----------------------------------------------------- DECEMBER 12, 2002 ----------------------------------------------------- Source: Sydney Daily Telegraph Saying Yes to Aussie Fans Prog rockers of Australia rejoice: the greatest band in the world (in your opinion, at least) is finally coming back. Yes, we're talking about YES. Wil it be fun? Well, so far it's the happiest tour of all time, if prodigal keyboardist Rick Wakeman is to be believed. The reunited line-up of Yes started their Full Circle world tour in the U.S. earlier this year. An original 20 scheduled dates got extended by another 30 shows due to popular demand. That leg of the tour finally wrapped up in Mexico this week. "It's a very happy tour in every respect," Wakeman says. "I don't know if it's because we're getting older but there's a certain fun element with this particular touring band. "I'm not saying we didn't have fun before, but this is fun in almost a Spinal Tap way. And it's very funny. "I think the great thing now is the band has the ability to laugh at itself. We take our music seriously but we can laugh at ourselves, which one or two of the guys felt difficult to do in the past. There have been some very funny things happen." And some not so funny. Before the tour, things were looking decidedly shaky after Wakeman was involved in a motor car accident back home in Britain. "Literally, a few days before I was due to fly to America, I was involved in a pretty serious car crash -- a head-on -- and I was lucky to come out alive," Wakeman says. "They wanted to keep me in hospital for two weeks but I discharged myself, otherwise I would have missed the tour. I can laugh now but when I arrived I had severe internal bruising, damaged lungs and various things. I could hardly walk, I couldn't lift anything. So it was a matter of propping me in front of the keyboards for the first couple of shows." Then, on the first night of the tour, more Spinal Tap moments when bassist Chris Squire swung his instrument in the air at the end of the gig, whacking drummer Alan White in the mouth with it. That sent White off to hospital for 20 stitches. "We were one day into a world tour that finished next September," laughs Wakeman, "and before the end of the first day, we were being carted off in ambulances or on stretchers. It was hilarious." Australia originally wasn't included on the Yes itinerary. That's until local fans banded together and started a petition, eventually convincing the band's management that they must come. "It was jaw-dropping, absolutely jaw-dropping," Wakeman says of the campaign. "It meant a lot to us. When we were told this, we were really moved. We said, 'We'd absolutely love to go.' There wasn't a meeting on our part. We heard this and we were like, "Fantastic!" Yes's first Sydney gig in 29 years takes place at the Sydney Entertainment Centre on March 1. Close Window YesInThePress.com For site comments, problems, corrections, or additions, contact YesinthePress@aol.com