Yes – Concert Review Toronto April 2013

Oh YES! Three full albums from the 70’s prove that album rock is viable even 40 years later.

April 11 2013 – One of the most prolific classic rock bands put on a musical workshop tonight at Toronto’s fabled Massey Hall. Yes delivered a mind blowing set of progressive rock that transported the sold out venue to the 70’s. The current incarnation of Yes includes Chris Squire on bass, Steve Howe on guitar, Alan White on drums, Geoff Downes on keyboards and vocals compliments of the new guy Jon Davison. Even casual fans will note that the band’s original vocalist Jon Anderson is not listed as he has not been part of Yes since 2004. As big fans of the band we are very excited to deliver our first Yes concert review.

On the day of the show the band posted on their Facebook page the following tidbit of rock trivia:

Hello Toronto! 
We’re here in town and so looking forward to playing for you tonight at the beautiful and historic Massey Hall, where we’ve played five times before.
How many were at Massey Hall in 1997 when we played two shows on the Open Your Eyes tour? And how many recall our very first show here in 1971 at the Borough of York Stadium?

The concept for tonight’s show was very simple – the band played 3 albums in their entirety. What a brilliant idea! On tap were 1971’s The Yes Album, 1972’s Close To The Edge, and 1977’s Going For The One. The concept of a band or artist playing an album from end to end is not a new one, but this is the first show that we know of that offers 3 of them! This is a perfect ode to vinyl records (which are actually having a bit of a revival currently) and the memories many in attendance had of holding any one of the three aforementioned records in their hands, listening to 1 side and then flipping it over to listen to side 2. It must be noted though that of tonight’s lineup only two members played on all of those 3 records (Howe and Squire), and one member played on 1 record (White).

As many bands go through lineup changes it becomes very rare to see a classic rock band play with the exact same lineup as their glory days – some bands even tour with only one original member. That whole concept provides a topic which can be debated for hours; was one seeing Yes tonight, or a tribute band with a couple of original Yes members? The answer is really irrelevant because the end result is the same. A night of fantastic old school guitar and keyboard influenced masterpieces of a bygone era.

The concert began promptly 5 minutes after advertised start time at 7:05 with some pre-recorded classical music (Firebird Suite by Stavinsky) and a video featuring iconic album covers from the band and previous musicians in Yes (according to Wikipedia there have been 18 musicians that have been part of Yes – including the 5 on stage tonight). Fully expecting to hear the opening song of The Yes Album “Yours Is No Disgrace“, I was a little disoriented as the band kicked off with Close To The Edge instead. I was somewhat disappointed as I was expecting the albums to be played in chronological order but that was not the case tonight (or any night of the tour so far as the band seems to be mixing up the order of the albums but never in chronological order). Tonight the band flipped the earliest album to the end of the show and delivered Close To The Edge first, then Going For The One, and then The Yes Album. {Ed Note. We have an update submitted by one of our readers – it seems that in San Francisco the band did play the bands in order so our earlier comment of the band not having played them chronologically is incorrect}

Howe celebrated his 66th birthday earlier this week and was in top form. Certainly a highlight of the night, most people (myself included) were blown away by the technical mastery required to consistently nail the time changes of the songs. Howe was all business and although he looks a lot older than he is, his fingers were as agile as ever. He switched between multiple guitars within songs, and even had a lapsteel on a trolley – which he kicked away after using it with a grace of a youthful rock star during Going For The One. A huge highlight of the night was Howe’s solo acoustic effort on Clap which lead  to massive clap along. Oh Yes!

Squire (65), White (63) and Downes (60) filled out the musical foundation with a consistent display of prog rock that touched areas of jazz and classical composition structures at times. The escalating keyboard drove neurons to images of a boat being rocked in a dark sea storm, or bacteria multiplying under a powerful microscope – in fact the images played in one’s mind were helped with the on screen visuals behind the band that gave people something to look at peripherally when not looking at the musicians on stage. The screen they used seemed somewhat cheap and small and the band would have been better served with a much larger visual backdrop. The screen was kinda cool but mostly irrelevant to the show. Most people did not even notice that the song title was displayed on the screen at the beginning of each song. The stage also was full of lights (which appeared to be emulating laser effects).

Last but not least Jon Davison (who looks like half the age of anyone else on stage) really had the toughest shoes to fill. Bands split with their main lead singer but find a way of continuing (Black Sabbath, Van Halen, Supertramp, Journey, Styx, etc)  and Yes is no exception. I have stopped having doubts about the replacement singers. These bands are big business and they will not jeopardize pissing off their fans by bringing in a new guy that sounds nothing like the original. Davison as expected is damn good and the cool part is that he looks like the guy that should be singing for Yes. Hippy-ish wardrobe, long hair and the  meditative stance while singing were all there. In fact the only thing Davison was missing was the gemstone robes of the 70’s prog bands. Joking aside I overheard “wow” more than once from people around me at his singing abilities. Davison puts on guitar for Wonderous Stories as well and was clearly having fun. Well done Jon!

The hypnotic nature of the music, really got people to tune in and enjoy. This was not a concert of standing rowdy drunks screaming out loud, but a concert full of complex music fans that were clued into every word and note of the performance. The end result was a performance that would please hardcore Yes fans, owners of any 3 of the albums presented or even rock fans who have never seen Yes before. Starship Troopers was a clear highlight of the night even with Squire being noticeably pissed at his bass volume level. If you saw one song tonight this was it. Majestic!

The encore consisted of simply one song – arguably the band’s most famous one at that – Roundabout really was a perfect climax to the roughly 150 minute show ( 20 minute intermission and 2 hours and 10 minutes of music). Each one of the long songs would receive a standing ovation from a portion of the audience (sometimes many people sometimes a few).

Verdict: 4.5 out of 5 –  The concept of delivering 3 records end to end is absolutely perfect for a band with a deep discography. Transporting the audience to the 70’s was clearly their objective of this tour and they succeeded. Only minor flaw was that the records should have been presented in chronological order so the audience can witness the musical progression of the progressive rock titans. Easily one of the best rock concerts Toronto has seen this year and a strong contender for our Top 10 Concerts of 2013 year end list.

Review – Terry Makedon | Photos – Steve Mallinson

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Author: T-Mak