This was a surprise. My friend Trevor had somehow double-booked himself, getting a prime ticket to see Yes at the Royal Albert Hall in the same week he arranged to go to Normandy for the 80th anniversary of D-Day. When I saw him on the last weekend in May he was waving a ticket and asking whether anyone was into Yes. I jumped at the chance.
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| Machine Messiah - Steve, Geoff & Jon |
Second surprise: when I went to book a room for the night (the last train to my home in the back end of nowhere leaves London at about 9pm), booking.com offered me an option for under £20. It was a bunk-bed in a hostel, just 300m from the RAH and closer than the Queens Arms, which is the usual spot for a pre-concert drink. That's £100 less than the room I used last time, so I decided to take a chance.
The hostel was clean, a bit too hot (even with the window open) but perfectly functional. Security seemed good, with card keys from the staircase onto the 4th floor and again to enter the dorm. For some reason they put me in a women's dorm (with my reputation?) but I was hardly aware of the other occupants. I just dropped my gear in my locker, said hello to a couple of the neighbours and went out for dinner and a pint before the concert. By the time I got back, the lights were off, so I just changed in the bathroom and settled down to sleep. Someone woke me up by shining a phone in my face, probably Elena trying to find the empty bunk with her name on it. That was it until Hannah's alarm in the bunk above me went off at 6am, which woke me too, especially when she started rummaging in her locker right next to my head, so I made an early start for the journey home.
Like a mug, I'd got an off-peak ticket up to London (travelling up in the afternoon), so I couldn't leave Waterloo until 9am. Breakfast filled part of the time. Out of nostalgia, I stood by the Windrush monument and watched the crowds of people rushing off to their day's work, thinking how that used to be me. I only recognised one of my old colleagues stomping through the concourse (hello, Simon F) but he was too far away to try to say anything.
Post-pandemic, the crowd seemed thinner, with fewer suits and briefcases, more shirt sleeves and laptops in rucksacks, unless that's just the switchover to summer uniform.
I'm pleased to say that Trevor missed a cracking show. Steve Howe is still very lively on guitar, despite his 77 years. The current line-up works well (Geoff Downes on the keyboards, Jon Davison singing, Billy Sherwood on bass & Jay Schellen on drums) although of course it would be nice to see Jon Anderson & Rick Wakeman in the band again. That's partly because I first got into Yes with Going for the One, Close to the Edge and Yessongs, rather than 90125 or The Ladder.
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| Turn of the century - Steve & the new Jon |
Some of the recent tours have included complete performances of the band's classic albums, so I wondered whether they would do something for the 50th anniversary of Tales from Topographic Oceans. I'd not listened to that album for about a decade, and so listened to the album on repeat all day to get it back into my head. I suspect it suffers a bit from the band recording their parts separately so the complex rhythms don't quite work, but a live performance would be tighter. Anyway, they compressed the best bits of a double-LP into about 20 minutes, including slipping Leaves of Green into the gap between disc 1 & disc 2. IMO It was a big improvement on the original album.
The setlist has been published on setlist.fm [click] for anyone who missed it or like me can't remember what was played in which order. Some kind souls filmed parts of the performance on their phones and there are some really good videos on youtube. Although the condensed Topographic Oceans hasn't appeared, there is footage of it being performed in Birmingham three days earlier.
I was surprised that the security teams no longer seem to try to stop people filming or recording the concert. The only thing they seemed to want to stop were several of the ladies who stood up and started to dance during the encore (disgraceful behaviour, they're not supposed to be having fun). That and Steve Howe wagging his finger at anyone taking pictures with flash; quite right, it's distracting for him and the flash doesn't even work at that distance.
All in all, a great night out.
Until next time, health & happiness to you all.
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