is going to be released soon. John Wetton has been in a lot of bands, but his time in Crimson is why I'm such a fan of his, so I'm glad we could talk to him in that context. I asked him if he would sign an autograph for me. He said he would, and waited for me to pull out my CD and Sharpie marker. I brought his "Hazy Monet", a live album from a show in New York that I attended. That was a magical night, but all I said was "I was at that show". I don't think he heard me. He made a comment about not doing the meet and greets or shaking hands because he doesn't want to get swine flu. I think it was so nice of him to come out and talk to us.

Here's a picture of John Wetton and me from the magical show at the Bottom Line in New York City in 1997. I'm even wearing the same t-shirt!


We never did get to see John Wetton do his soundcheck. Too bad, since he is one of my favorite bass players. Next, we were taken into a catering room with tables and a buffet set up for the bands and road crew. I could see the new singer for Yes, Benoit David, eating at one of the tables. I didn't want to bother him while he was eating. I did see him looking at me later on like he recognized me, and we gave each other a little smile and nod.

Carl Palmer came out first and then Geoff Downes. I got some autographs from Carl, but I really wanted to talk to Geoff. Like Steve Howe, Geoff played with both Asia and Yes, on their Drama album. Yes are playing two songs off that album on this current tour. It seems like such a good idea to me that Geoff play those songs live with Yes. They're his songs too, and he's here, right? But that hasn't happened. I asked him about that, and he said if he were to do it, he'd play it along with Oliver Wakeman, and they hadn't had to time work out who would play what parts. I asked him if he'd gotten to see Yes play those songs and what he thought of them. Geoff said they did a good job. Roy and I told him we saw Yes play those songs last year, which led into a discussion about what cities Yes played on each tour and what cities are considered the midwest.





Our conversation with Carl Palmer was really nice, but had nothing to do about music. I'm not a big fan of ELP, but I like him personally, as a musician in the prog world who seems like a nice, friendly person. I asked him if he liked doing these meet and greets. This is normally downtime for him, so he doesn't mind them. Carl is in very good shape, and Roy asked him about exercising while on the road. Another fan asked about his "ticker", since he had some surgery recently. The four of us had a really interesting discussion about health, eating habits, family history, hotel swimming pools.

John Wetton came out to get some food from the buffet, and some people started talking to him again. It was about 6:45pm, and we needed to get going. We had to meet the people who were going to buy our extra tickets at 7:30, and we had to get dinner before that. I stopped at the rest room and then we bumped into a friend outside. We found a great BBQ place near the Uptown Theater. They gave us a free sample of chicken wings when we stopped in earlier in the day and it was delicious. Unfortunately, they closed at 7, and we missed them. Ended up having a quick dinner at McDonald's. I sold my tickets, we got into the theater, I got my bottled water, and we got to our seats.

The stage setup was weird. Oliver Wakeman's keyboards were on stage, but covered, and they took up about a third of the stage. Asia was forced to set up in the remaining open part. I feel bad for everyone sitting on the right side of the theater - it must have felt like Asia was playing far away from them. Roy and I were sitting right in front of Geoff Downes. These were spectacular seats for viewing. All of the instruments sounded great. Unfortunately, the vocals were only coming through in the speakers above the stage - over our heads. I could hear the vocals low in the mix, but I had a tough time hearing what everyone was saying when they spoke to the audience. The same was true of Yes. Another downside was the squashed placement of the keyboards and drums - I could see Carl's drums fine, but Roy sitting right next to me, had his view blocked by the keyboards. I asked if he wanted to switch seats for part of the show, but he said no.

I had already seen Asia twice since they reunited, so I knew what to expect. They opened with two songs from their first album, Wildest Dreams and Only Time Will Tell, and then did a song from their new album called An Extraordinary Life. The show really picked up for me when they did some songs from their past bands. The fourth song was the Buggles' Video Killed the Radio Star. I like the energy in that song. And next was King Crimson's In the Court of the Crimson King. I told Roy I'd like to hear them do Schizoid Man or one of the songs from the John Wetton-era of the band, but this one is nice to hear and he does a good job singing it. Has Wetton's bass playing technique changed? I never noticed him playing with a pick before, but he had one taped to his thumb.

The big highlight for me was Fanfare for the Common Man. I'm not a big ELP fan, but everyone was playing great and doing great solos in that piece. I even liked Carl's drum solo, and I usually hate drum solos. John Wetton walked over to the far right side of the stage, in front of Oliver's keyboard setup and played his solo from there. The last two songs of the set were Sole Survivor and Heat of the Moment. Everyone stood up during the last song and people filled up the aisles to get close to the stage. I saw John Wetton throw his guitar pick to the woman who had been at the VIP meet and greet with us. She deserves it. This was a very good performance, and the energy level would be hard for Yes to maintain.

Roy and I were sitting next to Greg and Sharon. I knew Greg from the Yesfans website and met him at the St. Louis show last year. Sharon is a long time Yes fan, but never saw the band until two days beforehand in Denver. They were nice people to enjoy the concert with. Greg seemed to enjoy my bopping around and singing along, so I didn't need to tone it down at all. We hung out with them after the show too.

Yes started their show with the traditional opener, Siberian Khatru. Frankly, I was enjoying it, but it didn't wow me until Steve Howe's guitar soloing at the end. His playing and body language really jolted me and pulled me into the performance. Steve did a lot more rock star posturing in this show than I'd seen from him previously, standing up by the wall of the theater to do a solo and walking to the edge of the stage to lean on Benoit's microphone stand to do another solo. It was fun to see him engaging the rest of the band, rather than keeping to himself on stage. I saw Steve and Oliver making eye contact and smiling at parts. Our seats were right in front of Benoit, but I spent a good deal of time watching Steve. He was the star of the Yes performance that night.

Like last time, the front line band members took turns introducing the songs. Chris introduced Tempus Fugit, and also introduced the two new members of the band, Oliver and Benoit. I heard some boos when Benoit was introduced. I'm as big a Jon Anderson fan as anyone out there, but I don't hold it against Benoit for being the replacement singer. I understand why the rest of the band wanted to tour again. Steve introduced the two songs he didn't play on originally, Astral Traveller and Owner of a Lonely Heart. I remember reading a review from an early show in the tour that criticized Benoit for not saying anything to the crowd. This time, he spoke before Machine Messiah.

Machine Messiah led to an unintentionally funny moment of the show. The band uses dry ice to fill the stage. It's usually a few feet deep. But Chris had a fan on stage, and it woosh! blew the dry ice upwards, covering Chris. Everyone on stage was laughing. I noticed Chris being careful the next time the dry ice was used.

The setlist had a little variation in it from previous tours. Roundabout was done as part of the main set, rather than the encore. I always wanted them to do this, but it was confusing. Even people who sit for the entire show will stand up for the encore. I don't think I've ever sat down for Roundabout before! Benoit motioned for us to get up partway through the song, and I did. Chris usually does this thing with his index finger, circling around and then pointing up. I mimic him, jumping along with it. I think Benoit saw me do that.

The final song of the main set was Heart of the Sunrise. I've seen them do this on so many tours. But that song changed my life when I first heard it on Classic Yes. I hadn't seen them play it since 2002. Seven years. This was a blistering performance of it. Highlight of the night.

The encore was Starship Trooper. Some people in the audience were standing up for the encore, so I did too. I danced along. I tried to convince Greg's friend Sharon to get up as well. I noticed that the sound was awful standing up, just this huge amount of noise in with the music. I sat down for most of the song. Sharon caught my eye towards the end and gestured that we should get up then. We did, and danced, sort of together but two seats apart. It was towards the end of the jamming and just before Steve restated the melody line.

We were still standing and applauding when the roadies came out to tear down the set. I could see the setlists taped to the stage floor. I asked a roadie if he could give me one, and he did! He gave me the setlist Chris used. I've gotten these at other concerts before, but never at a Yes show. I was thrilled and people asked if they could take pictures of it. We met some other people from the Yesfans site as well, who stopped by the front row.


We also met up with some fascinating younger Yes fans. These two 20 years olds from Nebraska, a guy and young woman both named Alex, were big Yes fans. This was the first time they got to see Yes in concert and they were so excited. I saw them during the show sitting a few rows back from me. They made a banner with a Yes logo on it, and held it up during the concert. I am going to call them the "Alexes". They weren't sure if the band would think they were too fanatical with the banner or not, but we told them the band loves this sort of thing.

Earlier in the day, we scoped out the area around the venue. The band was going to exit via a door on a private parking lot. We couldn't stand by the door, but we could stand at the sidewalk and watch them leave. We told this to the Alexes and they decided to hang out with our group. Steve left first, got into his car, pulled out of the driveway... and then stopped to open his window and sign the banner. He signed a couple other things for people too. I brought something to get signed just in case, but I was having too much fun watching everyone else. Roy walked over to Steve to thank him for stopping.

The rest of the band pulled into their white van. We positioned the Alexes in front holding the banner so they'd see it. The van stopped, and Chris rolled down his window to sign the banner. The back doors opened, and the tour manager Paul got out of the van, followed by Oliver and Benoit. Alan stayed in the backseat. Chris handed the banner to Alan to sign, and he stayed back there, signing autographs for others as well. I talked to Chris, asking how he was doing. He said he was good, and I replied we were all happy he was doing better. Roy talked to Paul, telling him that we were at the Jon show last month (Paul was there too) and asked about Jon's tour in Europe. Paul told Roy he wasn't working with Jon on that because it was more like a vacation than a tour.

I stood around while Oliver was talking to the Alexes. He was joking with them that he saw the banner during the show, and saw them holding it so it covered their view of the stage. He said they should have cut holes in it for their eyes. I shook hands with him, but I'm not sure if he remembered me from last year or not. He's so friendly when meeting fans, I wish some of that could come across on-stage. Roy heard him say he's concentrating on the music and his equipment so much when he's playing that anything else is distracting. I think he's a good musician, but he needs to grow as a performer.

I was kind of following the Alexes around, because it was so much fun to listen to them talk to the band members and I wasn't trying to get autographs. They were talking to Benoit next. Benoit told them some of the same things he told Roy and me the first time he met us, that he could see them dancing during the show and singing along to all the words. He recognized me and asked me where he knew me from. I told him Bloomington and St. Louis last year. I don't think he put it together with the conversations we had back then.

The band left. I didn't get to talk to Alan. The Alexes were on cloud nine after not only getting to see the concert, but having the band all be so enthusiastic about the banner. They got autographs from all five band members. People took pictures and we said our goodbyes. Greg and Sharon waited with us until we got a cab back to the hotel. We'd be seeing Greg two days from then in Muskogee.


We weren't going to the next Yes show. They were going to Fort Worth, Texas, a nine hour drive away. I've driven home that far from shows, but I wouldn't want to travel that far on a show day. We spent the extra day being tourists in Kansas City. Then we drove down to Muskogee on Thursday.

I've been reflecting about how lucky we are, being Yes fans. I grew up in Philly, and I saw Yes ten times before I was 20 years old. I've had the opportunity to meet my idols so many times I can stand back and watch other fans get autographs for the first time. The lyrics of the new Asia song seem appropriate here:

Nights to remember and never forget
Go, seize the day
Wake up and say
This is an
Extraordinary Life

The Pageantry of Yes

Howe Squire and White
of Yes
The Pageant
St. Louis, MO
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Section Orchestra Floor, Row 1, Seat 1
$210

A few months ago, I saw Bruce Springsteen in concert. I was most impressed about the energy level throughout the concert, something that was sustained by both the audience and the band. This show is the closest I've ever seen Yes have those conditions. It was a unique experience.

I was thrilled when the tour dates were announced and Yes was going to play at The Pageant. Roy and I live in the Loop, the neighborhood where the Pageant is. But as it got closer to the show, I got a little worried. My seat was in the front row, but would it be too far to the side? The stage is almost as tall as I am, would it affect my view? The bar is in the main listening room and there will be a large standing room only crowd behind the reserved seats, will they really be listening or just partying? My seat was awesome, right in front of Steve Howe. The audience was more than awesome, very high energy and rowdy between songs, but not rude at all.

The day started out nice. It was sunny out and warmer after the last few days. Roy and I went out for breakfast at the hotel where Yes usually stays. There was no sign of them. I was wondering if they were staying downtown somewhere, and I was half-tempted to go to some hotels looking for them. But I didn't know what I'd say to them if I found them, so I stayed back and we took care of some errands. My plan for this tour had been to wear Jon Anderson t-shirts to each of the shows, and I did that for the first two shows. This time, I wore a navy blue top that set off my Yes necklace nicely, so I kept that on. Not sure if there's any significance to that. We went on a walk around noon, walking down to the Pageant. The day was finally here!

I planned to walk over to the Pageant for the show around 3 PM. I bought a tour poster, and I was hoping to get the whole band to autograph it for me. So far, I only had Alan's signature. I figured I'd be able to catch them on their way in to the venue. I was going to meet up and wait with another fan from the Yesfans site. I thought I was going to get there plenty early, so I didn't mind too much that I left after 3. I was sooo annoyed with myself when I saw their white van already pulling away in the parking lot. I didn't know who had arrived, but I missed my chance then.

I was waiting in the shade, and it was getting kind of cold out. My hands were out and ungloved, so I could hold a book. I was glad when Greg got there, at the least so I could put my book away and get my hands warm! Greg had traveled from Kansas for this show, and we met when he asked me some questions about the Pageant, the area, and the setup for the show. He has a cool website http://www.thelope.com/ and he was hoping to have the members of the band take a picture with his jackalope, the mascot for his site. We chatted for a while. He got to interview Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes during the Drama tour!

We saw the white van pull back in, but without any passengers. Oliver Wakeman came out, and he was happy to sign my poster and pose for a picture. He was eating a sandwich with one hand, so I had to hold the poster very taut and he signed it. I'm surprised it turned out as well as it did. We saw Benoit David come out and go right into the van, no luck getting his autograph then. Oliver went in too, and they drove off. We still didn't know where the rest of the band was.

I was going to meet Roy and his cousin Roger for dinner sometime after 5. Shortly before that, we got lucky again. I heard one of the security guards saying something about Steve Howe. We couldn't see the back entrance to the Pageant from where we were standing, so we walked around some trucks. Sure enough, he was there smoking. I've never seen Steve smoking before, and the Pageant is not a non-smoking venue, so he shouldn't have had to go outside to smoke, but there he was. I called out "Excuse me Steve, could you come over here and sign something for me please?" and he yelled back "in a couple minutes". This was the only time at any of the three shows that I saw Steve do any autographs, so I'm really glad I was there. He signed my poster and two records for Greg, but he wasn't in a chatty mood. I had some other CDs of his with me, but it didn't look like he'd want to wait for me to dig them out, so I didn't ask. I'm just glad to have my poster signed.

Roy and Roger arrived, and the three of us went over to Pi Pizza for dinner. My new friends Mike and Pat from the Bloomington show were there, and we got a table next to them. However, we really wanted this dinner to get to talk to Roger. He's one of Roy's closest friends and was best man at our wedding. He had seen Yes once back in the 1970s, but not since then. He's a big fan of groups with vocal harmonies like CSNY, and we thought for sure that he would enjoy the show.

I told Roger the story of how we got the tickets and why I'm not sitting with them. I actually waited at the box office when the tickets went on sale. Unfortunately, the orchestra section and center tiered seats were all put aside for the VIP package, only available online. I was able to pinpoint at the box office exactly what seats I wanted to buy - I got Roy two seats in the front row, right by the stage. He bought me a VIP ticket through Ticketmaster in the front row. His seats weren't much farther from the stage than mine were; his were on Chris' side, one tier up and the next section over. The joke on me was, not many of the VIP tickets were sold and later on Greg even found a front row ticket for $35 instead of the $210 I paid.

I had a little bit of trouble getting into the venue. Apparently, Sharpie markers are banned. I had one in my purse, and they told me I had to either put it in my car or throw it away. I didn't have my car with me and I needed it for autographs. I walked outside as if I was going into my car, and then put the pen in my pants pocket. I hoped it looked like I took enough time, then went back in. It's not like I'm going to use it to vandalize the building. This is why I need to get places early. Once inside, the security was really lax. I walked right up to my front row seat without anyone checking my ticket. I talked to Roy and Roger for awhile and found our friend Ralph sitting in the row behind me.

I had a laugh with the people sitting next to me. I chatted with them a bit. When the husband got up to buy drinks, I said something to the wife about the tickets being worth the price. She had no idea how much they cost. She pulled her ticket out, and I pointed out the $210. She was shocked, but didn't seem too upset. When her husband came back, we just started giggling about it. She teased him about spending so much, and I explained how my husband was sitting in the cheap seats because he didn't want to spend this much.

Firebird Suite started. Everyone stood up and applauded as the band members took the stage. The people in the front row remained standing through the opening of Siberian Khatru, but then started sitting down. I had a dilemma. I love standing up and dancing at Yes concerts, but I'll only do it if it doesn't block people's views. I was on the far left of my section, and the people to my left were on a raised tier, just like Roy was on the other side of the audience. The stage is almost as tall as I am, so I didn't think I'd block anyone's view. I stood for about half of Siberian Khatru, waving to Roy and Roger when I caught their eyes. Then, I sat and danced in my seat. When the song was over, I ran over to the people to my left and asked if they could see when I was standing up. Yes! I took that as permission to stand up for the rest of the show, with no remorse.

The next song was I've Seen All Good People. Everyone in the band took a little solo during the second half of the song, which I think worked well. The live version of this song on Classic Yes has something similar, where Jon Anderson would sing everyone's name like "Mr. Christopher Squire", and they would play a short solo in between the solo. This time, the new singer Benoit would walk up to each band member to indicate it was their turn. This worked well visually, and it gave Benoit something to do when everyone else was playing.

Even after just a couple songs, the audience response was just incredible. The band members seemed surprised at how long and loud the applause was going on. Steve seemed more energetic at this show than the other two I'd seen and the whole band seemed more powerful. Maybe the day off between shows helped to relax them, but I think the audience inspired them too.

It took me through the first half of All Good People to really feel comfortable and warmed up dancing. I didn't see anyone else doing the raised hand peace sign during the part where they sing Give Peace a Chance and I felt a little self-conscious. I sat back down for a couple songs, Astral Traveler and Onward, but by the time Close to the Edge started, I was back up and dancing with no inhibitions. Moving around to the music helps me focus more directly on the music and also helps pull me away from distractions in the audience.

The crowd was so enthusiastic during Steve's solo time. He played his two most well known pieces, Mood for a Day and Clap, along with a song he did on Not Necessarily Acoustic, The Glory of Love. His solo can sometimes be a trigger for some people to have a conversation or get up from their seats, but the audience stayed with him and seemed to really get into it.

I was feeling Chris' bass playing as much as I was hearing it. He was using his bass pedals during And You And I, and the floor and even my jeans were vibrating. Steve looked like he was enjoying himself so much, I saw him singing along when he wasn't even singing into the microphone for backing vocals. Alan stood up again during Starship Trooper and used his drumsticks to get the crowd clapping along and then standing up. Only about half the people on the floor did. Curiously, no one tried to move up towards the stage in front of the front row of seats. There weren't any security people down there to stop it. Chris walked over to Steve's side of the stage and they played off each other for a little bit. I think I felt more comfortable with Benoit as a member of the band, maybe because I'd gotten to talk to him the other night. I watched him more, and not just in a "what's the new guy like?" mode. The first encore, Owner of a Lonely Heart, felt a lot different at this show than in Milwaukee or the other times I've seen it with Steve on lead guitar. Steve was even smiling towards the end of it. What a night!

I met back up with Roy and Roger. Roger enjoyed it and sent an e-mail to us saying:
"Roy & Rhea thanks again for inviting me to the concert. I really enjoyed myself. If Yes plays in the midwest again let me know I will try and make it. They are so unique. I cannot believe I let 35 years pass between shows."

This was the show to see.

Roger went home after the show. Roy and I went back outside to wait for the band to leave. Greg joined us. Fans were waiting in a couple different places, because the white van was by the usual back exit, but there was also a tour bus parked by another exit. There was about a dozen people there, which was a good amount. With too many people, the band might not try to accommodate everyone. With too few, you might get to talk to one band member while the others walk by, and there's no one else to stop them.

Steve Howe was the first to leave. He travels separately from the rest of the band. His car pulled right up by the exit, and he got in. People cheered him, and he waved to us as the car pulled away. I'm glad I was able to get his autograph before the show.

I saw Benoit walk out. I waved to him, and he walked right over to me. "I saw you dancing again," he said enthusiastically. I think he's sweet. Benoit signed my poster and chatted with a group of us for a while. He told me he went sightseeing while he was in town and took my recommendation to go to the Arch. I told him about the Yesfans site, and said people were saying nice things about his performances there. He doesn't spend much time on the computer, and he deflected the compliment by adding that most people were just happy the tour could take place. I think he's well aware of how delicate his position is, filling in for someone as beloved as Jon.

While we were talking to Benoit, Alan came out and started signing autographs. People began to leave our group. I didn't. Thankfully, Alan already signed my poster back in Milwaukee, so I didn't need him. Also, Benoit was standing right next to me and talking to me. I'd feel weird slipping away to see someone else in the band. Benoit also told us how he started singing in Yes tribute bands and was discovered by Chris and how the hardest parts to him are remembering the lyrics and getting the timing right.

Chris walked over to our group, and I lent him my Sharpie to sign things for everyone. He didn't say anything about recognizing me from the other night. But Chris usually pays attention to things, even when he doesn't let on that he's doing so. He signed my poster, so I got all of the band on it!

A close-up of the autographs

Oliver was walking around, and actually asked the crowd if anyone else wanted anything from him. Roy went over to chat with him about some mutual friends. The whole band (except Steve) were out signing autographs and chatting with fans. They all seemed like they were in great moods. It had to be because of how well the show went and the reception they got from the crowd.

I didn't need anything signed from Alan, but I went over to talk to him. When he saw me, he said, "Oh, you're here again." Alan is usually so sweet, I hope I didn't annoy him after the Bloomington show. I told him I thought the show was great. He replied, "Even though we didn't play Parallels?" Oy. Then I told him I hoped I didn't come on too strong the other night. "Yeah, well." He shook my hand at least.

The band left. Our friend Ralph had waited for autographs as well, and he gave us a ride home. It was so cold out that Roy didn't want to walk. I was on cloud nine after the show and interaction with the band. I had wishes of spending more time with the band members while they were in town, but we didn't want to try finding their hotel at this point. It was nice just to be home and think of what a great time we had. I took the next day off from work, and it was good to have some time to come back down to Earth before getting back to my real life.

Yes, Yes!!

Howe Squire and White
of Yes
US Cellular Coliseum
Bloomington, IL
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Section Floor Center, Row 3, Seat 5
$85

We had to go from Milwaukee to Bloomington. It is normally an easy drive. The directions say it will take 3 1/2 hours, and I find I-39 an easy interstate to drive on. I drove this whole distance without a break on another trip.

But this was now our fourth winter in a row of traveling to a show and dealing with snow.

Roy drove. The roads weren't bad, but visibility was. We were both tense from being hyper-aware of the surroundings. Roy wasn't driving much slower, but we had to take a number of breaks to get away from the strain of driving. We had plans to meet some people from the Yesfans website at 5, but we were still just getting off the highway to our hotel. I didn't know if we should skip dinner and just rest up for the show or if the socializing would do us some good. It wasn't going to be a big group of people, which probably would have kept us away. Roy lay down for a little bit at the hotel while I got directions and freshened up.

The dinner was nice. It was at a little bar/restaurant near the venue that served mostly sandwiches. I tried to get something somewhat healthy. I have a huge circle of friends that are Yes fans, and for a long time, I was less interested in meeting new fans than having time to catch up with my friends. But none of them were coming to this show and I'm new to the Yesfans site, so we ventured out to eat with new people. All the people from Yesfans were really friendly. They held off on ordering until we got there. There were Mike and his wife Pat, who are from the St. Louis suburbs, Gary, and Larry. Scott YesChef, who we've known for years, was also there. I had to bring the bad news to the table when I told Scott about Zoey's passing. But the rest of the conversation was nice. Everyone was excited about the show. Gary wanted to be surprised there, so we couldn't talk about the songs. We all talked about the first time we got to see Yes live. Everyone else beat me by a dozen or more years. There were no uncomfortable silences or trying to fill the space and everyone was a good listener as well as a talker. I'm glad we were able to make it.

After dinner, we headed over to the coliseum. I didn't know what the crowd would be like. Why is Yes playing Bloomington anyway? It's an area that doesn't have a huge population, and I don't think Yes has much visibility among the younger people there in the college town. Before I left on this trip, I saw that 6th row floor seats were still available, and cheaper seats were on sale two-for-one. When Roy and I got down to our seats, we saw there were only about eight rows of seats on the floor, and 6 sections of tiered seating - less than even listed on the venue's seating chart as "theater layout". I guess some people who bought tickets didn't show up because of the snow. The seats on either side of us were unused.

We had third row tickets right in front of Squire. One thing that was really nice was the amount of room between the rows. We were a decent amount of space back from the people in the second row. It really helped with potential tall-people-in-front-of-me siteline problems, and it also made me feel like I had a lot of personal space. I can get a little claustrophobic sometimes, and this helped to relax me. Everything at this show was going to be alright.

This show just put me in my happy place. I just felt joyful the whole time. I was bopping along in my seat all night. Gary from dinner had bought front row seats from someone at Yesfans and was clearly enjoying it. He stood up and beckoned the people behind him to stand during All Good People, so we all got to get up for that. We also got a kick out of him standing up to play with the dry ice drifting off the stage during Close to the Edge, only to have an usher come over and have him move back away from the stage. I had the option to buy those same tickets. I passed on it, but it added to the fun to see him enjoy those seats so much.

Chris Squire made a comment about this being an intimate show. I heard that less than 1000 seats had been sold. I can't help but wonder if there was a better fitting venue in the area, something that would be nicer and smaller. But I thought the sound was excellent for an arena and I liked how much personal space I had.

I love sitting in front of Chris. I never did make eye contact with him, or anyone else in the band, or notice them recognizing me. Chris is such a performer, and being so close to him makes me really focus on his bass playing and backing vocals. I was singing along to his "float your climb" in And You And I and the "coil their said amazement of her story" harmony parts in Close to the Edge. Those backing vocals that he and Steve do were so prominent this time around. I could see Alan well from this seat also. In the other shows, his head was obscured by cymbals, and I could only see him when he was standing up. I barely paid attention to Oliver. He was very stoic and serious looking, not engaging the audience at all.

Steve Howe did All's a Chord from The Steve Howe Album as his first solo piece. I recognized the melody, but I couldn't place it. The song originally had vocals, but he performed it instrumentally. It really sounded nice. Once he announced it, it was like of course, that's what it was.

Steve introduced Starship Trooper as a quintessential Yes song. The crowd stood up this time without Alan's prompting. One thing that frustrated me about Starship Trooper was the harmonies during the "ah ah" part. I remember back on the Masterworks tour, Jon sang it with Igor doing the high harmony parts. This time, Benoit saing it, and Oliver played a keyboard part to harmonize. I missed the vocals there. The crowd stayed standing after the band left the stage. I was surprised when Yes came back on and started playing Roundabout. We could even see Alan singing harmony on it, and I never noticed him doing that before. In Milwaukee, they had played Owner as the first encore. No Owner this night. The show ended right at 10, so I wondered if there was a curfew issue.

We talked to Gary again after the show and bumped into Kevin's friend Greg, whom I had met the night before. We had a bit of luck coming into the venue - we parked in a covered garage and on our way to the entrance walked past the "artist entrance" just as a security guard was mentioning it to some other audience members. Roy and I went back there. We were joined by two other guys. It was cold, but only snowing lightly at this point. I mainly wanted to get my tour poster signed, but I didn't want to bring it out in this weather. We waited for about a half hour outside. One security guard told us the band had left right after the show, but I know they usually stick around for awhile, and I saw their van. We asked another guard, and he told us they were still there and it wouldn't be long.

It seems intimate to only have a few people waiting for autographs, but it didn't work out too well. Chris came out first. I asked him to sign something for me. He was very friendly, even asked what my name was, which he had never done before. He signed my Going for the One CD sleeve "To Rhea, Love, Chris Squire". I asked him if they could please play Parallels at the next show. Chris explained that there were complaints the show was getting too long and that it was a tough song to sing. While we were talking to Chris, Oliver, Benoit, and Alan walked past us and went into the van. I can hardly fault them, it was cold and snowing outside, and they weren't going to wait around to see if we needed anything! So nice of Chris to stay outside for a few extra minutes to make some fans happy.



When Chris had moved on to the other fans, I saw that someone was still standing outside the van. It was Oliver Wakeman. I walked over. Oliver saw me and asked if I was coming to have Alan sign something for me. I said, actually, I have (Oliver's) 3 Ages of Magick with me and I was hoping he could sign it for me. He seemed so happy to see his own CD, like I was doing him a favor. He saw that I did have the White CD sleeve in my pile of stuff, so he took my pen and CD cover into the van for Alan to sign, and then brought it back out to me.




Bloomington didn't have many nice hotels, and I made a guess of where Yes was staying. The band members are usually cool about people coming to their hotel and hanging out in the bar. Benoit saw us and walked over to talk to us. He recognized us from the show and said he wanted to talk to us. He said if he forgot the words to any of the songs, he'd know them by looking at me singing along! That's a nice first impression to make, in both directions.

Benoit chatted with Roy and me for a good ten minutes. We talked about how the tour's gone so far, how long we've been Yes fans, downloading recordings, why Bloomington had such a low turnout, how excited we were for a show in our own neighborhood in St. Louis. He said they try to keep the shows at the same quality level from night to night, even when there's a disappointing turnout, but I told him I enjoyed this night's show better than Milwaukee's. We also talked about St. Louis for a bit too. Yes did not have a show scheduled for the next night. Usually, they'd travel to the next city on their off-day, so they'd have some extra time in St. Louis. Benoit said he liked to do sight-seeing, but not museums, so we told him about the Arch and that he couldn't miss spotting it when they were arriving in the city. I was tickled after the St. Louis show when I got to talk to Benoit again, and he told me they went to the top of the Arch. High expectations and little windows, he said.

This was a longer conversation than I'd ever had with Jon or any of the other current band members. I can't believe how open and friendly this guy is.

I had joked to Roy that I was going to bring up Parallels to each band member I got to speak with. I didn't have to here. Benoit brought it up as a song they had dropped. "I know, and I was really looking forward to that one," I replied. Benoit mentioned that the band was talking about it, actually talking about my request to Chris earlier that night. Benoit brought Roy and me back to talk to the rest of the band; everyone but Steve was there. I'm afraid that when I should have been gracious, I pressed too hard. My goodness, these are my idols here. Everyone shook our hands as we left and were so friendly, it was just surreal. I wondered afterwards if I handled it well.

Roy and I joked later that we'll always have Bloomington. We got our Yes back that night.

Are We Not Yes?

Howe Squire and White
of Yes
Riverside Theater
Milwaukee, WI
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Section 1 LT, Row F, Seat 12
$75

Eight years ago, YesWorld, the official Yes website, polled its readers. They wanted to know what two songs we wanted to hear live. I voted for Tempus Fugit and Astral Traveler. I finally got to hear them on Saturday. The only catch was, I had to see Yes without Jon Anderson.

Yes has been my favorite band since I was a teenager, and they hadn't toured since 2004. I had seen several of the band members since then in other projects. If you're reading this, you probably know the story. This summer's scheduled tour was canceled due to Jon Anderson's illness. He's on doctor's orders to rest the rest of this year, and no one really knows if he'll be up to touring again. The remaining members of Yes got a new singer and organized a smaller fall tour. Roy and I cut back too, we're only going to three shows - Milwaukee, Bloomington, and here in St. Louis. The new singer is billed as an "understudy", until Jon is well enough to tour again. His name is Benoit David. They are also touring with a new keyboard player, but this is less controversial. It's Rick Wakeman's son Oliver Wakeman.

I've been excited about the shows, but with some trepidation. The setlist would include some different songs from their catalog, songs Jon didn't want to do. But what would the shows feel like? I count ABWH in my number of Yes shows. Would these feel like Yes shows or just like a bunch of band members playing Yes music? And who could replace Jon?

We had a real easy drive up to Milwaukee. It's seven hours away, but with lunch and rest stops, it ends up taking nine hours. I drove most of the way there. I knew what hotel Yes usually stayed at there, so we booked it for ourselves. It was expensive, and really nice, but we didn't see the band there. Maybe they're doing something cheaper.

We had tentative plans to meet up with our friend Kevin for dinner. Unfortately, he got there later and I was anxious to get to the theater, so we didn't have long to catch up. Kevin is such a big Jon Anderson fan, Roy was surprised he went to the show. But one of his patients won tickets to the show and gave them to him. We didn't see him afterwards, but I'd love to know what he thought of the show.

Our seats were in the left section, Steve Howe side, on the aisle across from the center section. This section started with row D, so our Row F seats were only three rows back from the stage. Our row had eight seats across, and all the other people looked young. The crowd had a good mix age-wise. We had an excellent view, even for a short person like me. I bought the tie dyed tour turtle t-shirt and decided to buy a poster after the show, so I wouldn't have to carry it around during the show. The concert started about 15 minutes late.

The setlist was:
Firebird Suite
Siberian Khatru
I've Seen All Good People
Tempus Fugit
Onward
Astral Traveler
Close To The Edge
Steve Howe solo
Clap
And You And I
Long Distance Runaround
The Fish
Machine Messiah
Aliens (Are Only Us From The Future)
Starship Trooper
Owner Of A Lonely Heart
Roundabout

The stage set was simple, but looked nice. It certainly looked better than the weird inflatables they used in the last tour in 2004. There were some white sheets draped above the drumset and the back of the stage. Different colored lights or patterns would bring different effects. Roy liked the particular shade of green they took on during Close to the Edge, just like the album cover. I paid attention to the lighting more at this show than at the others. Oliver Wakeman's keyboards were to the left of Chris, like the stage setup at SLO with only Alan in the backline, unlike other times when the keyboards would be in back behind Steve.

It took me the first few songs to get into it. I don't know if it's because I was tired from the long drive, rusty from seeing Yes, something to do with their performance, maybe apprehensive about the new singer. Roy and I had already listened to one of the shows from earlier on the tour, and Benoit can sing these songs well. But it wasn't until Tempus Fugit that the show became alive for me. That song lived up to all expectations. I was so happy to hear it. From the moment you tell me ... YES!!!!!

Steve Howe introduced Astral Traveler. He gave a slightly different introduction each night for it, but said he got to learn it when he first joined Yes, and that it was part of the setlist for The Yes Album tour. Alan had a drum solo during it. I love Alan, but the solo hurt the momentum of the song. It was nice to have him stand up from the drumset so everyone could see and applaud him at the end.

The song that really affected me was Close to the Edge. I've seen this song performed live over 20 times, and I don't usually get emotional about it. But this time, it was like reuniting with an old dear friend. The harmony vocals during I Get Up, I Get Down and the music in the end really got to me. I turned to Roy after this song and said this was really Yes. You wouldn't think deciding whether to count these shows in my "official live Yes count" would matter so much to me, but it did.

After this, Steve went into his solo. I've read reviews where the audience was rude during this part, but everyone here was paying attention and enjoying it. The next song was And You And I. I didn't like Benoit's singing on this one. It's funny because And You And I was one of those songs we played on Youtube when we first learned about Benoit, and I felt much better about a new singer after hearing it. But here, I didn't like the tone of his voice, like it was scratchy or something. I noticed the same thing during one of the long notes in the I Get Up, I Get Down portion of Close to the Edge. Roy noticed something funny during And You And I. Steve switches between guitars on this song, and one of the settings must not have been correct. He looked over to his roadie, who ran out on stage and stomped on one of the pedals, with just a second before Steve had to use that guitar. Steve wiped his hand across his forehead, as if to say "whew, just in time".

When the next song started, I got nervous. One of the songs that got me so excited about the setlist for this tour was Parallels. It should have been at the start after intermission. But now it was clear there was no intermission, and they were already into the next set. I've been thinking a lot about this in the last couple days. Because of my age, I never got to see Yes in the 70s or 80s. I'm so excited every time they bring in another song from that era. I've seen them play every song on the Going for the One album, except for this one. And they dropped it just a few days before I had seen it. If I had gone to one of the earlier shows, I probably would have seen it. I know these things happen and I usually try to see a show early in the tour just for this reason. But I didn't this time, because I didn't know what to expect with the new lineup and I wasn't excited enough about/didn't trust my favorite band enough to travel more to see an early show. So there's frustration mixed in with a bit of guilt as well. Yes did something, and I missed it.

I was strangely removed from the rest of the show. I loved hearing Machine Messiah, but the rest didn't have much impact for me. The Fish ended abruptly, and before we were sure it was over, the next song Aliens started, so we never got to applaud just for the Fish. Roy gave Aliens a standing ovation, to honor Chris in general for his spotlight pieces and to cheer them for doing a new song.

Steve introduced Starship Trooper. As the long instrumental end section was starting, Alan stood up from his drums. He led us into clapping and then used his drum sticks to motion us to stand up. Some people started doing the stage rush thing, running up the aisles to stand in front of the stage. I joined them. I love doing this, but I had to really. My whole view of the stage had been from looking across the empty aisle over to the stage. Now that it was growing full of people, it would block my view. I didn't want to leave Roy, but I secured my purse and merchandise bag and went up to the stage. I was in the second row of bodies.

This should have been so excited, but it wasn't. My view was partly blocked, but the weird thing was that I was just standing there. I usually bop around in my seat and I love to get the chance to stand up and dance at concerts, but here, I felt isolated. The performance of Owner in the encore didn't help. It felt perfunctory and I was just watching people around me being more excited. Maybe I was just tired from the long drive up to Milwaukee and it was catching up to me. Or maybe all the people around me were distracting me.

The woman in front of me right up at the stage decided to leave just before Roundabout, and she helped me move into her spot. I was now in the front row, in the aisle in front of Steve. This is where I really missed Jon. I don't know, if asked about this part of the concert, if I would consider this band Yes with the thrilling concert experience that implies. I talked to Roy about it afterwards, and he enjoyed it very much, but it didn't seem like Yes to him either, except for the Drama songs and Aliens. He had trouble getting past the fact that Benoit wasn't Jon. I think we needed this show to accept the new lineup. The next two shows we saw were so different in feel for both of us.

After the show, I bought the tour poster. We talked with a friend of Kevin's for a bit, and some annoying guy who talked like he knew everything, but didn't. I gave Roy our secret signal and we left to wait for autographs. The Riverside Theater has a back alley where the bands exit. A bunch of fans were waiting on the sidewalk, half a block away.

Alan walked right out to our group. He was by himself, no security or managers around, and signed autographs for us. He signed my poster, and I asked him if they could play Parallels in either of the next two shows. They had played it just four days earlier, so it unlikely, but not impossible for them to bring it back. I just wanted them to do it when I would be in the audience. Alan walked off by himself afterwards.

The band's van pulled into the alley. We followed it in, and I saw Benoit David and Oliver Wakeman sign a few autographs before security pushed us back to the sidewalk.

The crowd dwindled down, but we hung around longer and talked a while with another friend of Roy's, a very knowledgeable and opinionated drummer named Tony. He was a blast to talk to. He invited us to a after-show get together with some friends of his, but the place was way too smoky, so Roy and I went back to our hotel. People were telling us Yes usually stays in one of two hotels - the Pfister, where we were staying, and another one. I felt bad about spending so much on a hotel without getting the side benefit of bumping into the band there. We thought about going to the other place to see if they were there, but it was already midnight. We just had something to drink in our hotel lounge and took some time to wind down.

The next morning, we walked over to the other hotel. It was in the middle of renovations and looked like a dump. We saw a tour bus there. There wasn't really a lobby or reception area, but we went up to the top-floor revolving restaurant to take a look at the view of Milwaukee. It was getting close to check out time, so we took a cab back to our hotel and packed and got ready for the (relatively) short drive to Bloomington. It was already starting to flurry a bit.