Hands down the gods of progressive rock, Yes was the only progrock band that wasn’t a studio band (well, except for ELP), and jammed on stage. Yes was a guaranteed hot show. Laser and light show, and who needs psychedelics when you’re seeing Yes in concert? Yes was a psychotropic experience. Progressive rock died when it got too progressive, and too far away from rock, but Yes carried the torch even when the others faded away. ELP was great, but on keyboards, Keith Emerson couldn’t hold a candle to Rick Wakeman–nobody could. Pink Floyd was great too, but they were a studio band. Back then, bands didn’t lug symponies along with them (speaking of, remember the godawful Moody Blues?)
Understand, nobody did songs in concert the same way they were recorded. Bands jammed in concert. A third of what you heard was improvisation. Concerts were spontaneous. Bands went on tour to promote a new album before it came out. Bands went on tour to promote it after it came out. Bands went on tour between albums. That’s what bands did back then (no MTV, remember).
I only got to see Yes once, one of the first concerts I saw. I was in a daze for weeks afterward (and not drug-induced). Everybody always bitched about Roundabout not being one of Yes’s best songs (too commercial, they said), but they jammed the hell out of Roundabout and had everybody going nuts when I saw them. Here’s Yes doing Roundabout in concert (same era, though I don’t know where):
And Rick Wakeman, the keyboard god, solo (love the bars of Jingle Bells):
Close to the Edge is pretty long, and divided into two parts (the intro is over three minutes), so here are the links:
and part 2.
