Judith I Bridgland: Yestival

Showing posts with label Yestival. Show all posts

Sunday, 20 August 2017

Yestival: Yes at PNC Bank Center, Holmdel, 12 Aug 2017

Ok folks, you know the routine. And tonight is the last gig of our three night Yestival concert series.

This is the very pretty open air amphitheater of the PNC Bank Center in sunny New Jersey. It's all very civilised. They have parking lots where you can have tailgate parties, and lawns where you can picnic, drink, and, er, smoke. America knows how to do venues, and let's face it, they have the weather for it.

The weather this evening was hot. It was so hot, that Carl Palmer's shirt stuck like a wet rag to his eternally youthful and perfectly formed torso, sweat plastered the hair of Jon to his forehead and threatened to make his glittery eyeshadow run, and the sweat ran in beads down Billy's face. All this I could see even from Row H. It was that sweaty.

So here we go again. Not so many photos tonight, but here's Young Person's Guide...

And there's also a rather bad video which I took of Survival.

He's blurry, He's sweaty. He's glittery.

See also photos from Yes's Ford Amphitheater Coney Island performance on 11 August 2017 HERE.

Photos from their performance at Foxwoods, Connecticut on 10 August 2017 HERE.

Yestival: Carl Palmer at PNC Bank Center, Holmdel 12 Aug 2017

It was hot in Holmdel. Very hot. It's the last night of our three night run of Yestivals.

And here's Carl Palmer, the man whom members of the previous evening's audience were still not convinced was actually alive even after watching him perform for half an hour. Would he convince them tonight?

Initially though, the audience weren't impressed. In fact, a lot of them weren't even there.

Obviously, Carl would have to up his game. This was going to be tough.

"Are you impressed yet, Holmdel??"

Maybe a pink shirt wasn't such a great idea for hiding the sweatiness.

In a final attempt to impress, Carl got out his big furry drum bats during Fanfare for the Common Man, and proceeded to give it laldy on the gongs.

Success! Gongs well and truly skelped, he chucked his bats over his shoulder.

See you next time for a two hour session folks...!

Saturday, 19 August 2017

Yestival: Yes at Coney Island Boardwalk, 11 August 2017

Well, here we are at the very lovely Ford Amphitheater at Coney Island Boardwalk, sunny Brooklyn, New York. It's all very historic, plus, it's an open air theatre by the sea! I can go paddling.

It's a bit like Blackpool!

Open air meant that there was not only the smell of ozone, but the strong smell of something altogether more 1970s hippy dippy.

This meant that some audience members were more than a little confused (once again) as to exactly who was on the Yestival bill. Not only were they confused about Anderson and Wakeman not being there, they were also confused about why they had just seen Emerson Lake and Palmer, even though Greg was no longer with us, Keith had shot himself, "And of course", said the woman in front of me, "Carl Palmer is dead too." "Er - no, you've just watched him play the drums for half an hour."

Another woman in front of me insisted on dancing wildly, then had a huge row with her boyfriend, who stormed off before Yes came on never to come back. She cheered herself up by dancing wildly to the intermission music, before attaching herself limpit-like to a random woman, and persuading her to sit with her. They held hands and danced together for the rest of the night, bonded as a sisterhood, and no doubt delighted to be watching (in their heads) Anderson and Wakeman.

Anyway - same set as before - one song from each of the first ten albums - plus two songs as the encore (Madrigal and Roundabout). And Mr Davison was startlingly resplendent in pleatherette tonight, as you'll see.

And so....here's the Young Person's Guide, the origins of the Yesiverse, and the rush of adrenalin...