Nov172008
Yes – In The Present @ Ram’s Head Live
Filed under Music by Kim at 12:40 pm on Nov 17 2008
Yes is a band I’ve sort of carried on this detached affair with. I don’t hunt down every news item about them and I don’t collect every single track, despite truly and deeply enjoying the ones I do have. Before heading out to the Ram’s Head last night I noted that about half the set I was about to see I’d probably be hearing for the first time live. That probably would have blown the minds of my fellow concertgoers. I don’t have Drama, I haven’t listened to Tormato. It’s just that I’ve got so much mileage out of Fragile, CTTE, Relayer, Going for the One and Tales.
Despite my fair-weather fan status, I figured it would be a sad story if I didn’t see them live. I was surprised to find that I wasn’t the only first timer – many members of my cohort were there. Not to mention the legions of father-son pairs! Actually that was pretty sweet to see. It was also “the crowd that understands my tattoo” so I got lots of comments on that.
Since I got there early I ambled up near the front and decided to stay. I was glad I did this because I could not have seen crap from anywhere else due to overall tallness of attendees. (It was no Viking metal nordic basketball team experience, but yeah.) The way White’s drum kit is set up, you’d have to be on the balcony to actually see him play. I was surrounded by several of the dad-son types, a few hardcore nerds like me, and The Loudmouth. The Loudmouth is the guy who insists on telling you all about how he met the band and they are practically BFFs and he first saw them in 1974 at the Garden. You know who I mean.
But the concert itself. Benoit’s voice suprised me in its similarity to Jon Anderson’s. I’d read some complaints online but I should have taken all that with a grain of salt. I felt like I was hearing JA most of the concert! They started him out really low in the mix which kind of scared me… am I not going to be able to hear this guy all night? Is he that bad? No, he was not. He had some struggling moments but I can forgive that. When he got to the triumphant passages of And You And I, he nailed it and you could see it in his face. So long as I’m talking about vocals I should note that the harmony parts were tight, just lovely. My only negative thought was that he didn’t seem really comfortable in his own stage presence. I can only imagine how hard it is to be on stage with legends and you’re just the tribute band guy. Chin up tribute band guy! We were glad to have you.
Since I decided to get down front, I didn’t write down the set list, but highlights included Siberian Khatru, Close to the Edge, Parallels, and And You and I, which were high on my list of things to hear. They are transcendent songs that I listen to over and over and over at home, so to see the masters at work, particularly Howe & Squire, was heavenly. By the time they played Soon, which would have been one of those intense concert out of body experiences, I was standing in the bar area which means drunk folks mouthing off all the time & kind of ruining the ambiance. LJ followers will recall my obsession with that bass bit and hearing it live, I just about exploded in rapture. I wish I could comment on seeing Oliver Wakeman at work, but all I could see was his lovely flowing locks (pictured above). Oh!! Howe played Classical Gas & absolutely brought down the house with it. That ruled.
If I had it to do all over again, I would in a heartbeat!
