SYMPHONIC LIVE (DVD)

All of the superlatives already given to this DVD are well deserved. Yes digs back into their glorious past and pulls out some of their biggest epics. Ritual was especially amazing. They played three new tracks off of the last album and they range from very good to excellent. They finished up with three shorter, more popular tracks to get the crowd up and give them even more to remember from a glorious evening. Basically, they had plenty of everything without sacrificing anything.

The Yes men (Anderson, Howe, Squire, White) were excellent and after 30 plus years, they were much better then I expected. The orchestra added shading and color to the sound. Keyboardist Tom Brislin was way more then solid. The sound was top notch and the video gave many looks of all of the parties in wonderful quality without being overly busy. If you wanted to nitpik, Steve Howe seemed like he just wanted to be left alone and did not interact with anyone, but that man can play. I've had the disk for a couple of months now and I have to say it is in the top handful of music DVD that I have ever seen and heard. It may be the top.

A strong 5 stars.