Yes In The Present - Detroit, MI, USA 26.11.08
Printed From: Progarchives.com
Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Live Performance Reviews
Forum Description: Performance Reviews by Members
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=53661
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Topic: Yes In The Present - Detroit, MI, USA 26.11.08
Posted By: rushfan4
Subject: Yes In The Present - Detroit, MI, USA 26.11.08
Date Posted: November 27 2008 at 00:05
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I was in attendance tonight at the Yes In The Present concert at the Fillmore Theater in downtown Detroit.
Following is the setlist:
I. Firebird Suite
II. Siberian Khatru III. I've Seen All Good People IV. Tempus Fugit V. Onward VI. Astral Traveler* VII. Steve Solo-Cat Napping** VIII. Astral Traveler restarted W/Alan White drum solo IX. And You And I X. Close to the Edge XI. Steve solo-1st half ? / 2nd Half - Mood For A Day XII. Long Distance Runaround XIII. The Fish XIV. Aliens are Only Us From the Future XV. Machine Messiah XVI. Soon
XVII. Starship Trooper XVIII. Owner of a Lonley Heart (First Encore) XIV. Roundabout (Second Encore) * Oliver's Keyboards went out for some reason about two minutes into the song. ** Steve played some stuff while Oliver got his stuff sorted out. After much internal debate, I decided today to go ahead and attend the concert tonight. I was curious to see how they would sound without Rick Wakeman and Jon Anderson. I really enjoyed the show and I am very glad that I attended. Benoit David did a commendable job singing in place of Jon Anderson. At times I forgot that Jon wasn't there when my eyes were closed as I felt the music pulse throughout my body. Oliver did a great job playing the keyboards, in spite of a malfunction during Astral Traveller in which they lost power to the keys. Missing from the show was a Rick Wakeman keyboard solo and thus the wives of Henry VIII. I bought my ticket at the door when I got to the show and I lucked out that they had a single ticket available in the 8th row, center stage. I have probably seen Yes at least 10 times in my life, and this was definitely the closest that I have gotten to the stage. OMG, it was so amazing being that close to these guys that you could see their facial expressions, and watch them play their guitars up close and personal. And of course every time that they looked in to the crowd it felt like they were looking directly at me.
Fans of Close to the Edge will be thrilled with this setlist since they played all 3 songs from here. Fans of TOTO and Relayer will probably be quite disappointed, as they played nothing from TOTO, and only the Soon portion of Gates of Delirium from Relayer. Owner of a Lonely Heart was the only song that they played from post-Drama so that should make most later period Yes haters happy. They did play Machine Messiah and Tempus Fugit from Drama, which in all likelihood are songs that they would never perform with Jon. Also, Benoit David said that he requested that they play Onward from Tormato, which is probably another song that they rarely play, although it probably doesn't have all that much appeal to prog fans.
They also played a song called Aliens are Only Us From The Future, which apparently is a demo song that is slated to appear on an upcoming Chris Squire solo album. This song was fairly decent. It featured Chris singing and playing bass, and Oliver playing keys. Benoit David sang backup. I'm pretty certain that Alan White did play drums on this one; Steve Howe sat this one out. It was a decent enough song; the lyrics were both strange and funny, as you might imagine from the song title.
All and all, I thought that it was a spectacular night and a spectacular show. It was so great to see the guys playing again, and although I did miss seeing Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman, I felt that their replacements performed admirably, and thus the music was very enjoyable to listen to. The crowd seemed to really enjoy it too. ------------- 
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Replies:
Posted By: Queen By-Tor
Date Posted: November 27 2008 at 00:22
Sounds like it was a great night. Thanks for the review Scott  . i hope I have the chance to see this show when they roll around to Canada. I'll admit to being skeptical of the line-up, but it's all about the music, not who's on stage, really.
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Posted By: npjnpj
Date Posted: November 27 2008 at 07:20
| Thanks for the review, it's good to hear that they put on a good show. The setlist looks very impressive, shame I wasn't there. |
Posted By: Chicapah
Date Posted: November 27 2008 at 09:58
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Good report and I'm glad you enjoyed the show. As for me, I'll just hold on to my memories of seeing them in concert three times in the early and mid 70s. They were golden, and darn near untouchable. ------------- "Literature is well enough, as a time-passer, and for the improvement and general elevation and purification of mankind, but it has no practical value" - Mark Twain |
Posted By: crimhead
Date Posted: November 27 2008 at 12:16
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I'm still debating if I should see them in St. Louis. I still remember seeing them on their Relayer tour at the Hollywood Bowl. It does look like a nice set list though. Glad that you enjoyed it and got a good seat. |
Posted By: The Quiet One
Date Posted: November 27 2008 at 16:15
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Happy to hear/see that Prog Fans really enjoyed this live show without Jon. Thanks for the review Scott, here have some clappies
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Posted By: peskypesky
Date Posted: December 04 2008 at 11:32
| Sorry I missed the NYC show now. Not! |
Posted By: Negoba
Date Posted: December 05 2008 at 16:54
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Saw the STL show and the setlist was essentially the same. Great great show. As only a dabbler in Yes before, it really sent me back to listen a little more dilligently. Maybe it wouldn't have been the thing for the old guard but for someone who's really just getting into the denser music, who hadn't seen them before, it was great!!!! ------------- You are quite a fine person, and I am very fond of you. But you are only quite a little fellow, in a wide world, after all. |
Posted By: progkidjoel
Date Posted: March 02 2009 at 04:45
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Thanks for the review, kind sir. Sounds like a pretty solid set, but with Jon easily being my favourite yes member, closely followed by Rick wakeman, so i dont think its for me. Heres for hoping Jon gets back on his feet soon. ------------- 
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Posted By: lazland
Date Posted: March 02 2009 at 10:28
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Thanks for a really interesting review, Scott. It sounds as if you had a great time.
If I were living in America/Canada, this would probably persuade me to buy a ticket, as much as I dislike the thought of seeing them without Anderson again. Let's hope he is fully recovered soon. ------------- Enhance your life. Get down to www.lazland.org Now also broadcasting on www.progzilla.com Every Saturday, 4.00 p.m. UK time! |
Posted By: Jozef
Date Posted: March 03 2009 at 15:44
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Sounds good, I wish they had come to Philadelphia. I would have still enjoyed the show with or without Jon and Rick.
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Posted By: Owlchops
Date Posted: March 24 2009 at 14:57
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Just goes to show, with compositions of that quality, as long as everybody plays the right notes it's always going to sound pretty good - no matter what.
Not that Anderson and Wakeman don't have that extra special something too though. :-)
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Posted By: Owlchops
Date Posted: March 24 2009 at 14:58
And how is he now?
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progkidjoel wrote:Posted By: progkidjoel
Date Posted: May 24 2009 at 06:53
AFTER READING YOUR COMMENT I WENT TO HIS HOMEPAGE And then to news And he's touring?! He's freakin' touring?! http://jonanderson.com/news.html - Jon Anderson.com - News... Touring?! Thankyou for the tipoff, comment, reply, whatever it was! THANKYOU SO MUCH! Sincerely, thankyou so much. -Joel G -------------
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