A day filled with rain and overcast could not keep the Connecticut fans away from Yes at the College Street Music Hall in New Haven on Sunday evening. This show is only the fourth show of the Classic Tales of Yes tour as they are supporting their record that came out this past May titled Mirror To The Sky.
Yes is composed of Jay Schellen on the drums, Billy Sherwood on the bass guitar, Jon Davison on lead vocals, Geoff Downes on keyboards, and Steve Howe on the guitar. Howe has been a part of Yes since 1970 and is the only original member left.
Despite there being no opening act for Yes, as fans were still piling into the venue, William Roger Dean who designed album covers for Yes, Asia, and Uriah Heep welcomed fans into the hall. Dean used a slide show and provided commentary about his journey with the band and announced that prints of his work would be made available upstairs by the bar.
After Dean left and the road crew changed around the stage a bit, the house lights dimmed, and Yes took the stage. While most rock bands try to wow the audience with amazing pyrotechnics, a massive screen with images, and a crazy light show, Yes on the other hand prefers to focus more on their music than what their stage looks like. With one backdrop with the band’s name behind them, and a few drapes off to the side of the stage, all eyes were on the progressive rock band from London, England.
Throughout the 13 songs that the band played, they dipped into every era of the band and played songs that spanned their entire career. Whether they played “Time and a Word” off of the record of the same name from 1970, or a brand new track titled “Cut From The Stars” the aforementioned Mirror To The Sky, no matter when fans first started to listen to the band, there were at least a few songs that they recognized.
The crowd, though on the older side, stuck with the band the entire length of their set. From the first note of “Going for the One” off of the record with the same name till the very last song, fans were singing and clapping throughout. Watching the band on stage was like watching a timewarp back to the 70s. The energy on stage was amazing to watch. While Davison is not the original singer, he deserves all the credit for his vocal range. Howe was a man possessed on the guitar, his skill has aged like fine wine and he was truly sensational. Schellen, Sherwood, and Downes also played great, added to the overall sound, and provided perfect harmonies.
Towards the end of the set, around the encore, the lower bowl flocked towards the barricade to get a closer look at their heroes before the show ended. When Davison ran to the front, he started fist-bumping, high-fiving, and shaking hands with fans who were at the very front. Davison did this as a form of appreciation and a thank you to them for coming out in the cold late September rain. You could see that the band truly appreciated their fans as they were smiling at them the entire set and interacting with them as much as they could.
As Yes took their final bow to a standing ovation from the crowd, fans were left joyful after watching the progressive rock masters at work on stage. As Yes paved the way for many other acts that came after them, it’s easy to see how the band once ruled the world and still has the skills to back them up.
Setlist: Going for the One, It Will Be a Good Day (The River), Machine Messiah, I’ve Seen All Good People, America (Simon & Garfunkel cover) (instrumental version), Time and a Word, South Side of the Sky, Turn of the Century, Don’t Kill the Whale, Cut From the Stars, The Revealing Science of God (Dance of the Dawn) / The Remembering (High the Memory) / Leaves of Green / Ritual (Nous sommes du soleil), Roundabout, Starship Trooper
Comments are closed.