Yes Tonight / Strange Yes show,yet amazing

Raff wrote: No chance, Scott - he's got a temperature, and would not enjoy the show in the shape he's in. I'm sorry for him, because he was the one who had never seen them - and they're his favourite band, at least in prog. Oh, well, such things happen....

Raff I am sorry to hear you missed it.  I remember the only time I had a chance to see Miles Davis live.  Bought the tickets (at no small expense), drove down to the venue, paid for parking, walked up to the venue.  Dark.  Miles was ill and called off the show.  Got a refund for the tickets at least, but I would much rather have seen the concert.

slidesandbends wrote: Yeah man....people love to talk about John Mclaughlin being the fastest or best or fripp being the most innovative...I've been playing guitar a long time and I've only recently transcended the prog world, and I'm telling you Howe was the king of the instrument in the 70's. He can play almost every type of guitar to efficiency, and in addition to that, he is 10x more expressive then JM who probably just plays a little faster.  He holds himself to the highest standard and articulation....you listen to CTTE on the album and you think "wow, he must be playing to the utmost of his ability..." and then you see celebration.

Agreed! Howe never ceases to blow me away, and he always does in ways that no other guitarist can. I remember being blown away by Mood for a Day as a little kid because it sounded like two guitars - it was the first time I discovered how fingerpicking can do a two-part composition...

What really blows my mind on Celebration is the energy - it's so aggressive, raw and powerful, it makes me think of CTTE in a whole new way...

slidesandbends wrote: that's true....Astral Traveler was nutso, i had listened to it before but they blew me away with it, as they did with machine messiah. I don't doubt that Howe can still play anything he's ever recorded....like CTTE...but if you saw yes in the 70's then you know that him playing close to the edge now vs then is distinctly different...there are really some beyond freakish videos of him from the 70's, especially on "Celebration".

I just watched the Close to the Edge clip from Celebration...oh my God...I've been schooled. I ordered the DVD immediately!

Raff wrote: No chance, Scott - he's got a temperature, and would not enjoy the show in the shape he's in. I'm sorry for him, because he was the one who had never seen them - and they're his favourite band, at least in prog. Oh, well, such things happen....

That's a real shame Raff - hope Micky gets better real soon and he has a chance to see the band on the inevitable next tour.

slidesandbends wrote: that's true....Astral Traveler was nutso, i had listened to it before but they blew me away with it, as they did with machine messiah. I don't doubt that Howe can still play anything he's ever recorded....like CTTE...but if you saw yes in the 70's then you know that him playing close to the edge now vs then is distinctly different...there are really some beyond freakish videos of him from the 70's, especially on "Celebration".

Where can I get "Celebration"? I am very interested!

Who's Micky?

Interesting, last night they closed with Starship Trooper in NYC, so they must be switching things up...Howe was onstage all night so it must have been a tech problem.

They played Close to the Edge with this lineup when I saw them at Westbury (where they also saved Roundabout for the encore, btw), and it was part of their set list for a while. Howe played it effortlessly, and doesn't seem to be choosing any easier material, so I'm not sure what you mean by "He is definetly not getting up on stage and playing close to the edge"...

Wasn't Astral Traveller a pleasant surprise? That seems like the first true "Yes" song from the first two albums. I wonder what else they might have put in the setlist if they didn't do Starship Trooper - or maybe they didn't have as long to play in DC vs. NYC...sometimes the venue restricts how long the band can play...


Edited by jplanet - February 16 2010 at 00:06

I figured that he must be feeling pretty lousy to miss out on his buddy Chris Squire and company.  In that case, have him take two aspirin and get lots of rest. 

That really is too bad Raff.  You and Micky just aren't having much luck with seeing them.  Tell Micky to take two aspirin and man up and take you to the show.

Edited by rushfan4 - February 15 2010 at 16:46

OK, the snow stopped, but we are not going anyway. Micky came back from work sick, and I don't want him to get any worse, especially since he missed the whole of last week at work because of the weather. It seems we were not fated to see Yes during this tour... Hopefully we'll get to see them if they tour in support of the new album.