"Open Your Eyes"
Yes 1998 tour of Europe:

pre-show tape: ambient music; the "hidden track" from Open Your Eyes.

It's a good idea to have this music fill the hall as the audience is slowly flowing in. Some have complained about the presence of the hidden track on the OYE album, but I can't share this sentiment. While the track is somewhat less than a song in its own right, it is a Yes track and if it were missing from the CD, every collector would be begging for a boot tape! Instead, we have the perfect-quality track on the CD. However, the collectors will note that a boot tape is still needed, since the OYE track is only half as long as the tape played before the shows. The "real" tape includes some more vocals, more electronic "effects" and, surprisingly, the introductory guitar theme from I've Seen All Good People.

intro tape: excerpt from Stravinsky's Firebird

A Yes show that did not begin with Firebird would surely be lacking. During Firebird the house lights go down and the volume goes way up. I have always loved this opening track on the Yessongs album (and missed it from Keys to Ascension) but I had no idea how it actually feels live. It feels... amazing. The closest experience I can compare it to is sitting on an airplane during the take-off: Firebird is the moment of sudden acceleration, when the forward thrust of the engines pushes you back into the chair - and then Siberian Khatru starts, and that is the actual take-off. It's a fascinating moment. The only thing I could ask for would be to see the band actually perform the excerpt rather than merely play a tape, but I don't think it has ever happened.

Siberian Khatru

A classic opener... what more can be said. It is a perfect song to begin the concert with, in how it focuses attention and radiates energy... and it's a track from Close To the Edge. As such, this song provides a reliable benchmark of the band's concentration and spirits early in the show: if it drives, you're in for a great show. Especially Howe's behavior during Khatru was easy to observe and different at each show. In Katowice, where the band gave absolutely charged and flawless show, Howe actually jumped near the end of his final solo section. He did not jump in Warsaw or Poznan: in fact, in Warsaw he Just Stood There and fingers was the only part of him that moved... Make of that what you will.

Other songs that would make good openers? It used to be Sound Chaser during the Relayer tour, another wonderful choice. This tour Yes opened the shows with Rhythm of Love initially, then switched back to SK and for a good reason, I presume. A never-happen dream opener? Why, Beyond and Before, naturally.

Rhythm of Love

I know many will disagree, but this song belongs on a dance floor, not in a Yes concert. Some have said that with the additional guitar solos in the final section the song gains some lustre; I disagree. The added solo bits aren't that great, after all, and to me, they only lengthen what shouldn't have been there in the first place. If Yes are desperate to include a catchy pop tune (apart from Owner) in the list, then Our Song or Leave It would have made better choices. The question is, do they have to have a catchy pop tune apart from Owner. In all three shows it was pretty obvious that, although the audience's reaction to the song wasn't at all unfavorable, it was certainly the least exalted. All in all, Rhythm of Love is not only a waste of show time, but it actually drains much of the energy that Siberian Khatru accumulates, in its weakling tune and pointless solos near the end.

(Additional note: after RoL Jon intriduces Billy Sherwood to the audience and, indeed, it is the only song during which Billy's stage presence makes itself heard.)

America

I am in two minds about this song. I like the studio rendition (available on the Yesterdays album) - I like it even more than Simon and Garfunkel's original version; and the current live arrangement is better still. But I also feel it is a bit of a cop-out in terms of including an "early-years" track in the set: I would take songs such as Beyond and Before, Looking Around, Astral Traveller or - imagine that! -Survival over America any time. At the same time, the current arrangement of America makes it sound as if it could well be a Yes song originally.

Open Your Eyes

This track promotes the new studio album, so I understand it is included for the "hit" value. If artistic considerations could take priority, though, then New State of Mind or The Solution might be better choices. The performance does justice to the original studio take, but then Open Your Eyes is not a particularly engaging song... Trivia notes: Jon introduces the song as "written by Chris and Billy" (Sherwood) while it is in fact a re-arangement of Chris Squire's original track from "Chris Squire Experiment", so it seems that Sherwood had little, if any, compositional input. The band's version of "Beatle-bow" at the end is charming, though, and personally I do prefer Open Your Eyes to RoL and Owner.

And You And I

Absolutely the high point of the show. Steve's steel-guitar parts always bring tears to my eyes, and the Poznan show had absolutely the most beautiful, impeccable and charged version I had ever heard. Trivia note: Jon's usual (for this tour) story about Eddie Offord making "tea" for the band (accompanied by the "roll your own" gesture and Jon saying "Let's not get into details, this show is going on the radio") invariably brought cheers and laughter from the audience.

Heart of the Sunrise

Squire's introductory solo part is awesome (of course) and captivates the audience every time. As a fan of Igor, I do admit that his keyboard lines in the final section are somewhat simpler than Wakeman's original: Igor seems to repeat the same line several times, where Wakeman was varying the tune slightly (see Yessongs).

Steve Howe solo: Mood For a Day, a track from one of Steve Howe's solo albums (in Poland: Diary of the Man Who Vanished), Clap

"It gives me great pleasure to leave you in the capable hands, fingers, guitars... of Mister Steve Howe" - this is how Jon introduced Howe's solo section during each show. In Warsaw, Jon also added: "Great footwork, too." And indeed, you have to see Howe do his "chicken dance" when he really gets into a piece. In Warsaw I was sitting close enough to actually see his fingerwork, and Mood For a Day brought me as much aural as visual enjoyment.

From the Balcony

Polonaise (originally from Jon and Vangelis' Private Collection)

This song was only performed in Poland, dedicated by Jon to the Solidarity movement. Jon sang the first two verses (up to the Some have waited / to be released line) accompanied by Igor, who stood in for Vangelis pretty well and then launched into a short bit of Chopin's famous polonaise (if you could hear it under the thunder of applause) and segued into:

Igor Khoroshev solo

Long Distance Runaround

To me, this is Igor's showpiece, rather than his actual solo bit. You have to see him work out on this song... and hear the embellishments that are just right and endow the track with even more vigor than the original had.

Chris Squire and Alan White solos:

This is the piece known as Whitefish from the 9012 Live album. Chris does The Fish, followed by the Yes - Yes bit of Tempus Fugit, followed by Alan's drum solo from Ritual and a bass-drum duet from Sound Chaser.

Squire rules, of course - but Alan White got a standing ovation in Poland (the only solo bit rewarded thus). I'd heard the solo many times before, but even seeing live it I could not believe one man with a drum set could make that much music. For the record: what you hear there is Alan White himself, with no assistance from any other member of the band.

Owner of a Lonely Heart

This track always got the loudest applause and always got people off their seats. Seeing that everybody was clapping anyway, I saved energy for the next track. I can understand why this song is included in the set, but I still would be happier without it.

The Revealing Science of God

Got a standing ovation every time. In reviews of the previous shows I'd read that the current arrangement is significantly better than the live version on KtA, but again, you have to hear it to believe it. The song goes for over twenty minutes, but the two times I heard it live, I never felt the passage of time. It casts a spell. Between the opening and the closing chant it's a time of pure Yes magic.

This song, the only "epic" in the set, was not performed on the third Polish show, in Poznan. Why, I have no idea. I do know it took away quite a lot of my enjoyment; I hardly listened to the three remaining tracks, wondering what happened to The Revealing instead. A shame.

I've Seen All Good People

Another classic I was very happy to hear. Introducing the song, Jon always addressed the grim-faced bouncers in front of the stage, asking them to let the audience get up and dance (wild cheers).

encore 1: Roundabout

The arrangement is basically that of KtA, which is a good thing: the accoustic guitar intro has been restored, and Howe's first note was joyfully recognized by the audience.

encore 2: Starship Trooper

"Life Seeker" rocks with power; "Disillusion" is as beautiful as ever, with Jon's voice still going strong on the "follooooooow" note. The only important arrangement difference I noticed in the second section of the song is that Igor took over Jon's "haaah-aaaaah" vocalizing before the "Speak to me of summer" verse. The keyboard chords do sound very classy there but they also take away some of Jon's sheer vocal expression there. (See the Keys to Ascension version of Starship Trooper right past the 4:30 mark, although those vocals may well have been added in the studio.)

Something weird has happened to "Würm", though. The keyboard-guitar duel is gone, replaced by brief and brilliant spots from Squire and Khoroshev, followed by Howe's close-to-usual solo... and this solo does not seem to arrive anywhere really. After a well-known sequence of themes, the final part somehow fails to achieve the pure climax of the Yessongs or KtA versions, and just goes every which way among so much earsplitting chaos instead. That said, it's quite possible that I have yet to discover the discipline underneath.

after show tape: Universal Garden