Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe Whitley Bay Ice Rink 20th October 1989
By 1988 Jon Anderson had become disillusioned with Yes, who now consisted of himself, Trevor Rabin on guitar, Tony Kaye on keyboards, Chris Squire on bass and Alan White on drums. Rabin and Squire were taking the band in a more rock-oriented direction, and Anderson wished to return to the more traditional Yes sound. He left the band, initially intending to record a solo album. He was soon joined by previous Yes members Bill Bruford, Rick Wakeman and Steve Howe. The band recorded one album, “Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe” and went out on tour, advertising the shows as “An Evening of Yes Music Plus”. Chris Squire and co filed a law suit which attempted to prevent them using the name “Yes” in any of the publicity, however the tour went ahead. The UK leg of the tour started with a concert at Whitley Bay Ice Rink, then visited Edinburgh Playhouse, Birmingham NEC and closed with three nights at Wembley Arena. The Whitley Bay show was not very well publicised: I think it was added to the itinerary at the last minute, and as a result it was poorly attended. The cold, cavernous ice rink was never a great concert venue, and the sound wasn’t good. However, it was wonderful to hear those Yes classics again. They started by going back to the early days with “Time and a Word”, played “And You and I”, “Close to the Edge” and “Heart of the Sunrise”, and the more recent “Owner of a Lonely Heart”. Steve Howe performed both “Clap” and “Mood for a Day”. They also played several new songs which featured on the “Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe” album. The encores were “Roundabout” and “Starship Trooper”. The four Yes members were augmented by additional musicians including Tony Levin on bass. The concert reminded me just how great Yes were; “Heart of the Sunrise” is a particular favourite of mine, and I remember being knocked out by Jon’s performance of that song in particular at Whitley Bay.
Set 1: The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra (intro); Time and a Word; Owner of a Lonely Heart; Teakbois; Clap/Mood for a Day (Steve Howe); Gone But Not Forgotten/Catherine Parr/Merlin The Magician (Rick Wakeman); Long Distance Runaround; Birthright; And You and I; I’ve Seen All Good People;
Set 2: Close to the Edge; Themes; Brother of Mine; The Meeting; Heart of the Sunrise; Order of the Universe; Roundabout
Encore: Starship Trooper
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