Protest at Yesshows!

When I saw Yes last year, they were in fact touring under the label "Chris Squire, Steve Howe, Alan White of Yes" or something like that. Ofcourse everyone just said it was a Yes concert, but that's not the bands fault. This year it seems they do are touring under the Yes name, and as far as I remember Wakeman's complaints were that they weren't making it clear on their advertisements that they weren't touring with Jon and Rick, and thus were letting down people. As far as I understand, Jon's complaint is that he isn't in the band. However, if they both aren't in shape for complete tours, well I guess they should let the others keep on working; in the end, the Drama and the 90125 lineups were called Yes, so why not this one. In fact, if this lineup shouldn't use the name Yes, so by the time of Talea from Topographic Oceans they should have dumped the name (only 2 original members left by then).
     Still, I guess if Jon wanted to re-enter the group within this tour, that should have been great, but I guess they didn't want to let Benoit down... perhaps some special appearences with both singers would have been cool and might have served both sides... even though I don't know if having two singers so similar would have worked right.

Slartibartfast wrote: Union was the last time I saw Yes live.  It was at the Lakewood Ampitheater which basically meant no chairs and your spot was way away from the band.  As I recall the ground was a bit damp.  Still, I enjoyed the music at the time so no hard feelings.  It felt like a bit of a step up from their more commercial efforts previously.

that's right I remember, it seemed like a step back to their roots (and a very nice cover)

^ I always took Chris for the core of the band, the real leader

People can look at the line-up and decide for themselves whether they are willing to pay to see this incarnation of Yes. I've seen the band four times and the weakest performance was actually with the "classic" line-up of Anderson, Wakeman, Howe, Squire and White. The best was with Igor Khoroshev on keyboards where they played an absolute blinder (I still get shudders thinking about the amazing version of Awaken they did).

When I saw the title of this thread, my first thought was........ Protest?  Why protest, Yesshows is a fantastic album.

The quote on the pamphlet in an earlier thread from Anderson was on his website when the new lineup was originally announced - it was subsequently pulled by Jon himself after discussions with the band. The quote from Wakeman is more recent and featured in an interview in Classic Rock presents Prog.

As I have said before, I cannot face the band without Anderson. As Wakeman said after Tormato breakup, he represents much more than one fifth of the band. I have not seen the current tour in the UK, and have only watched clips on YouTube, none of which have changed my opinion.

That said, I would never be so desperate to protest in this way. It was clearly an "unofficial" protest, but doesn't really surprise me. As a lifelong trade union activist, I ceased to be amazed by some of the petty and moronic things people protest about a long time ago

toroddfuglesteg wrote:   I still think it is unfair towards the new generation of human beings to deny them the access to the Yes songs, played live by musicians from this band. Not all prog loving human beings are more than fifty years old and have seen the original Yes live.

Exactly.... I am 17 years old and a HUGE Yes fan!...I've never seen Yes live (or any other band playing Yes songs) before so I'll love to see someone playing this stuff live and if there are Yes members on the band MUCH MUCH BETTER!!! I'll probably miss Anderson's vocals (since I know every single note and sound on the original albums which I've listened at least 10000 times) and Wakeman's keys (I also love Oliver's music and style so seeing him with Yes would be great to.... I wouldn't complain...)

cstack3 wrote: Cactus Choir, thanks for the mini-review of the Igor Khoroshev - Yes gig!  I missed those shows, sadly!   Man, that Igor dude got some bad press!! "Until now, though, no one has ever heard of an sexual assault from a member of a progressive rock band. But the Washington Post reports that Prince William County (Virginia) police have charged Igor Khoroshev, the 35-year-old keyboardist for Yes, with assaulting two female security guards during the band's Sunday performance at the Nissan Pavilion, near Washington, D.C.." So, where is he now??

Blimey! I didn't know about the alleged sexual assault. Perhaps that's why they kicked him out the band? I remember Jon Anderson announced him on stage as "Russian and a bit crazy".

I was really disappointed when I heard he'd left as I thought he'd given the old boys a  much-needed kick up the rear and really energised their performance. His playing was superb as well. He really nailed the quiet church organ/percussion passage in the middle of Awaken and the climax was truly awesome, possibly the most magical moment I've ever had at a concert.

To me  this is the  real YES. look at the center picture.

Edited by darksideof - February 10 2010 at 20:12

I would have thought Rick would be proud as punch, that his son is up there with such agreat band. Like passing on the family business..

For that reason, the claims on the protestors flyers are likely to be bullsh*t.