03
June
2024
The Classic Tales Of Yes – Birmingham Symphony Hall 1st June 2024
Yes – B’Ham Symphony Hall 1st June 2024
Believe it or not, there’s a World Championship Tiddlywinks event held every year and you all thought it was dead and buried once you entered adulthood. Well, just think where you’d be now if you’d practiced, every day, day after day, week after week….you could indeed become a World Champion, just a thought…..
On Saturday 1st June, we witnessed five musicians at the top of their game playing music that (at times) is 50+ years old. Time honoured classics that any self-respecting Yes fan will know extremely well because we grew up with it, it’s a part of our past, part of who we are and thus, plays a VERY integral and important part in so many lives. We hang on every word, every note, we know all the little idiosyncrasies and expect nothing short of perfection and we get it, time and time again and why ??
These guys have been playing Yes music most of their lives and not just playing it, playing it often and like the Tiddlywinks Champion, if you do something regularly and for long enough, have now reached a point in their lives when they could literally play the music blindfold !!! We go see Yes because we KNOW they can play their respective instruments – WELL. We know they can play the songs, tunes and epics we all know and love, it’s a done deal.
Now over the years I’ve probably seen yes around a dozen times – the Topographic tour back in 1974, the Relayer tour in ’75 when they played Stoke City Football Club, Union tour, Wembley Arena, the Drama tour and so on and so on. They never disappoint and tonight was no exception.
Taking to the stage at 8.00pm on the dot, this was a night of two sets, 8.00 – 9.00 and after a short break, 9.20 – 10.20. Two hours of yes music, what’s not to love and I fully realise that we all have our favourites so despite your expectations, they did NOT play anything from the mighty “Relayer” (denied). I’m also aware there are those of you out there who say it’s not Yes as Jon Anderson is not in the line-up – well neither is Bill Bruford or Tony Kaye and they are both very much alive so if you wanted to be pernickety, let’s get Bill and Tony back and why not resurrect Pete Banks and Chris Squire (both taken from us WAY too soon ). So suck it up people, the current line-up of yes is as much Yes as the “original” line-up. As far as I’m concerned, if it’s keeping this wonderful music alive, we can’t ask more than that.
So, what did we have in the night’s varied set – we kicked off with “Machine Messiah” from “Drama”, good to hear that again after so many years, following on we had the title track from their second album “Time And A Word” (where’s Bill and Tony when you need ‘em ?? Oh I forgot, they left years ago, even though TK did make a short return visit during the 80s), tastefully done. We even had a the build up to “America” – the cover of the Simon & Garfunkel classic which was featured on “Yesterdays” and the New Age Of Atlantic sampler. This has been covered in its entirety on previous tours, but tonight it was but a mere snippet just to whet our appetites. “Don’t Kill The Whale”, “South Side Of The Sky” (ironically never played live back in the day !!), we even had Steve Howe drag out the slide guitar for “Going For The One”, good to hear that again and from the same album, the rather beautiful “Turn Of The Century”. Most of the early albums were covered in one way or another (excpet “Relayer” – don’t go there !!) but for me the highlight of the evening was condensing the four epic tracks of “Topographic Oceans” into a 20 minute medley – absolutely superb.
Old classic “Roundabout” reared its head (you can’t have a Yes gig without Roundabout !!), Starship Trooper rounded things off, but the latest album “Mirror To The Sky” was also featured with probably the best track on the album “Cut From the Stars” and nice to hear “It Will Be A Good Day (The River)” from a very under-rated and oft-overlooked album “The Ladder”. Audience participation kicked in with “I’ve Seen All Good People” and there was plenty of standing ovations and clap-alongs. Overall, I think it’s very safe to say that the vast majority of the people in the audience went away happy. The merch desk was busy all night and we even had Roger Dean on site with a display of his unbelievable artwork (so meant to take my vinyl copy of “Topographic Oceans” for him to sign, oh well – next time eh ??).
Talking to my dear friend Ken Slater, who ‘s seen the band many times, he introduced me, during the break, to an American guy who’d flown over for the tour and last night was his 145th time seeing the band, now THAT’S commitment……………or is it obsession ?? Your Move 😉 😉
Overall, I wouldn’t say it’s the best gig I’ve ever been to or indeed the best Yes gig I’ve ever been to, but for a band of extremely gifted and experienced musicians, it was two hours of flawless live Yes music, delivered note perfect – we expect nothing less. Now where’s my bag of tiddlywinks ????
