Back in February, the latest band line-up to use the name "Yes" had scheduled a show at the House of Blues in Dallas. I had bought my ticket and was excited at the thought of seeing them at that venue. I had seen Asia there a few months before and enjoyed that show, despite having to stand in the "general admission" area on the floor for the whole evening. Unfortunately, Chris Squire became ill, and the Dallas show, along with the Houston show the night before and the rest of the tour dates to follow, were all canceled. I had to hope that they would reschedule a stop here at a future date.
Fortunately, they did. This time, the tour would include Asia as the opening act and Yes as the headliner. Steve Howe would be the guitarist for both bands, so he was set up for quite a workout. Jon Anderson was still not ready for an extended Yes tour, so Benoit David would be back as lead singer. I was curious to hear how he would do, as I had heard varying reviews of his performances on the fall 2008 tour. I was especially excited that this concert would be at Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth, home of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and a beautiful venue with marvelous acoustics.
I was not disappointed. Asia did a fine job in their shortened set, playing songs from their first two albums (on which Steve Howe played originally) plus one from their latest CD, as well as tunes from bands that the members had been in: The Buggles (Video Killed the Radio Star), King Crimson (In the Court of the Crimson King), and Emerson, Lake and Palmer (Fanfare for the Common Man). Everyone played well, and Carl Palmer was the hit of the evening with his usual energetic drum solo.
The Yes set was very good too, although I do have a few quibbles which I will get to shortly. The positives:
*Benoit David carried things off quite well. He may not have the distinctive voice or presence of Jon Anderson, but his voice is well suited for the songs and his enthusiasm was high. As an "understudy" for the job, I thought he turned out to be an excellent choice.
*Steve Howe had no trouble handling the double duty that he signed up for. His playing was spot on, and he too seemed to be having a good time. Chris Squire also was in fine form and voice.
*They played several songs from their catalog that had been neglected by previous versions of the band, and all three of them came off very well. "Astral Traveller" (from the album "Time and a Word") is a song that I have wanted to see performed live for a long time, and it turned out as well as I thought it would. "Tempus Fugit" and "Machine Messiah," both from "Drama," were also welcome treats.
Now, for the negatives:
*The bass was turned up too loud in the mix and often drowned out the rest of the instruments and the vocals. I have read the same comment in reviews of other shows on this tour, so it appears to be a choice of the sound operator and not a mistake or technical problem.
*Alan White did not play with the energy and commitment that I am used to seeing from him. I also read this in at least one other review from this tour, and it puzzles me. Alan has always seemed to me like the member of Yes who was most dedicated to the band and to putting on a great show, but that isn't what I perceived last Wednesday night. I hope that he gets the fire back soon.
*Oliver Wakeman seemed even less interested in the show. For example, he failed to play the short synth solo that comes at the beginning of "And You and I" just before the vocals start. The rest of the band looked at him as he stood there with his arms at his sides, until eventually Benoit looked at Chris as if to say, "I guess he isn't going to play it so I will go ahead and start," and he did. Throughout the show, Oliver looked stiff and detached. His playing was competent, but a bit more stage presence would help him a lot and make for a better show.
Despite these mild complaints, I still enjoyed the show and am glad that I went. I got to meet up with some fellow Yes fans that I hadn't seen in a while, and I believe that I may have witnessed a new fan conversion; a young person who had never seen Yes or Asia before and came to the show at the last minute with a friend of mine who had an extra ticket. It's always nice to see the younger generation appreciating the same music that we old fogeys have liked for all these years.
There are rumors that Jon has been in contact with Chris about possibly rejoining Yes sometime next year. That will be great if it happens. If it doesn't, I will still support the current version of the band if it continues. The show I saw wasn't perfect, but it was still a good performance that indicates that the guys still have what it takes to entertain their fans.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
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