My weekend in Poland with Camel and Yes (ARW)

I just had a fantastic weekend in Warsaw, Poland, where I had the pleasure to see two of my favourite bands live; Camel on the Saturday and Yes (featuring Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin, and Rick Wakeman) on the Sunday.  

Camel (Saturday, June 2^nd 2018)

Camel was absolutely amazing! Despite the fact that Andy Latimer had to sit down during the entire performance due to a recent injury, the band was on fire. The audience was very appreciative, and you could see that the band members were moved by the warm reception. Colin Bass wrote on Facebook that “last night in Warsaw was completely bonkers. Wonderful audience even though it was a 2000+ person sauna”. And yeah, I confirm that it was extremely hot in the Progresja club. The line-up was the same as could be seen on the band’s latest DVD release Ichigo Ichie, with Denis Clemant on drums and Pete Jones on keyboards. They are an extremely tight unit, and the performance was flawless.

The current tour is called “The Moonmadness Tour”, and the first set on the show consisted of the Moonmadness album played in its entirety. The instrumental opener Aristillus was played back on the speakers as the band walked on stage. Camel are not strangers to performing whole albums live, which they did long before the current trend for bands to do so; they have previously played The Snowgoose, Dust and Dreams, Harbour of Tears, and Nude (I think), throughout their career.

Then there was a short break before the second set which consisted of various songs from the Camelogue. There were one or two surprising inclusions, and also some surprising omissions, but overall the selections were similar to what was on the aforementioned live DVD, filmed in Japan in 2016. I wanted the set list to be a surprise, so I did not find out which songs they were going to play before I went to the concert. If you want to know the set list you can see it here: https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/camel/2018/progresja-warsaw-poland-4bed6f62.html

If you get the chance to see Camel, don't miss it for the world! See http://camelproductions.com/ for info on upcoming dates.

Yes featuring Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin, and Rick Wakeman (Sunday, June 3^rd 2018)

The following evening it was time for the next concert. This took place in a different location, an outdoor venue covered by a tent roof. Before the main event there was an opening act, the Polish band SBB. I had never heard them before, but they sounded to me a bit like Red-era King Crimson with more keyboards, and (occasional) vocals in Polish.

Then Anderson, Rabin and Wakeman took to the stage, with Lou Molino on drums and Lee Pomeroy on bass. This was the very first concert of their new tour “Quintessential Yes: The 50th Anniversary Tour”, and you could tell that they were a bit rusty. I hope that if you go and see them later in the tour, they will perform better. Anderson’s voice is very strong, and he sings very well, but he forgot the words to some songs, even to And You and I, which is one of the most played Yes songs. You could tell that he was embarrassed about it, but nonetheless both the band and the audience were enjoying themselves, and it was fun to see them.

Despite the fact that this is a new tour, the set list was very predictable with virtually no surprises. They focus very heavily on the early 70’s and the early 80’s, with songs from The Yes Album, Fragile, and 90125 making up most of the set. One song each from Close to the Edge, Going for the One, Big Generator, and Talk were also included.Whole set list can be seen here: https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/yes-featuring-jon-anderson-trevor-rabin-rick-wakeman/2018/amfiteatr-w-parku-sowiskiego-warsaw-poland-bed61de.html

Overall, I had a terrific weekend in Poland!