It seems that you can download the latest Yes Tour concerts from http://concert-online.com (http://concert-online.com). The question is, considering Jon Anderson isn't on vocals, should I bother or not? At a price of £10.95, it's not too bad, but what to do :?
Quote from: "keithd"It seems that you can download the latest Yes Tour concerts from http://concert-online.com (http://concert-online.com). The question is, considering Jon Anderson isn't on vocals, should I bother or not? At a price of £10.95, it's not too bad, but what to do :?
Who's singing these days then?
I didn't know JA had left Yes.
Quote from: "H3WMW"Quote from: "keithd"It seems that you can download the latest Yes Tour concerts from http://concert-online.com (http://concert-online.com). The question is, considering Jon Anderson isn't on vocals, should I bother or not? At a price of £10.95, it's not too bad, but what to do :?
Who's singing these days then?
I didn't know JA had left Yes.
JA hasn't left Yes, but due to a recent serious illness he couldn't take part in a forthcoming Yes tour. The rest of the band decided to go ahead anyway and bring in a guy called Benoit David ( a Yes tribute band vocalist) and Oliver Wakeman on keyboards. JA wasn't best pleased, he even posted a note on his website to convey his disappointment about the others decision to carry on without him.
I think Rick Wakeman passed comment on his PlanetRock Radio show about the Yes 'tribute band' tour.
Kind of wanted to go but without JA (and RW) it's not the same, especially at the prices they were charging.
Quote from: "rob-m"I think Rick Wakeman passed comment on his PlanetRock Radio show about the Yes 'tribute band' tour.
Kind of wanted to go but without JA (and RW) it's not the same, especially at the prices they were charging.
That's exactly how I felt and the fact there was no new music on offer :(
Quote from: "rob-m"I think Rick Wakeman passed comment on his PlanetRock Radio show about the Yes 'tribute band' tour.
Kind of wanted to go but without JA (and RW) it's not the same, especially at the prices they were charging.
That's exactly how I felt and the fact there was no new music on offer :(
It was worth repeating.....
I went to see them at hammer smith and i really was quite surprised how good db was i thought he pulled it off magnificently and even sang some of the song better than ja don't get me wrong i love ja but this new guy really is good
My tuppence worth on the "Yes tribute band". We got some comps for the Manchester Apollo show (long story, but it turns out my father-in-law knew Chris Squire's mother-in-law back in the day). I wouldn't have gone, and had thought Benoit David seemed pretty bad on the couple of Youtube bits I'd seen of the last tour in the USA.
But... Yes were absolutely fantastic. The inclusion of "Astral traveller", "Tempus fugit" and "Machine Messiah" more than made up for the lack of brand new material. After a slow-ish start (Siberian Khatru was a bit underwhelming) and some dodgy notes in "I've seen all good people", Benoit really warmed up, and nailed it vocally. Oliver Wakeman looked pretty serious most of the night, but he did a good job, especially in "Starship trooper" (the encore). "South side of the sky" and "Heart of the sunrise" were stunning. He looked more at ease in the Drama songs, maybe because he wasn't retreading his dad's footsteps. But his playing was accurate and decent throughout. Not enough for me to vote him CRS best keyboard player, but it was certainly ok ;-)
The only really duff moment was "Owner of a lonely heart", which just doesn't suit Steve Howe's style.
I went along a complete sceptic, with little hope of it being great, and left the Manchester Apollo totally wowed and convinced. Steve Howe and Chris Squire were really fired up. Overall it was a great show, maybe one of the best gigs I've been to this year - and I really didn't expect that. For what it's worth, I've never subscribed to the "it isn't real Yes without x/y/z/..." school. After the classic albums, my favourites are Drama and Talk - without a first generation Wakeman in sight, and not a huge amount of Anderson on the latter. And when I saw the classic line-up at Liverpool in 2003 it was sadly underwhelming, with Steve Howe going through the motions, and Rick Wakeman's keyboards inaudible most of the time. Same goes for the "Director's Cut" concert DVD - lacklustre and spiritless. The other night, with the new blood, had an energy and committment that I didn't think I'd ever hear from Yes again.
I'm not saying Benoit David sounds just like Jon Anderson, or that he's as good. But he did a much better job than I anticipated. The band certainly shouldn't be written off yet, but in my experience a lot of "progressive" Yes fans are amazingly narrow in their tastes. No matter what they do, a chunk of their fanbase will moan about it. As for me, having now heard this line-up, I'm a lot more enthusiastic about what the future might hold for them.
All the best,
David
Quote from: "Dodie"The only really duff moment was "Owner of a lonely heart", which just doesn't suit Steve Howe's style.
As evidenced HERE (//http://www.concerttv.com/artist/YES/#/video/1556).
Quote from: "gr8gonzo"Quote from: "Dodie"The only really duff moment was "Owner of a lonely heart", which just doesn't suit Steve Howe's style.
As evidenced HERE (//http://www.concerttv.com/artist/YES/#/video/1556).
He's always looked uncomfortable playing that song. Using a jazz guitar (Gibson ES-175D) doesn't exactly help either.
Oh dear. Getting the keyboard player to do Trevor Rabin's guitar solo instead of Steve Howe doing it himself speaks volumes! :shock:
That particular keyboard player was none other than Tom Brislin of Spiraling.
He was writhing in front of the keyboards like he'd weed himself.
Quote from: "Dodie"My tuppence worth on the "Yes tribute band". We got some comps for the Manchester Apollo show (long story, but it turns out my father-in-law knew Chris Squire's mother-in-law back in the day). I wouldn't have gone, and had thought Benoit David seemed pretty bad on the couple of Youtube bits I'd seen of the last tour in the USA.
But... Yes were absolutely fantastic. The inclusion of "Astral traveller", "Tempus fugit" and "Machine Messiah" more than made up for the lack of brand new material. After a slow-ish start (Siberian Khatru was a bit underwhelming) and some dodgy notes in "I've seen all good people", Benoit really warmed up, and nailed it vocally. Oliver Wakeman looked pretty serious most of the night, but he did a good job, especially in "Starship trooper" (the encore). "South side of the sky" and "Heart of the sunrise" were stunning. He looked more at ease in the Drama songs, maybe because he wasn't retreading his dad's footsteps. But his playing was accurate and decent throughout. Not enough for me to vote him CRS best keyboard player, but it was certainly ok ;-)
The only really duff moment was "Owner of a lonely heart", which just doesn't suit Steve Howe's style.
I went along a complete sceptic, with little hope of it being great, and left the Manchester Apollo totally wowed and convinced. Steve Howe and Chris Squire were really fired up. Overall it was a great show, maybe one of the best gigs I've been to this year - and I really didn't expect that. For what it's worth, I've never subscribed to the "it isn't real Yes without x/y/z/..." school. After the classic albums, my favourites are Drama and Talk - without a first generation Wakeman in sight, and not a huge amount of Anderson on the latter. And when I saw the classic line-up at Liverpool in 2003 it was sadly underwhelming, with Steve Howe going through the motions, and Rick Wakeman's keyboards inaudible most of the time. Same goes for the "Director's Cut" concert DVD - lacklustre and spiritless. The other night, with the new blood, had an energy and committment that I didn't think I'd ever hear from Yes again.
I'm not saying Benoit David sounds just like Jon Anderson, or that he's as good. But he did a much better job than I anticipated. The band certainly shouldn't be written off yet, but in my experience a lot of "progressive" Yes fans are amazingly narrow in their tastes. No matter what they do, a chunk of their fanbase will moan about it. As for me, having now heard this line-up, I'm a lot more enthusiastic about what the future might hold for them.
All the best,
David
Well, for what its worth here is my two pence worth. I'm not bothered who is singing, I love Drama and I agree that not only a lot of YES fans narrow in their tastes but most "Classic Rock" fans are as well. What I do think is wrong, and I actually agree with Rick Wakeman and Jon Anderson who commented recently that this version of YES is disrespectful, is replacing a vocalist just because you can't wait. That joined with the fact tha JA actually asked if he could take part in the European tour part of the current YES tour and was rebuffed and told NO! frankly stinks. To me Benoit is just a JA copyist - from what I have seen and heard he looks like he is trying to actually be JA and not himself, which I just don't like. Don't copy, be yourself. Trevor Horn managed it even if the stupid fans didn't like it I did. I love YES dearly, along with RUSH they are my top 2 fave bands of all time, but I really think that it's time they called it a day.
Why oh why oh why they carried on playing Owner I will never know. Say what you like about him but Robert Fripp is so right when he says that some songs are set in a certain time. Howe is just SO BORING on this, such a bloody terrible attitude; if you're going to do something, do it properly, the stubborn old baggage just stands there, you don't even have to look at him to know he's not enjoying himself.
I also agree with the sentiments re. Benoit. He should have been there for the time JA wasn't. But god forbid Yes to do something that isn't ridiculous and stupid!