I realize I’m not exactly surrounded by a vast sea of Yes fans. We’re few and far between, and with every further Spinal Tap-esque step our beloved band takes, our numbers dwindle even more.
Perhaps no step the band could have taken would epitomize their claim to the title of “real-life Spinal Tap” more than the tour they’ve undertaken this year. With legendary lead singer Jon Anderson facing a long recuperation from acute respiratory failure, and longtime keyboardist Rick Wakeman no longer up to the rigors of touring either, the band forged ahead on the potentially dangerous decision to have Rick’s son Oliver fill in on the keyboard duties, and they (temporarily) replaced Jon Anderson with a guy named Benoit David, lead singer of a Montreal-based Yes tribute band that bassist Chris Squire discovered on the Internet.
True fans may see parallels between the current situation and the infamous period in 1980 when, faced with the abrupt departure of Anderson and Wakeman (Anderson’s first, Wakeman’s second), the band recruited The Buggles as replacements, because they happened to be recording in the same studio at the time.
Trevor Horn may be a great producer (may be), and he’s a decent enough singer. But he could never be a replacement for Jon Anderson, and not just because Chris Squire made him perform songs at Madison Square Garden after only having heard them on a cassette during the limo ride to the gig. (Does it really happen? It can happen.)
Although I have seen Yes live more than any other band (five times), I had no intention of seeing them on this tour. That may be in part because it would’ve required driving to Milwaukee, but I’ve driven to Milwaukee for a concert by a prog rock dinosaur before (King Crimson in 2000). Mostly, though, I was afraid of Benoit David.
Then I saw this:
Pardon the poor sound and picture quality. Apparently Yes is OK with having video from someone’s cell phone represent them on their official site. So be it. But the lack of visual clarity only helps to reinforce the message I’m trying to convey here. You wouldn’t know by looking (the white pants, the vest, the quasi-conductor dancing) — or by listening — but no, that’s not Jon Anderson. It’s Benoit David. And now I get why Chris Squire was so excited to bring him in as a substitute. Too bad teh interwebz didn’t exist 28 years ago.
And too bad we can’t shut up the tone-deaf holder of the cell phone.
Full disclosure of geekdom: 8 or 9 years ago, before Yesworld was established, I ran a Yes fan website — well, it actually poked fun at the band, song by song, album by album, but it was done out of love — and I was approached to be the webmaster for the band’s official site. It was not a paid gig, of course — I would’ve just been compensated with some merch, backstage passes, stuff like that. I decided it was too much work for too little reward; plus, it would probably mean I’d have to take down my own site. Which I eventually did anyway.
Hey, I didn’t realize Yes members were having troubles. I’m a Yes fan, going back not quite as far as being a Rush fan, but close!
Keep talking about Yes, and I’ll keep coming back here. :)
As a long-time fan of (and poker of fun at) Yes, I would very much like to see some of your loving mockery content from your old defunct website. And I’m pretty sure I can get both my brother and Jw to back me up on this request, legitimizing the “(s)” in your title. Yes (Jon in particular) is so lovable and ridiculous at once.
Anyway, that Benoit character is pretty remarkable, but it’s kind of sad, too. You know how some bands (Rush, King Crimson, etc.) continue to evolve no matter how old they get, even if it means losing fans that stopped evolving with them? I count Yes in this crowd. I do not count Journey in this crowd. When Journey put the amazing Filipino Steve Perry-mimic Arnel Pineda, at the microphone, this sealed the deal. Not that they were particularly progressive in the first place, but when you bring in a mimic, you show that you’re trying to continue present what you used to be as a band—to play to your ageing, nostalgic audience. But with this Benoit David playing the role of Jon Anderson it kind of seems like a stepping-in-place rather than stepping forward, as I expect them to always (at least intend to) do. Perhaps it’s just temporary. Perhaps once Jon comes back they’ll get back to doing what they do, progressing artistically if not necessarily sonically.
D’oh! Looks like Jeff posted while I was typing up my comment. There. It’s official. There are other Yes fans out here in your universe.
True, hearing Benoit David, I almost immediately thought of Journey. I am not too worried about this happening with Yes though. Even though I don’t think they’ve managed to stay quite as artistically relevant in their old age as King Crimson or Rush, I do feel like there’s still a desire to create by the band, or at least to make art, not just make money (although the money of course is still probably the driving force at this stage).
There’s certainly a risk of this with a Jon Anderson mimic, but I think there are a few key differences: 1) Jon Anderson has not left the band — he’s just unable to tour at the moment; 2) Benoit David knows he’s just a temporary fill-in, and he expects after the tour to return to his leather repair business in Montreal (yeah… did I mention Spinal Tap yet?); and 3) Yes has a history of picking itself up and moving forward despite these occasionally laughable foibles, whereas Journey, as talented as they are, have not built such a legacy.
What it really comes down to is that Steve, Chris and Alan were up for the tour; Rick and Jon were not. They want the money, I’m sure, but I believe them when they say they were just too excited to get out there and play music to let the opportunity slip away. Let’s also not forget that this is their first opportunity in 28 years to play music from Drama live, since Jon (and, when he’s been around, Rick) would have none of it.
Incidentally, did you guys see Yes a few years back (2004, IIRC) when Dream Theater was opening for them? Great show all around, the first time I got to see them with Rick instead of Igor (and no more Billy Sherwood), got to finally hear them play “South Side of the Sky” live, but what really floored me was when Dream Theater played “Machine Messiah!”
BTW, I do still have the old Yes pages archived somewhere, I think. I’ve been planning a large-scale reorg of room34.com including bringing back some of my old sites from the ’90s like the Yes site and my trilogy of movie fan sites (Saturday Night Fever, Fletch and The Jerk). It may happen in 2009, but don’t hold your breath… I have a few other more pressing projects at the moment. (But maybe I’ll email you the old archives if you want.)
I remember your 90’s web sites and they were awesome. The Yes site in particular was quite funny.
See, now, if they’d been thinking, they’d've replaced Rick with David Benoit, just to confuse people.
Some people think there is some cheese served up having a tribute band singer step in. Except that this guy is incredible. I think with him they sound truer to the 70-75 period at least from the vinyl perspective. Classic bands performing live seems to be an industry now and if people agree the band is greater than the sum of its parts then this crew is way better than the Buggles failed experiment. David is so good in fact I would love to hear him sing with Anderson for another layer of harmonies. If you go through all the clips one can dig up this In the Present (WTF?) performances of Siberian Khatru, Starship Trooper, Machine Messiah (it actually sounds good now!) and Onward sound to me like they have reached another level of professionalism while performing. The stuff is very true to the disk and they are paying attention to a lot of detail. I saw both the Tales and Relayer tours which were pretty incredible but they never played for the joy they are showing now. They are trying a lot harder and it shows. This is Howe at his best at least since the ‘75 Relayer tour. Squire is getting better with age no question. They may be really old for rock and roll but rock and roll is a vintage stage product these days anyhow. I can see why Anderson might be ticked. This new guy nails it. They have shown over the years that their stage is pretty big so Anderson stepping back in at some point has to happen. Anderson should be happy fans still rave and clap at their shows for the music and not just the personalities. That has to be worth something.