ARW

Don't worry. I'm not going to talk about Marillion in this post. Ok, maybe I will just a little, but in short, I'm still reeling from that show even though it's been a little over a month now since that fateful night. I'm going to try to write this entry while F.E.A.R. plays on my turntable.

In this post, I'm going to talk about the most anticipated prog act of the year that I finally saw last night: Anderson, Wakeman and Rabin. Like many people, I was super excited for this show. There had been talk about these guys coming together over the last two or three years. They kept hinting at a possible album or tour but nothing ever became official until earlier this year. When tickets went on sale for their show at the Orpheum, my most beloved concert venue, the first thing we determined was that floor seats were out of the question because of their outrageous prices. Sorry, but $700+ a ticket isn't happening. Instead, we settled for balcony seats. We weren't concerned though. We have never had a bad experience at the Orpheum in terms of sound quality or ability to view the stage. As far as we're concerned, there's no such thing as a bad seat at the Orpheum.

Anyway, we waited about 8 months for this show, about the same amount of time we had to wait to see David Gilmour. During that time, there was much speculation from people on Facebook as to what this show was going to be like. Many people had different ideas of what king of show we would get. Some expected it to be just Jon, Rick, and Trevor. Some expected many additional musicians to be on stage with them. As for me personally, I was expecting it to simply be different from the shows that the current Yes lineup was putting on. I anticipated a creative setlist, great attention to the musicianship of Rick and Trevor, and interesting visuals. From how much hype this project was getting, this concert should be excellent. Was it excellent?

No.

Now, it wasn't a bad concert. However, thinking about how good it could have been depresses me to some extent. I think the place where it suffered the most was simply not being creative enough with the setlist. When you have the talents of Rick Wakeman and Trevor Rabin, I would think you would make an extra strong effort to pick songs where their abilities shine the most. I was really hoping to hear some longer pieces of music like "Close to the Edge," or even anything off of albums like Relayer. I will give Trevor props for not trying to be like Steve Howe, but I think he could have handled those longer pieces. Now there were some really big moments in this show. There were songs that I loved hearing. I loved that they played songs like "Changes" and "Hold On." There were times where I really perked up and was really impressed with what I was hearing. But those were few. For the most part, I have to say that I was sitting in my seat wishing for something different to come up. The majority of the setlist was made up of all the same songs we've heard time and time again with Yes, like "Perpetual Change," "Heart of the Sunrise," and even "Owner of a Lonely Heart."

Another part that really disappointed me was how seemingly underrepresented Rick was. Pointing him out to the audience after every song doesn't count as representation to me. To me, their song choices were not the ones that showed off Rick's talents the best. I think Trevor actually got more attention than Rick did and, sometimes, even more than Jon did. I like Trevor, but Rick was the one I was actually the most excited to see live. He got some solo time, but those times were very brief. I actually wouldn't have minded hearing him play something off The Six Wives of Henry VIII or Journey to the Centre of the Earth.

So overall, this was a pretty good concert, but I'm struck by how underwhelming it was, especially considering how talked about this project was and how hyped it was. Knowing how talented these guys are, I was definitely expecting more. Did they deliver? Eventually, yes, but by that time the show was more than halfway done. I think the only point where I was truly sucked into the show was during "Awaken." To put it simply, I liked this show, but in the end I think it could have been a lot better. I would think that, for a show as unique as this, there would be a strong effort made to do a show that separates them from what the current Yes lineup is doing these days, especially because we don't know how much longer these guys will be touring.

7/10