Thousands of Yes fans gathered at The Fillmore Philadelphia tonight to see Yes’ second appearance at this venue on their 50th anniversary tour. Many were also in attendance for the YesFanFest event e
arlier today, and some merchandise tables, as well as the mighty Roger Dean himself, were available for everyone’s appreciation in the bar area up front. For myself, having just braved a long and somewhat stressful ride in torrential rain, I arrived mere minutes before the performance began, so I made a rush to my seat just in time for the set. (I may have splurged on a pricey Dean print, had there been any hope of getting it home without sustaining water damage.)
The daring and diverse set began with the classic “Close to the Edge”. As a progressive rock musician, I have often designed set lists in such a way that longer numbers are saved until after both the band and audience have had a chance to warm up with some short, zippy tunes, interspersed with some banter, also allowing the sound man to get a grip on things so that everyone is primed and ready when the higher-stakes epics are introduced later on. But this type of preparation is not necessary for a band who helped invent the genre, and whose very sound defines it.
Recent years’ renditions of “Close to the Edge” sit back on the tempo at times, we are not propelled into the fiery opening guitar solo where we used to find Steve Howe headbanging as he frantically clawed his way up the fretboard in a dazzling display of avant-garde fusion pyrotechnics. However, their performance of this proverbial epic was nothing short of breathtaking. Jon Davison’s voice conveys this challenging piece with ease, bringing the midpoint interlude from its whispering caverns to its famous, soaring crescendo.
We were quickly taken from the familiar to a lesser-known track, “Nine Voices (Longwalker)” from 1999’s The Ladder. I was not familiar with this song, so having seen it in the set list from earlier shows, I gave it a listen to become acquainted before the performance. It is quite a stellar tune, with some elements of the better-known “Your Move”, starting with a sparse balalaika/vocal/percussion arrangement before the full band comes in. The chorus is magnificent, I can see why the band wanted fans to hear this, it will certainly find itself in regular rotation in my playlists going forward.
Fan favorite “Parallels” followed, preceded by a dedication to the late, great Chris Squire. Bassist Billy Sherwood did not disappoint, deftly conveying the sound and musicality of Squire’s immortal legacy. Sherwood’s presence in this band should not be underestimated, his playing is stellar, and along with Davison provides a youthful energy. Squire was right to pass the torch to this incredibly gifted musician.
Steve Howe took center stage with his acoustic, and played a piece that I did not recognize, but recalled the ragtime vibe of The Clap. I need to find out what this piece was – it was incredibly entertaining. We were then treated to a surprise with an acoustic rendition of Tormato’s “Madrigal”, one of my favorites, which took the place of the “Fields of Green” excerpt from Topographic Oceans in the set list. This struck me as a somewhat unusual choice, the song seems to me very much a creation of Wakeman and Anderson, who are currently separated from this lineup of the band, but it was a welcome addition.
Trevor Horn took the stage to sing the first movement of the epic suite, “Fly From Here”. It was a pleasure to see Trevor in such good voice, he was truly outstanding. This piece shows the whole band firing on all cylinders, demonstrating the progression of the fantastic Drama lineup. Geoff Downes’ performance is particularly striking, his gift for orchestration on full display, he seems to be his happiest when in full command of his massive keyboard arsenal. It pains me to think that this piece sat in the vaults for so many years, there is so much creativity in Downes’ arrangement that one has to wonder how he didn’t explode while containing this masterpiece for so long.
We were treated to another lesser-known morsel with “Sweet Dreams” from Time and a Word. I am not very familiar with the original studio track, and Howe introduced it as a modified version, so I can’t tell what aspects were original or embellished. It was a wonderful song, and sounded perfectly at home with this lineup, with Howe’s jazzy stylings, Davison’s soaring melodies, and Downes’ flourishing synth arpeggios bringing together many classic Yes elements.
The second set consisted of songs familiar from recent tours, “Heart of the Sunrise”, “Perpetual Change” (an absolute favorite, so glad they have kept this in rotation since the Yes Album/Going for the One tour), and Drama‘s “Does it Really Happen”. Side note: I listened to this song thousands of times as a teenager, meticulously trying to accurately convey the keyboard parts across surfaces of my bedroom furniture. I was quite determined that the bed was the Jupiter 8, my lap the Moog, the dresser the Fairlight, etc. Anyway, I was always so enthralled with the futuristic and beautiful synth arrangement that fades in and out at the end, that it was years before I ever noticed that it also contained one of Chris Squire’s most breathtaking bass performances, which Billy Sherwood performed beautifully tonight. But I was still watching Geoff, and yes, Geoff, you are good enough that you can get away with leopard skin pants.
“Soon”, the excerpted finale from the masterful “Gates of Delirium”, is usually a bit disappointing for me, as I have never seen this song performed live in its entirety, and it is quite possibly my favorite piece of music, so it’s a bit of a tease. I put it up there with “Ode to Joy”, to be honest. However, tonight’s performance was truly special, as the band was joined by Relayer keysman Patrick Moraz, and it was this time expanded to showcase his lush, imaginative contributions to this remarkable piece. (Let it be known, I would probably donate a number of lesser-used body parts to hear Relayer properly performed in its entirety. I hope my shouting this wish as Moraz took his place didn’t make him feel underappreciated).
The second set concluded with the well-loved “Awaken”, joined by Alan White, who has had to take some time off due to back problems in recent years, but is thankfully now healing enough to perform this challenging song. Most notable, for me, is Downes’ faithful homage to what I consider to be one of Wakeman’s most stunning accomplishments. The sparse pipe organ phrases that slowly build over the meditative percussion and harp continuo are performed faithfully, with careful attention to the timbre of each track from the original. Downes knows when to use creative license, and when to allow the original composition to shine through. His love for this work as it was recorded comes through, which I contrast with Wakeman, who, to his credit, is always revising it to new sounds, but sometimes loses the original magic while employing more modern, but often consequently more ordinary tones.
Tony Kaye joined the band for the three song encore, consisting of the de rigeur “Your is no Disgrace” (this one with some especially noteworthy guitar improv in the middle section that brought about house-shaking roars of delight from the crowd), “Roundabout” and “Starship Trooper”. I have seen these pieces performed many times, and so have little to comment, except to note that it was truly a pleasure to see Tony front and center, he looked like he was having a wonderful time.
As a final note: Just about every article about Yes seems to focus on the controversy around the lineup, and what trolls on social media have to complain about. In recent months, I have chosen to structure my life in new ways so that social media negativity is given a deserving amount of attention: none. I recommend you do the same, enjoy this wonderful group of musicians who still have a lot to say. The Fly From Here tour proved beyond any doubt that they have new territory to explore, the Topographic Drama tour proved that they are not afraid to dive head-first into their most controversial material, and they just keep going. I honestly hope they continue another ten, even twenty years, as long as they want to be heard, I will be here to listen and be inspired.