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Yes: They Were Awesome

Yes with the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra | September 27, 2003 | Blaisdell Arena, Honolulu HI

Review by Melvin Ah Ching

The Yes concert at the Blaisdell Arena was a rockfest that featured the 70s progressive rock group with the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra. Yes is a rock group which I highly respect but never really followed during their 35-year long career that produced a massive catalogue of stellar, mystical and powerful rock compositions.
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From my second row seat I was only 15 feet away from Rick Wakeman’s bank of keyboards, the bass wizardry of Chris Squire, guitar virtuoso Steve Howe, the steady and sometimes aggressive backbeat of drummer Alan White and the warm vocals of front man / leader Jon Anderson. Anderson impressed me with his friendly rapport as he talked to the audience on short subjects ranging from spirituality, his marriage on Maui to watching the whales. He seems to be quite accessible — someone you’d like to talk to about music and life. He is also spiritual and very talented.

Yes opened their show with “Close to the Edge” a track from one of their earliest albums and progressed to lesser known but obvious fan and audience pleasers. Being in the second row gave me a close-up appreciation for the groups’ musicianship as well as their overpowering sound (a cluster of speakers were just below Mr Wakeman’s keyboards). Whatever presence the Honolulu Symphony had was practically drowned out for those who were in the front rows. The local orchestra was seated behind the band. I could hardly see them except for the tympani player who was on the trailing edge to my extreme right.

As Yes went through their repertoire of songs it was apparent that the orchestra was playing even if they couldn’t be heard. Towards the middle of the concert, the band began to feature individual members. Steve Howe treated us to 2 highly powerful acoustic solos that showcased his great guitar talent. I was hoping he would play "Mood of the Day".
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Jon Anderson, Rick Wakeman, Chris Squire and drummer Alan White all got their chance to individually showcase their solo talents. Wakeman is a true keyboard wiz as he dazzled the crowd with an assortment of spacey riffs during his solo portion. Squire and White played a bass and drum solo off each other, and Anderson sang a tender song.

The second half of this 3-hour long concert featured only Yes, the band and no one else. Honolulu Symphony was dismissed.

They opened their second half show with “Southside of the Sky,” one of several tracks they would perform from the famous Fragile album. This is the song that began to get the crowd rockin.

Let’s face it, I never thought Yes could be capable of generating an audience frenzy, but they did. Soon after the 20 minute long song, they broke into “Don’t Kill the Whale.” This song launched the audience over the edge and toward the stage. Instead of being comfortably seated from my second row seat, I was inadvertently thrust into the middle of the fray. People were dancing and singing.

Some guy made it on stage and enjoyed a brief 15 seconds of fame with Chris Squire and Rick Wakeman, and then stage-dived into the dancing crowd only to be hauled away by a security guard. Anderson mentioned that we were one of the most happy audiences and was quite impressed with the growing mosh pit forming in front of them.

A mosh pit at a Yes concert? Who would have known!

Fortunately the people weren’t really moshing but only enjoying the vibe of the powerful music with handclaps, motion and dance. The band broke into the highly expected hits “Owner of a Lonely Heart,” “Long Distance Runaround” among others, with their encore piece being an abbreviated version of “Roundabout” which still left everyone in an ecstatic state of musical fulfillment.

Yes was awesome for both their legions of longtime fans as well as the casual concertgoer who truly wanted to experience something different but certainly not nostalgic. They ruled.