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It was lovely to welcome back onto the YMP our friend and patron, Geoff Bailie this week. Mark and I spoke to him about the recent news that Yes will be on tour with Deep Purple in the US and Canada this Summer. What do you think of that idea? Well, self-confessed Deep Purple fan Geoff shares some thoughts with us and we discuss pretty much every aspect of the forthcoming tour, as you would expect. Do leave your own thoughts on the show notes for this week.
- Why are Yes touring with Deep Purple?
- Is this a co-headlining tour or are Yes the support act?
- Will Yes always play first?
Let us know if you agree with us!
https://deeppurple.com/pages/tours
Check out the progress on my other podcast – https://anthem52.com/
Yes – The Tormato Story
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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: archive.org
14 replies on “Yes tour with Deep Purple – 624”
A few years ago I attended Deep Purple’s “Farewell” Tour in Kansas City, and they were outstanding. Steve Morse was breathtaking and Don Airey on Keyboards was fantastic. With that said many YES fans were not amused a decade plus back when YES toured with Styx as YES fans are proud and seeing them as an opener will chafe many. That will be the case this time. Musically I do not believe these bands are compatible, Deep Purple is a hard rock band, not prog. The only compatible draw here is the “sea of bald heads” buying tickets as both bands exceed 50 years old. We have to remember that YES is a business entity and this tour promises to be lucrative enough for them as I am sure the Styx tour was. A bit disappointed YES chose not to extend the tour alone and play a few extra cities in the US late September and October. Thank you for the shout out about the cartoon I posted. It is always odd to hear your name come over the stereo and yes you pronounced my name correctly 🙂
To clarify regarding VIP package prices, I checked 6 different shows before & then on the on-sale days for the prices and seat locations. Yes has one VIP option, with prices at $236, 249, 270 or 279, depending on the city. You get a band signed new Roger Dean tour poster, a few knickknacks in a canvas bag, such as a set of coasters, and seats from the 5th row on back to the 15th row, mostly in the left & right sections, rather than the center sections. There are no Yes VIP seats in the first 4 rows or in any center sections before the 12th row. Deep Purple has 2 different VIP package options, up to $415 or $400 to get a photo with the band, minus Gillan, as you mentioned, get 1 item signed, a seat in the first 5 rows, a signed poster, and a few other goodies in a canvas bag. Their second VIP option doesn’t include a M&G with DP or a photo, and close seats a bit farther back, at various prices from $199, to 225 to 245. Any tickets sold at more than $450 are not VIP but either “Platinum” or “Re-sale” tickets. Platinum prices are set by Ticketmaster based on supply & demand, basically the ticket sales on day 1 and up to show day, if the show isn’t sold out by then. Re-sale tickets are those bought by customers, or a bot, and then re-sold through Ticketmaster’s resale. Anyone who buys a ticket to any event through Ticketmaster can resell it through Ticketmaster for a profit, with a few exceptions. Hence, I saw a front row ticket for 1 of these concerts priced at $1200, as a re-sale ticket, not a VIP ticket, so just for that seat alone, no VIP extras! I’m very familiar with Ticketmaster as I worked at one of their call centers taking calls from around the Midwest for concerts, athletic games, plays, truck shows, etc., for 3 years, part-time, in the early 90s, and have myself bought hundreds of tickets to various events through Ticketmaster, and other local or US nationwide ticket sites such as Ticketweb, going back to the 1970s when the only national option was Ticketron.
As to whether Yes has opened a concert in the recent past when there was another act on the bill, I know of one case. In 2010 Yes toured with Peter Frampton. At their show in Blue Ash, Ohio, north of Cincinnati, Yes opened & Frampton headlined. This was because starting in 2000 Frampton lived in a nearby Cincinnati suburb of Indian Hill and performed on each tour in Cincinnati, sometimes doing charity shows. He has since moved, after a divorce from his Cincinnati-area wife in 2014, to the Nashville area.
Well, Purple has always been a bigger band globally both in terms of album sales and concert draws. It’s to be expected that on a double bill, Yes would be the opening act.
Will I go? As much as I love both bands, probably not. It will be at least an hour to get into the shed’s parking lot and an hour out. For something that probably will not be very good and likely could leave me with poor memories of once heroes
I meant to add that, like Mark, Steve Morse’s absence diminishes my interest in going. Happily, he is back out with the Dregs playing some great prog/jazz fusion music.
I loved Purple when I was 13 / 14 (especially the Coverdale / Hughes and Bolin line ups which were active at that time) but for me this is a nonsense pairing from an artistic legacy point of view.
What we are talking about here really is a geriatric jukebox of radio hits with a smattering of deep cuts providing a soundtrack for the long mid set queues for the gents’ toilets.
It might make a bit more sense in the US but to me the idea of pairing a band whose lyrics took longer to sing than to write with a band exploring (for better or for worse) the Shastras in quasi-symphonic forms and complex time signatures is just reducing rock culture to a homogenous mass of FM fodder with any notions of artistic nuance / difference glossed over for the $.
Would Fripp / Crimson do this kind of thing in a million years? They would not. Fripp has too much respect for his own music and its legacy. Crimson have endlessly reinvented themselves, even when playing the old music. They exist (when they exist) because there is either new music to be made or the old music demands to be played in new ways and I have never ever felt they were a cash-generating nostalgia act. Every penny I have ever spent following Fripp’s journey has felt like money well spent. Almost akin to going out to support the LSO or London Sinfonietta or Opera North or whoever. Whatever he does is going to be interesting even if it is outside my usual musical frame of reference.
To me Yes + Marillion (who also toured with Purple as it happens), Yes + Camel. Yes + Heart, Yes + Todd, Yes + Shakti, Yes + Zombies, Yes + Nick Mason (how good would that be?) all make some kind of sense to me and would have a lot of artistic credibility. Pairing Yes with the most basic of early 70s proto metal acts not so much.
A Yes + Stills & Nash type pairing or even with Brian Wilson, something with really strong melodic content and harmonies at any rate, would stand up more from an artistic perspective than this billing. And not because I am anti metal. I could actually see someone like Dio (God bless him) or even Uriah Heep kind of working out when paired with Yes. Something with light and shade and some interesting outside infiuences. For me, beyond their short lived soul / funk influenced era, Purple have always been more of a bludgeon than an épée.
Anyway, from a UK perspective I am glad I don’t have to make the choice between supporting this kind of tour at the O2 or where ever and not seeing them at all. Already faced with that issue this summer with Cheap Trick who are, for reasons best known to Live Nation, out on the road opening for Journey.
No US West Coast tour dates. I was perplexed by the last 2 Yes tours to the US West Coast. I didn’t go to either because they were way outside of city centers and difficult for me to get to. I don’t know if they were well-attended or not. Maybe some one who does know can chime in. I’m sure the logistics and economics of a tour are difficult to navigate. Hope to see them again someday.
Guy,
All tours, especially solo tours are now calculated down to the penny to ensure the desired profit. Venues take a ticket haircut, bands often times now will default to the venue with the lowest haircut and that is probably why YES wasn’t playing city centers. Shopping venues was always part of putting together a tour, now with increase costs it is essential to the band / artist actually making a profit for their effort.
I have a question: Does anyone have evidence of how Robert Moog pronounced his name? In North America, where he was from, that name is traditionally pronounced “mogue” — for instance, in the case of the great goaltender Andy Moog. But I hear people saying: “muhg.” (The best I can do phonetically in this format.) It’s a small difference in the end, one might say, but a large difference given the importance of his work to the music we love. Also, I know it seemed to have meant much to Phil Lynott’s mother once his name was pronounced correctly: Lie-Not.
Thank you — and in no way do I mean disrespect to anyone. I just want to get the answer and to (potentially) keep from making a mistake that I have since I was a young man.
Hi, Aaron. The answer is that Moog rhymes with rogue, according to his daughter, Michelle, whom I’m friends with. But Michelle accepts, as did Bob, that people say it as it rhymes with Goog, as in Google. BTW, a visit to the Moog museum, and the factory, is essential when going to Asheville, North Carolina.
Here’s Bob Moog’s grave bench. He died in Asheville in 2005.
Thanks, Doug. Very helpful. That was what I suspected, but as I said, I was unsure.
I was in Asheville a few years ago, but was unaware of the Moogseum. Maybe one day. Also, that’s a great picture.
Best,
Aaron
The Moogseum opened less than 5 years ago in Asheville, North Carolina. I can highly recommend it to anyone into keyboards, theremins or Dr. Bob Moogs work. And don’t forget The Moog Store factory, also a real treat to see. The Moog Foundation office is downtown near the museum but not open to the general public, although Michelle gave me and my wife a private tour years ago, after our lunch with her at Bob’s favorite Asheville restaurant, Salsa’s.
Just adding my two pence. I only bought my tickets for the Fort Worth, Texas show because Yes is on the bill. Deep Purple was advertised for a long time before Yes was added.
Side note: I learned of Yes’s involvement due to Episode 623.