Yes Newcastle City Hall 2nd December 1980
I missed the next couple of Yes tours. I had tickets for the “Going for the One” tour (with Donovan support) at Glasgow Apollo, but passed on it to see the Tubes at Newcastle that night. I also missed out on the Tomator Tour in 1978, which stopped off for four nights and a matinee at Wembley Arena; Yes’ only UK dates on that tour. I remember one of my mates went down to London for the matinee, returning the same evening. The next time I saw Yes was when they returned to Newcastle City Hall for three nights, as part of the Drama tour. By then Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman had departed and been replaced by Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes of Buggles and “Video Killed the Radio Star” fame. The line-up was thus Chris Squire, Steve Howe, Alan White, Horn and Downes. Horn took vocal duties and Downes keyboards and synthesisers.
We went to the first concert of the three night run, and the City Hall was far from full. The line-up change was just too much for many Yes fans. There was (and still is) a very strong allegiance to Jon Anderson, and any line-up without him can never feel quite right. The fact that Jon and Rick had been replaced by Buggles seemed a step too far; the musical gap between the two bands was far too great. It didn’t feel right. We wondered what on earth this new line-up of Yes could possibly be like. 
Actually it was pretty good. Trevor Horn looked nervous, and his voice didn’t quite fit the Yes classics, but he did a great job in what must have been a very difficult situation. Geoff Downes was surrounded by keyboards and synths including a computer; which was probably the first time I’d seen anyone use one on stage. The set drew heavily from their new album “Drama” which featured the new line-up. I remember wondering if they would play “Video Killed the Radio Star”; they didn’t, but they apparently did play the song one night on the USA tour. They did play “Yours Is No Disgrace”, “And You and I”, “Starship Trooper” and “Roundabout”. I remember one of the new songs; “Into the Lens” was particularly good. An interesting concert. Chris Squire (now the only original member) definitely saw himself as the leader of the band; the programme made this very clear, starting with a picture of Chris and a statement about how he founded Yes. Yes split shortly afterwards, and would soon enter a very confusing phase of endless line-up changes. I lost touch with the band during that period. Their visits to the UK would become less frequent, as they concentrated on the American concert stage.
Setlist: Apocalypse; Does It Really Happen?; Yours Is No Disgrace; Into the Lens; Clap; And You and I; Go Through This; Man in the White Car Suite; We Can Fly From Here (a Buggles song); Tempus Fugit; Amazing Grace / Whitefish; Machine Messiah
Encore: Starship Trooper; Roundabout; White Car (a cappela)
8 Mar
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Posted by tetragrammatony on March 19, 2023 at 3:16 am
“We can fly from here ” is not a Buggles song, but a original song from YES was not included on the Drama album at the time. Cheers
Posted by vintagerock on March 19, 2023 at 4:11 pm
Many thanks indeed! Not sure where I got the idea that it was a Buggles song ! Cheers Peter