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Jon Anderson, the founder, main songwriter, and former lead singer of prog rock legends Yes, wrapped up his short East coast tour with a performance at a near-capacity Hart theatre at the Egg Saturday night. Anderson, now 77, amazingly has hardly missed a step vocally, still hitting those trademark high notes, soaring above the complex soundscapes that define Yes music.
Well, “classic” Yes music that is. Apart from their big 1983 hit “Owner of a lonely heart”, dispensed with as the opening number, and “Leave It” from the same “90125” album, Anderson concentrated on the 70’s output of the band. That is when the band hit the heights of what has come to be known as prog rock, and Yes, with their extended tone poems and cosmic lyrics, epitomized that sub-genre. They also sold a lot of records, despite the challenging and “noncommercial” aspect of their compositions.
The surprising and unique part of this tour is the “band” that is accompanying Anderson. Rather than utilizing a bunch of seasoned professionals, Anderson is backed by the Paul Green Rock Academy, consisting of 23 teenagers who attend Green’s music school in Norwalk CT.
The kids played an opening set of around 30 minutes. Playing classic rock standards (Heart, Stones, Zeppelin, etc.), this rather highlighted their strengths and weaknesses. Instrumentally sound, (some fierce guitar solos) but also vocally wanting at times due to nerves and pitch problems. The exceptions to this shortcoming were a dynamic take on “Magic Man” and a sweetly harmonized “Helplessly Hoping.”
After a short break, Anderson emerged and immediately commented that the smoke machine that had been used onstage was making it hard for him to breathe, apologizing if it affected his singing. No one needed to worry, as mentioned, Anderson’s unique alto tenor was crystal clear throughout.
The main set alternated between Yes numbers and covers sung by the kids to give Anderson some rest breaks. This led to some bizarre juxtapositions. The mashup of Zeppelin’s “Kashmir” and the Yes song “Don’t Kill the Whale” worked rather well. Having one of the boys rap Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” segueing into the Jon & Vangelis tune “State of Independence” was more off the wall. I doubt that many of the prog greyhairs in the crowd imagined that they were going to be hearing an Eminem song as part of the evening’s entertainment. But hey, it’s all music, right? After all, Donna Summer, the queen of disco, covered “State of Independence” back in the day. And that’s really what came across, a non-judgmental enjoyment of music by young and old. While it may have seemed odd seeing teenage girls happily bopping and dancing as they sang along with Anderson such lyrics as “Cold summer listening, hot color, melting the anger to stone,” it somehow felt right, their enthusiasm carrying the day.
The first set closed with “Heart of the Sunrise.” Now, this is one of Yes’ most “wibbly wobbly timey wimey” epics, a song of fearsomely finger-breaking complexity. They nailed it.
The tour was subtitled “Close to the Edge 50th anniversary” and they came out for the second set and played that whole album, a cornerstone of prog, front to back. The band’s youthful exuberance sometimes resulted in speeding a little on the timing of some songs. This actually worked to good effect on “Siberian Khatru”, the Academy playing it at a faster (and more exciting) tempo than the actual Yes has been able to manage for the past couple of decades! Close to the Edge, the album, was followed by two more classics, “Starship Trooper” and the traditional closer of most Yes shows, “Roundabout.”
Next year it is reported that Anderson will tour with a “proper” band. No doubt it will be a slicker and more professional outing, but I can’t help but feel it will lose some of the spontaneity and pure joy of music-making that this evening often delivered. The kids are alright.
A proud Londoner born and bred, Mark has lived and worked in the Capital Region for over 25 years. A self-confessed "prog nerd", he maintains that his life was changed upon hearing "Close to the Edge' and "Foxtrot" at the age of 14. Along with his wife and 2 daughters, the major loves of his life are Arsenal Football Club and Belgian beer. Oh, and not forgetting Delilah the dog.
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thanks for the review, it was a fun night out for Jon Anderson Fans.
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