Wow. I'm looking at the image of the ticket stub I posted for this show. I can't believe I only paid $30-something for it. Over the course of the last ten years, I've been paying at least twice as much to attend shows. That's gotta stop. Also can't believe this was almost 13 years ago. I remember it very clearly.

Well, I think it is about time to give my review of the Talk Tour gig in Cleveland. I don't know why I have waited so long to talk about this concert. First off, it was my first every live YES concert. I've been a YES man for all of my life but unfortunately was born after the true heydays of YES. But I thought there was no time like the present to see YES. Unfortunately, I had to settle for the Talk Tour.

The concert was mediocre to boring. Tony Kaye might be a great guy and all but he should have been quickly eliminated from the band after 90125. His live playing is a joke. From what I remember, I thought Trevor's keyboard solo blew away everything Kaye tried to accomplish on stage. Jon was either stoned or had gone crazy because he was talking about such meaningless crap after songs. Chris, Trevor, and Alan really kept the band alive during the concert. Blossom was nowhere near sold out and I was a little perturbed at a friend of mine who worked for the Blossom promotions and couldn't get me a backstage pass. Oh well. I recall the concert opening up with Trevor playing Perpetual Change chords. I thought it was going to be the best concert of my life. But things went down hill in a hurry with forgettable renditions of Rhythm of Love and Heart of the Sunrise. Thank the Lord for all the tours since then. The Open Your Eyes and Ladder Tours have more than made up for my boring time at the Talk concert. I would give more details about the concert but I would just bore everybody. At least I got free beer at the concert and an upgraded seat to about 10th row where I could see Trevor's fingers on the guitar. I hope they made money on that tour.

I realize that I was suppose to wait awhile before I posted, but I've been a member of Paperlate for a while, and since I took the trip down to Cleveland to see Yes at the Blossom Music Center, I had to post the change of the setlist. I'm not sure if it was because of the heavy rains that evening or if Jon's back was acting up, that they cut the intermission and City of Love.

Roundabout: (full version) with a full verse of Purple Haze with Jon getting the whole crowd to sing "'scuse me while I kiss the sky"

Visuals were particularly good, alot of the Vari-lite, Telescan projections worked very well on the red wood backdrop of the roof and sides of the amphitheater. Kudos to the LD. Jon seemed as if the back was troubling him. Some of the quad sound effects didn't cut it, often just Trevor's distortion coming out of the speaker behind my head. It was nice to hear Chris' bass lines on the new stuff, unlike the mix of the album. The vocals were very good all around. I'm so glad we had pavilion seats. The skies opened up at the start of the concert and didn't let up through out the show.

August 20th Cuyahoga Falls (Cleveland). Well when I saw YES in Columbus last June, I posted a review, and now that 2 months has passed and I had the chance to see them again (I'll be seeing them on the 24th and 28th too), I felt I should give you any insights I have into how the show is progressing (IMHO). Well as for the set list, the dropped Cinema and City of Love. They didn't take an intermission though. They didn't add any songs (like Hold On) but they DID play the 1st part of Purple Haze!!! The show started about 8:12 and went until about 10:50!!

Back in June I rated the show at an 8.5 out of 10 with Union being a 9.5 and ABWH being a 10. THIS show was a 10!!! They BLEW MY MIND and left me in AWE!!! I didn't think this lineup could ever do it!!! I thought they were REALLY tight at the Columbus show, but they were 100 times more together last night!!! Tony Kaye played keyboard parts that he never tried before (at the shows I've seen him). During Rhythm of Love he made umpteen keyboard changes!! He was cool!! This was the 1st time I DIDN'T miss Wakeman. The band and crowd were TOTALLY into it. When Jon introduced Chris, they gave him a standing ovation!! Chris BTW has slimmed down quite a bit since June and looked really happy and leaner! Jon introduced everyone at various points including Sherwood.

To Sum up...even though I missed City of Love, they played for a little bit longer with TONS of energy and jammed more during songs than they did in Columbus!! I may give a combined Pittsburgh/Maryland review next week. I'm just worried that they can't possibly match or exceed last night's show!! TRULY AWESOME!!!