Live Review: YES at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre in Los Angeles, CA

In celebration of YES’s 50th anniversary, guitarist Steve Howe, drummer Alan White, keyboardist Geoff Downes, bassist Billy Sherwood, singer Jon Davison, drummer Jay Schellen, and as a special guest original keyboardist Tony Kaye are on tour playing songs of their five decades in music. Yes’s Cruise to the Edge earlier this year was the first time since 1994 Kaye has performed with the band. Last night, YES stopped at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre in Los Angeles, CA. The show was divided into two sets with an intermission in between. YES Is the type of band that always puts on an unforgettable show and takes the audience on a journey through decades of great music. This was the perfect venue to see YES at.

YES opened the show with one of their biggest hits “Close to the Edge,” and ended set one with another major hit “Heart of the Sunrise.  This was the first YES show I have seen where White didn’t play the full show, the majority of the show was Schellen on drums. After intermission set two started with “Perpetual Change,” and was only a four song set excluding the encore however YES has some very lengthy songs. For the final song of set 2 “Awaken,” White took over on drumming duties and Schellen switched to tambourine. For the encore Kaye joined in on a single keyboard which looked very minimal compared to Downes 9 keyboards. All members played on the three song encore which also included “Roundabout,” and “Starship Trooper.” For being someone who has seen YES with co-founder Squire, It is easy to say Sherwood is the closest you’ll get on both bass and high vocals. As for Davison, he is definitely the closest sounding vocalist and performer you’ll get to Jon Anderson. Schellen has also performed with YES previously and is a great fit with the band.

Last year YES was inducted into the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame by Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson (Rush).

Set 1

1. Close to the Edge
2. Nine Voices (Long Walker)
3. Parallels0
4. Mood for a Day
5. Leaves of Green
6. Fly from Here part 1
7. Sweet Dreams
8. Heart of the Sunrise

Set 2

9. Perpetual Change
10. Does It Really Happen
11. Soon
12. Awaken (With Alan White)

Encore

13. Yours Is No Disgrace (With Tony Kaye and Alan White)
14. Roundabout (With Tony Kaye and Alan White)
15. Starship Trooper (With Tony Kaye and Alan White)