Divaman: Yes Live | Sputnikmusic

Divaman 07.19.18	The show tonight was enjoyable, although it was a bit of a mixed bag. The song selection was great. Unfortunately, the current incarnation of the band isn't always capable of doing justice to some of their more complicated numbers. Howe started the night kind of cranky -- I think he's feeling a lot of pressure as the member with the most "Yes cred" vs. the rival version of Yes. Alan White was there, but he is only playing on the last four songs every night, as he's had a bacterial infection in his joints since November, after having back surgery last year. (Jay Schellen plays drums for the rest of the night. Tony Kaye came on as a special guest performer for the last three songs tonight. (This is usually the encore, but tonight, they never left the stage - I think the logistics of the venue made it easier to just play them as part of the second set). Kaye really helped fill out the band's sound, as Geoff Downes, whose work I like (Buggles reunion ever, Geoff?), just has too thin a sound to do justice to some of Wakeman's best numbers. Highights of the night for me were "Roundabout", which was very lively tonight, and "Soon" from the Relayer album, which was exquisitely beautiful. Setlist, in order, can be found at https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/yes/2018/nycb-theatre-at-westbury-westbury-ny-2beb8082.html
sonictheplumber 07.19.18	yeah if theyd kept the same setlist as their latest european tour id have bought a ticket, they were playing half of topographic oceans. once i saw they wimped out i was like fuck it. i saw the last handful of tours before squire died and unless they play some more topographic oceans material or some relayer material besides soon i doubt ill see em again unless someone buys my ticket
sonictheplumber 07.19.18	geoff downes sucks, he has made a mistake at every show ive been to, there are a million keyboardists who could do his job better than he does
sonictheplumber 07.19.18	howe, squire and the tribute band anderson have always delivered though. white is iffy
TwigTW 07.19.18	I'm surprised to see Awaken and Parallels on the set list. I strongly associate them with Wakeman, and Rick's version of Yes played a great version of them last time around. Looks like a great show. It's always brilliant when they play 'Soon'... It would be great if Howe got together with Patric Moraz and played the entire Relayer album. Maybe next year (or have they toured that already. I can't keep track of it all anymore, lol).
Jethro42 07.19.18	Wow, Divaman! It must have been a good show! It's a shame that, in the end of their career, the former musicians can't reunite all together. I know that Wakeman cannot imagine Yes without Anderson, but is there a conflict between Howe and Wakeman or what...? And also, I thought Alan White was not able anymore to play drums (or did retrograde a lot) since a while. The setlist was all right. ''Close to the Edge'', ''Heart of the Sunrise'' and ''Awaken'' without Wakeman are quite a bit risky imo.
Divaman 07.19.18	Moraz is probably going to make a guest appearance with them Saturday in Philadelphia. They're playing two shows there that day, and having some kind of Yes fest, and Moraz will be in attendance. He's made previous guest appearances with them on this tour, as has Trevor Horn.
Divaman 07.19.18	Btw, Roger Dean was also supposed to be with them somewhere last night. He had some kind of exhibit of his artwork set up in the lobby. He's also going to be at this Yes-fest in Philadelphia.
Divaman 07.19.18	"Awaken" actually was pretty good. The song I thought they had the most trouble with was "Perpetual Change". It was the first song of the second set, and it started kind of draggy, then turned into cacophony by the end.
Divaman 07.19.18	Yeah, from the interviews I've read, there's definitely bad blood between the two Yes factions. It's unfortunate. Howe has been pretty diplomatic, but Anderson made a statement to the effect that "We don't like those other guys," and one of them (might have been Wakeman) said that Howe was basically playing with a Yes tribute band (which is true in a way, but on the other hand, don't try to turn around and tell me you're currently in the "best Yes lineup" ever when you're using Rabin instead of Howe).
TwigTW 07.19.18	When Yes originally replaced Anderson with a sound-alike because he was too sick to tour, I seriously thought the band might be the first to completely change over all its members and keep going--but not anymore. I guess you can build up a lot of animosity when you're with someone for a lifetime.
Divaman 07.19.18	True. The guy really sounds like Anderson, too. I imagine that Anderson insn't too thrilled about that, and he probably doesn't have much love for Geoff Downes either. I'm sure that when Anderson left the band the time, he expected that would be the end of Yes, and Downes and Horn jumped in and kept the band alive for the "Drama" album. It's like my version of Yes that I was telling you guys about. e, Jethro and I get on just fine, but that Friday is a total pain in the butt. "Let's play some real instruments!" and "Maybe we should tune up." The nagging never stops.
Divaman 07.19.18	I don't now if any of you are into Stephin Merritt and his band The Magnetic Fields. He had a line in the 5-disc album he released last year, in a song called "Blizzard of '78" about a band he was in when he was 13yo. It went: "We made the Cramps sound orchestral That's an achievement, I guess As for rehearsal We made the Shaggs sound like Yes"
TwigTW 07.19.18	I never thought about it Diva, but I bet you're right. It's remarkable that Yes went on without Anderson as if nothing really happened. You can hear from the bootlegs that Horne isn't as good live as Anderson, but the crowd was into it. Yes put on a great show that year. It helped that Drama was so good.
Divaman 07.20.18	Here's something I feel stupid admitting, but of course, at that time, there was no Internet, no Sputnik, etc. The first time I ever saw Yes was on that tour, and I was blissfully oblivious until years after the fact that that it wasn't Jon Anderson who I saw. I think they played with Horn's voice on the album to make it higher, and at that time, I was much more of a casual music fan. (The show was also at Madison Square Garden, and I wasn't that close that I could see them that well).
sonictheplumber 07.20.18	if i wasnt prone to reading wikipedia pages as i listen to albums i mightve thought it was anderson singing on drama as well
sonictheplumber 07.20.18	how many times you seen em
Divaman 07.20.18	This is the 4th time I've seen them as "Yes". I saw them on the Drama tour, the 90125 tour and the Union tour, as well as last night. I also saw Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman and Howe once, which was probably my favorite Yes show of all.
sonictheplumber 07.20.18	fuck thats awesome you saw bruford
Divaman 07.20.18	Bruford was amazing. Did you ever see the video footage of ABWH? His drum kit itself for that tour was out of this world.
Bet 07.20.18	Bet
Relinquished 07.20.18	lol bet
TwigTW 07.20.18	Don't feel bad Diva. I saw Yes with Patrick Moraz and thought it was Rick Wakeman. It's not always easy to tell.
Divaman 07.20.18	For anyone who wants the full write-up for the show, it's up now at longislandmusicguy.blogspot.com
Divaman 07.21.18	Whoa, I didn't even notice before that this my 100th list.
sonictheplumber 07.22.18	fuckin moraz? awesome
sonictheplumber 07.22.18	my friends mom saw them 3 times in the 70s
Divaman 07.22.18	Yeah, I wish Moraz would have played the other night. According to Setist.fm, he joined them for "Soon" last night in Philadelphia, and Trevor Horn joined them for "Fly From Here, Part I". Other than that, it was the same show I saw, with Tony Kaye joining them for the last 3 songs.
sonictheplumber 07.22.18	shit man its like a lame version of the union tour lol
sonictheplumber 07.22.18	i mean shit man im about to see ian paice in a couple months so dont tell me bruford cant jam a little
Divaman 07.22.18	Far as I know, Bruford doesn't perform at all anymore. ARW tried to get Bruford to go out with them, but he told them his performing days are done.
TwigTW 07.22.18	congratulations on your 100th!
Divaman 07.22.18	Thanks Twig.