Rick and Adam Wakeman - Silent Night (Christmas Concert, 2009)

It may be a bit late for Christmas, but I won't wait until the end of 2010 to post this!

Happy new year for you all!

1987 - Philadelphia (DVD)

From T.U.B.E

-Source VHS > DVD

-Menu: No, chapters every 5 minutes

-Audio: AC3

-Video Format: MPEG 2

-Resolution: 704 x 480 / NTSC

-Frames Per Second : 29.970

-Aspect Ratio: 4:3

-Approx Running Time: 1 Hour 53 Minutes

-Total Size: 4.03GB

01 - Almost Like Love

02 - Hold On

03 - Heart Of The Sunrise

04 - Changes

05 - Shoot High Aim Low

06 - Holy Lamb

07 - Tony Kaye Solo

08 - Solly's Beard

09 - Make It Easy

10 - Owner Of A Lonely Heart

11 - Yours Is No Disgrace

12 - And You And I

13 - Würm

14 - Love Will Find A Way

15 - I've Seen All Good People

16 - Roundabout

Links on comments (yes, it's split in 42 parts! Only for patient fans...)

1977 - Making for the one

The sessions that originated Going For The One were recorded in details, as we can see in videos from Youtube:

The audio has appeared in many bootlegs, that come from various tape of varying sound quality. This bootleg here, Making for the one (actually one of the few with this name...) seems to me the most complete.

Of course only die-hard fans will want to hear 14 tracks (mostly with less than a minute) showing how Parallels was developed. But some surprises are also here, such as Steve and Chris singing two songs by Bob Dylan, as well as Steve playing free-form music on the electric guitar.

01- History Intro

02- Parallels #01

03- Parallels #02

04- Parallels #03

05- Parallels #04

06- Parallels #06

07- Parallels #07

08- Parallels #08

09- Parallels #09

10- Parallels #10

11- Parallels #11

12- Parallels #12

13- Parallels #13 Almost Ready

14- Parallels #14 With Vocals

15- Turn Of The Century #2

16- Going For The One #2

17- Going For The One #3

18- Going For The One #5

19- Steve's Acoustic Solo #2 (Positively 4th Street, by Bob Dylan)

20- Steve's Electric Solo #2

21- Steve's Acoustic Solo #2 (Positively 4th Street (end) and Knockin' on Heaven's Door, by Bob Dylan)

22- Steve's Electric Solo #2

23- Rick's Solo #1

24- Rick's Solo #2

25- Awaken #4

26- Turn Of The Century #2

27- Turn Of The Century #3

28- Parallels #12

29- Turn Of The Century #1

30- Steve's Acoustic  Solo #2  

31- Going For The One #2

32- Jam #3

33- Steve's electric solo #2

34- Jam #4

35- Awaken #2

36- Going For The One #3

37- Awaken #4

38- Awaken #5

39- Awaken #6

40- Wonderous Stories

41- Comments On The End

42- On The Alternate Wings Of Freedom

Songs in colours are identical, but must come from different tapes, because the red ones have much worse sound quality than the purple ones. I'm sorry, but I'm not the one who created this bootleg, so don't ask me why the two jams are numbered 3 and 4, or what is "On the alternate wings of freedom" doing here!

Link on comments!

1994 - New York (first show of the tour)

June 18, 1994
Binghamton, NY
Soundboard (taken from T.U.B.E , once more)

Another show from the Talk tour, this one was the first. So you notice lack of rehearsal, for example in And You And I, when Jon had two false starts.
On the other hand, you listen to some more songs from Rabin era (City of Love and Cinema).

Frank, from Forgotten Yesterdays, recollects some chat he had with Yes members after the show:
Alan comes out and doesn't give us a second (or first) glance. So...then we began to beg. "Tony! Please!" He came over. Whew. As he signed a few things, I asked a few questions, gave a few compliments. "Tony, how come Trevor played all those keyboard parts. Surely, you could've handled them." The reply: "Well... we've decided to show Trevor off this time around. Well...he decided."

"It looked like you were working hard out there, Tony. You were sweating more than all of them!" The reply: "Actually, I was closer to the lights." (:

Next victim. Trevor walks over as Tony leaves. "Hey Trevor, I didn't know you played keyboards so well." Reply: "Well it's the first time I've played them ever...on stage."

01 - Intro/Perpetual Change
02 - The Calling
03 - I Am Waiting
04 - Rhythm Of Love
05 - Hearts
06 - Real Love
07 - Changes
08 - Heart Of The Sunrise
09 - Cinema
10 - City Of Love/Make It Easy
11 - Owner Of A Lonely Heart
12 - Where Will You Be?
13 - Rabin Piano Solo/ And You And I
14 - I've Seen All Good People
15 - Walls
16 - Endless Dream
17 - Roundabout

Links on comments!

Rick Wakeman - Hampton Court, 2009

Rick Wakeman's show at Hampton Court (first time Six Wives was entirely played, including also new songs, orchestrations, etc) is being release as CD, DVD and Blu-Ray.

Support him!

(or at least see these amazing concerts at Youtube)

1994 - Philadelphia

Spectrum Arena, Philadelphia, PA, USA

August 26, 1994

Finally we have a show from the Talk tour here. I admit I have never cared much about their last album with Rabin, but when I listened to this show I really understood why so many people say The Endless Dream is an overlooked masterpiece.

And they don't play just this song from Talk, actually 6 of the album's 7 songs are played in this concert, showing the band really thought this material was indeed valuable (compare, for example, with the two new songs they played o

n Open Your Eyes tour).

So Endless Dream was a big surprise to me, I hope it is for you all as well. And Rabin's piano solo also exceeds expectations.

Setlist :

Intro-Perpetual Change

The Calling

I Am Waiting

Rhythm Of Love

Real Love

Changes

Heart Of The Sunrise

Make It Easy

Owner Of A Lonely Heart

Rabin Piano Solo

And You And I

Where Will You Be?

I've Seen All Good People

Walls

Endless Dream

Roundabout

Purple Haze

Links on comments!

From left to right: Billy Sherwood, Alan, Trevor, Jon, Chris. Poor Tony Kaye was left behind, as usual.

1998 - Poland

March 27, 1998

Katowice, Poland

Taken from the blog T.U.B.E. (The ultimate bootleg experience, which by the way was recently deleted by google but they quickly created a T.U.B.E. 2) where you read the text:

This is a complete show radio broadcast from the Open Your Eyes tour.

Like the Warsaw show, this one also featured the Jon & Igor performance

of Polonaise. There are a few blips throughout, and the beginning

of Open Your Eyes” is missing

In the show from the night before, Jon commented the song he recorded with Vangelis in the album Private Collection) this way:

I had a dream 16 years ago, I did. And I, I wrote this song with a friend of mine. Because, uh.. Gdansk, Solidarity, they changed the world, really, changed the world. So I'll sing this song.

01 - Firebird suite-Siberian khatru (10:17)

02 - Rhythm of love (6:40)

03 - America (10:22)

04 - Open your eyes (5:02)

05 - And you and I (12:14)

06 - Heart of the sunrise (11:27)

07 - Mood for a day-Diary of a man who vanished-Clap (10:24)

08 - From the balcony (4:39)

09 - Wonderous stories (4:24)

10 - Polonaise (4:39)

11 - Long distance runaround (4:09)

12 - Whitefish (10:37)

13 - Owner of a lonely heart (6:13)

14 - The revealing science of God (20:58)

15 - I've seen all good people (8:49)

16 - Roundabout (9:03)

17 - Starship trooper (13:45)

Links on comments!

1977 - Paris (Last show from tour)

Paris, France, December 6, 1977

The last concert promoting Going for the one, this is also one of the better audience tapes of that great tour that had no soundboard record. Synthesizer patches and guitar effects are awesomely clear, while the bass makes your head tremble. Listen to And You And I, for example, Rick's moog has rarely sounded so full in  a live record.

Disc One:

01. Opening

02. Parallels

03. I've Seen Good People

04. Close to the Edge

05. Wonderous Stories

06. Colors of the Rainbow

07 Turn of the Century

08. The Tour Song

09. And You And I

10. Cosmic Mind (Jam)

Disc Two:

01. Prelude Awaken

02. Awaken

03. Roundabout

04. Nous Sommes du Soliel

05. Starship Trooper

December 5, 1977:

06. Nous Sommes du Soliel

07. Yours is no Disgrace

08. Roundabout

Links on comments!

1997 - Revealing Science of San Diego

December 9th, 1997 - Open Your Eyes Tour
San Diego, CA, USA

This is a stereo soundboard recording taken from a radio braodcast. About half of the show was broadcast, I don't have an idea about why they chose these songs, but it's a reasonably representative set (though I'd like to hear America, Fish, Starship Trooper etc).

It's almost a commonplace among Yes fans that Steve Howe plays Rabin-era songs like he doesn't care, but I disagree. Rhythm of love and Owner of a Lonely Heart aren't the best songs ever, but Steve is doing his best and both songs are pretty listenable. More than Open Your Eyes (the song), I should say.

Revealing Science of God and Heart of the Sunrise are the only long ones here, both faultless.

From the Balcony is another highlight, a nice simple tune. Though the crowd used this song to find the bathrooms, as one reviewer from Forgotten Yesterdays said.


1.Rhythm Of Love
2.Open Your Eyes
3.Heart Of The Sunrise
4.From The Balcony
5.Children Of Light
6.Long Distance Runaround
7.Owner Of A Lonely Heart
8.Revealing Science Of God
9.I've Seen All Good People

Link on comments!

Rare old video - Time and a word!

It seems a new DVD will be released with rare footage from very early Yes, some of it never seen before.

The first video on Youtube is surprising for the good quality of image. They're doing playback but you see they're enjoying!
Two other surprises:
-I didn't think Chris Squire had ever been so skinny!
-Has Bill ever done backing vocals or was he just having fun knowing it was playback?

1971 - It's Love

Gaelic Park, New York, USA

July 23, 1971

It's Love is a song by The Young Rascals, much redone by Yes (in the style of America, No Opportunity Necessary, etc). 

Yes didn't release it officially until recently, in their box The Word is Live. This version here is as good as that one, and we also have the regular short set from Yes Album tour, with a long drum solo on Perpetual Change, and Steve also taking some liberties in that one.

Now let's read Brennan Zerbe, who was there:

This show by Yes, at Gaelic Park, was a seminal moment for rock music in New York, because it brought a new style of music into the City.

Gaelic Park, which is a sand lot baseball field in the South Bronx, had been a venue for rock bands for several summers. We all sat on blankets or the grass and watched the various shows, which featured big name as well as rising talent. There was always the headline act and a warm up band, and sometimes local bands played as an early warm up. Tickets that summer were $4.
On this date, Scott Mooney of WNEW-FM came on stage and introduced Yes as the "new band from England". They had not been scheduled to play here and were stopping by at the end of their tour. In fact, they had to borrow instruments to play their songs. Scott announced that Yes had just signed a new Tour contract and that they were on their way somewhere else and could only play a few songs.

As the band began to play, we looked around at each other and commented to each other that these guys were good. Before the end of their short set, everyone was on their feet cheering. We shouted out "Yes" to show our satisfaction.

The odd thing about this show was that as we enjoyed subsequent bands, Humble Pie and Mountain, everyone shouted "YES" after their great songs. The show ended before Mountain, and the audience, was satisfied (despite other reviews), which led to some bottle throwing at the stage set.
But we all knew that we had seen something very special. I went home that night, told my brother Bob, and have been a Yes fan ever since. Seen a lot of bands since then, and I've seen Yes several times since then...but never something as electric as that late afternoon outdoor performance by Yes. Absolutely wonderful.

Probably the second best bootleg from Yes Album tour (the show from the day after this, at New Haven, is unsurpassable)

Now I was listening again to this boot, and noticed Jon seems to be confused, or maybe totally stoned... Listen to him speaking, for example describing the vachalia Steve plays as like a Portuguese monstrosity for thrashing with your bare hands. But they still sing and play as well as we're used to.

Set List:

Introduction / Yours Is No Disgrace

I've Seen All Good People

Clap / Classical Gas

Perpetual Change

It's Love

Link on comments!

Reuploaded: 2001 – Sacred Ground

Vancouver, Canada, August 2, 2001

The Magnification tour was the first one in which Yes performed with an orchestra. This brought some new colour to old songs and made them play some old songs they hadn't played for a long time.
This bootleg is from the beginning of the tour. It's from three months before the show in Amsterdam which was recorded and became the DVD Symphonic Live. So the set list was slightly different. They didn't play Magnification or Owner of a Lonely Heart, but played Perpetual Change and Wonderous Stories. The orchestra left the stage during these two songs, but they were great anyway, with a tight band, improvising a little.
The tour was beginning, and at some moments it's clear they're not so familiar with some songs. Howe has a clear error in Ritual, which he transforms in a great short improvisation. 

I was very pleased to hear Steve playing Solar Winds, from his good instrumental album Natural Timbre.

Audio quality is very good at most times, with all instruments loud and clear. But at a few moments the tape probably had some problem, so there are short cuts on And You And I and Perpetual Change.

Set list:

Disc 1
Close to the Edge
Long Distance Runaround
Don't Go
In The Presence Of
The Gates of Delirium

Disc 2
Solar Winds
Mood for a Day
Wonderous Stories
Perpetual Change
And You And I
Ritual
I've Seen All Good People

Disc 3
Starship Trooper
Roundabout

Links on comments!

2008 - Steve Howe Trio

Steve Howe Trio

2008-10-04

Mod Clud, Toronto

After releasing the album The Haunted Melody, the Steve Howe Trio toured Canada, in the brief moments Steve had between his tours with Asia and Yes.

Similar to the 2007 show, but featuring new songs: He ain't heavy, he's my brother, Tune up (by Miles Davis), Laughing with Larry (Steve's acoustic solo), A Venture.

The funny moment of the show is when Ross Stanley plays the theme from The Flintstones during his solo on Kenny's Sound.

Set 1:

01 - Sweet Thunder

02 - Dream River

03 - Chatter and Band Introduction

04 - Travelin'

05 - The Haunted Melody

06 - Tune Up

07 - Siberian Khatru

Set 2:

08 - Mood For A Day

09 - Blue Bash

10 - He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother

11 - Momenta

12 - Kenny's Sound

13 - Crowd

14 - Laughing With Larry

15 - A Venture/Close To The Edge

Steve Howe: electric and acoustic guitar

Ross Stanley: hammond organ

Dylan Howe: Drums

Link on comments!

Bruford - Beelzebub (1979)

Line-up:

Bill Bruford - drums

Dave Stewart - keyboards

Jeff Berlin - bass

Alan Holdsworth - guitar

The tune is a real mover, and it’s definitely Yes-like in its structure since it’s made up of a few different time signatures and a wonderfully busy progressive tempo. "Beelzebub" starts and halts suddenly, then shifts from frantic to smooth and soft to hard in an instant, illustrating Bruford’s rhythmic control and musical imagination. There’s plenty of energy spawned by Bruford’s use of the cymbals as well, and the transition from a busy state to a relaxed one works its way effortlessly through the other instruments, which do their bit at handing the track its jazzy surface.

(from allmusic.com)

Coming soon: a bootleg from a complete show of Bruford's self-titled band in 1980.

1979 - Vancouver

May 05, 1979, Vancouver, Canada

An anonymous reader brought us a present. Link and comments by him/her:

This is a soundboard recording from Yes’ Tormato tour. I don’t know why this was recorded so well (perhaps for a radio broadcast?) but the sound quality and mixing goes well beyond what any reasonable person would expect from a bootleg.
This recording was originally available on a three LP bootleg named Seventh Age Imagination. That artwork is included in the ID3 tags, just for shits and giggles.
This is the entire concert minus the “Firebird Suite” intro and the “I’ve Seen All Good People” > “Roundabout” encore. If you’re at all familiar with Yes you’ve heard those two songs about a bazillion time already, so no great loss.

What appeals most to me are the liberties Yes took with their own music. For example, long songs are short—short songs are long.
Also, most of the songs segue into the next, and not just the usual “Long Distance Runaround “> “The Fish” transition, which shouldn’t really count anyhow. Speaking of “The Fish,” Squires Bass solo morph’s in a Tales from Topographic Oceans suite at its end.

How suite is that? Very, or I wouldn’t have posted it.

This is the Classic Yes lineup at their peak, rocking their ass off right before the birth of punk rock and at the peak of disco, thumbing their noses at all of it with heaping helpings of pure, unadulterated talent.

01 Siberian Khatru
02 Heart of the Sunrise
03 Future Times Rejoice
04 Circus of Heaven
05 Time and a Word
06 Long Distance Runaround
07 The Fish (with Tale’s Medley)
08 Perpetual Change
09 Soon
10 The Clap
11 And You and I
12 Rick Wakeman Solo
13 Starship Trooper
14 Awaken

Enjoy Yes-heads! 

Links on comments!

Reuploaded: 2004 Live at Jazz Lugano

July 08, 2004

Lugano Jazz Festival, Switzerland

This show, one of the best bootlegs from 2004, was already available here, but now you can also download the video!
It was broadcast on Swiss/Italian TV and starts with an interview with Rick Wakeman.

Enjoy!

Disc one
1-Firebird Suite
2-Going for the one
3-Sweet Dreams
4-I've seen all good people
5-Mind Drive part 1
6-South Side of the Sky
7-Footprints
8-Mind Drive part 2
9-Yours is no disgrace
10-Steve Howe solo
11-Rick Wakeman solo

Disc two
1-Long distance runaround
2-The fish
3-Whitefish
4-Owner of a lonely heart
5-Rhythm of love
6-And you and I
7-Starship Trooper
8-Roundabout

Links on comments!

Reuploaded: 1974 - King Biscuit Flower Hour

December 11th, 1974
Boston, Massachusetts, USA

This show was recorded for the famous radio show King Biscuit Flower Hour, and it presents Yes at the very beginning of Relayer tour. The whole album is played, and all the arrangements are quite similar to the studio ones.
Sound Chaser opens the concert like a thunderstorm, and we can't help but get amazed when they really can play all the complex sections with no difficulty!
Close to the Edge shows us that Moraz, being an awesome keyboardist in hiw own style, is one of the worse copycats they could find for Rick Wakeman. His solo near the end is almost ridiculous, and all through the song he's very low on the mix - luckily!
But on To be Over he shows us his best, rivalling Rick when it comes to the number of keyboards used. He once said his synth solo in the end of the song was improvised in the studio, but it was so complex that he had to write it down to play live. That's my favourite live performance of the song (ok, there weren't many others...)

The Gates of Delirium has an awesome stereo sound here, perhaps even better than the one in Yesshows, the mix is perfect, alll instruments are loud and Squire's powerful bass is very clear (especially his counterpoints inSoon).


Setlist:
Firebird Suite
Sound Chaser
Close To The Edge
To Be Over
The Gates Of Delirium
And You And I
Roundabout

This show has been released in many different bootlegs: Close To The Edge, The Affirmery, The Gates Of Boston Garden and others.

(according to ForgottenYesterdays Ritual was played, but there's no known version of this)

Links on comments!

On the Silent Wings of Freedom

This is a much cleaner copy, too bad they didn't include this video when they released the Greatest Video Hits back in the 90's...

(notice that this version is different from the one on Tormato, and arguably better)

Jon Anderson - 1980

Jon Anderson

Royal Albert Hall

London

December 1, 1980

Source: Radio Broadcast

In late 1979 Jon Anderson left Yes for a solo career. He recorded the album Song of Seven and subsequently embarked on an extensive tour in support of the album with a large band that went under the name The New Life Band. The Sheffield Concert was a gig from The Song of Seven Tour in the UK 1980. The nine piece line-up provides a generous set list including a number of key Yes songs, a medley with his work in collaboration with Vangelis, as well as most songs from Jon's solo album Song of Seven.

Very different from his music with Yes, most songs from Song of Seven are short and simple. The exception is the long progressive piece homonimous to the album, which is its pièce-de-resistance, especially for Yes fans.

1) Intro (1:46)

2) Yes Medley (25:03)

To Be Over 

Perpetual Change 

The Prophet 

Long Distance Runaround 

Wonderous Stories 

Rejoice

I've Seen All Good People (Pt 1)

Revealing Science Of God 

I've Seen All Good People (Pt 2) 

The Remembering (High The Memory) 

Ritual (Nous Sommes du Soleil)

3) Some Are Born (4:06)

4) Don't Forget (Nostalgia) (3:17) 

5) Petrushka (8:57)   (composed by Stravinsky)

6) Far Away In Baagad / Bird Song / One More Time (13:41)  (originally appeared on the album Short Stories, by Jon and Vangelis)

7) Hear It (2:43) 

8) Take Your Time (3:36) 

9) Song Of Seven (10:50)

On the official release "Live in Sheffield" recorded 2 days later, the following are credited as musicians:

- Barry DeSouza / drums

- Jo Partridge / guitars

- Ronnie Leahy / keyboards

- John Giblin / bass

- Morris Pert / drums, percussion

- Christopher Rainbow / vocals 

- Dick Morrisay / saxophone

Links on comments!

1975 - NJF Festival - Reading

Reading, England, UK
August 23, 1975

This is the last show from Relayer tour, after which the band would stop playing for eight months so that every member would record his solo album.

Ritual is powerful, Sound Chaser is stunning, but two short songs steal the scene here:

Leaves of Green, the last section of The Ancient, was played separated from the original song for the first time in this show.

High Vibration is what you're thinking: a really early version of Awaken! As Pete Whipple says on Forgotten Yesterdays:

It's still just the opening to 'Awaken' but Moraz and Howe have definate parts now. It's in a different key with White giving it a rock beat! This is about as close as you'll get to the legendary Moraz 'Awaken' everybody wants to hear.

Moraz also shines in his solo, this time on the electric piano (unlike the mellotron/orchestron solos of 1976). His playing is a pleasure to hear all through the show, but on the other hand the keys' loud sound makes Steve's guitar sound low on the mix, especially on Gates of Delirium (which has a couple of minutes lacking, between the "battle scene" and "Soon". Well, that's an alternative way of listening to this epic song, surely better than the QPR DVD, when Jon's guitar was louder than Steve's!

Disc 1 
01. Opening
02. Sound Chaser
03. Close To The Edge
04. And You And I
05. High Vibration
06. The Gates Of Delirium

Disc 2 
01. I've Seen All Good People
02. Leaves of Green
03. Long Distance Runaround / Moraz Solo
04. Ritual
05. Roundabout

Links on comments!

Steve Howe - Sharp on Attack (1988)

In 1988, the IRS No Speak label began releasing albums in the "Guitar Speak" trilogy. In this project, various guitarists were called upon to provide new material for compilation releases.

The excellence of Steve Howe's piece wasn't surprising to me. "Sharp On Attack" (which has since resurfaced in an alternate form on Homebrew) is an excellent display of Howe's talents. Steve uses more guitars on his piece than anyone else on this album (five, to be precise), and the internal diversity which results makes it well worth it. The acoustic opening provides excellent flavouring, and the middle section of the piece ranks among Howe's better melodies of recent years. This piece must be considered as the second official installment in Howe's redemption for the early 1980s (with "Sketches In The Sun" being the first), and it does its job well.

(quoted from the excellent blog jazz-rock-fusion-guitar - find the link to it on your right)

In this video, Steve plays his song, now with just one guitar, and, as my friend says, he shows us he was alive and well in the 80s!

1996 - Rehearsal (Roundabout)

This is a rare video of Yes rehearsing for the shows in San Luis Obispo.
Enjoy!

Reuploaded: 2004 - Yes and Dream Theater

19 September 2004, Universal City, California, USA

During 2004, Yes did a small tour with Dream Theater, having around 20 concerts opened by this band. No, they didn't play together. But Dream Theater played a good cover of Machine Messiah, so I'm putting here also their show.

This one was the last night of the tour. An amazing night by both bands. It's an audience recording, but of high quality. The place's mix was really good. Except for some seconds cut on Awaken (the bootlegger didn't expect such a long song and he was short on tape...), the complete concert is here.
Yes had a really changing set-list at this tour... This particular show has the acoustic set, with new arrangements to Long Distance Runaround, Wonderous Stories, Roundabout and Owner of a Lonwely Heart. But my favourite performances here are Awaken and Starship Trooper, both featuring perfect musicianship.
Oh, and here you'll also listen to Jon performing Singin' in the Rain... it's kind of weird in his voice, but I bet you'll want to listen!

Disc one - Dream Theater
01 - Overture (1:37)
02 - About To Crash (5:14)
03 - Learning To Live (10:17)
04 - Machine Messiah (3:19)
05 - Trial Of Tears (13:12)
06 - Stream Of Consciousness (10:35)
07 - The Spirit Carries On (6:56)
08 - Solitary Shell (5:39)
09 - About To Crash (reprise) (4:10)
10 - Losing Time – Grand Finale (6:12)

Disc two - Yes

01 - Firebird Suite (2:51)
02 - Going For The One (5:25)
03 - Sweet Dreams (7:27)
04 - I’ve Seen All Good People (8:11)
05 - America (10:35)
06 - South Side Of The Sky (11:56)
07 - Yours Is No Disgrace (13:21)

Disc three - Yes
01 - Clap - Singin' in the rain (5:33)
02 - Long Distance Runaround (acoustic) (5:16)
03 - Wonderous Stories (acoustic) (7:21)
04 - Roundabout (acoustic) (5:51)
05 - Owner Of A Lonely Heart (acoustic) (6:46)
06 - And You And I (13:29)
07 - Awaken (19:13)
08 - Starship Trooper (13:55)

Links on comments!

Rick Wakeman - Moogfest 2004 - Catherine Parr

B.B. King Blues Club & Grill, New York, USA
Tue, May 18, 2004

Catherine Parr is a song with lots of room for improvisation and different arrangements: Rick has already played it with a horn section (in the 70s), with choir, with long guitar solos.
But to me the definitive version is this one, from Moogfest.
Rick writes on his site:
Sometime way back at the beginning of the year, I had been asked to perform at Moogfest, a celebration of 50 years of the Moog Synthesizer in the honoured presence of Dr. Bob Moog at a club called Ben E Kings on 42 nd Street in New York. By pure coincidence the show was to take place on my birthday and, as I had nothing else planned for my birthday, (well when you reach 55 you start trying to forget how old you are) , it seemed like a really good idea.....and so it turned out to be as well.
The world and his uncle seem to be taking part in the evening and it was brilliantly organized as well. There was a wonderful party atmosphere and the camaraderie was amazing. I was playing just the one piece, (a very long version of Catherine Parr), and had a pretty amazing band performing with me containing some of the top New York session boys and to say they were “good” would be the understatement of the year! Jason from Dream Theater joined me as well to play the parts that Adam used to play years ago and all went swimmingly well. Korg were amazing in sorting out keyboards for me to go with the mini-moog and my great friend, ex NYPD detective Billy Burns, was on hand to “look after me” and keep me out of trouble, which he certainly did!
As I went on stage I was unexpectedly followed by Bob Moog and Keith Emerson, the latter playing Happy Birthday on the Moog synthesizer and then in front of a very enthusiastic crowd I was presented with a huge cake on a huge stand by a very pretty scantily dressed young lady with huge........well, some things are best left to your imagination I think!

Jordan Rudess, from Dream Theater, played keyboards with him, and I suppose the other musicians were the backing band for Moogfest (James Genus on Bass and Gene Lake on Drums). But the important here are Rick's fast fingers, doing some of the best moog improvisations I've ever heard.
This live record was sent to me by a keyboardist friend, who calls attention to Rick's "fan fingers", that is, the ultra-fast hand whose fingers open and close like a fan, a technique common in Bach.

No need to say the audience to Moogfest was crazy during Rick's performance. One review says: "Until Bob Moog came along, we (keyboard players) were hidden in the background. He gave us an instrument that can cut through concrete and frighten guitarists to death," growled Rick Wakeman, the hulking, platinum-blonde keyboard player for the progressive rock band Yes.

The following video shows Rick's conversation with Bob Moog (recently dead) and some seconds of Catherine Parr, where we can see Jordan Ruddess's bald head behind Rick. But don't forget to download the complete song!


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1996 - Key to Chris' Birthday

1996-03-05
San Luis Obispo, US
(second show of three)

In the three shows at San Luis Obispo, Yes declared every kind of audience recording was authorized.
This bootleg is from the second show. Eight songs from this show went to Keys to Ascension (the other five songs from Keys are from the other two shows).
It's interesting to listen to it for some reasons:
- Different performances of the instrumental jams on America and Starship Trooper. I'm crazy about what they did to Würm in these concerts.
- Long speeches by Jon before and after songs.
And the main reason: to notice the huge amount of overdubs that Keys to Ascension suffered. The vocal harmonies in Revealing Science of God, for example, are weak (normal for a song not played for 20 years, as there was little rehearsal for that show), but in Keys to Ascension the voices are perfect.
Going for the one (indeed a hard song to sing) Jon loses his breath and skips words, but guess what, they appear in the album.

So Keys to Ascension may be a great album, but it surely isn't an honest live one.


Set list:
Firebird Suite
Siberian Khatru
Close To The Edge
I've Seen All Good People
Time And A Word
Happy Birthday To Squire
And You And I
The Revealing Science Of God
Going For The One
Turn Of The Century
America
Onward
Awaken
Roundabout
Starship Trooper
Songs in boldface are the ones which were used for the two official live albums, Keys to Ascension 1 and 2.

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1974 - Tales at Nassau Coliseum

1974-02-14
Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
Uniondale
New York
Another show featuring the complete Tales, originally posted at the blog The clock that went backwards again.
Remastered by Tooleman.
Small segments of Revealing Science of God and The Ancient are missing... But overall the sound is good for audience bootleg (there was no soundboard record of this tour)

101 Firebird Suite
102 Siberian Khatru
103 And You And I
104 Close To The Edge
105 Album Introduction by Jon Anderson
106 The Revealing Science Of God (part 1) (tape flip)
107 The Revealing Science Of God (part 2)

201 Comments by Jon Anderson
202 The Remembering
203 The Ancient (part 1) (tape flip)
204 The Ancient (part 2)
205 Ritual
206 Roundabout

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1969 - In the Beginning

This is a bootleg that puts together three small conserts from 1969.
The first one has the worst sound quality, and features different versions of songs that can be better heard live on the BBC Sessions (Beyond and Before).
From the second show, only Eleanor Rigby survived. Their rendition of that Beatles' tune was as original as everything they did at this time, featuring loud organ and Squire's distinctive bass sound. Peter Banks said about it:
People were bemused because we didn't do the 'covers' like the original tunes. We went down pretty good in London, but outside of town we had a lot of very puzzled faces when Jon would say , 'we're now gonna do a Beatles' tune.' And we'd kind of do Eleanor Rigby at 150 beats per minute It wasn't quite what they expected. We didn't want to sound like The Beatles. The whole point was 'let's do it our way'
The third concert features another version of Eleanor Rigby, this time with the beginning cut.
The last song is probably the biggest surprise: a 21 minutes version of I See You.
Peter's long solo starts at 3 minutes, with a violin-like guitar sound that was very new at the time. At 4 mins, he quotes Bach's "Jesu, joy of men's desire". At 6 mins he's with a more jazzy guitar sound, accompanied by Bill's soft jazz drumming (Bill plays with him for the whole 21 mins, while the rest of the band has a break during most of the time) . At 7 mins he shows us he knows what is wah-wah. At 8:50 Peter quotes Bizet's Arlésienne Suites, a famous classical melody that would be played later by Wakeman in Catherine Howard. By 10 mins Peter seems to go on for further improvisation, and at 16 mins the dialogues between loud drums and distorted guitar ressemble some things that Bill would do years later in King Crimson. At 20 mins the rest of the band (which must be mad at Peter) comes in to finish the song.

Peter himself has a lot to say about I See You:
It was certainly spontaneous and I tried to make it different every night. We had good nights and bad nights and sometimes if it wasn't happening on a gig, I'd go on longer and longer out of frustration and take all my aggression out on the guitar. (...) I did some kind of fugue line but none of it was really worked out for the recorded version. On stage I'd end the piece by throwing my guitar in the air and catching it. (...) This was my post-Townshend angst period and to be honest, it did go on too long. The band used to complain about it and that just used to make me go on even longer." I was an experimental player and not all that would fit in with the concept of Yes. Bill was the same. (...) I can remember him saying, "I'm going to play everything different tonight" just before we went on stage. It was the sign of a very inventive drummer but of course I'd think, "Well, so will I!" Poor old Jon would be going, "What the hell is going on?" We were like misbehaving kids, really.

Peter Banks' quotes were taken from the book Close to the Edge, the story of Yes, by Chris Welch. Very recommended book, buy it if you can:
http://www.amazon.com/Close-Edge-Story-Chris-Welch/dp/0711995095

October 09, 1969 - Essen, Grugahalle, Germany:
1. Introduction
2. No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed
3. Dear Father
4. Every Little Thing
5. Something's Coming
---------------------------------------------------------------
August 20, 1969 - Hamburg, Star Club, Germany:
6. Eleanor Rigby
---------------------------------------------------------------
December 21, 1969 - Sheffield, Kingston Hotel, England, UK:
7. Dear Father
8. Eleanor Rigby
9. I See You

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1984 - I'm Down (featuring Jimmy Page)

June 24, 1984
Dortmund, Germany

This show from 90125 tour had Si, Solly's Beard and Soon recorded for 9012Live: the solos.
But what I bring you today is the unexpected encore: I'm Down (that Beatles' song they played in 1976 as well) with Jimmy Page (from Led Zeppelin) joining them to play guitar.
Jon is slightly out of tune in the beginning, but later, when the guitars of Trevor Rabin and Jimmy Page start duelling, we have one of the band's best moments from the 80s.

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Reuploaded: 2002 - Acoustic at XM Radio

2002-08-10

This is not a typical Yes show.
In 2002, soon after Rick's return to the band, Yes did this small concert broadcast by XM Radio. The result is a very different band, not the typical "Yes Acoustic" show you may expect hearing, as it was done before the officially released acoustic concert, so it's really worth the listen. Here Yes is not at all the ambitious and complex-sounding band we're used to, but just five talented musicians having fun.
They talk about many interest subject, such as why South Side of the Sky wasn't played for so long, and how was Alan's experience substituting Bill.
Walk Don't Run is hilarious, with Rick passing an uncomfortable moment as he doesn't know the chords... And the Awaken workshop is essential to anybody who likes this song, giving a unique perspective of how it was created.

Set list:
XM Radio Intro
Band's Introduction
South Side of the Sky/ And You And I
Interview I
The Ancient Excerpts
Walk Don't Run
Intervies II
I'Ve Seen All Good People
Interview III
Show Me
Interview IV
Awaken Composition I
Awaken Composition II

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