Yes live at Palais Theatre St Kilda, April 11 2012

Yes live at Palais Theatre St Kilda, in Australia April 11^th 2012

Yes Live in Australia – In a Word…. Awesome!

The set list was a fantastic double act by the headliners as the ‘Friends’ that were supposed to be there were cancelled. This meant a two act Yes extravaganza.

Setlist from Yes

 

Act I

1.   Yours Is No Disgrace 

2.   Tempus Fugit 

3.   I've Seen All Good People 

4.   Life on a Film Set 

5.   Solitaire 

6.   Australia 

7.   And You and I 

interval

Act II

8.                            Fly From Here - Overture 

9.                            Fly From Here - Pt I - We Can Fly 

10.               Fly From Here - Pt II - Sad Night at the Airfield 

11.               Fly From Here - Pt III - Madman at the Screens 

12.               Fly From Here - Pt IV - Bumpy Ride 

13.               Fly From Here - Pt V - We Can Fly (Reprise) 

14.               Wonderous Stories 

15.               Into the Storm 

16.               Heart of the Sunrise

17.               Owner of a Lonely Heart 

18.               Starship Trooper 

19. Encore:

19.               Roundabout 

 

 1Fly From Here (9)

2The Yes Album (3)

3Fragile (2)

490125 (1) 

Close to the Edge (1) 

Drama (1) 

Going for the One (1) 

Covers (1)

This is the identical set as with the NZ and Perth shows although Machine Messiah was sometimes played in place of Heart of the Sunrise. I believe the songs were longer in the Melbourne live set though due to no opening act.

The band were flanked by lights at the beginning with a classical suite to usher them on. The screen that hung above them was certainly effective though mostly showed psychedelic effects, flashy lightning bolts, colour bars, or rotating Yes logos. Often the band were shown on the screen but always overlayed with lighting effects. I would have preferred to see the band throughout the show as up the back of the theatre the band were tiny figures. They did not move about too much though Squire did his usual leg movements, standing on one leg Ian Anderson style, or shuffling across the stage and spinning. Squire did sing harmonies with the others and sounded fine to me. Howe was on his custom piece of rug and moved off to produce some electrifying lead solos. He was wonderful on the slide keyboard during And You And I. He even jumped a few times at the end of the concert and sometimes raised his hand up to show his love for the crowd. Geoff Downes was great and remained surrounded by keyboards though he came out to play a roaming keyboard solo. Alan White drummed his heart out and only moved from the set to bow at the end. The new member Jon Davison, from Glass Hammer fame, swayed gently to the music, banged a tambourine lightly, or a shaker and generally moved gracefully around the stage. The big question was will Jon be able to reach the high notes and will his vocals do this incredible music justice? I am pleased to report that he is absolutely fantastic.Jon’s voice is spot on, high notes shmigh notes, the man can sing as good and perhaps better than Benoit, now a distant memory. I am glad Jon was so passionate as he really added to the experience. He stands out as the youngest member among all the grey hairs, but he looks and sounds terrific. A lot of the crowd at half time were chatting about how amazing Jon’s voice is.

The songs were played with the same vibrant passion as on the studio releases. All the classics were played and a huge slab from the new album. The lights were coloured standard spots, blue lights, to green and some red and purple but mostly it was bright white rays of lights that shone out. Occasionally house lights were flashed to encourage audience participation such as singing or clapping during certain sections. There were no strobes and it was all very tasteful and white spotlights on certain members highlighted their solos. There was no smoke, no effects though images and bright colours showed on the screen, no lasers… no set design, but each member had their own space on the stage and dominated that. Squire had a fan blowing on him perpetually during the show, and his dancing was a special effect in itself. I mean an electric fan now.  The screen film during Starship Trooper was very spacey psych images, there were roger Dean art in some places, and waves crashing as well as lightning bolts and a myriad of colours to enhance the music.

The crowd were courteous and very reverant towards the music. There were no stupid yelling out during the songs, “Do Topographic!”, and the only wooping and hollering was heard after each song where it belonged. A few songs received standing ovations and rightfully so. And You And I got the crowd to their feet, played so beautifully throughout’ pure genius. The Fly From Here epic was played in its entirety and received a massive ovation with the crowd on their feet in applause, and perhaps the largest cheer of the night and spontaneous ovation came after the amazing Heart of the Sunrise, that featured an unforgettable mid section with Howe and Downes trading off brilliantly.

Another highlight of the show was Howe’s acoustic interlude performing well known Clap and the new one. He bowed graciously at the end and everyone let him know their appreciation. It was also a pleasant experience to hear Starship Trooper, perhaps my favourite track of the night. They left after that to a standing ovation and said goodnight. The crowd roared for them to come back on and it was deafening in the Palais at that point. The band returned to play Roundabout. I must say that it was a great way to end the show. Jon thanked the crowd and said we were beautiful Melbourne. He also said previously that they were enjoying their time in Australia. They didn’t speak too much as usual but I remember them saying they would be playing a lot from the new album, and also introducing band members, song titles, or stating you might know this one before playing Owner of a Lonely Heart.

The bass of Squire was turned up to maximum during Starship Trooper, like a solo, and he danced around. Often Howe played an acoustic attached to a stand and switched guitars easily this way. The roadies kept out of the way mostly though were about to switch guitars and check the keyboards. I even saw Howe adjust his guitar during a solo as I think he believed it was slightly out of tune. They are really consummate professionals and just played virtuoso throughout. There were no drum solos which was surprising as that would have capped off White’s night who really was not as noticeable as other members, though he played well. I never noticed any faltering of Jon’s vocals though I noticed they played some songs slightly slower such as Owner of a Lonely Heart. This version was the heavy guitar version and had recorded bangs and effects exactly like the original. Howe’s guitar solo was killer and pleased the crowd.

Progarchive members including in centre AussieBirdBrother and me.

Towards the end of the show the crowd were beginning to get more daring, I saw people recording the show with their sneaky Iphones keeping security busy, and many photos taken despite the request of the security to refrain from photography. I took many photos but they did not take exception to that, however, when I began to film I was tapped on the shoulder and told to stop filming. It was a warning and I heeded it. But I was a bit shocked that they were so strict as I have been to many concerts and it is almost standard practice to take some films as a momento or souvenir. In any case the quality is not good enough on non SLR to do any real damage. Bags were checked at the beginning of the show though I didn’t see any confiscations.

Another thing I was surprised was the lack of merchandise. There were absolutely no programs! That is a mystery as that would have drawn big dollars. It is the first time I have been to a show with no programs available, apart from the Alice Cooper PsychoDrama show that had run out of them. The 3 Yes Tour T-Shirts were $45 a pop, Yes logo on one, FFH album cover on the other with tour dates on the back, and they were snapped up by a massive crowd that had to line up in enormous queus. The CDs on sale for $25 were the Greatest Hits CD and Fragile Remastered. No Fly From Here would you believe? There was a $15 poster available, but I was disappointed with the small choice. I was able to buy more Yes stuff just by shopping round some second hand stores earlier. I was pleased to pick up a vinyl copy of Tales from Topographic Oceans and the complete triple vinyl of Yesssongs with the booklet in tact. That made up for the fact that there was really nothing on the merchandise stand for the average Yes fan. Even some box sets would have been good or more CDs. I am sure those tour T-shirts could be found cheaper online but they were admittedly excellent looking shirts. It was a tiny merchandise stall too and needed more room and staff for the eager crowd that had to line up for ages. I mean John Farnham had a bigger merchandise stall! Come on, this is Yes and they should have gone to greater lengths to promote the tour. There was some liquor sales going on before and between the two acts, that was taken advantage of. Crowds were not allowed to take any alcohol in but in Act 2 there were definitely some alcohol smuggling because a guy next to me was drinking a beer. The crowd were very subdued though and were there to experience the incredible music of Yes. They remained seated and did not disturb anyone. The theatre was fairly packed apart from some seats way up the back. I would say about 4 or 5000 were in attendance though it is hard to ascertain given the size of the theatre.   

 

It was an unforgettable show and I certainly loved every minute of it. It was great to meet up with some Progarchive members there and also some Rush fans out the front caught up with me. There were lots of Yes shirts scattered about and some other bands such as Rush, Camel, Pink Floyd, and Unitopia. Yes are still amazing after all these years and despite all the line up changes. They are still a force to be reckoned with and can draw a large crowd. Yes live on and I pray they will contine for many years to come.      

Edited by AtomicCrimsonRush - April 12 2012 at 20:05

Hey Atomic!

I can't add anything more to your glowing review, my mate and I felt exactly like you did...except that we'd been hanging to hear `Machine Messiah' - DIDN'T HAPPEN lol! Otherwise, great show!

It was a real privilege to get to meet you last night!

Edited by Aussie-Byrd-Brother - April 12 2012 at 09:02

I was there too. Front row of the lounge! Amazing.  

Quirky Turkey wrote: I was there too. Front row of the lounge! Amazing.

Wow yesterday someone loaded up Tempus Fugit, a song i did not record.


Edited by AtomicCrimsonRush - April 13 2012 at 02:05