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Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Wayne Hall, Ken Fuller and Jeffrey Crecelius
As you will hear, I was looking at one of the amazing photos in the Barry Plummer Calendar (available now from YesMusicBooks.com) recently, when I noticed something peculiar about Chris Squire. I think what Barry has captured is a unique moment in Yes concert history. I don’t think Chris ever did this in any other situation than the shows on the 1975 Relayer tour – and maybe not all of those performances. I have watched the QPR video many times but I hadn’t realised exactly what was going on until I saw this photo and then re-watched the QPR performance.
After watching that QPR version, Mark and I also took a careful look at a much later version, from the Yes Acoustic video. It’s very different.
I’ve included a heavily watermarked version of the Squire photo below but if you want to enjoy the full-quality version, you know what to do. Order the calendar now while there’s still time to receive it before the New Year.
So, what do you think I’m on about? Stay tuned for the full rabbit hole exploration with Mark.
- What’s unique about the QPR live situation?
- What is that guitar?
- Which is the ‘better’ version?
See if you agree with us and then leave a comment below.
Barry Plummer 2026 Calendar is now available!
YMP Listener discount code – KVKBKC8Z
Enrich your Prog year with iconic images of Yes in the 1970s, taken by the legendary rock photographer, Barry Plummer.
Enjoy 12 beautiful colour and black and white photographs of Yes in the studio and live, capturing the essence of the world’s greatest progressive rock band. With this limited-edition calendar on your wall throughout 2026, you’ll agree that Barry Plummer is, indeed, the Master of Images!
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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 |
| Douglas Caldwell |
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7 replies on “Yes (sort-of) Unplugged – 696”
Love these acoustic presentations. However, I’m not sure I agree with Mark’s assertion that Jon’s guitar was completely unplugged in the Los Angeles concert – look closely at the 2:55 mark of the video to see the cable.
Hi Peter,
Thank you very much for your comment.
Hmmm…it’s possible that I might have missed that….but if he is plugged in….you can barely hear him. And if you have Steve Howe as your guitar player…do you really need Jon playing guitar as well.?? I’ll just leave that there…for people to think about. LOL.
My question about the QPR unplugged segment is why are they playing Long Distance Runaround in the key of A, a minor third lower than usual?
Re: Tsongas acoustic set, I saw YES on this tour August 22, 2004 in Hartford, Ct (great show & extra props to the inclusion of South Side & Mind Drive)…they did an acoustic set with LDRunaround, Wondrous Stories and a jazzy, swing version of Roundabout. Before this segment Jon announced that the origin of this set (& likely the one in 1976) was a request by Japanese fans. I know that Queen also did a similar acoustic set at the request of Japanese fans back in the late ‘70’s and ‘80’s.
I hadn’t noticed the key change! Great spot. Those Japanese fans eh? They seem to have a good relationship with bands – and why not?
I loved this podcast because QPR is one of my favorite shows as well. The version of long distance is very unique and vocally stunning. Does anyone know if this style of the song was played this way on several shows on the tour – or just this one? Another unique thing on this show is during Ritual. Again – don’t know if they regularly did this on tour, but the one line inserted from The Remembering – “Out in the city running free, Sands of companions sides that be, The strength of the meeting lies with you” right after the initial first bass solo is a beautiful addition. One more thing about QOR – Alan head banging backwards (especially And you had I). It’s so funny!
Wow – very good unique feature spotting! I’m not sure about the other performances – maybe someone will take a listen to some bootlegs for us…
My first Yes gig was at De Montford Hall Leicester a few weeks before QPR and it remains the best! They played the extended Ritual with the added lines from The Remembering. I can’t believe this was 50 years ago. This episode brought back such great memories of that concert.