A man conceived a moment’s answer to the dream. Jon Anderson recaptures his muse with an injection of musical excellence from the Band Geeks. Yesmusic as it should be.

Release Date: 14th March 2025

Label: Frontiers

Format: 2CD+DVD / Digital / 3LP

BEYOND TRUE

Jon Anderson and his Band Geeks pals might have shown with their True album, that there was more to them than simply firing out the Yes classics like they meant it, yet there’s no escaping the roots. Giving the fans what they want. And on tour they’ve been doing exactly that.

Immortalised in two hours of prime Yes is the entire show from the Arcada Theater in St. Charles, Illinois on their August 2023 summer tour. Ten tracks with all bar one over fifty years old and the fact that Jon is eighty and still singing these songs like an angel are a testament to the longevity of that period of Yesmusic that’s never been bettered and Anderson’s passion to keep it alive.

WHAT THE FANS WOULD WANT

Nothing’s missing. This is the Yesmusic the fans want to hear. No room for Owner Of A Lonely Heart or anything past 1977. A few might be busy moaning that there’s no Topographic music or anything from Going For The One or Tormato beyond Awaken but that’s churlish nit picking to the nth degree.

True, Anderson has picked a band that can do justice. They’ve proved their worth not just with Jon although their skills in playing this music are beyond competent. At their core, Richie Castellano provides a necessary immense presence on bass and they way he and his colleagues attack some of the instrumental passages is most impressive. The most intense highpoint is arguably to be the five minute ‘battle’ section of Gates Of Delirium. The fervour and fury with which the band play the that sequence sees them reproducing the parts with a power and aggression. A piece of music that’s been missing in action from the Yes setlists for too long and maybe a reason why the current Yes don’t play anything from Relayer.

A HIGHER POWER AT WORK

There are some moments Jon sounds a little fragile. Forgivable, yet in other moments he’s channelling what must be a higher power. In particular, the mid song crescendo of And You And I ranks with the Master Of Images section of Awaken that sees the Yes spirit soaring at its most glorious.

Yes, the show is about Anderson but the band certainly earn their crust, doing fair justice to the complexity of the music. The Wurm section of Starship Trooper gets the kitchen sink treatment and the intricacies and dynamics of Close To The Edge are dealt with as though they’d been playing them for their fifty years of existence. From the chaotic opening to the grandiose I Get Up I Get Down and the multipart harmonies.

Jon and the Geeks make the music ‘as Yes’ as it could possibly be. Maybe not Yes in name but with Jon at the front, it’s Yes (or are we talking Yesmusic?) in spirit and played by a team who arguably do the catalogue a greater and more reverential justice more than the recording and touring outfit who carry the name. Genesis called it ‘the river of constant change’. With Yes, it’s about ‘perpetual change’ but a change that’s kept the legacy alive and with legs.

Here’s Your Move/All Good People:

Jon Anderson: Website / Facebook / X  / Instagram

Band Geeks: Website

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