Concert review, Copenhagen 6th of december 2011

[Niels (Mod)]

YES - Amager Bio, Copenhagen Tuesday 6th of december 2011. 3 stars out of 6.

What the hell, were they thinking, Chris Squire, Steve Howe, allan White and Geoffrey Downes when they hired Benoit Davis as a replacemant for Jon Anderson???

Okay, he did an okay job on the newest album "Fly From Here", one of THE best albums of 2011, if you ask me, and you DO ask me, so look out for my top-list, but live this man is a walking disaster!!!! The worst vocal-performance I have EVER heard at a concert. Some people in the audience were shaking their heads, and hold their ears!!! At the top of that, he even was one of the weakest front-men ever. Very booring and not in touch with the audience at all. I could have done the job, at least just as "good" as him, I'm sure, if I knew all the lyrics, but I don't, but still, I can carry a tune, and he can't, not if his life was depending on it!!

Too bad for YES (I have to call the REST of the band for YES, because Benoit once was, and still should only be a singer in a YES-cover band from Canada), because they were actually pretty good. Especially Squire and Downes. They are, and look old, but they can still play. Steve Howe was also good, playing a lot of different guitars, acustic and electric. I've never been much of a YES-fan, but some of the old stuff, they played, I probably will give a few more listens. I did buy a YES-box set earlier, this year.

Even though it was a small venue, the stage was looking good, with a nice screen behind the band, showing video's and "cartoons" and stuff from the album-covers. Me and my friends were pretty close to the stage, and if I REALLY wanted to, I could easily have shaked Downes's hand.

They only played for a couple of hours, but even though there were a few "buuuh"'s (guess why!!) the audience loved YES. I thought last night, that if it had been Jon Anderson up there, I would probably have given the concert 5 stars.

That was my third concert in 2011. Before this year, the last concert I attended was Radiohead in 2000, and it must have been 20 years or so, since I last attended 3 concerts or more in the same year. I think that CRB has a lot to do with that.

The set-list:

◦Yours is No Disgrace
◦Tempus Fugit
◦I've Seen All Good People
◦Life On a Film Set*
◦And You And I
◦Solitaire* (Howe solo)
◦Intersection Blues (Howe solo)
◦Fly From Here* (part 1-5)
◦Wonderous Stories
◦Into the Storm*
◦Heart of the Sunrise
◦Starship Trooper
◦- - -
◦Roundabout

[Scott]

Cool review and cool pics Niels!  Sucks that he cant sing live!  Ive seen Yes with Jon Anderson and they were fantastic!  A front man that cant engage the crowd can be overcome by awesome vocals, but one that cant do either is an issue.  I wonder if the band knows they have a problem?

[Niels (Mod)]

Thanks, Scott. If they don't, it's a mystery!! I've seen and heard a couple of video's on Youtube, and he CAN sing live, I suppose. Maybe he couldn't hear himself last night or something?