------------------------------------------------------- MAY 2, 2004 ------------------------------------------------------- Source: Grand Rapids Press http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/grpress/index.ssf/?/base/entertainment-1/1083493155259260.xml Yes, Virginia, there is a Yes -- the '70s band is rocking into GR on its 35th anniversary tour By John Sinkevics Yes, Yes has tried skipping "Roundabout" in concert. No, it didn't go over well with fans. So, yes, Yes is back to performing the classic 1972 tune that put the band squarely at the head of the progressive rock class. But no, that doesn't mean it's a diehard favorite of drummer Alan White, who joined the band about four months after the song became a hit. "I could probably read a book while I'm playing it," White joked in a recent telephone interview from his home in Seattle. "It's a great song, and it's withstood the test of time. But I like to play challenging stuff on stage, like 'Gates of Delirium' (from 1974's 'Relayer'). That's really a workout for the bass and drums." "Challenging stuff" easily could be the motto for this virtuoso-packed rock band that's celebrating its 35th anniversary this spring with an ambitious and elaborate North American tour of arenas. With Jon Anderson on vocals, Steve Howe on guitar, Rick Wakeman on keyboards, Chris Squire on bass and White behind the drums, the classic mid-1970s lineup seems to have gotten its second wind in recent years, buoyed by regular performances, a repackaged collection of its biggest songs and a new double-DVD of its 2003 European tour. "It really sounds good on stage. The chemistry between us has been very good," White said of the lineup that includes Wakeman, who rejoined the band about three years ago. "All of a sudden, Rick was back on board and made us all feel good. He's such a character, and he's always been a character. He made us complete again." White said the band has performed its demanding material so much in recent years that the 35th anniversary tour of arenas finds members "already at that point where we're all playing well together." "People seem to think we go away and come back, but basically, the band has been touring forever," White said. "We tour every year and make new records all the time. It's the '70s ... version of the band that's been together the longest." The Yes retro train goes full throttle on the current tour: The band has returned to an elaborate, '70s-style set design by Roger Dean, who created many of the classic album covers and stage setups the group embraced during its heyday. "It's going back to the arena-like touring thing we did in the '70s," said White, noting the band in recent years has played smaller, more intimate clubs and venues that didn't permit such grandiose props. "It's going to be a memorable experience ... You get the full Monty." Indeed, Van Andel Arena is one of the smallest facilities booked for the ambitious tour that plays such large, high-profile venues as Mexico City's Sports Palace and New York's Madison Square Garden. Not that these veteran musicians need props and other distractions from performances in which they unleash a dizzying display of the talent that put them at the forefront of progressive rock. "The musicianship was as powerful as ever, especially on the part of Howe and Wakeman," a Seattle Times music critic wrote after the band's April 15 concert at Key Arena. But he also complained that "Yes has always had a tendency toward overindulgence, and there were extended stretches of sameness that got boring ...." In San Jose two days later, "a crowd of about 5,000 blissfully cheered and danced," wrote the music critic for the San Jose Mercury News. "Not all music is meant to pop and fizzle; like a great old cabernet, Yes' music is standing the test of time." "Sometimes we'll look at each other after a show and say, 'That was a lot of notes to play.' It must be in the hundreds of thousands," White said. "You've got to have your wits about you to play a set with this band. It's taxing music." White, who's been married for more than 20 years and has two college-age children, said it's the "attention to details" that drives Yes from show to show and recording session to recording session. He said he still cringes a bit when recalling 1978's "Tormato," which an All Music Guide reviewer described as the album where the band "runs out of gas." "I don't think we spent enough time on it. It was kind of a lax period in our life. We didn't pay as much attention as we should have," White said. "You don't make mistakes like that. You have to go back and review everything five times. When you put that on a CD, 10 years from now you're going to wish you had done it right," White said. "It would have been much, much better if we had taken our time. Most of the time, we do that. ... We tend to go back and look at what we did and make sure. ... We backtrack with live shows as well. "Even when you do the first full week of live shows, maybe there was one little thing you didn't do right. The next show, you've got to make sure it's done right." White, who also collaborates and performs occasionally with the Seattle band, MerKaBa ("a fun thing," he calls it), said Yes' demanding, sophisticated approach has cultivated a devoted audience of discerning longtime fans as well as younger listeners seeking more substance in their rock music. "I think people ... basically are disappointed with the general kind of music they're listening to and searching for something else. They find some kind of journey through our music," he offered. "I always enjoy listening to bands that seem to be searching for something new, moving things forward, bands that are looking at moving over the horizon and not at it. That was one of the mainstays when Yes was creating in the '70s. We were trying to do that. That's what keeps music alive." It helps, he said, that Yes established a distinctive sound, from Anderson's one-of-a-kind vocals to Wakeman's keyboard flourishes. "Jon (Anderson) doesn't sound like anyone else. Everybody in the band is a virtuoso in kind of individual styles. It's interesting to have a formula where you have five musicians like that in one band. That's part of the reason we're still doing it," he said. "I think we rise to the occasion." Close Window YesInThePress.com For site comments, inquiries, corrections, or additions, contact yitp@yesservices.com