Jon Anderson and Band Geek

[battema]

As I said, I'm seeing the band next week.

Am I seeing the same band I saw in 2018? Yes.

Am I seeing the same band I saw on the 2000 Masterworks tour? No, but in a way a bit yes.

Am I seeing Yes? Well, I can explain a long and convoluted history by which this band are able to tour under that name, I can explain the points of continuity with the history of Yes, and points of discontinuity. I can't give you a straight yes/no answer to that.

FWIW I was responding using your comment as a launchpad for my soapbox moment...didn't actually mean your comment though.

I've seen multiple Yes's over the years as well. Some with more classic members than not, some with fewer. Some of the classic shows were better performances, some were absolutely atrocious compared to the ones with fewer members. It was all Yes.

[bondegezou]

FWIW I was responding using your comment as a launchpad for my soapbox moment...didn't actually mean your comment though.

Sure, I got that. And I've just been responding to comments randomly to soapbox myself!

[Scott Bails]

But the people who have come in are sub par

In your opinion

I love listening to fans confuse "who I like more" with "who is somehow objectively superior."

No I don't. It's actually nails on a chalkboard. It's why I feel increasingly disconnected from the prog community. If only we could just enjoy what we enjoy and not stay so fixated on things that don't even matter to the members themselves.

Agree 100%

I've seen multiple Yes's over the years as well. Some with more classic members than not, some with fewer. Some of the classic shows were better performances, some were absolutely atrocious compared to the ones with fewer members. It was all Yes.

I love how people act like, if they could just get Anderson back in the band, they could create another Close to the Edge, completely forgetting that Anderson was in the band when they made Open Your Eyes.

Anderson was in a band with Rabin and Wakeman, which many fans feel was "the superior Yes," and yet, no recorded output.

There's exactly zero reason for Howe to unite with Anderson, and zero reason for Howe to not use the "Yes" name. He's earned the right, and has led the going concern calling itself Yes for decades now.

"But I don't like it," they whine. Tough shit. No one cares.

[Top Cat]

The kids are great, but I definitely think that Downes/Sherwood/Davison/Schellen are better performers than the Paul Green Rock Academy or Jon's 1000 Hands band. The 1000 Hands guitarist has not impressed me.

I have to admit, I haven't watched any of the recent Paul Green Rock Academy videos that are being posted, simply not interested.
We did see Jon's solo tour the fall of 2019 and had seen Yes in the spring, both shows were at the same venue in Clearwater, Fl.
I don't remember if Jon's band was called the 1000 Hands band, but we enjoyed the show and versions of Yes songs with that band better than the Yes show.
I don't think they were better performers, but the heart and soul they had playing Yes music was more enjoyable for my wife and I.
And their version of Starship Trooper was probably the best I've ever heard it, at least since Yes dragged it on for what seemed like 30 minutes(even when Jon A was in the band).
That and I've Seen All Good People are perfect examples of taking a good song and stretching it for no good reason, especially since they're repetitive to begin with.

I would sleep overnight on the sidewalk to see Jon with the Band Geeks..ok, not really sleep on the sidewalk. lol

[Brad 2 the Bone]

I’ve been advocating for ages that Anderson should put together a really good band and tour Yes music the way Roger Waters tours Pink Floyd music. Hopefully this comes to fruition.

Wasn't that ARW?

[Top Cat]

Wasn't that ARW?

Maybe Henry can elaborate, but it was my understanding ARW was meant to be a short term thing, they all have busy projects of their own.

I don't think Roger Water's band had any former Pink Floyd members playing like ARW did.

[battema]

Problem with ARW was expectations, in part due to the band themselves but also fan expectations in general. It was never expected to just be "three guys getting together to play the Yes songs in concert," it was "we're going to break out these amazing dream setlists, AND there's gonna be new songs and albums and this whole thing." To a degree they set themselves up to not meet those expectations.

When Anderson goes out with Band Geek or the School of Rock kids, no one expecting them to release a new album. They're expecting a purely legacy show. Now, they probably WILL get a better setlist than ARW gave, because hired guns are easier to tell "you learn these songs, period." I suspect with ARW there was a bit more "negotiation" regarding what would actually be played....and what we got was ultimately the least common denominator of selections (which IMHO was exceptionally underwhelming, regardless of how well A, R, or W sounded doing them).

[Frumious B]

In my opinion, it would be a lot more artistically honest if Steve Howe did like Hackett and went out as " Steve Howe Plays the Music of YES" or something like that. There would then be less controversy and he could find fantastic musicians to back him. But of course YES = more $$$$$ ;-) The Band Geeks really nail the early YES sound. With Anderson's voice it will sound fantastic. I would go just to hear them play Tales all 4 sides.

It doesn’t really matter anymore to me. I feel like if they had reconnected with Anderson in 2011-12 then they could have done something special, but that opportunity is very long gone. So you have a band and that band has a record out called The Quest. You can listen to it, and if you like the record then you like this band. If you don’t like the record then you don’t like this band. It doesn’t matter what they are called. The album is their music and represents who they are in the here and now. Close To The Edge does not, despite them playing it on tour. The crazy thing is that the Sherwood/Davison tracks on The Quest are the ones that I can sit through while Howe’s writing is what really lets me down. So I’m at the point of “Maybe Howe should step aside and allow himself to be replaced with Jimmy Haun” just to see what the hell would happen. The band would either crash and burn and then end or the band would be completely reinvented and reborn. Either of those would be interesting.

[Mstove]

The problem with ARW for me wasn't the lack of new music. That would be great and I would have happily bought anything they put out. But, for me, the issue was they basically played the same setlist for years with only small changes here and there. Looking at SetlistFM, they played a total of 21 songs over their time together, with nine of them over 100 times and seven of those at every single show. I saw them three times and each time it was a tight show and a lot of fun. But, when we walked out of the last one, none of my group felt they needed to see it again unless they made some significant changes.

And, it also bugged me that people would regularly compare how well they played together with the official Yes that was touring. Yeah, if you basically play the same setlist for over a 100 shows, it will definitely be tighter than a band that was regularly touring different setlists every year or so at that point. Since they came back in 2008, Yes has played a lot of different setlists with some working better than others, but at least they have done some different things, even if Relayer didn't materialize.

[Frumious B]

Wasn't that ARW?

ARW was supposed to be a hell of a lot more, but they way overpromised, underdelivered and their tour merchandise was ugly as all heck too.

Oh well, at least the show kicked some butt.

[Top Cat]

In your opinion



Agree 100%



I love how people act like, if they could just get Anderson back in the band, they could create another Close to the Edge, completely forgetting that Anderson was in the band when they made Open Your Eyes.


There's exactly zero reason for Howe to unite with Anderson, and zero reason for Howe to not use the "Yes" name. He's earned the right, and has led the going concern calling itself Yes for decades now.

"But I don't like it," they whine. Tough shit. No one cares.

I totally agree Steve Howe has earned it, he's put decades of his life, personally, professionally and artistically into Yes, and deserves every right to use the name.
We've talked here many times about only 1 remaining or a son or daughter, or even no remaining members of a band carrying on using the legacy name. Come see PigFat performing their greatest hits, featuring the soundguy who toured with them in the 70's. lol
I disagree it's wrong when fans post "I don't like it", people have every right to voice how they feel about a favorite band, it's lineup changes or new album. It's when they say "I don't like it, and anyone who does is stupid", I think is wrong.

Problem with ARW was expectations, in part due to the band themselves but also fan expectations in general. It was never expected to just be "three guys getting together to play the Yes songs in concert," it was "we're going to break out these amazing dream setlists, AND there's gonna be new songs and albums and this whole thing." To a degree they set themselves up to not meet those expectations.

When Anderson goes out with Band Geek or the School of Rock kids, no one expecting them to release a new album. They're expecting a purely legacy show. Now, they probably WILL get a better setlist than ARW gave, because hired guns are easier to tell "you learn these songs, period." I suspect with ARW there was a bit more "negotiation" regarding what would actually be played....and what we got was ultimately the least common denominator of selections (which IMHO was exceptionally underwhelming, regardless of how well A, R, or W sounded doing them).

I like what you said about "expectations" John, and I think that's a big part of the problem with fans.
I happen to like the ARW DVD, even with the sampled crowd noise, the whoo hoos, overzealous clapping, and various sound fx enhancements. lol
But I am a big fan of the Rabin era Yes, so I wasn't let down by the music they perform in that concert. I didn't expect anything other than Jon, Trevor and Rick to perform as they always did. And the setlist is fine with me.

As I was reading your comment I flashed back in time when we were all commenting on leaked video of the very early ARW shows, and as I remember they weren't very good. Even Trevor, who always seems pretty tight with his vocals and guitar work was waaaaay off.
So, I guess we should give this Yes a break(talking to myself) about some of the lesser than stellar video we've seen in the warm up.

[Paulrus]

The crazy thing is that the Sherwood/Davison tracks on The Quest are the ones that I can sit through while Howe’s writing is what really lets me down.

This is going to come off as a bit of a rant, but IMO Steve has rarely written a solid song start to finish (that's why I hold The Steve Howe Album as probably his finest work.) I can count the number of classic Yes songs of his that really work on one hand. And then some time in the 80s (probably during Asia), he got infected by "shitty rhythms disease". He still can wow me with his textures, but his dexterity went out the window years ago, his obsession with dry, clean tone is maddening, and his songwriting for Yes has been underwhelming for ages. IMO, this version of Yes should put Billy and Geoff in a room and charge them with coming up with 75% of the material, with the other three helping to hammer everything into its final form (basically the Tales model.)

[JJ88]

Problem with ARW was expectations, in part due to the band themselves but also fan expectations in general. It was never expected to just be "three guys getting together to play the Yes songs in concert," it was "we're going to break out these amazing dream setlists, AND there's gonna be new songs and albums and this whole thing." To a degree they set themselves up to not meet those expectations.

It was Wakeman in particular who was making grandiose claims like this about ARW, few of which were lived up to. And it fizzled out with a bit of a whimper too. But on its own terms, Anderson and Wakeman were on fine form based on what I saw/heard. I no longer follow the other Yes really.

[Mstove]

It was Wakeman in particular who was making grandiose claims like this about ARW, few of which were lived up to. And it fizzled out with a bit of a whimper too. But on its own terms, Anderson and Wakeman were on fine form based on what I saw/heard. I no longer follow the other Yes really.

Part of what made them on fine form was that they didn't meet any of those other expectations and thus just played the same things over and over.

[JJ88]

It was a deeply conservative set, but I don't think they'd have struggled with much. Maybe tracks from TFTO/Relayer they would have, but these were surely never on the table anyway.

Also, I did not like the rearranged 'Awaken' that ARW did. Didn't work in the lowered key- one of very few songs they had to do that with- and the added bits were weak. TBH they might as well have played a few more Rabin-era tracks instead of that.

As I was reading your comment I flashed back in time when we were all commenting on leaked video of the very early ARW shows, and as I remember they weren't very good. Even Trevor, who always seems pretty tight with his vocals and guitar work was waaaaay off.

I heard an early show via an audience recording, and Anderson/Wakeman were on the money. Whilst saying those two were on fine form...Rabin's hiatus from touring was evident, shall we say.

[Top Cat]

Part of what made them on fine form was that they didn't meet any of those other expectations and thus just played the same things over and over.

Isn't that what bands do for a tour? they only did one tour.
as many times as I saw Genesis, you could check their setlist for the tour anywhere in the world and it rarely changed for that tour.
Same with Yes, Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel, etc.

[Mstove]

Isn't that what bands do for a tour? they only did one tour.
as many times as I saw Genesis, you could check their setlist for the tour anywhere in the world and it rarely changed for that tour.
Same with Yes, Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel, etc.

They hit the same cities multiple times - I saw them three times in my area - twice at the same venue. Over a few years. Calling that a single tour is a bit misleading.

[Top Cat]

They hit the same cities multiple times - I saw them three times in my area - twice at the same venue. Over a few years. Calling that a single tour is a bit misleading.

I think the tour was broken up to half one year and back the next year, but my memory of the time is a bit foggy. lol
Not trying to be misleading, I just count it as one tour, but then again they did change the tour name after awhile, didn't they?

That's great you got to see that lineup. We had tickets to see them in Clearwater, Florida but my mother had a medical emergency and came to live with us and we had to cancel.
Thanks for checking in.

[GGYS06241]

It doesn’t really matter anymore to me. I feel like if they had reconnected with Anderson in 2011-12 then they could have done something special, but that opportunity is very long gone. So you have a band and that band has a record out called The Quest. You can listen to it, and if you like the record then you like this band. If you don’t like the record then you don’t like this band. It doesn’t matter what they are called. The album is their music and represents who they are in the here and now. Close To The Edge does not, despite them playing it on tour. The crazy thing is that the Sherwood/Davison tracks on The Quest are the ones that I can sit through while Howe’s writing is what really lets me down. So I’m at the point of “Maybe Howe should step aside and allow himself to be replaced with Jimmy Haun” just to see what the hell would happen. The band would either crash and burn and then end or the band would be completely reinvented and reborn. Either of those would be interesting.

We got a glimpse of that with Arc Of Life. Sadly that was a turd also

[Kcrimso]

We got a glimpse of that with Arc Of Life. Sadly that was a turd also

Indeed. Much stinkier turd than The Quest (which I in fact kind of liked) Billy Sherwood as a composer it not a solution for Yes's problems.

[bondegezou]

Maybe Henry can elaborate, but it was my understanding ARW was meant to be a short term thing, they all have busy projects of their own.

ARW always had a limited shelf life. Rabin never wanted to do it forever. But how long it would last for wasn't set at the beginning, and they didn't continue as long as they had planned.

They first started talking about the band in early 2010, but progress was erratic and slow for years. Eventually, they commit to the project and we get touring in 2016-8. There's clearly some difference of opinion about how much touring there should be, with Brian Lane wanting more and Rabin, in particular, resisting. Then their 2018 North American tour was cut short because of Wakeman's wife's cancer diagnosis, which came after Jon's wife's cancer diagnosis.

So, six years of talking about doing an album but not finishing anything, and then three years of touring interrupted by two cancer diagnoses.

[Frumious B]

Indeed. Much stinkier turd than The Quest (which I in fact kind of liked) Billy Sherwood as a composer it not a solution for Yes's problems.

I didn’t care much for Arc Of Life either so imagine my surprise when I found myself enjoying the heck out of “The Western Edge”. But Sherwood has been behind quite a bit of music that I enjoy with World Trade, Conspiracy, CIRCA: and some of his solo records too. When he’s bad he’s pretty danged bad, but not as bad as some of Rick Wakeman’s solo music.

[bondegezou]

This is a thread titled "Jon Anderson and Band Geek". We are now deep into a discussion of The Quest and Arc of Life, two projects with no overlap with Anderson or the Band Geeks. There is so much baggage around Yes, because of the band's artistic and commercial successes. That baggage = interest = ticket sales. It's why Jon Anderson and the Band Geeks is a viable touring project. It also drags down every Yes-related project into a morass of comparisons and past grievances. Can we not take things as they are, rather than worrying about what they're not?

[Frumious B]

This is a thread titled "Jon Anderson and Band Geek". We are now deep into a discussion of The Quest and Arc of Life, two projects with no overlap with Anderson or the Band Geeks. There is so much baggage around Yes, because of the band's artistic and commercial successes. That baggage = interest = ticket sales. It's why Jon Anderson and the Band Geeks is a viable touring project. It also drags down every Yes-related project into a morass of comparisons and past grievances. Can we not take things as they are, rather than worrying about what they're not?

I don’t feel like you can consider any proposed project involving Jon Anderson “real” until there is a release to be preordered or a ticket to buy. So any discussion of something that might happen next year ( or might never be mentioned again) is bound to veer off on tangents related to things that actually have happened.

[Top Cat]

ARW always had a limited shelf life. Rabin never wanted to do it forever. But how long it would last for wasn't set at the beginning, and they didn't continue as long as they had planned.

They first started talking about the band in early 2010, but progress was erratic and slow for years. Eventually, they commit to the project and we get touring in 2016-8. There's clearly some difference of opinion about how much touring there should be, with Brian Lane wanting more and Rabin, in particular, resisting. Then their 2018 North American tour was cut short because of Wakeman's wife's cancer diagnosis, which came after Jon's wife's cancer diagnosis.

So, six years of talking about doing an album but not finishing anything, and then three years of touring interrupted by two cancer diagnoses.

Thanks Henry.