Yes, quite possibly the most important Prog Rock originators and granddaddies of the genre, delivered deep cuts and their groundbreaking classic album, “Fragile,” in its glorious, delightfully indulgent, layered, and ambitious grandiosity tonight. This album was released in the UK on November 12th, 1971 (54 years ago), and reached our side of the pond a year later.
Yes was and is a mainstay at classic FM rock radio for decades, including St. Louis’ own legacy station, KSHE 95. Fans know these songs like the back of their aging hands, and they demonstrated that tonight at an intimate show at the Stifel Theatre.
While the late great bassist and Yes founder, Chris Squire, and Yes drummer Alan White are no longer with us, legendary angelic-voiced Jon Anderson is doing his own thing, and Rick Wakeman is pursuing a solo career, some concertgoers may have wondered if the younger, newer lineup could pull off the complex arrangements of many Yes songs. The answer was an empathetic, YES! Fretmaster Steve Howe and Yes Mach III keyboardist, Geoff Downes, provide the lineage, connective musical tissue, and spirit of 1970s and 1980s Yes.
The audience was on its feet as Yes entered the darkened stage beneath a large video screen displaying the classic Yes logo in different permutations, as well as artist Roger Dean’s magical, galactic paintings filtered through AI, and began the epic “Siberian Khatru,” from 1972’s groundbreaking, stellar release, Close To The Edge. This track really encapsulates the Yes sound — complex, polyrhythmic, revolutionary, classical, textured, and singular.
Next, the band played seven more long-form, sprawling, deep tracks, including “Madrigal” from 1978’s ambitious project, Tomato, a recent track, “Circles of Time,” and concluded Set 1 with recent track, “Circles of Time,” and concluded Set 1 with the selection, “Tempus Fugit” (1980), a prog rock epic tune with bouncy bass lines and alto vocals.
The band left the stage at the conclusion of “Tempus Fugit,” and the audience enjoyed an intermission, bathroom break, and the opportunity to buy some merch or view the touring Roger Dean mobile art exhibition. Dean, the famed UK artist, is the man responsible for giving Yes their singular album covers and classic logo.
Then, it was time for the big attraction–the performance of Yes’ fourth, smash, breakthrough “hit” studio album, Fragile (1972), in its entirety. The band opened the second set with “Roundabout,” Yes’s most popular, beloved, and well-known single and FM staple. The nine tracks that comprised Fragile were a conceptual mixture of four band collaborations and five “solo” pieces, including Rick Wakeman’s (second keyboardist) classical homage to Brahms, the piece “Cans & Brahms,” vocalist Jon Anderson’s rondo cut “We Have Heaven,” drum “solo” piece “Five Percent For Nothing,” and late bassist Chris Squire’s bass workout, “The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus).”
The current lineup, including founding member and guitarist Steve Howe, Yes Mach III lineup’s keyboardist Geoff Downes, bassist, vocalist Billy Sherwood, vocalist Jon Davidson, and drummer Jay Schellen, recreated the classic Yes sound, and even Davidson hits the highs of Jon Anderson, who is currently on tour with his own version of the band.
After concluding the final track of their second set, “Heart of the Sunrise,” the most beautiful prog rock love song ever recorded, the band bowed and basked in the well-deserved standing ovation and loud applause.
The band returned to play a two-song encore, including a cover of the Beatles’ track “The Word,” and the final track, “Starship Trooper.” The final track of three separate movements, echoing into the far reaches of the hall and into the expansive universe, and into the cosmos.
Many walked out into the brisk night after reliving their youths spent listening to Yes albums in bedrooms, dorms, and basements, and taking a journey to long-lost worlds and new galaxies, and a few younger concertgoers discovered their grandparents’ and parents’ music.
