When did YOU first see Chris Squire and Yes?

elysrand · Post by **elysrand** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 1:02 pm

I just re-read your post and realized that the first time they played, 04/06/1971, was the time you must have seen them play first. That is because on that date, Tony Kaye was still playing keys, and it was still the Yes Album tour. This checks just right with The Yes Album Tour which lasted from 07/16/70 to 06/18/71.

For that first date, they had three warmup acts: Highly Inflammable, Lancaster, and Jonathan Swift.

And your ticket stub would have looked like this:

The last two dates they ever played at the FTH were 11/28/73 and 11/29/73 for the TFTO Tour.

What threw me off was that the ONLY gig they ever played at Manchester University was 5/22/71, which was later in the Yes Album tour than the 4/06/71 gig at the FTH. And they did play once at U.M.I.S.T. on 11/01/69 back when Peter Banks was still playing guitar.

But then I realized that you may have meant College of Art, which placed them there one time only on 12/02/70 during an earlier portion of the Yes Album Tour.

Are you then saying perhaps that your brother believed that Chris fell over and broke the headstock on his RM1999 on 12/02/70?

That would mean he would have been playing his 21-fretter 4001 when you saw him next, unless he got it repaired in less than 5 months! DO you remember which bass he was playing that next April when you saw him for the first time?

mgauction · Post by **mgauction** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 2:35 pm

About 1971 or 1972 as a back up band for the headliners, Faces at the Long Beach Arena.

elysrand · Post by **elysrand** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 3:12 pm

Hiya Mike! Well, YES were in Long Beach six times from 1972 to 1979, each time in the Long Beach arena because it seats about 14,000.

They appeared as the headliners with the Eagles and with Edgar Winter as their warmup acts (wow, as warmups to YES!) on the earliest date I show, 08/04/72, and it was with the following lineup: Anderson, Howe, Squire, Wakeman, and White.

They did the following songs:
Firebird Suite
Siberian Khatru
Heart Of The Sunrise
I've Seen All Good People
Mood For A Day
Clap
And You And I
Wakeman Solo
Roundabout
Yours Is No Disgrace

Your ticket stub would have looked like this:

And they gave out an eight page program that looked like this:

They appeared alone in 73, with Ace as their warmup act in 75, with Donovan as their warmup in 77, and alone for two nights in 79. They did the most dates with Donovan (90), Alan Parsons (41), Ace (38), and they did 32 dates with the Eagles.

I have no record of YES ever doing any dates with Faces, and only two dates in Brazil with Rod Stewart in 1985.

They did eight dates with the band Small Faces in Europe-only, though.

So please, could you post a ticket stub for this seventh Long Beach date with Faces so that I can add it to my collection and enter that date into the database? Thanks, Mike!

mgauction · Post by **mgauction** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 4:12 pm

Elys - What a great job! Man, I wish I had that ticket stub but am embarrassed to say that I have no idea what happened to it. I do remember that The Eagles opened up many concerts in those early years. They had one hit then "Witchy Woman" and we were always bored with them. I guess memory isn't that good. In retrospect, Deep Purple opened for the Faces in Long Beach. I can, however, still picture where I sat and remember specifically that Chris Squire wore a purple outfit with a matching cape. Also, I do remember Bill Bruford. I believe he was still with the band then. Ah, I just checked a site and I see where he most likely had left. Fortunately, I did see him perform soon after with King Crimson at the Hollywood Palladium, where I stood about 10 feet from the stage.

Do you, or anyone else reading this, know where I can get/collect those old "On Stage" programs. I remember them vividly.

Thanks, Elys, for bringing back those memories!

elysrand · Post by **elysrand** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 4:54 pm

I can send you scans of all eight pages of my copy of this On Stage, if you wish! It was definitely Alan White who played that night. Bruford had already left. Edgar Winter did Frankenstein as an extended instrumental-only set that night, lots of really long rides, etc.

shamustwin · Post by **shamustwin** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 7:31 am

I first saw Chris Squire at the 75th House of Blues show!

My pals were soooo envious. I was dumbfounded to see this icon close up and personal. A high point to be sure.

My current and only bassist and songwriting partner for my entire life (I was forced to switch to guitar) and I got together based on an ad I had put in Guitar Center Hollywood in the early '70's seeking a vocalist "into Yes".

We are still in a band together (the Shamus Twins) and occasionally something will pop up in a tune were working on that we recognize as having a bit of our "Yes" roots.

seabass · Post by **seabass** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 4:58 pm

The first time was Feb. 1974 in Miami. They did all of Tales and all of CTTE. Then in November they were back with Relayer (with Gryphon opening)! That was a pretty good year!

ben_brown · Post by **ben_brown** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 5:04 pm

Hey Elys...thanks for jogging my memory. I now remember when I first saw Yes.
I thought it may have been in 77 at the Cap Centre but I was unsure.
Now I remember it must have been in 75 because I do remember seeing Ace as well.
"How Long Has This Been Going On".... Man!... I hated that song!
I don't remember what songs Yes played however I do remember they were friggin awesome.
You can blame my memory loss on the 70's...Don't Bogart That.... Well you get the idea.

relayer4u · Post by **relayer4u** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 5:19 pm

1975 at the Capitol Center in Landover...

The set list that evening was:

Firebird Suite
Sound Chaser
Close To The Edge
And You And I
Gates Of Delirium
Your Move/Mood For A Day
Long Distance Runaround/Moraz Solo
Clap
Ritual
Roundabout
Starship Trooper

And your ticket may have looked liked this:

$6.00, hope it was worth it!

elysrand · Post by **elysrand** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 5:59 pm

Given that gas was 58 cents a gallon, it was the equivalent of 11 gallons of gas. Today, with gas closer to $3.20 per gallon, that ticket would be equivalent to $35 or so. A BARGAIN for seeing YES doing the Relayer Tour!

That venue is about 15 miles from my house too, so I know it well... but it is not "officially" called the Caps Centre anymore, it has been idiotically renamed to be one of those horrid corporate namesakes of some rapacious and revolting big donor who bought a place for their name on the side of the building with hundreds of millions of payola bribe... excuse me "market positioning benefactor fees" in the PC of the day...

henry5 · Post by **henry5** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 1:49 am

Amazing stuff guys!

I was unlucky in that I didn't get into Yes until late (around 1981/82 or so?) and didn't actually get to see them until the Union tour (Birmingham NEC), which to be honest was a bit of a disappointment. The next time I saw them they were fabulous; that was at Manchester Apollo with Koroshev on keys, IIRC. Magnificent gig, and Chris was superb. I've seen them 2 or 3 times since, with the best gigs being that one and the Symphonic gig, which was unbelievable. I went with a friend and he actually filled up when they started playing CTTE. I'll have to dig out my tickets and check the dates.

seyesbass · Post by **seyesbass** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 3:56 am

Hi Elys,
You are spot on with the dates.
Heres the ticket from that gig.
I will get some more info from my brother later on regarding the bass accident.
I remember at the gig following the release of Fragile ( one of a set of one off gigs they did after the release)that they played Southside of the Sky as an encore and there was another bass player jamming with them!My brother said he was from the Springfields.
Some girls climbed onstage and mobbed Jon Anderson.We reckon it was set up by Rick Wakeman.
Were you there too? I didnt wear my specs because of teenage embarassment at the Yes Album tour gig but I think Chris did play the same Rick as per the inside sleeve of The yes Album as well as his Fender Telecaster bass.
I think my brother has most of the other tickets we collected so I will try and get hold of them.
WE managed to get seats on the front row for the Topographic gigs looking at Wakemans feet!
I remember lots of technical stuff going on and possibly the whiff of curry!They did seem to have lots of roadies running around and it must have been hard work technically.
Chris played a Guild fretless on a stand for The Remembering and was really serious most likeley from concentrating on the songs.
Rick wakeman played "theres no business like showbusiness" as the band came back for the second part of the show...looking back there was more to that than appeared at first.
I think it was the intro to Heart of The Sunrise when Steve Howes guitar lead (curly of course)came out of the amp and flew past him...they did a lot of jumping around at those gigs.
At the Kings hall Belle Vue for CTTE which was also home for the Belle Vue Circus Jon Anderson remarked that he could still smell the camels!
Jons family were probably familiar with Belle Vue him being from Accrington.
The Hardrock in Stretford next to Old Trafford Cricket ground was on the CTTE tour 2nd leg and I heard that theres a local guy writing a history of that venue due out soon.David Bowie opened the venue on the Ziggy tour.Its now a B+Q hardware store.After Topographic there was a lengthy gap up to the Relayer gig at the Palace Theatre Manchester.After that they went into football grounds for the second set of Relayer gigs. Reading Rock 1975 was tremendous (apart from the rain..shades of Stoke City ground).Hows this for a Festival Saturday..Thin Lizzy Supertramp and YES?
I hope YES keep things smaller scale for the 40th and play theatres rather than arenas.
Heres hoping they manage a 40th tour.Oh and I meant 50p was 1 Dollar (my brain wasnt in gear!)

johnallg · Post by **johnallg** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 6:48 pm

Pete, if they choose to play theaters, I will have to send them a link to our beautiful theater - it is a real experience to see.

http://www.kazoostate.com/About_the_theatre.htm

It used to be 1 of 2 of our movie houses when I was young and it is where I say A Hard Day's Night and Help, not to mention all the great Disney flicks.

blue330 · Post by **blue330** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 9:36 am

I *thought* I saw YES at the Fillmore East in 1970, possibly opening for Humble Pie, but I can't find any mention of this show in casual on-line research.
So I thought maybe it was '71, and I did see the Bronx show with Mountain that summer, which I know was after I'd seen them the 1st time. But anyway...they were stunning. The Fillmore had such great sound, and it had that perfect balance where you were hearing the actual stage sound as well as the PA. It was amazing to hear those otherworldly sounds coming out of normal stuff like Fender Bandmasters (Showman, possibly?), Leslies, etc. and of course Chris Squire had the Sunn. The famous Sound was really strong and exciting. Ultimately I saw them 5 times, between The Yes Album and Yessongs, some of which I've heard was recorded at a Greensboro, NC which I attended. Don't know if that's true or not! They were such a distinctive band that all the bills seemed strange- I saw them with The Eagles, Ten Years After, Mountain, etc. Around this time, at least half the bass players I knew went from Precisions with flatwounds to 4001s with roundwounds!

elysrand · Post by **elysrand** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 2:17 pm

I could not find either Graham's Fillmore East in NYC, or his Fillmore West, as venues that YES ever played. They did play the following locations in NYC proper, though: Academy Of Music, Beacon Theatre, Forest Hills Tennis Center, Gaelic Park, Genesio College, Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, and the Ritz Theater

In San Francisco, only two: Winterland, and The Warfield. Of course, lots of appearances in the area too, like San Jose, Oakland, Berkeley, etc.

Mountain, now that was a one shot in Fresno back in 1976, cool that you saw that one! Ten Years After only did six shows with YES ever, so you were doubly fortunate to be there in California for one of those shows between 11/08/71 and 11/20/1971