As Ed mentioned, we went to see Yes on Wednesday night. It has been a while since I've had time (or money) to see live music. Graduate school, children, and work combine to kill any opportunity to do stuff like that.
I was amused to note some fans waving their cellphones and pda's after songs. Apparently not enough people smoke, so say good-bye to lighters.
In any case, I'll give a general rundown of the concert:
The Band:
For those of you who don't really have much of anything come to mind when you think about Yes, I'll give you some quick background. Yes came out of the '70's prog rock movement. In their music you can hear hints of Folk, Rock, Jazz, Blues, Country, and Classical music. In short, they're eclectic.
In the 70's, their best known songs were probably "Roundabout" and "All Good People." When they got back together in the 80's, they came out with "Owner of a Lonely Heart," a song that sounds very little like their earlier music.
The 80's stuff sounded like pop music. There were even dance mixes of it. The 70's stuff was sometimes 20 minutes in length and influenced by Igor Stravinsky.
Honestly, I was introduced to them with the 80's version of the band, but I like the 70's era band much better. Currently, after a series of convoluted personnel changes, they've got one of better the 70's line-ups in place.
The Set:
Yes was known for the strangeness of its album covers, featuring the work of Roger Dean. Dean does surreal landscapes. He also designs Yes' stage sets.
This one appeared to be inflatable and had a sea theme. The lights turned the vaguely crablike thing, a growth of seaweed, and a bunch of totally unknown, unidentifiable things green, blue, orange, and red.
For the longest time I could not figure out what the fishbowl-like things next to the drumset were supposed to be. According to Ed, they were drums. I spent the longest time speculating. Were they upside down mushrooms? The helmets of enormous, decapitated astronauts? I was at a loss.
The Songs:
You can get the song list on Ed's blog, but I'll just mention some of the highlights.
Ritual: This is from "Tales of Topographic Oceans." That album consisted of four, 20 minute songs. I cannot imagine listening to the entire album live, but every time I've listened to a piece of it, it's been great.
Rhythym of Love: Off of "Big Generator" from the 80's, one of Yes' worst albums. Live, at least, I liked "Rhythym of Love" to my great shock.
Turn of the Century: I just like this song. I'm not sure which album it comes from originally.
Songs they did not play (thank you!): "Circus of Heaven," "Don't Kill the Whale," and "Hymn to an Arriving UFO." All of these are off of the same album: "Tormato." The cover art for that album included maps of tors and smashed tomatos. I don't know why.
It would have been cool if they'd played "On the Silent Wings of Freedom" (also from "Tormato"), but I shouldn't complain. They did play "And you and I," one of my favorites.
Scary Drunken Yes Fans
You wouldn't think that a band like Yes would have scary drunken fans. One time I went to see Yes (with Joe and Mike) we ended up sitting next to a guy who had evidently come to the concert already drunk. Even before the concert he was shouting about his enjoyment of Chris Squire's music ("CHRIS SQUIRE RULES THE WHOLE FUCKIN' WORLD!") and insulting random passersby ("HEY! You in the green shirt! You think you're cool, but you're really a jerk!").
While Ed and I didn't have to contend with anything that rivaled that, we were both amazed to notice some people dancing. "How drunk do you have to be," Ed asked, "before you forget that you can't dance to Yes?"
I didn't know. I've never been that drunk.
Still, it was a good night.
Posted by jim at May 6, 2004 10:55 PM