Yes - Songs From Tsongas
(35th Anniversary
Concert)
Performance
Production
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Yes - Songs From Tsongas
Performance
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So Yes has made it 35 years together. Pretty amazing when you consider all of the personnel changes, along with the birth, death, and rebirth of progressive rock during this time. Yes has weathered the storms with help from some talented musicians who essentially took over the band for an album or two and kept things alive. We've seen a couple of ex-Bugles Geoffrey Downes and Trevor Horn replace Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman and give us the heavier, less-progressive Drama album in 1980. A few years later, Anderson is back, Horn is heading up the production duties, and South African music wiz Trevor Rabin has completely re-invented the band again with 1983's 90125. This pop-rock masterpiece has garnered much criticism from many old-school Yes fans, but it probably saved their complete demise. The next two decades saw even more turmoil in the band, as several members came and went. We got the Anderson, Wakeman, Bruford, & Howe incarnation, the Union fiasco, and a few other Wakemen-less versions of the band. But since about 2002 the classic Yes lineup of Jon Anderson, Rick Wakeman, Steve Howe, Chris Squire, and Alan White has been intact and have given us a couple of great tours to behold. This is one of them. When I heard that Bristow, Virginia's Nissan Pavilion would be a stop on Yes' 35th Anniversary Tour last year, I was dripping with anticipation to see my favorite aging prog-rockers again. A mere 20-minute drive from my house, and with the current heirs to the prog-rock throne, Dream Theater, opening the show - this was just too good to be true. Check out my review of that fantastic show here. And now this 35th Anniversary Concert is brilliantly captured on DVD for the rest to see. Songs From Tsongas was recorded in May 2004 at the Tsongas Arena in Boston, Massachusetts during the band's 35th Anniversary Tour. The film kicks off with a view of the stage from out over the middle of the crowd. This stage, which was designed by longtime Yes album cover artist Roger Dean, could make a stone-cold sober person think they were on some kind of acid-trip watching the band play inside of a giant aquarium amid a mass of bright coral reefs and colorful, floating amoebas. Who the hell knows what those things are supposed to be. As the strains of "Firebird Suite" envelop the arena, the largest of these things spreads its wings and rises to the top of the stage center, revealing the members of Yes as they launch into a surprising performance of "Going For The One". With Steve Howe firing off steel guitar licks on one side of the stage, and Rick Wakeman completely surrounded by a mountain of keyboards on the other side, you know you are in for a special night. Doesn't he know he can get virtually the same sounds with a single keyboard and computer these days, as Jordan Rudess does with Dream Theater. But that's kinda like seeing Kiss without the makeup though. I love the spectacle of Wakeman effortlessly playing two keyboards on completely opposite sides of him, or using six different keyboards during a single song. The setlist was a nice mixture of old and new with a few songs seeing their first light of day on the live stage. Since my Yes collection is not entirely complete yet, I got to hear a few songs for the first time, such as the Time And A Word gem "Sweet Dreams" on up to the Keys To Ascension, Vol. 2 album with the three-part "Mind Drive" suite. Each song is announced by a Roger Dean designed song title and surrounding artwork that covers the bottom half of the screen for a few seconds. Don't worry this is not the artistic mess that the Keys To Ascension DVD turned into. These song titles are the only things that briefly disturb the performances. Non of the performances were especially groundbreaking - I've either heard or seen them done better before. "South Side Of The Sky" is one of my favorite Yes songs, but it has hardly been a concert staple in the past, so it was an awesome treat to see such a great performance of this Fragile classic. "Yours Is No Disgrace" closed out the first set but this version didn't match their great performance that opened the Live From House Of Blues DVD. After a brief intermission, the second set begins with Wakeman taking the stage alone and sitting behind a grand piano that has been positioned at the center of the stage. He begins with a short classical piece that leads into the ABWH song "The Meeting", as Anderson joins him onstage to sing it. As this song ends, the rest of the band takes the stage, armed with acoustic instruments, as they begin a six song acoustic set starting with a fairly straightforward rendition of "Long Distance Runaround" and ending with a light and bluesy version of "Owner Of A Lonely Heart". This performance was very similar to the Yes Acoustic set, with a couple of different songs. Steve Howe remains onstage to perform his countrified acoustic guitar piece "Second Initial" as the crew is tearing down the acoustic set. The rest of the band then takes the stage again for a blazing performance of "Rhythm Of Love", which has Anderson strolling through the crowd singing as a camera man films him from the front the entire way. The second set comes to a close with the majestic "And You And I", and ending with the one (thank God) Tales From Topographic Oceans representation, "Ritual", which seemed to go on forever. The encore begins with a lively version of The Beatles' "Every Little Thing", which would have fit perfectly on any of their Rabin-era albums. They bring this 35 year journey to a close with the always compelling "Starship Trooper", which never fails to blow me away. This DVD could have easily earned a perfect score in the production department if it wasn't for the poor audio mix. Anderson's vocals were mixed excessively loud and the drums sounded anemic. There was no good way to compensate for the loud vocal mix, when using a surround setup, because Anderson was mixed pretty evenly amongst the three front speakers. I am one of the few who actually love his vocals, but they completely dominated the instruments. Too bad, because the widescreen video presentation and camera work were both exceptional. The only special feature on the DVD was a short, but interesting interview with Roger Dean. I'll be looking forward to a 40th anniversary tour from Yes, but wouldn't it be cool to see some guest appearances by Bruford, Rabin, and Kay this time around so we can get a more comprehensive representation of their entire great body of work. Reviewed by Paul M. Roy - September 2005 |
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Running Time: 172 Minutes |
DVD Release Date - August 2005 |