Yes Adventures

Yes Adventures


Besides Genesis we were also Big Fans of Yes.
Things were much different in the 60's and early 70's than they are today.
It was very costly for English and European bands to tour America, so they
usually had two or three albums out before playing any concerts in the
US. (Nowadays English bands make their own EP cd and they're doing
shows in the US) Anyway Yes had 3 albums out in June of 1971 and we
were especially crazy about their New Album, The Yes Album. But still NO
word that they might be playing in Los Angeles any time soon.
The afternoon of June 28, 1971 I got the shock of my life when my
brother called to say that Yes were playing at the Whisky A Go Go that
very night.( There was absolutely NO mention of this show whatsoever in
the local papers. Yes had just started a US tour in support of Jethro Tull
and these 2 Monday Tuesday night shows at the Whisky were added at
the last minute), but most shockingly my brother said he was calling from
Jon Anderson's and Tony Kaye's hotel room at the Hyatt on Sunset Blvd. I
was just numb! I still was in disbelief and just to make sure that I wasn't
dreaming I called the Whisky to check that it wasn't all a joke. A girl
answered the phone and said that she had no idea who was playing and
went to find out. She came back a few minutes later and
said "Some band named Yes?". She obviously had no idea who they were.
I hurriedly made some phone calls and BLASTED for Hollywood! I arrived
and got to meet the band and road crew and listen to the sound check.
They were all extremely nice and actually blown away to be playing in
Hollywood. The Whisky in those days was a great place to see bands
because they all had to play 2 complete sets, so it was like seeing 2
concerts for the price of one. It wasn't long before they started kicking
everyone out after the first show. The concert was great! Yes sounded
better live than I had hoped for. There weren't too many people there for
the first night. The second night the word had gotten out and more
people showed up. By the end of the second night we had become good
friends with the road crew and had helped them pack up the gear.
We were very excited when we heard that Rick Wakeman had replaced
Tony Kaye. Tony was good live and did some nice sounding things on The
Yes Album, but he couldn't hold a candle to Rick who was our Hero
before we had even seen him live. Just from listening to the Strawbs
albums. For those that don't have them "Just A Collection Of Antiques
And Curios (Live)" and "From The Witchwood" are ABSOLUTE MUSTS!
We didn't have to wait long to see the new Yes as they were opening their
first US tour with Rick in November at the Whisky for 5 nights. That was
like seeing 10 concerts in a row as we went every night.
The afternoon of the first show I arrived at the Whisky to find Jon and Rick
milling about and Jon introduced me to Rick. I was blown away, but tried
to act nonchalant. The Whisky stage was pretty small, so they had to
setup Rick's keyboards on an adjacent area next to the stage. "Fragile"
had not been released yet at this time. Yes opened the show with
"Roundabout". We were blown away. It was a very strange bill. Opening
the show was Mary Wells a soul singer from the sixties who had had a
number one single with the song "My Guy". So the audience
was a bizarre cross between Prog Fans and Soul Fans. Just after Yes had   
annihilated the place with the first performance of "Heart Of The Sunrise",
in America, a soul brother leaned over and said "What's the name of this
group?" When I replied Yes, he said "Man They Is Yes!" I got to know the
crew and band very well during this tour and the next tour in March of
1972. During my trip to England in the summer of 1972 I went to visit
one of my friends in the Yes road crew. While at his flat he said that the
band was at Advision Studios recording the next album and asked if I
would like to comeby. I said are you CRAZY and asked if it would be all
right to bring a friend along. My friend of course was Genaro Rippo. We
arrived at Advision Studios to find Jon, Chris, and Eddie Offord working
on the ending to "Siberian Khatru". Eddie had the volume GUNNED! We
were in AWE just to be there. I had brought a tape along that my brother's
band  http://www.christophernorthmusic.com had
recorded at CBS studios in Hollywood. It contained three Prog Rock   
songs including a great extended version of "Feeling Good" by Traffic.
Jon and Chris really liked it and couldn't understand why they didn't have
a record deal at that time. We ended up going to a few more "Close To
The Edge" sessions. One day I heard a little of "And You And I" I was
numb and thought it was the best thing I'd ever heard. During this time
Yes were on a very hectic schedule of recording and touring. They were
finishing up the recording of "Close To The Edge" and also getting ready
to tour the US again. Right before I left England Genaro and I were VERY
PRIVILEGED to see the dress rehearsals for the "Close To The Edge" tour.
Yes had rented out the Rainbow Theater in Finsbury Park for
the rehearsals. We were VERY FORTUNATE to see something that no other
Yes fans got to see, Bill Bruford's last shows with Yes performing the
"Close To The Edge" tour set. He would leave Yes a few days after these
rehearsals. We had such a great time in England that we returned the
following summer. We went to a number of the sessions for "Tales From
Topographic Oceans" at Morgan Studios in August 1973. I left England to
travel around Europe, but Genaro stayed in England and began to go
every day to the Yes recording sessions. One day Jon came up to him and
said that because they were expanding their Live show that they would
need a few extra crew members and asked if he was interested. Of course
he said YES! Genaro was very friendly and easy going and got along well
with everybody. Originally I think he was going to help with Rick's
keyboards and the new stage props, but Eddie Offord took a
liking to Genaro and asked him if he would like to setup his gear. They
were planning to take Eddie's custom portable console on the road with
them. Genaro said that he'd love to and ended up moving into Eddie's
penthouse flat on Vauxhall Bridge Road near Victoria Station. Eddie had
the console setup in the middle of his living room and trained Genaro on
the use and setup of his sound equipment. Genaro then became Eddie's
assistant on the road and also helped with all of his studio recording
projects including "Relayer".
http://www.connollyco.com/discography/yes/relayer.html


Edited by philhepple