Steve Howe solo UK tour

[bondegezou]

It's been a low-key event, but Steve Howe's current UK solo tour has got 5 dates left -- see http://stevehowe.com/tour/ -- and I highly recommend you go along if you can. It's a great evening, Howe is playing fantastically with a diverse set list celebrating Yes songs from Fragile, Tales and Relayer to Tormato, Fly from Here and Heaven & Earth, plus a lovely selection of solo pieces, and more, including the likes of "Classical Gas" and "My White Bicycle". It's an intimate experience and lovely to see Howe happy and confident in his performance.

With so much noise around the Anderson Rabin Wakeman tour and with Yes back out in Japan next month, it's easy to overlook this small scale outing, but for me the performances are can be more heartfelt for just being Steve, a guitar and a microphone.

Henry

[Supersonic Scientist]

Wish he would bring this to USA.

[JKL2000]

How have his vocals been?

[Sunlight Caller]

I heartily concur with Henry. I have seen Steve many times in a solo setting, but this time around is one of the best. The song selection was excellent, and his playing is top notch, there are no tempo issues with any of this selection! I know none of us are especially fans of Steve's solo vocals, but I can honestly say they did not detract from my enjoyment at all.

[DarthVander]

I was fine with his voice on Elements. But does he actually sing on any of the Yes bits as well?

[bondegezou]

I was fine with his voice on Elements. But does he actually sing on any of the Yes bits as well?

He sings on all the Yes songs in his set, but in an understated, mellow way that worked for me in an intimate setting.

Henry

[Guitarplyrjvb]

I envy those that can see Steve solo. A great show. The vocals don't hurt as much as when they're permanently part of a recording, but jeesh, does the guy not realize that his voice is a horror? It sounds fine in a backup role, but he should just let his guitar do the singing!

[bill g]

Would love to see this. I'm fine with his voice in a song like 'Pleasure Stole The Night', mainly because it is such a beautiful song and his voice is part of the charm. I'm sure I could look past it in Yes songs, but to see him play! It would be nice if he brought this to North America.

[Ken Baird]

Would love to see this. I'm fine with his voice in a song like 'Pleasure Stole The Night', mainly because it is such a beautiful song and his voice is part of the charm. I'm sure I could look past it in Yes songs, but to see him play! It would be nice if he brought this to North America.

I'd love to see a Steve Howe solo show again. He did some touring in the mid 90's and I was able to see a couple of shows in Toronto maybe two years apart. He also did a fairly lengthy solo set at an Asia show I saw around the same time. I'm ok with Steve's voice, although it can be a bit painful sometimes--I remember him doing a good job on the Tales from Topographic Oceans medley he put together for those tours.

There's also a good live album where you can hear that medley, "Not Necessarily Acoustic" and again, his vocals don't bug me. Yeah Bill, I agree he's good on Pleasure Stole the Night.

[JKL2000]

He sings on all the Yes songs in his set, but in an understated, mellow way that worked for me in an intimate setting.

Henry

Except Owner of a Lonely Heart, which he sings in a piercing shriek for some reason.

JK, but that would be funny.

[DarthVander]

He sings on all the Yes songs in his set, but in an understated, mellow way that worked for me in an intimate setting.

Oh, I wouldn't have expected that. Interesting. So he doesn't only sing the lines he wrote the lyrics for no?

Except Owner of a Lonely Heart, which he sings in a piercing shriek for some reason.

That cracked me up. I can just imagine him going all out on OOALH...

[Sunlight Caller]

Oh, I wouldn't have expected that. Interesting. So he doesn't only sing the lines he wrote the lyrics for no?

That might make for quite a disjointed performance! I think he's fine with paying Jon a few pounds in royalties, for where they shared the lyric writing duties

It really is a joy to be stood a few feet away from him and see everything he is playing in such detail.

[bondegezou]

Steve Howe Oct 2016.jpg

Taken almost over Sunlight Caller's left shoulder IIRC.

Henry

[bondegezou]

That might make for quite a disjointed performance! I think he's fine with paying Jon a few pounds in royalties, for where they shared the lyric writing duties

I looked into this... Performance royalties are the responsibility of the venue, so Howe plays whatever he wants, and takes his payment from the venue regardless of what he has played. The venue then pays... pay attention to this bit... 3% of 75% of the "money-holding capacity", which is the total ticket revenue excluding sales tax. That's in the UK. So, that would be about £169 for the London gig (estimating 300 people paying about £30 per ticket). That money goes to a performing rights collector. About half that money then goes to the royalty holders, generally publishing companies. About half of that actually gets to the musicians. So that's around £40 for all the composers of music played at the gig, so Anderson would be getting about £4, I guess.

As you say, "a few pounds".

Presuming similar arrangements in the US, given ARW are playing larger venues with higher ticket prices and given Howe's written more of the ARW setlist than Anderson has of his setlist, plus the catastrophic collapse of pound sterling lately, he'll be getting a few pounds more from those shows.

Henry

[syncopatico]

Steve Howe Oct 2016.jpg

Taken almost over Sunlight Caller's left shoulder IIRC.

Henry

Now that's what I call an *intimate* performance! (But it makes sense that people would like to be as close to Steve's dancing fingers as possible!)

[there was a recording of a solo show from Steve from Leamington Spa in 2014 that appeared on "the dime" that is a joy to listen to: all instrumental as far as I can recall other than the few lyrics in Nous Sommes Du Soleil which he did as the last song before the Clap encore. He also had an amiable 'answers questions from the audience segment', and played his guitar part from Five Percent For Nothing with some amusing chat explaining it!]

(I noticed that on the [new] Brand X page there is a section where people submit questions to the band: one of those directed to John Goodsall was "Who are your favorite guitar players?" He responded: "Pee-Wee Herman..." and then mentioned Steve; "I enjoy listening to Steve Howe.")

[Proghound]

Now that's what I call an *intimate* ...

and a bit creepy

[ytserush]

I wouldn't have a problem with Steve singing the solo stuff, but singing any Yes just wouldn't be pretty for me given the contrast in vocals.

[bondegezou]

I wouldn't have a problem with Steve singing the solo stuff, but singing any Yes just wouldn't be pretty for me given the contrast in vocals.

What can I say? It somehow works in context.

Henry

[Scott Bails]

Wish he would bring this to USA.

Indeed. I'd go, in a heartbeat. I'd also love to see his jazz trio.

[samsondale]

This thread led me to watch a couple of his jazz trio videos and, while it isn't Ed Bickert (then again, who is?), I like watching a musician have such a good time just making music that is close to his heart.

[ytserush]

This thread led me to watch a couple of his jazz trio videos and, while it isn't Ed Bickert (then again, who is?), I like watching a musician have such a good time just making music that is close to his heart.

I wouldn't mind seeing the jazz trio either.