Yes Concert

I went to the Yes concert in Vancouver Tuesday night. They are my favourite band and were active from the early 70s for several decades. Their last new work (I think) was in the album, Magnification, that came out in 2001. This tour was of the nostalgia type. I had been to the Yes concert in Vancouver in 1984. Back then, I was an undergraduate at UVIC and came over with some friends specifically for the concert. I think I was with Paul Modos, Dale Starr, and Malcolm Smith -- and we stayed at Dale's grandmother's house, sleeping on the floor. But these details are hazy. At that early concert, Chris Squire (the bassist) was still alive. Steve Howe (lead guitar) was not part of the line-up, instead there was Trevor Rabin. The concert this year had Howe back in the line-up and Billy Sherwood replacing Chris Squire. I have to say that I expected Sherwood to be a disappointment compared to Squire (the greatest progressive rock bassist of all time?) but he was good. Howe was much better than Rabin, especially for the early work they played. I did not even notice that the lead singer was a Jon, but Davison not Andersson, so I can't say there was a drop in quality in the lead vocals! They played one song from each of their first 10 albums. I didn't know the songs from Tales of Topographical Oceans or Tormato, since these were widely regarded as loser albums even by the band members, but the others were all classics. They encored with Starship Trooper and Roundabout (of course). What a great concert!

The tickets were a birthday gift from my girlfriend, Veronica. It was the best gift I have had in years. We were apart for my actual birthday -- I was still in East Lansing and when I got back she was in Europe -- but she had left the tickets in my place for when I got back. You can see my crazed fan smile and her indulgent one below.

There was a long warm-up band, Todd Rundgren. They were OK, but not all their songs appealed to me. I did buy, "This is not a drill", which is quite catchy. 

It was hard not to notice the bad behaviour of other people at the concert, or what my mother would have called bad behaviour anyway. People arrived all through the warm-up band, coming from drinking. Even for Yes, people came and went for drinks and to relieve themselves from the drinking. It was at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. I guess I expect at a venue like that, if you leave the theatre they won't let you back in until there is a natural break (intermission, set change). Apparently, that is not the accepted expectation.