JON ANDERSON & THE BAND GEEKS: LIVE - PERPETUAL CHANGE

Recorded during the 'YES Epics and Classics' tour in May 2023 (Illinois, USA) as a result of the collaboration between Jon Anderson and The Band Geeks led by Richie Castellano, "Live - Perpetual Change" (2025) is a tribute to the most representative symphonic period of the legendary Yes.

Very respectful of the forms and avoiding 'creative' experiments, the band focuses on the setlist of 1973's "Yessongs", except for "Siberian Khatru" and "Long Distance Runaround / The Fish", replaced instead by the masterful "Awaken" and "Gates of Delirium", with a very solid group performance and with Jon Anderson's voice still in great form more than five decades later.

Without taking sharp turns and following a safe path, the band recreates as faithfully as possible songs like "Yours is No Disgrace", "Perpetual Change", "Close to the Edge", "Starship Trooper" (Chris Clark's keyboards and Andy Graziano's guitars in the final section are superb), or "Heart of the Sunrise" (very good bass by Castellano), which seem to be taken from some seventies concert, and even the acoustic parts of "And You and I" and "Roundabout" with their clean and immaculate guitars, seem to surpass several live versions of those songs performed by Yes in the 2000's...

Something that could have been better? While it was a tour focused on the music of Yes, perhaps including some previews of the excellent album "True" to be released by Jon Anderson in 2024, such as the very progressive "Counties and Countries" or "Once upon a Dream", would have given it an extra touch of freshness and novelty.

But without a doubt "Live - Perpetual Change" is a very good live album, which reaffirms in Jon Anderson's voice the greatness of Yes, and a new and very appreciable opportunity to reconnect with progressive rock itself.

4 stars

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