Yes ★★★✩✩
Place and date: Parallel 62 (3/V/2024)
The Yes performance experience, champions of symphonic rock, includes an exhibition of silkscreens by Roger Dean, the author of the covers of the British group's classic albums. Now a quintet led by guitarist Steve Howe, the only member who remains from the days of progressive glory and on which the current sound pivots. Jon Davison is responsible for replacing the angelic voice of the legendary Jon Anderson, imitating with dignity the constant highs of a countertenor without reaching falsetto.
Taking the place of the late bassist Chris Squire is Billy Sherwood, who is essential as a supporting voice. And the keyboards, a job in which Rick Wakeman stood out, are in charge of Geoff Downes, who was the founder, with Trevor Horn, of the synth-pop duo The Buggles. Completing the line-up is the forceful drummer Jay Schellen, who is not nearly as creative as Bill Bruford, but he does his job.
The outdated sound reflects the baroque manners of another era, but the group continues to release albums, the latest being Mirror to the Sky, from which they performed the synthetic single Cut from the Stars, inspired by a visit to the Joshua Tree desert. But it goes without saying that their repertoire is based on material published in the seventies, including moments of folk-rock with bandurria such as I've seen all good people, a nod to the Americana sound with the pedal steel that crowns the opulent Going for the one or a version of Simon's America
The moments of total connection, with some tall fans who did not fill the room, came with the dramatic lyricism of Time and a word, the cascades of vintage synth that crown Don't kill the whale and the canonical symphonism of South side of the sky , with a proliferation of vocal lyrics, rock guitar riffs and neoclassical pianism. Not to mention the condensation made of the mystical and conceptual double album Tales from topographic ocean. They finished off the immersion in the time tunnel with their great success Roundabout, full of colorful organ, and a Starship trooper that does justice to the science fiction novel from which it is inspired.
