Jon Anderson- Band Geeks Tour

[Firth]

Capitol Hall Tysons VA now




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[bigjohnwayne]

They did play Ritual. It was really good. Incredible show.

[bondegezou]

They did play Ritual. It was really good. Incredible show.

Yay! And thanks for the photo, Firth.

[Firth]

Yay! And thanks for the photo, Firth.

In recent years, I’ve seen Yes shows at the Warner DC with less than ideal seats. Bass wasn’t handled well there. At this venue it was powerful and accurate. This performance was fantastic and Jon who was getting over flu sounded good. I think a digital room sound, by design, made his voice sound as if it was in a big church and this was not venue acoustics, I believe. I would pay to see the current Yes or this band, at this venue, anytime.

[mozo-pg]

Yeah, the photos are great. Thanks.

[Firth]

One more:


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[Firth]

From mighty to meek.

[Mstove]

Definitely looking forward to this show!

[julioscissors]

Just got back from Baltimore, and I was absolutely blown away. If you are anywhere near one of the upcoming venues, do not miss this show. The band was on FIRE all night, and Jon's voice is nothing short of miraculous.

If he would've sprouted wings in the middle of Awaken and rose to the heavens, I wouldn't have batted an eye.

As a bonus I went with my 18-year-old daughter, and she is now a Yes fan.

[Firth]

Just got back from Baltimore, and I was absolutely blown away. If you are anywhere near one of the upcoming venues, do not miss this show. The band was on FIRE all night, and Jon's voice is nothing short of miraculous.

If he would've sprouted wings in the middle of Awaken and rose to the heavens, I wouldn't have batted an eye.

As a bonus I went with my 18-year-old daughter, and she is now a Yes fan.

That’s what I thought of Jon Anderson on Awaken when I saw Yes in the round for the Going For the One tour in 77. As he stood in center on a pedestal and sang to the heavens.

[Sputnik]

That’s what I thought of Jon Anderson on Awaken when I saw Yes in the round for the Going For the One tour in 77. As he stood in center on a pedestal and sang to the heavens.

That was the Tormato tour in 1978 (or the 10th Anniversary tour in 1979). They didn't play in the round in 1977.

I do recall how spectacular the harp section of Awaken was in 1979, where the white lights formed a big star on the lights above the round stage, and as the stage spun, the points of the star variously lowered toward the stage. Super cool.

Bill

[Firth]

That was the Tormato tour in 1978 (or the 10th Anniversary tour in 1979). They didn't play in the round in 1977.

I do recall how spectacular the harp section of Awaken was in 1979, where the white lights formed a big star on the lights above the round stage, and as the stage spun, the points of the star variously lowered toward the stage. Super cool.

Bill

You are likely correct because that was a guess. I have talked to musicians that didn’t remember they played a date, and the data says otherwise.

[Firth]

My date wasn’t listed in the Wiki :
14 Sept 78

The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra
Siberian Khatru
Heart of the Sunrise
Future Times / Rejoice
Circus of Heaven
The Big Medley
Don't Kill the Whale
Clap
Starship Trooper
On the Silent Wings of Freedom
Keyboard Solo
Flight Jam
Awaken
I've Seen All Good People
Roundabout

[Sputnik]

My date wasn’t listed in the Wiki :
14 Sept 78

Greensboro, NC. Definitely in the round, definitely Tormato tour. You're lucky to have seen "OTSWOF." I'd have loved to have seen that live, but they'd dropped by the time I saw them in June, 1979.

Bill

[profusion]

I'm sorry I missed the show at Capital One Hall. I was sick that night or I probably would've gone. I hope that Jon and the Band Geeks keep doing this for a while and come back this way.

[Firth]

Greensboro, NC. Definitely in the round, definitely Tormato tour. You're lucky to have seen "OTSWOF." I'd have loved to have seen that live, but they'd dropped by the time I saw them in June, 1979.

Bill

And my buddy got us 2nd row seats. It was so close to the stage, the fill speakers on the bottom made an impact, but you could hear the sound panning in a circle. I remember looking at that smile on Chris Squire’s face. RIP

[Jimmy Giant]

Baltimore show last night was spectacular. Jon's voice was so good. Awaken was as close to a spiritual encounter as it could get. That band is hot! I was a big fan of Richie before he was in BOC, but never saw him play bass before. He shredded it! And then killed it on guitar for Owner. This was soo much better than any Yes show I've seen since Jon was there.

[progfan1]

Ditto on the Baltimore show. Jon was great in Tysons, VA, but he was also holding back a little because he was fighting off a cold. Last night, he was fully recovered and was absolutely going for it. The performance of Awaken was the best I've heard since the Union tour. My only gripe is there was no Gates, which I hoped was going to be in there since they did Ritual in Tysons. Oh well, my record continues of never hearing Gates live (It was dropped from the show I saw on the Symphonic tour) because they were an hour late starting). I hope Jon and the Geeks keep this going, because they are fantastic players and have such joy, dedication to, and respect for, this music. See them if you can!

[rich]

Ditto on the Baltimore show. Jon was great in Tysons, VA, but he was also holding back a little because he was fighting off a cold. Last night, he was fully recovered and was absolutely going for it. The performance of Awaken was the best I've heard since the Union tour. My only gripe is there was no Gates, which I hoped was going to be in there since they did Ritual in Tysons. Oh well, my record continues of never hearing Gates live (It was dropped from the show I saw on the Symphonic tour) because they were an hour late starting). I hope Jon and the Geeks keep this going, because they are fantastic players and have such joy, dedication to, and respect for, this music. See them if you can!

It was hard getting my son into Yes, took me quite sometime. Genesis, Camel, Floyd, Supertramp came much easier. Anyway he finally "got it" so he went to the Tysons show and was quite excited to do so. He was extremely disappointed that Gates was not played... Such an epic moving song, I would say it is his favorite tune of theirs. Anyway he loved the show other than not hearing Gates so he drove to Baltimore thinking the same thing you did... a 2 hour drive would be worth it just to hear Gates of Delerium played by these guys at the level they play it... only to be disappointed once more as you were.

For my two cents and hoping for a west coast leg... With Gates included, the set list could not have been better. A superb mix of classic Yes. To hear Close to the Edge, Awaken and Gates at the same show would be incredible.

[julioscissors]

My only gripe is there was no Gates

I feel guilty because last week I DM'ed Richie on Twitter BEGGING him to put "Ritual" back in the setlist for the Baltimore show. I offered him $10 cash

So, sorry about that.

[nycsteve]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YrWnGoRy8k

Geeks indeed.

[Paulrus]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YrWnGoRy8k

Geeks indeed.

Pretty amazing. They've done a great job maximizing portability and efficiency while still being faithful to the original sounds. The only drawback to their approach seems to be that the FOH engineer has no control over the keyboards, which I understand they had to do in order to accommodate the sheer number of sound inputs going to the PA. But it can lead to an out of balance keyboard mix that the FOH guy has no control over (although I wonder if he's in contact with the two guys and can make requests.)

It's also interesting that there's a "no haze" policy, which I assume is at Jon's request.

[dgtlman]

I was a big fan of Richie before he was in BOC, but never saw him play bass before.

Richie was hired to play in BOC originally as a bass player, replacing their current bassist Danny Miranda back in 2004 or something. He moved on to guitar & keys when Allen Lanier retired & that's what he's been doing in BOC ever since.

[progholio]

I compared a recent Howe Yes version of CttE and Friday night's JA/BG version. The Howe Yes version is not very good frankly while the JA/BG is great. But why? Howe Yes hit all the notes. They seem well-rehearsed. Neither group handles the Wakeman solo very well. After 2 listens of each I think it comes down to the drums. The BG drummer is driving the song hard. He rocks so hard it swings. The band swing along with him. Schellen has the chops but he is just playing along. He's not leading. Howe and Downes seem to be setting the tempo at different points but they keep dropping the ball and it plods. What do you all think? Anything else going on I'm missing?

I just saw the Jon and Band Geek show a couple of nights ago and there are a few more reasons why they sound better:

I think you hit the nail on the head with the drummer driving the songs but in addition the other members play with such exuberance they also drive these songs as well. (frankly all of the members of current Yes sound to me like they're just "playing along")
Every guy in the Band Geeks has a vocal mic - so the harmonies sounded the best that i have ever heard from over 40 years of seeing many variations of Yes. (I've seen many shows where Howe and Squire were marginal at best)
I thought the two BG keyboardist did a very fine job covering both Wakeman and Moraz while injecting a bit of their own style. In fact i would say they were as good, maybe better than other substitute keyboardist Yes has had through the years.
The other most glaring difference is one of these bands has Jon Anderson and the other doesn't. In addition to his beautiful, almost angelic vocals he brings that extra charisma and positivity that can't be replicated by anyone else.

[progholio]

Baltimore show last night was spectacular. Jon's voice was so good. Awaken was as close to a spiritual encounter as it could get. That band is hot! I was a big fan of Richie before he was in BOC, but never saw him play bass before. He shredded it! And then killed it on guitar for Owner. This was soo much better than any Yes show I've seen since Jon was there.

I agree that Awaken was a spiritual encouter with the show we saw a couple of nights ago.

What made it even more special is the vocal part that leads up to the big instrumental bridge with the mini harp - Jon flubbed the lyrics, and in his alto-soprano voice ad libs the part "I can't believe I forgot the fucking lyric" in the same melody as the lyric he forgot. Then he ducked out with no vocals, which might have mortified a lot of people, but the beautiful part was there were no vocals - meaning there were no false backing tracks, proving that everyting you are hearing is real!


On a side note the show I saw was at a minor league sports arena which is still huge. The setup was like an amphitheater but you still have this big metal building sucking up the sound. All things considered the sound was great and I could only imagine how much better it would be in a proper venue. Attendance wise the place was maybe half full and very poorly promoted.
Man, i hope this project keeps going for a while.