Yes Manchester Apollo November 13th 2011
This rounded off a week of old memories, travelling and reflecting on the past. After seeing Roy Harper at his 70th birthday concert in London last week, I went to see Yes on Sunday in Manchester.
The first concert I ever went to was The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band at the Sunderland Empire in 1969. The support acts were Roy Harper and Yes. It’s funny how things keep coming around. The only member of Yes that was there with me all those years ago in the Empire is bassist Chris Squire; but some of the other guys have been there for many years! The Yes set in those days consisted of songs from the first couple of albums: Then, Time and a Word, Sweet Dreams, No Opportunity Necessary, Somethings Coming. I can picture myself now, a wide eyed kid sitting in the front row; totally mesmerised by the shiny, jazzy new sound of this band, with Jon Anderson’s vocals ringing in my ears, and Chris Squire’s bass thudding into my chest. In that moment I knew rock music was so important to me, and that I had to continue going to concerts, and I have done so ever since. I followed Yes through the 70s and saw them several times at Newcastle City Hall, and festival appearances at Reading and Stoke City Ground. I experienced (endured?) the Topographic Oceans tour and was confused by the Buggles Drama tour.
This time round the line up is Chris Squire bass, Steve Howe guitar, Alan White drums, ex-Buggles and Drama-era Yes Geoff Downes keyboards, and the (newish) vocalist Benoît David. So much has changed since those late 60s days, and yet in some ways nothing has changed at all. Yes are still playing wonderful music.
I arrived at Manchester Apollo around 7.15pm. There was no support act, Yes were onstage shortly after 8pm and played a reasonably long (two hours or so) set.
Yes were truly excellent. They are playing as well as they did in the 70s. Benoit has really fitted in and it is starting to feel right to see him there singing those great songs. His voice is very strong, and I got the feeling that the crowd has now accepted him as a full member of the Yes team.
It was nice to see Alan White introduce his 88 year old mum who was in the crowd last night. For me the stand outs were the opener Yours is No Disgrace, And You and I, Heart of the Sunrise (which brought Chris Squire to the front of the stage for the bass lines), Starship Trooper and the encore Roundabout. Wonderful. Mental note to myself: I must go to every Yes tour from now on; no excuses. They are just too good to miss.
Setlist: Yours Is No Disgrace; Tempus Fugit; I’ve Seen All Good People / Your Move; Life on a Film Set; And You and I; Solitaire / To Be Over (Steve Howe solo acoustic); Fly From Here; Wonderous Stories; Into the Storm; Heart of the Sunrise; Starship Trooper
Encore: Roundabout
I still hate e-tickets
Vintagerock's Weblog. 
Posted by lambertchapman on March 29, 2013 at 1:12 am
Saw this tour at Cambridge. Into the Storm was excellent