Ok, ok, ok, laugh all you want, I know, I know, I know; instead of Jon Anderson YES has Benoit David (who,depending on when you were born may remind you of Peewit from the Smurfs, in his boyish, ren faire kind of way). But if you just look at the psychedelic images floating across the screen you can almost believe that this is Jon Anderson thirty years ago. The guy sang in a Yes cover band, if that means anything, but that must’ve been a great Yes cover band, because his delivery was pretty much spot-on. With Chris Squire on the bass, Alan White on the kit, and Steve Howe on the axe, there was enough OG Yes in the house to make it feel authentic. Some people were disapointed that Rick Wakeman wasn’t on the keys, but we got his son Oliver, and let me tell you the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, to borrow an old phrase. This kids really has it, playing the Moog, the hammond, and a bunch of other synths, he got all the right tones and his fingers can really fly.

The set was more than just a “greatest hits” playlist, though you did get some early classics as well as some of the MTV era hits; but what I loved about it is that they played a lot of stuff off of DRAMA…a really underrated album. Chris Squire’s lead bass still moves and grooves throughout, keeping the rhythm section solid but weaving around the guitar as well, and his voice was also strong. Steve Howe is a wonder to watch, and we got to watch him twice as he first did a set with Asia and then changed clothes for his set with Yes.

The fact that ASIA played set as well, was just icing on the cake for me…but some really talented icing. Let’s not forget that they were one of the big “supergroups” of the 80s, and between them you get elements of Yes (Steve Howe) King Crimson (John Wetton), ELP (Carl Palmer) and The Buggles (Geoff Downes), that means that you get to hear some progressive classics like “”In The Court of the Crimson King,” and “Fanfare For the Common Man” (which my girlfriend now uses to get us out of bed in the morning) as well as the MTV classics, “Heat of the Moment” and “Video Killed The Radio Star” (a song you’d bet money was written in the 80s). To see Steve Howe solo over “Radio Star” was something else, let me tell you. There’s an incestuous relationship between these two bands, not just because Steve Howe is the guitarist for both, because Asia’s Geoff Downes could’ve joined Yes on stage for the Drama tunes, being that he was in the band for a couple of albums during that period. Asia had some good video screen action, but those weird umbrella/ghost sheet-looking things that Yes had hanging were perfect for Halloween.

Here’s some pix from the show!

Tags: ASIA, benoit david, Carl Palmer, CHRIS SQUIRE, elp, geoff downes, john wetton, jon anderson, king crimson, oliver wakeman, rick wakeman, steve howe, the buggles, YES

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 9th, 2009 at 6:47 am and is filed under Daniel Siwek's Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.