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Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Wayne Hall, Ken Fuller and Jeffrey Crecelius
This week it was a pleasure to welcome Billy Sherwood to the YMP once again. We spoke to him just before a rehearsal at Mickey’s Black Box rehearsal facility as the band prepared for the 2025 Fragile Tour of the US. Since that conversation, Yes have played 2 concerts. We spoke to Billy about the tour, his gear and the new Yes album. He was as gracious and open as usual – a great conversation that I know you will enjoy.
Following the first concert on the tour, Mark and I got back together again to discuss the setlist. Clearly, if you don’t like spoilers, you’ll want to press stop on your device after the Billy interview to avoid hearing the specifics of what the band will be playing.
- What will the band be playing on this tour?
- Has Billy’s kit changed?
- What is it like to play The Fish live?
See if you agree with us and then leave a comment below.
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Producers:
- Joseph Cottrell
- Wayne Hall
- Ken Fuller
- Jeffrey Crecelius
Patrons:
| Aaron Steelman | Lind |
| Al Dell’Angelo | Lobate Scarp |
| Barry Gorsky | Mark Baggs |
| Bill Whittaker | Mark James Lang |
| Bob Martilotta | Mark Slater |
| Brian Harris | Martin Kjellberg |
| Brian Sullivan | Michael Handerhan |
| Chris Bandini | Michael O’Connor |
| Craig Estenes | Miguel Falcão |
| Dave Owen | Paul Hailes |
| David | Paul Tomei |
| David Heyden | Rachel Hadaway |
| David Pannell | Robert Nasir |
| David Watkinson | Robert Vandiver |
| Declan Logue | Ronnie Neeley |
| Dem | Scott Colombo |
| Doug Curran | Simon Barrow |
| Fergus Cubbage | Stephen Lambe |
| Fred Barringer | Steve Dill |
| Gary Betts | Steve Luzietti |
| Geoff Bailie | Steve Perry |
| Geoffrey Mason | Steve Rode |
| Guy DeRome | Steve Scott |
| Henrik Antonsson | Steven Roehr |
| Hogne Bø Pettersen | Terence Sadler |
| Todd Dudley | Thomas DeVries |
| John Cowan | John Thomson |
| John Holden | John Viola |
| Jamie McQuinn | Tim Stannard |
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5 replies on “Billy Sherwood talks about Fragile 2025, his gear and new Yes music PLUS our first reactions to the Yes setlist – 691”
Great interview. Thanks. Does anyone know which Ibanez bass Billy uses as his main one? I couldn’t find it on line. Thanks.
Nice interview. Kind of surprised the recently released exo-X-xeno album didn’t come up. Given that it has three past and present Yes men on it. Not sure if you have covered it all on the show but it is a really impressive set.
A little surprised by your response to the set list. I put the first half into a playlist (don’t worry no spoilers) and played it this morning and while it is not exactly packed with personal favourites it did sound like a set of songs put together with a clear plan, very much drawn from the past but in a way that actually stylistically pre-figures what we got on Mirror To The Sky so kind of makes an odd sense. That album has grown on me in a way that The Quest and From A Page really didn’t. I recommend that anyone who passed the first time have another listen. Even the metronomic snare isn’t bothering me. Or at least not as much!
The set list is not what I asked Santa for (which would be a Yesterdays set) and the band are still on the naughty / not nice list for various infractions when it comes to quality control and the fan base relationship but still and interesting offering nonetheless.
Now, this is almost a spoiler … having seen CSN a few times back when Crosby was still with us every time I thought that Yes could do a harmony-heavy / semi acoustic set in the first half before moving on to the electric music in part two. This set isn’t that but is almost suggestive of that kind of idea and the choice of cover song is a peach I think in that context.
I can’t go to any of the shows on this tour but I can’t say I’m that sorry now I’ve seen the set list. While I’m not a musician, and have never put together a setlist, I always understood that a show should be constructed like a W – a big opener, slowly let the pace drop, build it up again for the middle, drop the pace again, and then build it up for the big finish. This setlist seems more like a U.
Ken, I think the show fits your W pattern quite nicely. Big opener with Siberian and On the Silent Wings of Freedom, slowly dropping pace with Onward and Madrigal (although Onward is intense, just not fast) picking it up again with the drum solo and closing section of Gates into Soon, dropping pace with Wonderous Stories and Circles of Time, then big finish with Tempest Fugit.
What a nice man is Billy S. Thank you all for this interview.
Fragile. A couple of weeks ago Rick Beato interviewed Les Claypool and Les spoke about Chris Squire and also that Fragile was one of his favourite albums.
Also he spoke of Hemispheres by Rush which I thought would interest Mark.
Well worth watching that YouTube interview.
I really enjoyed Mark’s review of the playlist for the current tour. I think the yawn fest in the middle is for them to have a rest. Steve is an old man!
I think as albums go, Fragile is the one which least works on the full album tour thing. Apart from Fish and Mood for a day. the other ‘solo’ pieces are pointless in the current context.