(008382) Yes 2023-09-24 College Street Music Hall, New Haven, CT

 

Yes

2023-09-24

College Street Music Hall

New Haven, CT

Steve Howe - guitar, vocals

Geoff Downes - keyboards, vocals

Jon Davison - vocals, acoustic guitar, percussion, keyboards

Billy Sherwood - bass, vocals

Jay Schellen - drums, percussion

A Kitty Lickin' Discs Production

DISC ONE

1. Benjamin Britten's Young Person's Guide To The Orchestra

2. Going For The One

3. It Will Be A Good Day

4. Machine Messiah

5. I've Seen All Good People

6. America (abbreviated)

7. Time And A Word

8. South Side Of The Sky

9. Turn Of The Century

DISC TWO

10. Don't Kill The Whale

11. Cut Through The Stars

12. Tales From Topographic Oceans Medley (The Revealing Science Of God, The Remembering, The Ancient (Leaves Of Green), Ritual)

13. Roundabout

14. Starship Trooper

Lineage: SP-CMC-2 (AT831) > SP-SPSB-8 > R0DE Micro > iPhone 14 Pro (Twisted Wav App) > Air Drop (Mac transfer) > Wavelab Elements 11 > Amadeus Pro (track splitting) > xACT (SBE/FLAC Conversion)

Recorded by: Relayer35

Comments: I like this lineup, and enjoying seeing them perform live. It's not the same magical feeling I got from the Classic Yes tours of old, but those times are gone and are never coming back (sadly, since two of the members have passed). This lineup has been together in some form since 2016 (except for the short 2017 where Jay Schellen wasn't present), and I think they really gel musically. That being said, I don't think the Tales medley really worked. I thought the edits were too jarring, especially during "The Revealing". "What happened to this song, that we knew so well" indeed! It might have been better had they just picked a five minute section of each song, instead of trying to take so many bits and pieces from each track. They also omitted my favorite sections of Tales, the keyboard solo in "The Revealing" and the drum bit from "Ritual". The same can be said for the abbreviated version of "America", which Steve called "Southern Solo". Why not play the whole the song? I was also hoping they would play more of "Mirror To The Sky". I have really enjoyed the last two albums, and feel that they should be playing more of them. Surely a song like "All Connected" or "Luminosity" would go over as well as the sloggy "Time And A Word" or a sloppy rendition of "Don't Kill The Whale".

On a positive note, I do like how this band is willing to expand beyond the three key early 70's albums. The setlist touched on a few different eras. It was great to hear "It Will Be A Good Day", and nice to include some material from Billy's first stint with the band. "Machine Messiah" and "South Side Of The Sky" were great, and "Turn Of The Century" was beautiful. Hearing even a little bit of "The Remembering" was also wonderful. I think they could have skipped the whole medley thing and just played that song, and it would have gone over just as well.

As for the recording, I am surprised at how well it came out. I've seen other shows at this venue, but I never felt the acoustics were all that great here. I didn't think the sound was great at this show either, despite being dead center in the first row of the balcony. From my experience here, that's pretty much the sweet spot. Luckily, the recording came out well, and I was able to brighten the sound a bit. My streak of attending concerts and not sitting near obnoxious people ended. To my left was a man who liked to scream out things during quiet sections, and the whistler was sitting next to him. Thankfully, most of this was between songs, and I was able to edit it out. Overall, I'm really pleased with how this recording came out.

PLEASE DO NOT USE AS A SOURCE FOR A MATRIX.

Please share this recording in unaltered lossless quality. If you need to remaster, or something, let me know, and I can provide the unedited raw master (without EQ/volume tweaks) for you to use.

https://mega.nz/file/mc1BDayC#A8YsX6UaRneeZyz1Hx_9ZrSUlBgP9fXbV98kiEseYRw