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Produced by Jeffrey Crecelius, Wayne Hall, Preston Frazier, Bill Govier and VR Hoisington
This week I discovered something I didn’t know about Yes…wow! So as a result Mark and I listened to 3 different versions of Starship Trooper featuring not 2 but 3 different Wakemen!
Also, we approach a difficult 2 Pence about the quality of Yes performance on the recent Cruise to the Edge.
Listen and let us know what you think!
- Did all three Wakemen really play for Yes?
- What’s the Adam story?
- Who played better?
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Daniel Krohn spotted this from the Loyal line up of White:
Show notes and links
YMP Patrons:
Producers:
- Jeffrey Crecelius
- Preston Frazier
- VR Hoisington
- Bill Govier and
- Wayne Hall
Patrons:
| Aaron Steelman | Scott Smith | Lobate Scarp |
| Bob Martilotta | Simon Barrow | Mark ‘Zarkol’ Baggs |
| Brian Sullivan | Sonicbond | Mark James Lang |
| Chris Bandini | Steve Dill | Michael O’Connor |
| Craig Estenes | Steve Rode | Miguel Falcao |
| Dave Owen | Steve Scott | Neal Kaforey |
| David Heyden | Steven Roehr | Paul Hailes |
| David Pannell | Terence Sadler | Paul Tomei |
| David Watkinson | Tim Stannard | Paul Wilson |
| Dem | Todd Dudley | Peter Hearnden |
| Fergus Cubbage | Hogne Bø Pettersen | Rachel Hadaway |
| Fred Barringer | William Hayes | Robert Nasir |
| Geoff Bailie | Guy DeRome | Scott Colombo |
| Geoffrey Mason | Henrik Antonsson | John Holden |
| Jamie McQuinn | IanNB | John Parry |
| Jeremy North | Lind | John Thomson |
| Jim | Ken Fuller | Joost Doesburg |
| John cowan | Keith Hoisington | Joseph Cottrell |
| Martin Kjellberg | Doug Curran | Steve Perry |
Robert and David
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Theme music
The music I use is the last movement of Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite. This has been used as introduction music at many Yes concerts. My theme music is not take from a live concert – I put it together from the following two creative commons sources: thanvannispen and archive.org
13 replies on “Starship Trooper including 3 Wakemans – Wakemen? 370”
Good shows guys. I had known about the Wakeman incident but had forgotten about it.
Kevin was right about the complexities involved with putting on a show and what can go on before a gig. We don’t know about any of that which could affect a performance. There arnt many posts saying negative things at all, more positive and again it’s someone’s opinion after all. We all have one, I only saw part of the show on the 8 hour youtube video edit that’s available now from the cruise. ‘No Opp’ and SD are excellent choices lovely early material which gives us a sense of the history of the band.
I do agree with Mark that JD should of course just sing with Yes and not other bands. I’m sure he loved it though, but was it maybe useful for him to do so? I am not a singer, he obviously felt he could successful do it all, has Jon Anderson ever done that before a Yes gig?
It looks like Japan will be different again and the USA one different once more. The biggest critic of Yes will be themselves, they know how they did inside and out. Yes have always wanted to do their very best live, whatever they felt, you can bet as they keep on the tour it will get better and better.
I have to say I liked the early material most of all as it’s refreshing. I would hope the visual stage show is like on Topographic the other year with screens and more.
Oh if playing CTTE why do we not get dry ice and a mirror ball anymore, I want them back.
Dave
Thank you for another great show.
I have been fortunate to see Adam, Oliver and Rick play in YES. Adam played Starship Trooper at the Manchester Apollo and had rehearsed the whole set a day or two before. Of course Igor’s Visa problems were resolved so He played the gig. I do not rememberJon Anderson’s comments at the gig,but I do remember the warm , sincere hug that Chris Squire gave Adam, Well that is what you would expect from Chris …despite his demons Chris was a guy who enjoyed and liked people.
Thanks Gary. That’s definitely the impression I have of Chris as well!
Having been on the Cruise to the Edge, it’s not surprising that some folks don’t go to see Yes but other acts, or would walk out. There were about 35 acts to choose from this year, many drawing their fans, including Steve Hackett, who always draws and puts on a wonderful show. As for Jon Davison singing with others, it was surprising, as they didn’t allow Jon to perform with Glass Hammer or others on the first few cruises, to save his voice. But since the 2nd cruise, a big highlight is the special guests singing or playing with other bands, often for the 1st time ever, which creates some wonderful moments, like Squire & Wetton joining Hackett & his band to do an encore of “All Along the Watchtower” in 2014, which I saw from the 2nd row. So I don’t fault Jon or anyone else for performing with other acts.
Well, I certainly am honored to be designated the “official” YMP Resident Wit. Let’s just please make sure that the sign on my office door doesn’t read “ResidenTwit.”
So, yeah, that was me who walked out of a Yes show last week. I never thought something like that would happen, but it did. They were just awful – no energy, no group feeling, no more magic. While I was definitely not the only person on the Cruise that felt the same way, there were certainly plenty of others who thought they were great. I’ve seen them so many times now, though, as I approach decrepitude, that this particular show was just a big let-down, compared to what I have seen before. Last year on the Cruise they were just magnificent – one of the best Yesshows I ever saw.
The subject of “who knows what may have happened before the show?” was interesting – I had my own personal problems on that very day and that may have contributed to my view of what I was seeing… but: Jon just seemed tired and lackluster (this was on the final night of the Cruise), Jay seemed to be sleep-drumming, Geoff might as well have not been there, as the keyboards were buried in the mix, Billy looked like he was just going through the motions and Steve… it was like he was at an entirely different show. He’s so far off on stage right that it’s as if he’s not even a part of the band.
I met and talked (briefly) with both Billy and Jon at the pre-cruise party and they seemed really upbeat and energized. Billy looks much more healthy this year; I think he must have dropped about 20 or 30 pounds since last year. And – Mark, you should take note of this (and cry because you missed it) – Jon’s performance of ‘Tom Sawyer’ with Dave Kerzner at the party was just astonishingly great – better even than Geddy ever did it. Not kidding. Really. It was THAT good.
Also, I’m one of those people who really didn’t go this year to see Yes. I was there mostly for Pendragon (OMG – how did I manage to ignore this band for forty years?), Magic Pie, Airbag, Haken, Neal Morse and Steve Hackett. Truth be told, Mr. Hackett has always been the major draw for me expending this ridiculous amount of money. (Yeah, Igor isn’t the only only with “VISA” problems!)
But, all this negativity aside, I’ll be going back again next year (it’s kind of addictive, this Cruise thing), and I will dutifully attend my requisite Yes concert. And I will hope and pray that they will once again be awesome.
And so… Onward.
This, however was wonderful: Nick D’Virgilio’s side project “UniKuE” (pronounced “unique”) It’s all ukuleles! They do Tull, they do King Crimson, they do Rush, Led Zeppelin, ELP, Zappa, Kansas, Peter Gabriel, ELO and Genesis (Cinema Show on ukuleles!). Oh, and they also do Yes.
This cruise was the first time they have performed live.
Thanks, Kevin and Mark – good show, as usual.
Two things that may have impacted the apathy regarding Yes on CTTE. 1) ARW has also toured, making it seem like we got even more Yes than before. 2) Prog is doing really well right now. There are some amazing Prog bands and many were on the cruise. (I wasn’t so I can’t give first hand evidence.) It could be that those who go on the cruise don’t primarily go to see Yes. Having seen Yes multiple times, had I gone I would have been much more excited about some of the other bands; Neil Morse, Mike Portnoy and Friends, and Steve Hackett to name just three.
Thanks Bob. Well, the really positive thing is the proliferation of great prog bands/music!
Kind of disagree with Mark on the Jon Davison thing. It’s not that I disagree with the general sentiment that Jon should “save” himself for Yes and Yes alone, it’s just that I feel that one of the exceptions to that rule SHOULD be festivals and events like Cruise to the Edge. I think a major part of the appeal for something like this is the chance that you might see a Jon Davison, or a Steve Hackett, or a Roine Stolt hop on stage with other musicians, and speaking for myself, I think I’d be more thrilled to see Jon hop on stage and do a spirited performance of “Tom Sawyer” than hear him do “Roundabout” again. Nothing wrong with the latter, but it’s the memory of the former that I’d cherish from being on the cruise. Just my 2 pence.
Thanks Mike – good points. Maybe Jon just overdid it this time – I don’t know as I wasn’t there!
I want there, sadly, but the prog report discussion of the cruise didn’t say anything bad about yes at all – didn’t say much but it was all positive.
Only those who were there really know – it’s a shame we have such a distorted view from social media nowadays.