A major trend in live music nowadays is for a band to play an entire studio album live.
The Who is currently doing that with Quadrophenia. Rush did it with Moving Pictures. And Steely Dan did it, depending on the night, with The Royal Scam, Aja, and Gaucho.
It’s a way for an established act, one that has performed live for years, to do something different and treat their fans.
It’s obviously not something a relatively new band can do like .fun, The Neon Trees, or Foster the People but it works for artists with decades of world tours under their belts and several albums to their name.
In 2013, the progressive rock band Yes will do the same thing but they won’t be playing one album live they’ll be playing three.
The band is slated to perform The Yes Album (1971), Close to the Edge (1972), and Going For One (1977) in their entirety.
In case you’re not that familiar with Yes, what those albums mean is they’ll be playing classic hits like “I’ve Seen All Good People,” “And You And I,” and “Wondrous Stories.”
Three albums sound like a lot of music but you have to remember that Yes is from a woebegone era called the 1970s. They do things a little differently than we do now.
There are only 15 songs on the three previously mentioned albums; Closer to the Edge has only three track.
However, seven of the 15 songs they’ll perform are longer than 8:54 and another is 7:56. The shortest track from the triad is The Yes Album’s “Clap.” It’s 3:17.
To put that in perspective, the longest song on The Beatles debut album, Please Please Me, is 2:57.
Songs not included on those three albums include “Roundabout” and “Owner of a Lonely Heart.”
Someone suggested they’ll play those cuts as an encore. While some hope they’ll skip “Owner of a Lonely Heart” altogether. The track is widely regarded as the song that nearly ruined the band.
Getting to hear Yes play three of their most popular studio albums all the way through does come with a price and we’re not talking about the price of Yes tickets. The tour will be without Jon Anderson. He’s being replaced by another Jon, Jon Davison.
Davison was discovered while performing in a Yes cover band. This has led some fans to quip that the current incarnation of Yes is also a cover band. Their situation is reminiscent of what’s currently going on with Journey.
Yes’ tour gets underway March 1 in West Wendover, Nevada and ends April 12 in Detroit. The band has a total of 25 dates on their itinerary.
San Francisco welcomes Yes to The Warfield on March 5. Kansas City says hello to Yes and their show at The Midland scheduled for March 18, and New York City hosts a Yes performance at the Beacon Theatre on April 9.
Look for a new Yes album, their first with Davison, sometime in 2013.
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