Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS
Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Wayne Hall, Ken Fuller and Jeffrey Crecelius
After the emergence online of another Drama Tour video – with sound – by James Ferrani on YouTube, Mark and I took a careful look at his 2 videos from consecutive days on the 1980 Drama Tour that featured Buggles men Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes. There are at least 2 revelations contained in the videos that I don’t believe any Yes fans except those who attended the concerts in North America have experienced in the intervening 45 years. I knew they had happened but seeing them is quite remarkable. Stay tuned for our discussion, watch the videos below and leave us a comment while you are here.
- What are the unique aspects of these videos?
- Was Chris Squire a bit ‘under the weather’?
- Who looked more comfortable – Downes or Horn?
See if you agree with us and then leave a comment below.
Steve Howe Press Release
Fans will be happy to know that to follow up the release of ‘Portraits Of Bob Dylan’ on 12th September, Steve Howe will issue ‘Signals Crossed’, an E.P including three previously unreleased interpretations of Bob Dylan songs. It will feature ‘I Want You’, ‘One Too Many Mornings’ and ‘Mama, You`ve Been On My Mind’. It will include appearances by Geoff Downes, Dylan Howe, Stephanie Sounds and Paul K Joyce.
The EP will be available as a white vinyl 10” – one sided and mirror backed – limited to 500 copies worldwide. It will also be available as a download. It will be released on 5th December 2025. You can pre-order the vinyl here: https://lnk.to/joLdy9
Steve Howe: “I recorded ‘I Want You’ before starting the released ‘Portraits Of Bob Dylan’ tracks, then I recorded two alternative versions of songs from the album in different styles. This version of ‘One Too Many Mornings’ wasn’t in the right key for Phoebe Snow, who sang beautifully to an acoustic version on the released album. This version gives it an electric setting, taking a little from Bob’s ‘Hard Rain’ version. I sang ‘Mama, You’ve Been On My Mind’ on the original release, slow and a little mournful but here has a more upbeat and optimistic flavour. With the vocal harmonies and Dylan’s drumming, these tracks retain the mood of what I wanted to explore in 2000, songs about getting your Signals Crossed”
Track Listing:
1. I Want You
2. One Too Many Mornings
3. Mama, You’ve Been On My Mind.
Steve Howe: “What I loved about it was having the chance to arrange them as I wasn’t going to copy what Dylan had done; I wanted to bring a little bit more to it.”
Steve Howe: “The ‘Portraits’ idea was always a sort of pipe dream, and I originally recorded one song to start the project, and I thought, this will be good, I’ll do lots of Bob”
Preorder the Barry Plummer 2026 Calendar!
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER VERSION SOLD OUT
Yes – The Tormato Story & Tales from Topographic Oceans – Yes Album Listening Guide
Available now!
YMP Patrons:
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 |
10 replies on “The Drama is Live – 693”
Hiya I did the write it up in the tour music guide in one of my Yessays.
“This was the Drama album tour and so with the new line-up of Geoffrey Downes and Trevor Horn and with for some the ‘In The Round’ staging as in 1978/9, it was a spectacular start for both.
They would, of course, be seen for the very first time when the tubular shiny show curtain descended from above, the band then unseen guided into the curtain space from below the stage for the great curtain lift up moment, the lights, and the applause.
America loved it all, with the slightly more reserved British audience having mixed views, the show was staged in the UK on the straight and standard stages”.
By the time it reached the UK they had troubles times, the UK audience wouldn’t accept both Trevor, and his off vocals. Fans just hadn’t seen a Yes show with struggling vocals. GD was accepted right away. I saw three shows and Yes rocked the house, but it wasn’t going to last, and look what came next, so it all worked out.
I don’t think I added the drum riser though. A good chat as always guys, I do love these amazing video film finds. I shall keep looking also. D
Thanks Dave. More videos to come soon, I hope!
I had the pleasure of seeing YES in 1980 at Madison Square Garden. Yes indeed Horn seemed uncomfortable but he sang well enough so that the audience was kind. What struck me clearly was how expressively intense Howe, White and Squire played. It seemed to me they were determined to win the crowd over, carry the show (and being at MSG win over the music magazine critics). I have attended YES shows dozens of times starting in 1975, that Drama show at the Garden the three of them played with a like mind that was very obvious “hey we need to pull this off in front of this crowd”. And they very much did.
Great to hear that, Michael. Yes, even from those clips you can see determination from Howe and White especially.
Hey guys, an especially interesting conversation this week that brought back many memories. I was fortunate to be at the very first US date of this tour in Hartford, Connecticut (miraculously captured at https://youtu.be/tDZubXjzOt0?si=xmOBvD3DU2KH2kM_), and surprisingly remember much about the performance 45 years later:
* I was very fortunate to see the band four times before this show, including 3 performances at Madison Square Garden in the round. While Drama was out a few weeks before the show and I quite liked it, it’s hard to overstate how shocking it was to see Yes without Jon Anderson (and to a lesser degree, Rick Wakeman). This was long before the days of Benoit David and Jon Davison, and Yes without Jon was inconceivable before this album and tour.
* Seeing Trevor was itself an odd site of course, and I remember thinking how incredibly nervous he and Geoff looked.
* I remember liking the performance quite a bit overall, but being keenly aware of how different of a band it was.
* As a longtime fan of Yes’s vocals, I remember appreciating how tight the harmonies were, especially on the newer material.
* I remember thinking that Yours Is No Disgrace as the first classic song made sense, since its opening vocals featured Chris and Steve — and gradually introduced the audience to Trevor once he sang Jon’s parts unaccompanied. Even at this early show, his vocals felt strained, but I remember appreciating his effort regardless — especially for someone who appeared so nervous.
* On the other hand, I remember thinking that his opening vocals on And You and I sounded almost like Jon himself, which was amazing and unexpected.
* I recall thinking that Geoff’s keyboard solo was adequate and mildly impressive — but oh so different from Wakeman’s just 15 months earlier.
* As I got over the shock value and increasingly enjoyed the performance, I was increasingly impressed at how very tight the band was overall, and how much I appreciated Chris, Steve and Alan carrying the torch with stellar performances. I saw no sign of subpar musicianship from anyone, except for Trevor and Geoff who were visibly nervous as mentioned earlier.
* I remember being in touch with someone who’d seen this performance followed by the Spectrum show. He said he was super impressed with the Hartford show, and was so disappointed with the Spectrum performance that he actually walked out before the show ended.
Final note: as a longtime fanatic of the band, I was fortunate to subscribe to Relayer Magazine at the time (the first Yes fanzine ever, as I recall). They did an outstanding interview with Trevor, who I recall addressed the microphone issue you raised, Kevin, (he said Jon Anderson’s mike setup from above looked “tricky,” so he went with a traditional stand), mentioned how incredibly nervous he was before the first date of the tour in Toronto, and I believe said he suggested performing South Side of the Sky (!) for the tour before Chris nixed the idea. Amazing, highly recommended interview if you can find it.
Thanks to you both for a great episode and discussion!
Thank you for the extensive and interesting comment, Jim! Great to know about the microphone stand and the variable quality of the performances.
I saw 5 of the 40 U.S. Drama shows in ’80, and thoroughly enjoyed each one. Here’s my photo of the curtain before the Cincinnati, Ohio gig. I have other photos from the tour.
Excellent – thanks for adding that.
Fascinating YMP episode! You mentioned Chris’ subpar performances here—I heard no issues with his bass playing (although the low end is not prominent in this audio) but his harmony vocals are out of tune, he’s flat…Trevor is surely not as strong as Jon A. but he is on pitch (even if he’s holding onto that mic stand for dear life LOL).
As a guitarist I was fascinated by Steve’s guitar selections…lotsa Les Paul & Tele. I was surprised to see the Les Paul on YIND which he usually plays on the 175.
And Alan looks as if he’s drumming hard enough to save this band, which he probably was…great energy & fantastic drumming!
And Geoff certainly holds his own…the setlist was certainly weighted towards the new songs but he does fine on everything even if he is no Rick.