YES Opening Music Year Guide

YES where never content to use the same piece of music all the time, so with a huge amount of creativity covering fifty years, I delve deep here and present what I hope is a good guide to the opening and accompanying music to Yesshows over that time. Early introductions as simple as, ‘Good evening, will you welcome YES’, would pretty much do even on the TV shows or BBC sessions, private gigs and more. As time moved on new ideas were taken on board along with more money to assist in providing better sound and visual systems for the pre–show music, all the while keeping those creative ideas coming fast so that the YES show would continue to surprise and delight over the years.

This year by year guide shows not only the opening music chosen but also any other relevant information, such as pre-show, interval and post-show music. The concert dating is in the UK style of Date, Month, Year.

YES have always taken considerable care to create the right atmosphere before they step on stage, and always will do, the two-hour show must be highly professional as it has always been. Steve Howe spoke about the opening music in a UK music magazine interview in the early 1970s.

Interviewer: You build an expectancy with the dramatic Firebird Suite, and timing your appearance on stage with infinite care, you use taped music in the interval also, can you tell me about that?

Steve Howe: “Jon (Anderson – vocalist) put our current tape together. We have Joni Mitchell singing and that puts everyone in a passive mood, then comes the Firebird piece, I’m hoping to put the next cassette together, it’s just a performance.”

The interviewer went on to say that it was this factor that keeps the group alive and far from static and noted that one trap that YES was aware of was, and they must avoid, is delving too far into technicalities at a loss of atmosphere. Adding that YES, had always kept a certain level, over all the decades, and that was a huge achievement.

A splendid review of a show that mentions the tape recorder (Melody Maker)

1971, Pre-Stravinsky and Interval – Joni Mitchell music, likely but not confirmed would be music from the all-time great albums Clouds and Blue. Both of which were hugely successful albums with today, Blue generally regarded by music critics as one of the greatest albums of all time.

1972, Stravinsky Firebird Suite – Fragile Album Tour – Winter European and Winter North American Tour.

1972, Stravinsky Firebird Suite – Close to the Edge Album Tour – Summer North American, Autumn (Fall) European and North American plus the Winter European Tour.

1973, Stravinsky Firebird Suite – Close to the Edge Album Tour – Spring Japanese, Australian and North American Tour.

1973, Ambience ‘KOTO – ZEN’ – Close to the Edge Album Tour – Spring Japanese tour, the music played at the Kanda Kyoritsu, Koudou, 10-3-73. The pre–show ambient music lasting around thirty seconds and lead into Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite. The music was likely from the album Music for Zen Meditation and Other Joys by Tony Scott. Gentle tranquil sounds of Japanese ZEN type music. This can be heard on bootlegs such as Heart Of The Rising Sun – Volume Four and the six CD box of the same name. It was also thought to be used in Australia for the concerts and Jon did an acappella version of the Rite of Spring, the same as the introduction to the Rick Wakeman solo spot on the Yessongs album and film.

The album Yessongs was the first live YES album to feature the Firebird Suite, and it still ranks as maybe the most popular version, having the full suite played through.

1973, Stravinsky Firebird Suite – Tales From Topographic Oceans Album Tour – Autumn (Fall) European Tour.

1974, Stravinsky Firebird Suite – Tales From Topographic Oceans Album Tour – Winter North American and Spring European Tour.

The first version of Yessongs with the book design opening and not fold out, a browner coloured cover, booklet, and the YES inner sleeves with the classic logo on them. (Roger and Martyn Dean/Atlantic Records)

A music paper cutting giving the reader an idea of the importance of the opening taped intro plus a fabulous visual description of when YES entered the stage.

YES playing Topographic Oceans at the Newcastle City Hall, 9 December 1973, the entrance tunnel clearly visible at the left-hand side of the stage.

A the ticket for the show.

Another description of the stage design.

1974, ‘Spring’ – Wendy Carlos – from the album Sonic Seasonings. Tales From Topographic Oceans Album Tour. This first track was used up to the whole length of the piece, twenty-two minutes long before the show, blending into the Firebird Suite it created an amazing atmosphere for the Topographic Oceans shows. Blending beautifully into the Mellotron sound by Rick Wakeman and then swiftly followed by the whole of band joining in. Carlos produces bird sounds twittering away with some wind and gentle sounds, mixed later in the track with a beautiful thunderstorm and pouring rain, you can play this on record and be taken away on a relaxing ride into the sounds of spring in the comfort of your own room.

1974, ‘Winter’ – Wendy Carlos – from the album Sonic Seasonings. Tales From Topographic Oceans Album Tour. This track was used for the exit after the show, ‘Winter’ was twenty and a half minutes long and would be heard while clearing the venue. Book ending the gig was a revelation and an idea that would be used again many years later. ‘Winter’ is not as sonically dynamic as ‘Spring’, in fact it floats past without much of an impact, which is just right and doesn’t engage you much, leaving you the remember the show more. It won’t give any feelings of euphoria or energy straight after a show, so perfect really.

An exciting bootleg recording, which can be heard on the internet captured these moments in time when you get to hear the intro and post (Carlos) music, with fans chatting along with Eddie Offord, Rick Wakeman and even some Jon and Vangelis sounding parts which are similar to the track ‘I hear you now’ on Moog, way before Jon and Vangelis even existed, fans cheering, venue announcements, fans getting a little inpatient, and more, in what is a remarkable capture of an epic concert. Look for: YES Live: Memphis 03/10/1974 / “Tales” Show with Pre & Post Show Ambient Tracks, Backstage Chatter.

Rounding up the album I would say it’s one to chill out to, a gentle portrayal of the seasons and for the most part the electronic part of its creation is masked by its natural accompanying sounds of animals, fire, storms, and wind. Where I feel the most man-made sounds are in the winter track are very reminiscent to the Pink Floyd track ‘Welcome To The Machine’. Also within this album I hear the similar sounds as the beginning to ‘Close to the Edge’-ish, and some Jon and Vangelis too. I do believe this was an influential album and certainly the Walter/Wendy Carlos story was a fascinating one and was clearly one of the pioneers in this genre of music.

Delightful cover art for the ambient music that was released in 1972. (CBS Records)

Maybe one of these rare reel to reel recordings was first used on the road by YES.

The vinyl album. (CBS Records)

1974, Stravinsky Firebird Suite – Autumn (Fall) North American Relayer Tour. Some shows had live radio show recordings aired and those came with DJ introductions.

1975, Stravinsky Firebird Suite – Relayer Tour

1975, Hi Ho, Off To Work we go – Cow Palace, Daly City, California, USA Relayer Tour. Possibly the only time for this Disney classic, unsure why this was chosen but it is a bit of fun, coming from the Snow-White movie.

A great UK music paper cutting giving us wonderful feeling of a show

1976, Creation Du Monde – Vangelis Evángelos Odysséas Papathanassíou – (The Creation of the World) from l’apocalypse des animaux’ (1973). Solo Album Tour. This was intertwined for a few minutes with Apocalypse from And You And I by all the band as it led into some of the first opening songs, mostly Siberian Khatru. This beautiful ten-minute piece of music which was used in the 1980’s Cosmos TV show hosted by the science and astronomy legend Carl Sagan has a beautiful, ethereal floating, mysterious feel one to it, one that evokes the space and the never-ending cosmos, it’s enormity and splendour.

The TV show Cosmos for the first time brought to the masses the rarely heard music of Vangelis, Tomita, Eno, Froese, Jarre, Schultze, Synergy, and many of the classics including but not exclusively Stravinsky, Britton, Holst, Bach and many more.

I think all these records had influence, but mostly electronically it was Vangelis who had been the biggest influence for what a single musician could achieve. Jon’s head was full of this new world and possibilities, these leading to Jon releasing his first complete solo album ‘Olias of Sunhillow’ in July 1976. That was very much a heady mix of instruments many being electronic with clear influences from all the above-mentioned musicians. YES would produce the Relayer album which also was more electronic in sound, edgier, sharper, jazzier with a fresh new sound aided by the new flamboyant keyboard player Patrick Moraz, and the metalwork from the local Berkshire scrap yard for the war section of The Gates of Delirium from the Relayer album.

1976, “Apocalypse – Générique”, Vangelis Evángelos Odysséas Papathanassíou – From the album “l’apocalypse des animaux”. This was reportedly used sometimes as either the intro music or post Solo Album Tour. It is a very short piece of music but could have been looped to last longer. Many tracks of this album could be used for an opening piece of music as it has a similar feel throughout.

The simple cover design which portrays the relaxing music within. (Polydor)

1976, ‘Apocalypse’ – And You And I – Solo Album Tour – excerpt was played many times on tour. A band produced live piece and not taped. At the hight of the build up to the start of the show as all the band walked out on stage, Steve Howe and Patrick Moraz and Alan are prominent playing a blended accompanying excerpt from “And You And I”. Starting and building quietly, this three-minute piece has a spacey feel, not too defined other than background swirling and very Vangelis like initially until some crashing drums from Alan White, high pitched keyboard work and wonderful slide guitar from Steve build up the anticipation hugely. Possibly heard best on the 2005 CD box set The Word Is Live, the performance is from Detroit but also can be heard on many bootleg recordings also.

1976, ‘Get Down’, Announcer Warning – 19/6/76 Hartford – Connecticut, USA – Solo Album Tour. One of the strangest pre – openings of almost two minutes in length was the manic situation of enthusiastic fans climbing the scaffolding to get a better view. More and more climbed until the strict police force started to hit them until they got off. The multiple announcements eventually lead into ‘Apocalypse’ – And You And I and then finally Siberian Khatru. Also played on this tour the song ‘I’m Down’ by The Beatles.

1976, ‘Ocean Song’ – Jon Anderson’s Harp Solo – Dance Of Ranyart – YES Solo Album Tour. It was reported that either the harp solo from Jon Anderson’s solo spot on the Summer tour or the track Ocean song from his Olias of Sunhillow album was used to open the show on 26 June, Tampa, Florida and maybe some others too. No tape has been found to confirm this yet, so the music could have been indeed from Olias or mistaken for either a Vangelis work, the Apocalypse YES section or Jon’s harp solo work.

The pre and post show Koto music is mentioned in this wonderful YESshow write-up of the YES Summer Tour 1976. Taken from the ‘Beat Instrumental’ music magazine in the UK and written by the YES book author Dan Hedges. (DW: My first ever piece of YES memorabilia collected and still own).

1976, ‘KOTO – ZEN’ mood music – Solo Album Tour. YES used the music from this delightful album by Tony Scott called Music for Zen Meditation and Other Joys. Tranquil sounds of the Japanese ZEN music, taken from what many thought of as the first new age album from 1964. It looks like it was used on and off throughout the tour, bookending some shows. Tony Scott produced a collection of similar material as the Japanese influenced one here, but using different flavours of music, such as Indian in the follow up album Music for Yoga Meditation and Other Joys in 1968.

Tony Scott album cover, Music for Zen Meditation and Other Joys. (Decca Records)

Tony Scott album back cover (Decca Records)

In this rare cutting we hear Jon speaking in the 1970’s in a UK music paper about backing tapes and the dreamy Koto music used at some YESshows. Additional taped material has been used for decades for not only YES gigs but by a great deal of bands. Filling in those recorded passages of material that would be hard to reproduce without more equipment or another band member, such as the bird sounds on the opening section or the organ sounds on Close To The Edge or multiple harmonies in Leave It, or maybe backing percussion in The Gates of Delerium from the Relayer album and Tales From Topographic Oceans.

A copy of the rare Atlantic Records fold – out 3D promotional brochure for the Relayer album tour

UK music paper answering YES questions posed.

A USA magazine cutting from the late 1970s which gives an idea of the excitement of the concert.

1977, Stravinsky Firebird Suite along with a paired down yet sophisticated stage set for the Going for the One album tour. This is the introduction of this classic Yesshows logo, the amazing stage show that had the curtain, mirrors, lasers, smoke, and lights.

1978, Benjamin Britten’s – Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra – USA North American Summer Tour. Tormato album Tor/tour.

The concert excitement started outside the venue with fabulous posters such as this one in 1977

YES going round and round on the circular stage in 1978/9, and yes it was spectacular, even if the motor broke down and the fans had to push it sometimes.

Michael Tait speaking in 2020, (YES sound and lighting) www.taittowers.com

DW: Did YES see the 1977 Close Encounters of the Third Kind movie and then pick the soundtrack music?

MT: “The only movie that I remember that we all saw together was Star Wars, we got a private showing in the Lancaster movie theatre. I think Close Encounters was from the album.”

1978, Main Title – “Opening: Let There Be Light” – Close Encounters of the Third Kind Movie soundtrack – (John Williams), Tormato – UK Tor/tour. The soundtrack album is often lauded as one of the greats, with the movie being a shocking, and a very emotional classic movie. The, less than fifty seconds long, opening piece of music, best heard in the BBC recordings of YES live at Wembley Arena for the radio show hosted by DJ Tommy Vance. The joint visual effects and music combined to make it a spectacular opener not only for a YESshow but the movie. The movie gave you a scare whereas the show it was sheer excitement. Everyone was mesmerised at the movie and clearly it had a big effect for YES too. Whilst the album it was taken from has the one epic build up and crashing end, YES of course for the show opening increased this number five-fold in all, accompanied by Rick Wakeman’s blended keyboards with similar percussion from Alan White, bringing you that exciting start to a show. Only on the second release of the soundtrack album does it separately name the opening piece as “Opening: Let There Be Light”. A hugely influenced YES added the suitably fitting track called Arriving UFO to the album Tormato.

The classic album sleeve for the soundtrack LP. (Arista).

Cutting with a few questions from a fan covering guitars and the opening music in 1978.

1978, Main Title – “Opening: Let There Be Light” – Close Encounters of the Third Kind was used throughout the Tormato album US tour, Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite had been mentioned as indeed had Benjamin Britten’s – Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra as an opener in one or two venues, reports by some fans but not confirmed. YES used the above on most if not the whole tour.

1978, ‘Fanfare from La Peri’ – Post show – Tormato album tour. This classical piece of music of around two minutes from the 1912 ballet is one by French composer Paul Dukas. Although not as well-known as his famous symphonic poem The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, the ballet has come to be known as one of his most mature and skilled pieces. In the YES collecting world, a well-known vinyl bootleg album from 1975 was called Sorcerer’s Apprentice also.

Another wonderful review of the 1978 show and the use of the Firebird Suite. (Record Mirror, UK)

1979, Main Title – “Opening: Let There Be Light” – Close Encounters of the Third Kind – Tormato, Ten True Summers tour – Spring tour USA.

1980, Stravinsky’s Petrushka – Mid way through the show, Jon Anderson’s New Life Band, his solo tour band would play this on his UK Song of Seven album tour, not opening music, but it still has that historical classical music link.

1982, Ocean Song – Pre-show – The Jon Anderson’s solo Animation album tour had this pre-show song which was the track from his 1976 solo album Olias of Sunhillow.

1980, Benjamin Britten’s – Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra Main Title – “Opening: Let There Be Light” – Close Encounters of the third Kind was played on the USA and UK Drama tours. Very rare for YES to play both introductions but the effect was terrific with a crowd lifted to great heights before show opening. This was the Drama album tour and so with the new line-up of Geoffrey Downes and Trevor Horn and with for some the ‘In The Round’ staging as in 1978/9, it was a spectacular start for both. They would, of course, be seen for the very first time when the tubular shiny show curtain descended from above, the band then unseen guided into the curtain space from below the stage for the great curtain lift up moment, the lights, and the applause. America loved it all, with the slightly more reserved British audience having mixed views, the show was staged in the UK on the straight and standard stages holding around 2-3000 a time, such as The Manchester Apollo Theatre.

The great composer John Williams’s score opens the YESshow in dramatic form.

Interestingly in a UK music paper, we have a report of the ‘1812’ Overture being used for the 1980’s Madison Square Garden’s shows, I believe this was in error but maybe some proof will out.

1984/5, Bugs Bunny Cartoons, Hello Goodbye Mix, Leave It – Ambient music and Cinema.

These were the amazing live shows for the 90125 album and tour, and they had a fun intro start, unlike any other. Cartoons shown on a big screen lead into the YES Hello Goodbye Mix tape which could be four minutes long and then into an ambient music piece blending into the track Cinema. Effectively these were some of the longest combined introductions to a YESshow ever. There were a variety of cartoons shown and here we have a list of those reportedly used throughout the tour. These could have been played on any number of formats such as Super 8 reel to reel tape, LaserDisc or a cinematic large reel to reel tape.

‘Bully For Bugs’, in which Bugs ends up as a bullfighter in Mexico. A cartoon that was originally released on August 8, 1953.

Bugs with the raging bull and the monster, images from the Warner Brothers opening cartoons (WB)

‘Albuquerque’, which the famous words, “I knew I should have turned left at Albuquerque” came from. Used obviously at the Albuquerque show, it went down a storm with fans.

‘Hair Raising Hare’, a mad scientist sends out a shapely mechanical female rabbit robot to lure Bugs Bunny into his laboratory.

‘Water, Water Every Hare’, with Bugs in a dream along with a spooky house, an evil scientist and a big orange monster. It’s also were Bugs gets high on ether at the end, this pleased the crowd with young audiences cheering loudly.

‘Mad as a Mars Hare’, is a 1963 Warner Brothers Merrie Melodies cartoon which stars Bugs Bunny and Marvin the Martian. Plenty of ray gun action too!

‘Rabbit Hood’ was shown a few times which was a take on the Robin Hood story and had Errol Flynn (Film Star) in it, there being a family link to YES and Alan White.

There seems to be a cartoon where Bugs went down a long winding slide that looked like it sent him off into the audience at the end, not sure how many times this was shown or at what venue, it was said to have been a hit though.

Other musical parts heard on the tour were an ambient background entwined with what sounded similar to the bird effects from beginning of the Close To The Edge album, possibly from the Walter Carlos Sonic Seasonings album, plus the odd bass line from Awaken were heard as the band warmed up and got themselves slotted into the mix. This can be heard well 29/8/84, in New York, this had also had an MTV introduction from Martha Quinn.

Some evenings the exit music was not just the sounds of Leave It, Hello Goodbye Mix but the album version of Leave It. To add to this, they replayed the video on the screens too, comfortably bookending the show, giving the fan the whole experience.

At the USA Toledo show 3/3/84, following the Hello Goodbye Mix, a one-minute piece of classical music was played, which is difficult to make out, but is likely to be a popular classical piece.

Also rumoured to have been played on the tour, the Disney song – Hi Ho, Off To Work We Go.

1985, Leave It – Hello Goodbye Mix, Ambient – Cinema – The 90125 tour. The large South American tour dates may have had extra bits added such as visuals, but with shared show line-ups on the bill then not all the intro parts were used.

1987, Almost Like Love – (extended) The Big Generator album Autumn (Fall) North American Tour intro is somewhat strange and difficult to describe. Generator noises blending into feedback from guitar, echoing banging, riffing, repeated themes on keyboards and power drumming the intro, moving into a very short section of ‘Heart of the Sunrise’. Bizarre, but still a modern energetic opener!

The 12” vinyl single of the Hello Goodbye Mix (ATCO)

1987, Popeye Cartoon – Big Generator Tour – Autumn (Fall) North American Tour, was reported to have been used often, the one being with Popeye eating spinach and his bicep had the image of a big machine engine, a generator on it. Called “Popeye vs. Sinbad the Sailor”, this 1936 film went down well with fans.

1987, ‘Mighty Mouse’ – It is also said that a cartoon of MM was shown too, it is unclear how many times it was used on the tour.

1988, Rhythm of Love used on the Big Generator Album Winter North American and Spring Japanese Tour. The standard album version was used for the intro tape, there are a variety of reviews on this with some saying it was good and others saying it was too loud and distorted, either way it was different. The post show music was a dance mix of “Rhythm of Love”, so again bookending a YESshow.

1989, ABWH (YES) – Benjamin Britten’s – Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra. Summer – North American and European Autumn (Fall) Tour. ABWH Album tour with Jon Anderson, Bill Bruford, Rick Wakeman and Steve Howe. This was used throughout their tours all over the world with just a few possible exceptions. It leads directly into the Jon Anderson opening, where he sang mostly solo, with some guitar backing the track Time And A Word. Although not essentially the pre-show music, it was however a start to a YES show like no other. It was on this tour that Jon Anderson would seem to just appear in the centre of the venue from nowhere, in the dark, part way through Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra. Jon would be standing next to the sound desk or centre stadium in the stalls, with a microphone in hand, it would be a surprise and shock for fans as the lights went up all around and someone close to hand shone a bright light on him, a dramatic and cunningly exciting opening being surrounded by all the fans singing the classic song Time And A Word.

On average Benjamin Britten’s piece played for about two and a half minutes, although for their music release it was cut short to 1.44. Also for their recording of An Evening of YES Music Plus – Shoreline Amphitheatre, California, USA, they had a verbal intro, with the compare reading out ‘Good evening ladies and gentleman, welcome to an evening of music with Jon Anderson, Bill Bruford, Rick Wakeman and Steve Howe, an evening of YES music’.

The Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA gig, could be totally unique in terms of opening music, as it appears that, coming from different reviews from fans, that three different pieces were possibly used in one evening. For the opening Benjamin Britten’s – Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra and Stravinsky Firebird Suite have both been quoted as opening pieces. Secondary, for the rare introduction into the second half of the show, the tape started with the music of Vivaldi’s, The Four Seasons – Spring – Allegro (for 8 seconds) but was swiftly changed to the Firebird Suite which lead into the second half opening track of Close to the Edge. Not sure why they did the second half of the show build up, obviously Vivaldi was in error, but it could be the only show that has played both the key opening themes in one evening. I am still deliberating as to whether this is a great idea or not for future shows, to have a second half with a Firebird opening, one to think about, eh?

The fabulous Roger Dean designed ABWH cover (Fragile Records)

1990, ABWH (YES) – Stravinsky, Firebird Suite – ABWH Album tour, Winter Spanish Tour – Spring – Japanese – Spring – North American.

1991, Stravinsky, Firebird Suite – Union album and tour – North American and European Tours, Spring and Summer. ABWH and the YESWest band come together to create this memorable tour. In The Round for the most part as two YESes join to become one.

1992, Stravinsky, Firebird Suite – Union Tour – Winter and Japanese Tours

1994, Intro – Perpetual Change – Talk Tour – South American and Japanese Tour, Autumn (Fall). This tour had a new one-off short piece of music, freshly arranged maybe by Trevor Rabin. It had a menacing feel to the opening, which was heavy on guitar and keyboard, slowly building up, this was a repetitive take on the Perpetual Change theme and worked well.

1996, Stravinsky, Firebird Suite – The small Californian hometown of Jon Anderson at the time, San Luis Obispo held the comeback YES shows with the classic line-up once again, at the wonderful Edward’s Fremont Theatre. Other introductions in 1996, were by the DJ Bob from Tower Records, he gave plenty of promotional chat for the unusual show set in Hollywood, November 1996. Also in 1996, apart from the loud intro on the streets from the TV presenter Laurie Hibberd, in the background, the track Rock And Roll part 2 by Gary Glitter played for this Fox After Breakfast live show on the street.

1997, The Solution – The Source – The Walk-In Ambiance Track From the Open Your Eyes album which then ran into Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite – North American Autumn (Fall) Open Your Eyes Tour. Known as The Source, it is a hidden track that follows “The Solution”. Timed at 16:22 in length, it features nature sounds and harmony vocal excerpts taken from all the other songs on the record. This strange YES piece played at the end of side two after two minutes of silence, was not received well at all by fans, so I find myself almost alone in thinking, I like it, as a fun piece, it is YES being progressive isn’t it after all? Yes it’s clearly an out and out album filler, but with an end purpose in mind, and it did fill the brief very well.

The producer Kevin Curry talked to me about the project in 2021. Calling this the “The Walk-In Ambient Track”. Kevin is the one who produced, arranged, recorded, and did all the sound design of the track.

DW: David Watkinson

KC: Kevin Curry

DW: Can you tell me how this YES oddity came about?

KC: “YES happened to have extra time on the CD and wanted to create something so decided to include a portion of music as a hidden track, about a minute after the last song “The Solution.” Of course when the record came out, the track wasn’t hidden for very long!”

DW: What was the process?

KC: “Well Jon Anderson called me with the idea and asked if I would like to do it. He said just use little bits of the vocals occasionally to give it that kind of ‘Roger Dean’ vibe when you walked in. They then gave me the master tracks and told me to do whatever I wanted to do.”

DW: Was it always a short filler track?

KC: “It is an excerpt from an hour-long track that was used as the walk-in ambience for the ‘OPEN YOUR EYES’ tour. When you walked into the arena, that track was playing instead of some ‘Steely Dan’. So the first time you would hear the vocal parts, you would think the show was starting.”

DW: How was it accepted by YES?

KC: “On the first mix the vocals were a little louder. They said they didn’t want to scare anybody as they were coming in! Chris Squire was the only one that wanted to scare everyone. He said, ‘It will be like an inside joke for the audience that are there early. They could then watch the next batch of arriving concert goers become startled and have a laugh.’ He was overruled, so I then did a new mix with the vocals lowered a little.”

DW: Anything else to add about the mysterious track?

KC: “Well a little trivia nugget about that album is that it was originally was called ”Open Your Mind,” but the label thought it was too much of a drug reference.”

1998, The Solution – The Source – Open Your Eyes – Ambiance Track, and Stravinsky Firebird Suite – Summer – Winter – North and Latin American plus European Tour. The bird loop song played just before the Firebird Suite plus the same track was played after the show, so bookending the whole experience for fans. A believe it sits very well in the YES world of pre- and post-music, accept it for its dynamic ambiance and other worldly feel.

YES Open Your Eyes Album cover (Beyond Music)

1998, The Solution – The Source – Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite – 30th Anniversary Tour – Japan – Pacific Rim Tour – Autumn (Fall). The reports for these five shows are that the pre-Firebird music of the The Solution – The Source was only dropped on the first evening.

1999, Benjamin Britten’s – Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra – Ladder Tour – Latin America – North American Tour.

2000, Stravinsky Firebird Suite – Ladder Tour – European Tour – Winter Tour.

2000, Benjamin Britten’s – Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra – Masterworks Tour – North American Tour.

2001, ‘Overture’ – (‘Give Love Each Day’ excerpt) – Magnification – The Yessymphonic Tour. The four piece YES along with a stunning array of different Symphony Orchestras provided this beautiful opening throughout the tour.

2002, Benjamin Britten’s – Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra – Classic YES Tour, North American Summer tour for about the first nine shows and then changed to Firebird Suite.

2002, Stravinsky Firebird Suite – North American Autumn (Fall) Tour.

2003, Stravinsky Firebird Suite – Arrowfest 2003 – Festival show.

2003, Stravinsky Firebird Suite – Full Circle Tour – European and Pacific Rim Tour. The favourite used again but was changed over to the Overture (‘Give Love Each Day’ excerpt) with the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra show. Mid show YES had some intermission ambiance music played too.

2004, Stravinsky Firebird Suite – 35th Anniversary Tour – North American – Spring – European and back to the North America once again.

2008, Stravinsky Firebird Suite – Close to the Edge and Back Tour – North American tour, Summer – Autumn (Fall) shows.

2009, Stravinsky Firebird Suite – In The Present Tour – For the Winter, Summer USA shows and European autumn (Fall) shows.

2010, Stravinsky Firebird Suite – In The Present Tour – For the Winter, Summer and Fall shows.

2010, Stravinsky Firebird Suite – South American Tour – YES also had a rare announcer in Buenos Aires, Argentina and in Santiago, Chile, pronouncing on stage ‘Ladies and Gentlemen – Please welcome YES’, also ‘The Legendary YES’.

2011, ‘The Rite of Spring’ – Excerpt – (Le Sacre du Printemps) North American Tour. A very exciting addition to the YES opening music listings. The Rite of Spring was the third project, after the successful Firebird (1910) and Petrushka (1911) for Stravinsky in 1913. Not too many reports on what the fan base thought of this change but it didn’t seem to last very long, for whatever reason.

2011, ‘Fly From Here – Overture’ – Fly From Here Tour – Summer North American Tour. This is unusual for YES, they opened with a taped copy of a track from the album. The Fly From Here Tour with the US prog band STYX shared the bill, hence no Stravinsky type opening. Pre-show music, for some shows, but at the San Diego show it had some laid-back chill music, it gave a good ambiance, a regular mainstream type of music not classical. About 23 shows with Overture as an opener.

2011, Benjamin Britten’s – Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra. European Tour Autumn (Fall).

2012, Benjamin Britten’s – Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra. Spring Pacific Rim and North American Tour.

2013, Stravinsky Firebird Suite – North and South American Tour including The Cruise to the Edge shows with a soft-spoken introduction first by the DJ, Jon Kirkman.

2014, Stravinsky Firebird Suite – North America – New Zealand, Australia, Japan including The Cruise to the Edge shows with a spoken introduction first by DJ Jon Kirkman.

2014, Benjamin Britten’s – Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra North America Tour.

2014, Preshow Ambiance – Acoustic guitar based with odd time signatures in a soft rock style, low level background music, also used in the intermission. Likely to be an Italian rock artist. 17/05/2014, Padua, Italy.

The back-screen presentation as the track Onward played for Chris Squire on the YES tour.

The album cover for Tormato which provided the track Onward written by Chris. (DW/Atlantic)

Chris Squire dying on 27 June 2015, his final gig 27 November 2014

2015, ‘Onward’ – Stravinsky Firebird Suite – North American Summer Tour, the first one without Chris Squire, with Onward played along with a video tribute. Chris Squire’s Rickenbacker guitar sat in a stand on its own while behind it, a suitably thoughtful and joyous look at images throughout Chris’s life came up on the screen. Steve Howe said: “This is a very special night for us, and a very special tour”.

Salt Lake City had some pre – show music that I can’t identify but seemed to be general main radio friendly type music.

Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite was also played on the UK tour with The Cruise to the Edge shows having the introduction by DJ, Jon Kirkman.

The above image shows YESfans arriving at the splendid and historically important venue of The Royal Albert Hall, London. Taking in the atmosphere, lights and sounds of the pre–show gathering. (DW)

2016, Benjamin Britten’s – Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, Spring USA and Japan tour, this also had some ambient music played at the intermission and post show, ethereal sounding with some harp work fading away in the distance.

2016, ARW – Intro – “Orchestral Change” – Perpetual Change – Cinema – Jon Anderson, Rick Wakeman and Trevor Rabin’s new intro composition, prominent drums early on and very orchestral, based around the YES track Perpetual Change and then blending into the Grammy award winning track Cinema.

2017, YES – Benjamin Britten’s – Young Persons Guide to the Orchestra Southern USA Tour

2017, YES – Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson – YES + ARW introduction for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame evening on April 7, 2017. Also another of many firsts, the one and only Geddy Lee of Rush played bass with YES. This joining up of the two YES bands at the time to celebrate having been voted in at long last was without the founding member Chris Squire. Interestingly Steve Howe played bass once again in YES, this time on the track Owner of a Lonely Heart.

2017, YES – Benjamin Britten’s – Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra – YESTIVAL. The Cruise to the Edge shows adding an introduction by DJ, Jon Kirkman

2017, ARW – Intro – “Orchestral Change” – Perpetual Change – Cinema – Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin, and Rick Wakeman. Based around the YES track Perpetual Change

2018, YES, Stravinsky Firebird Suite – 50th Anniversary – European Tour – played on the first night of the cruise with the second night having Benjamin Britten’s – Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, Cruise to the Edge – Brilliance of the Seas – also an introduction first by DJ, Jon Kirkman.

2018, YES – Bill Bruford – Stravinsky Firebird Suite – 50th Anniversary – YES50 – historic humorous opening chat by Bill for YES as they made it ‘50 years young’. 25 March at the London Palladium along with a weekend of YES celebrations called The UK Fan Convention Weekend. More introductions throughout the evening as Steve Howe introduced all the different band members along with Alan White to join in later, plus special YES guest Trevor Horn, with then Horn going on to introduce a track he hadn’t sung in thirty-eight years. Jon Davison spoke lovingly about Chris Squire and his family. A night of introductions you may say, for a very special occasion. Firebird followed Bill Bruford which lead into the first track Yours Is No Disgrace.

2018, YES – Ambience Track – Summer North American Tour – Mid-way point of the show before the second half an ambience track of a singular drone led into Perpetual Change. This can be heard online from the Denver show 6/11/18.

2018, ARW – Intro – Orchestral – Cinema – Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin and Rick Wakeman. A new fast paced classical arrangement composition not based on Perpetual Change. The beginning is very much orientated to drums, second section orchestral and thirdly it progresses through acoustic guitar before a joining together with light keyboards sounds. On average it was around one and a half minutes long.

2019, YES – Stravinsky Firebird Suite – The Royal Affair Tour – North America and Japanese dates.

2020, YES – Relayer Tour – Cancelled ‘Album’ series due to Covid-19.
2021, YES – Relayer Tour – Cancelled ‘Album’ series due to Covid-19.

2022, YES – Relayer Tour – ‘Album’ series with YES classics

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