Venue:
Royal Albert Hall
Date: 04/06/2024
My biennial trip to see Yes perform in London, this time for the final night of their The Classic Tales of Yes Tour 2024.
The band loves the RAH; Steve Howe calls it ‘the greatest venue in the world’ during the set,) and the RAH loves Yes. The restaurants and bars are buzzing with chatter and laughter pre-show although the band have to cope with several late-arrivals as the start-time of 7.30pm seems to have been usurped by some rogue social media post declaring the start to be at 8. Steve apologises for any confusion, even though it was nothing to do with them, apparently.
Anyhow, they kick off with the rarely-played Machine Messiah from the Drama album, (that’s the one when Geoff Downes and Trevor Horn joined the band, in 1980,) which is appropriate because Geoff is still onstage and Trevor Horn is in the audience, (apparently.) The track sounds fantastic; much chunkier and heavier than I remember, and is greeted with a huge roar as it ends. It is followed by another ‘deep cut’, It Will Be A Good Day (The River) from the 1999 album The Ladder. Singer Jon Davison excels on it and bassist Billy Sherwood grins throughout; he was the guitarist in Yes when the album was recorded.
The hardest-working man in the hall, Howe’s guitar-tech, wheels on the slide guitar and Howe plays the familiar intro to Going For the One which skips along at a rate of knots, Howe, Davison and Sherwood coping admirably with the complicated vocal/backing vocal interplay.
The evergreen crowd-pleaser I’ve Seen All Good People is next before they play the instrumental section from their version of Simon & Garfunkel’s America, one of my very favourite Yes tracks. I miss the vocals, (and miss Bill Bruford’s subtle, angular drums although, to be honest, I’ve missed them for 50+ years,) but they play it well enough.
Then comes a joyous version of Time and A Word, from before the time when even Steve Howe joined the band. It’s a lovely rendition and Davison sings it beautifully. Don’t Kill the Whale and Turn of the Century end the first half, the latter being greeted like the long-lost friend of 47 years that it is.
The second half opens with South Side of the Sky from Fragile; I’ve heard this line-up play it a few times now and I really think they nail it. Davison introduces Cut From the Stars, the best track from last year’s very good new album, Mirror to the Sky and, saying that it sounds perfectly in sync with the rest of the set, is a huge compliment to it.
Steve Howe then announces the much-anticipated medley of elements from Tales From Topographic Oceans. Whilst it may not flow quite so effortlessly there is no doubt that hearing ‘those bits’ is wonderful. They give the gorgeous Nous Sommes du Soleil more breathing space than the rest of the sections and the audience sing along heartily. It may have got something in my eye at this point.
The main set has ended and they return for a rocking Roundabout and a satisfying Starship Trooper before a standing ovation greets the end of the night. The band look genuinely taken aback at the warmth and volume of the reception; drummer Jay Shellen mouthing ‘Wow’ as he applauds the audience who are stamping and applauding back.
Yes are on great form right now. This settled line-up, (if any line-up of Yes can ever be called ‘settled’,) made a very good new album last year and treats the back-catalogue with the respect it deserves. Steve Howe is 77 years old but appears as enthusiastic about the band as he ever was.
Long may they continue.
The audience:
Devoted, diverse, deferential.
It made me think..
There’s plenty of life in the old dogs yet.
That sounds like a great gig, and a nice varied setlist. I listened to their most recent album quite a bit recently, and it’s very good – so it’s good that they had confidence to play a song off it.
It’s the best Yes album for a long time.
Joyous review of what was obviously a gig I should have been at. Heavens to Murgatroyd I would have been in bits. My purchases of Yes albums stopped somewhere shortly after their visit to the windswept slopes of Yes tor, so maybe I should jump back in and investigate some more recent offerings….
Try the latest one, Mirror to the Sky… I am surprised by how much I like it.
Cheers, I do believe I will.
Sounds great.
First concert I ever went to was Yes at the Empire Pool, on the so-called Tormatour.
I now regret not going to see them last week in Southend.
Get them to play the Sphere in Las Vegas … I’ll sell the house and we’ll both go.
Sounds a good night. I’ve Seen them umpteen times since 1977, and this is the first tour in 20 years I haven’t. Sodding typical ( still sulking that the ‘Relayer’ tour didn’t happen). They really need to change the encore, though. It’s been Roundabout and Starship Trooper since 1977.
But that would be like messing with the schedules on Radio 4. There would be questions in The House.
I absolutely loved Yes but then Tales from a Topographic Ocean spoiled it for me.
Saw them play it live before the record was released – they played it start to finish – it was a tall order for 20 year old ears and I never really forgave them.
A few years ago I invested in the complete album boxset more out of nostalgia but alos to acquaint myself with their later stuff. It didn’t work and I sold the set.
In the days of twin cassette decks I made myself an edit of TFTO. It had the whole of Sides One and Two, a few minutes from Side Three and took out the drum solo from Side Four. I played it to death and it’s still the way I hear the album. Some of Steve Howe’s most beautiful guitar work is on that album, especially the beginning of Side Four. It’s still in my Top 5 of their albums, especially since the Steven Wilson remix.
There is so much in their catalogue and a playlist of my 40 favourite Yes tracks is one of my most-played. I saw Jon Anderson play Close to the Edge with some American kids last year and it was a joyous gig.
TFTO still in my top three Yes albums – just as nature intended, no need to resort to editing.
@niallb– I think I recall that you posted some YouTube footage from that Anderson + kids gig on here: genuinely uplifting, looked like a superb gig.
At one point in my life Toppo was my favourite album. I love a great humungous sprawling opus with space to explore.
May not be right up there now, but am still wondrous fond of it.
Absolutely. A wonderful gig.
Which bit of side 3 ? Huge Yes fan but I’ve always struggled with TFTO for some reason
The acoustic section towards the end.
The part known as Leaves of Green.
Would love to see Anderson play here with this band….as well as superb versions of classic Yes they’re also now playing some new material and an album is due late August.
I was looking at the dates last night. Fingers crossed that he comes over to Europe. The reviews of American dates are fantastic.