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13 replies on “Jon Anderson and The Band Geeks live in Brum”
Kevin – I am very happy that you were able to see this concert. Thanks for sharing your photos and your excitement!
It was indeed a joyous concert and it was great spending some time before and after the gig with your good self. Thank you for the ticket .
Jon was in fine form, his voice was great and he seemed full of energy and cheerfulness. It was wonderful seeing Jon again, the last time for me was like yourself , ARW at the Symphony Hall some years back now. Jon’s voice seemed much stronger this time round. The use of appropriate effects and the strong vocal support from every member of the Band Geeks helped too . Instrumentally the Geeks were very strong. Highlights for me were “Close to the Edge”…what an opener !! , “Soon” was beautiful. I loved the Black Sabbath tease during Wurm.
“Awaken” is my favourite Yes track and it brings a tear to my eye ( okay often a flood ) every time I hear it, For some reason it didn’t quite hit the spot this time, I think it may have been over anticipation on my part …it still was wonderful to hear. I quite enjoyed ” Counties and Countries” but the new songs don’t really grab me that much, they are all very good , however I would preferred to have heard some more Yes tracks, perhaps some things later than 1977.
Overall it was a splendid show and I am looking forward to seeing the Liverpool and Manchester gigs.
Good luck to Dave Watkinson attending ALL the UK shows… you are going to be exhausted by the end mate !!
Gary,
Good to meet up. All so exciting, the buzz the gig gives is a real high. Just over half way and I am exhausted a ready haha.
Btw the sound changes a lot from from to back. Too close and you miss guitar, maybe muddy, 23 rows back middle was superb at on show. Birmingham has great sound.
Btw did anyone see Jon do the Elvis leg moment in AGP. Was only two seconds, or I am going mad! Haha
Great to have Mark back fit and well. I was also at the Birmingham gig (nice to see Kevin) and for me the sound was excellent. I also attended the Nottingham gig but Like Kevin in Birmingham I was seated on the left hand side (as you look at the stage) in the second row and the as Kevin reported it’s a compromise being that close. In Nottingham the guitar was sometimes lost and oddly the bass seemed quiet. I was half way back in Birmingham and the sound was excellent. A couple of other points, Phil Castellane is Richie’s cousin. A purely personal point, I prefer Andy Graziano’s style over Angus Clark who whilst excellent was a little more Trevor Rabin in style. I thought Mark might like to know that in Rick Wakeman’s recent podcast he cites Awaken on the Live at Montreux as the best example of Yes playing live! Next up London and then Liverpool, fantastic.
Totally agree about choosing where to sit at a gig. There is often a compromise to be made ; if you are too close to the front you can get leakage from on stage monitors and don’t get a balanced sound, but on the positive side get to see the artists close up and see their facial expressions. The closest I have ever been at a gig was a number of years ago when John Cale for some inexplicable reason played The Glee club in Birmingham which was a mostly comedy club…the difference between the stage height and the floor was probably a couple of inches !! Being a fan I stood right in front of John Cale’s microphone , once he came on stage I was probably at most two feet from his face…it was at first great to look at his wrinkles and notice he had dyed his eyelashes…then it was just embarrassing to stare like a nutter at him, so I kept looking at everything or anyone on stage apart from him for most of the gig !!
I also remember being on the front row right in front of Chris at Symphony Hall around 2000 when Chris Squire was wearing those infamous black leggings…oh dear !!!
With Yes or Jon I do like to do three shows, that way you can get at least one great one due to all those factors that can distract.
It does effect a show and I know how precious these moments are. I say do more than one, if at all possible and ultimately see if you can get that perfect point, centre 20 rows back. From front row loving being up close, but missing parts, to balcony amazing sound at Birmingham, 5th row London, it changes for sure. Tbh all great, but I do like to have those differences to compare.
I get the feeling this tour is very special, it just has that something about it all.
Keep Yessing
D
Excellent episode and Kevin’s review more or less reflects my own take aways from the London show.
I don’t think I have enjoyed hearing Yes music played live quite that much since the Empire Pool in ’78.
I don’t mean any disrespect to any current standing Yes members but, apart from the considerable upsides, it was refreshing not having to worry about a) whether the keyboard player(s) were going to cut corners in the music and b) whether I was going to spend 2 hours being clobbered by an over-amped snare drum.
As for Awaken that piece of music is as deeply spiritual as any Alice Coltrane composition. At risk of being a bit pretentious it is a tune that on a good day that has an inaudible pulse that the band have internalised and the music just floats more like a meditation than a performance. That is what was missing on Sunday to some degree but oddly that sense of transcendence was something that ARW achieved at their Hammersmith show with ease. I tend to see Rabin and Wakeman as somewhat earthy musicians who wouldn’t give much houseroom to those kind of ideas but suspect I have done them a disservice!
Anyway … another JA ‘n’ Geeks album being on the way is great news but with Jon in such fine voice you’ve got think that one last go around the arenas with Steve (and Rick?) is on the cards for 2028. Just hope it is not a straight Jon swap and that the rest of the band is picked on the basis of being able to play the music just as well as those who conceived it.
Great to hear Alice Coltrane mentioned…her music was and is incredibly spiritual, uplifting the soul, like a lot of John Coltrane and Pharaoh Sanders and other so called spiritual jazz musicians. I had the privilege of actually seeing Pharaoh Sanders live at the Jazz Cafe many years ago.
Anyway there is something quite exceptional and transformational about these current Jon shows. My partner, who has never seen Yes or Jon before was moved to tears during Awaken…Afterwards she said …it was a spiritual experience. She will be wearing my 2001 Jon Anderson Tour of the Universe T shirt at the gig….so Dave can take a picture…..the thing doesn’t fit me now…..NOT because it has shrunk !!
That is very strong praise…we both are looking forward to Manchester on Saturday.
I got the Tour of the Universe T shirt out this morning…it must have shrunk after all these years as it is a very tight fit on me, but it is fine on my partner. Of course the tour was 2005 not 2001.
I agree pretty much with all the comments so far. Especially how important the seating position is. At Portsmouth 3rd row immediately in front of Jon – great to be so close but sound dominated by drums. In London 10 rows back directly in front of Richie – OK but sound dominated by the already turned up bass. In spite of this though, after seeing Yes over 20 times since the Relayed tour on 1975 I have to say that these two concerts are amongst the best ever. The man can still deliver his music with the same emotion as when he wrote it. Highlights for me were CTTE, Soon and Leaves of Green. I agree with the comments on Awaken. It was a ‘good’ rendition but I’ve seen it performed 5 times over the years and this is the first time it didn’t bring a tear to my eye. This is turning out to be a very special tour. Will we see him again in the UK – I truly hope so.
Just catching up slightly belatedly. First of all, great to see Dave and Kevin at the Birmingham gig. Apologies, it was no more than ships passing in the night, Kevin, and also sorry I couldn’t make your after-gig chat, Dave. I live an hour away and my friend Huw an hour beyond that, and he understandably wanted to get home before cock crow!
We were a few feet away from the mixing desk, and so probably got the best mix of anyone. My only (very slight) complaint was that Chris’ lead synth didn’t always cut through distinctly to my ears. Apart from that, once the mix had generally settled after about 5 minutes, it was superb.
I think it’s great that they are doing 30 minutes of new material – it’s bolder than the main band are, but then again, the set was longer too. 140 minutes rather than the 120 we get from them. Not a criticism. An observation.
I loved Awaken – but I get what people mean. The Bank Geek versions are circling back towards the original album arrangements to some extent, so many of the embellishments that Yes established over the years are understandably not there.
But it was a remarkable evening, and it raises a fair number of philosophical questions about what makes a band authentic, especially when the performances are at this level. Can the current Yes match this?
Awaken in Liverpool was the one we had been waiting for, perfect to these ears. Nice for my wife and I to talk briefly to David Watkinson.
Jon Anderson is a prankster. In the early teens I saw him solo at the Arts Quest in Bethlehem PA (the first public show at the newly opened venue (The Steve Miller Band played there the night before but it was a private invitation-only affair (which being second was a good thing because the kitchen was only semi-chaotic by Jon’s show!))). There is an interview at https://youtu.be/bPb3ZG48f80?si=L1FrAInvPKPcnhWs where you can see the enormous Steel Stacks in the background. This was taped the day of that show. It is my favorite Jon solo show including the Band Geeks.
Jon was seated in front of a keyboard fiddling around [one song he sang while playing that keyboard was the opening vocal section of The Revealing Science Of God!! He performed it very well.] when all of a sudden we hear this beautiful and very fast electric piano which, from the audiences lower view, looked like Jon was playing it. Then during a rapid two-hand crescendo Jon reaches up with his right hand and adjusts a dial on the keyboard!! Everyone in the place was roaring with laughter. It sounded like Rick Wakeman provided the bit.
Little known is that during the acoustic set that was broadcast live to theaters throughout the U.S. in the 00’s (winter 2004, I believe — I was at the Philadelphia theater), the band began the Your Move section of I’ve Seen All Good People. When it came time to sing Jon went blank and could not remember his lines. He actually said “I forgot my line” and then Steve began singing already partway through the song. You could see it in Jon’s expression that he was upset with himself.
Luckily the band had an earlier recorded trial run of the show (luckily wearing the same clothes) with the audience present. The version of I’ve Seen All Good People that is on the Guaranteed No Hiss! is actually from this trial run. It is also out of order on the CD than when it was performed live. During the live version, after the flub, Jon said “It’s OK” because he knew the recorded trial run was a good take.
Many of you may recall that over the years Jon would occasionally and jokingly refer to forgetting his lines during a show or ask the audience what the next line is. This humor from Jon did not start until after the flub during the live acoustic set.
I say all of this because of the incident at the recent Birmingham show where Jon could not remember the next song- Leaves If Green. I believe it was all an act. Think about it. Jon had the teleprompter right there in front of him. He knew what the next song was going to be.
Jon was just being Jon. That is from all of those years hanging out with Rick!!
(I wish I would have posted this sooner but a recent family illness kept me sidetracked. Today I just got caught up with listening to the last three episodes of the YMP.)