Yes live at Colston Hall

[owen]

Not sure I'd try Tales as a lead in. It's taken me years and, like DS, I think judicious editing (cut the first 2/3 of side 3 and the percussion solo on side 4) would enhance the experience. Maybe try Rabin era Yes as a start.

No, TA, I didn't say any of that, it's all in your imagination. 

[MikeEvs]

Someone did lend me Yes Songs years ago, and again it did nothing for me and I couldn't listen to it all the way through.

[owen]

Well Yessongs was buggered up from the start. They didn't notice that they'd set the recording up wrong. Prodigy is the same thing only with the Dolby seti gs done right. But try telling the people on the Yes fans site that. Yessongs is the holy grail according to them, even though it's worse than a 3rd rate bootleg. Rabin era is way more catchy. A bit like chlamydia. 

[D S]

Rabin era is way more catchy. A bit like chlamydia. 

With their classic hit, Owner of a STD...

[owen]

Although, to be fair Steve Howe wrote The Clap long before Rabin joined

[Mikey]

Although, to be fair Steve Howe wrote The Clap long before Rabin joined

Touche 

[rogerg]

Rabin era is way more catchy. A bit like chlamydia. 

With their classic hit, Owner of a STD...

heh

[MikeEvs]

Back to Bristol I go and to Thekla were I've previously brought you photos of Frost* and Lonely Robot. Tonight it's Myles Kennedy.

[owen]

so nothing from TA. Which means either they were good, in which case he isn't showing up to eat humble pie , or they were really bad, in which case he isn't talking to us

[MikeEvs]

Based on his tweets, he went and seemed positive about the first half, he hasn't posted since

[Trapezium Artist]

Based on his tweets, he went and seemed positive about the first half, he hasn't posted since

Sorry, chaps, long drive home afterwards and have been catching up at work today.

So, where to begin? The good news is that I'm very glad I went, fundamentally because the material they played from Tales from Topographic Oceans was stunning and really moved me. Keep in mind that I've been a Yes fan since 1973 or so and have seen various incarnations of the band play perhaps 20 years, but AFAIK, never anything from Tales, probably my all-time favourite album across all genres. So I owed it to myself to overcome my objections and go hear that, and I'm unreservedly happy that I did.

They played The Revealing Science of God and Ritual fully, along with the last section of The Ancient, and while I would love to have heard the entire album, this was a very good selection. They played it brilliantly and I was genuinely moved and emotional at points, that silly thing where you find yourself smiling, close to laughing, and yet simultaneously on the edge of tears. Is that just me? I doubt it.

If the gig had ended on the fade-out of Ritual, I would have been perfectly happy: it would have been the perfect symbolic act for the memory of a band that's only still part there (more below). But I'm not sorry either that they came back for full-energy renditions of Roundabout and Starship Trooper; also good.

The good thing about Tales was that Davison didn't ruin it. I don't mean that as negatively as it sounds: he has a very good, pure sounding voice, certainly knows all the songs extremely well, and doesn't embellish things too much with his own interpretations. But he's not Jon Anderson, whose voice is synonymous with Yes for me, as you all know. Davison's voice lacks the slight weird intonations of Anderson's, the Lancashire accent sneaking through, and if anything is too pure, too "safe". Anderson sometimes sings on the edge and it's part of the charm; or at least, I'm so familiar with his quirks, it doesn't sound right when it's not him.

So in a sense, the highest praise I can offer is that Davison's voice blended very well during Tales to the point where I wasn't listening to him as such, but more to the band as a whole. That worked very well and, as I say, I was quite emotional at point during Tales, as were other around me.

The same can't really be said of the first half where they played a bunch of Time and a Word, Yes Album, Fragile, Close to the Edge, and Going for the One classics. They were all very well played, but it seemed as though Davison's voice stood out as being "wrong" just a little more. While I definitely enjoyed them, they never sparked those elusive emotions. Well, except during And You and I: that was special.

It might be better if the band looked like they actually enjoyed being there, to be honest. I simply don't get the lack of on-stage chemistry and I swear that Downes and Sherwood barely broke a smile during the whole gig. Davison seemed to be a bit more lively, while Schellen was hidden behind the drumkit, and Howe was his brilliantly focussed stick insect professorial best, totally focussed and utterly on form, but not very engaging personality-wise apart from between songs, when his humour came out. I was right at the stage in front of Howe and it was a pleasure to watch him play, but more for the technique and sound than because of his presence, if that makes sense.

Alan White came out to play the heavy section of Ritual and the encore songs. He played very well, but he looked shockingly frail when he came on stage after: very hard to reconcile the power of his playing with his very apparent weakness physically. I wish him all the best for continued recovery, but it did pull on the heartstrings.

Two final observations. First, I was disappointed by the number of people in the crowd who insisted on holding semi-shouted conversations during songs. I nearly got in a fight at a Yes gig in the US some 25 years ago because some idiots kept talking all the way through And You and I, but I didn't expect the same in The Netherlands (it's usually not a problem at the gigs I go to). Could it be that Yes fans are mostly old and deaf and need to shout now?

Second, it struck me that the whole Yes-without-Anderson vocalist issue might be better approached by having a woman as the lead singer. That is, while I love Anderson's voice, I generally feel a bit queasy about men singing counter-tenor, like Geddy Lee or the Bee Gees, and Davison's voice just seems a bit too high and weird at times. Obviously the songs need those high tones, but if a characterful mezzo-type female voice sung them, it'd get away from Anderson comparisons and perhaps bring something new and special to the songs. Annie Haslam's vocals on Turn of the Century on Tales from Yesterday were great, as were Christina Booth's on Magenta's version of Wonderous Stories. Just a thought.

Anyway, game of two halves: first part was good, second part was great. Glad I went 

Still looking forward to Yes featuring ARW this summer. If only we could replace the Master Shredder with Mr Howe, what a happy man I'd be.

[owen]

I'd agree; no one in the band is a front man. JA most certainly is. But there isn't the same chemistry as ARW. They made up with it a lot with the visuals, I thought.

Re Downes. Pretty sure you said the same thing about Wakeman!

I had a quick listen to a sample from the last Drama Tales album. It sounded very light, especially in the keys. Much better sound at Manchester. I'd never been to the Bridgewater Hall before, really good acoustics.

Anyway, glad you liked it

Oh and ps, 2 bozos were doing the same at the start of the gig too. They stopped after 3 songs, fortunately. Bloody Yes fans