Tribute to stand-in as he nails Yes classics
Exactly twenty-nine years ago this week, prog rock supergroup Yes courted controversy at Birmingham Odeon by fielding another singer in the place of the band's beloved Jon Anderson. Last night they were at it again.
Yes
Symphony Hall, Birmingham
Concert review by Ian Harvey
Exactly twenty-nine years ago this week, prog rock supergroup Yes courted controversy at Birmingham Odeon by fielding another singer in the place of the band's beloved Jon Anderson.
On that occasion it was Buggles frontman Trevor Horn, in a performance that fell some way short of triumphant.
See our concert photo gallery below
Last night Yes were at it again. now fronted by a singer who used to be . . . in a Yes tribute band.
When Anderson was sidelined by a serious respiritory illness last year, Yes recruited Canadian singer Benoît David so that the band's 40th anniversary tour could be rescued.
Many fans have found it strange, with Anderson now returned to fitness and full voice (as he showed at a superb solo gig at the Robin 2 in July) that he has not returned to the fold. He, himself, has called the move "disrespectful".
Not only that, but in the place of the band's legendary keyboard player Rick Wakeman is his son, Oliver.
But where Yes have scored this time is that unlike Horn, David absolutely nails Anderson's voice and vocal mannerisms. Six songs in, he earned the first of many standing ovations of the night with And You And I.
Yes were always a band made to be seen live. On record they can be very English and pastoral. Live the sound is huge, driven by Chris Squire's relentless bass and Alan White's polyrhythmic drumming.
Steve Howe may look impossibly frail these days, but his guitar playing isn't, at once angular, spiky and thrilling.
It was a set both familiar - Starship Trooper, Roundabout and Owner Of A Lonely Heart - and full of rarities, with Onward, Tempus Fugit and Astral Traveller brushed down and dusted off to great effect.
At the end of the two-and-a-half hour set 80 per cent of the audience were on their feet.
But good as David is, there was always the nagging sensation that you were watching an exceedingly good impression, a 'Stars In Their Eyes' Jon Anderson. It was as if a favourite uncle had been replaced by a stranger at a family do who was just as witty and charming as the real thing. You wanted to love him . . . but not just yet.
