Yes - Symphonic Live [2 DVDs]

Wie so oft: 5 Sterne reichen eigentlich gar nicht aus.
In einem Alter, in dem andere sogenannte "Stars" längst nur noch alte Tantiemen einstreichen und ansonsten irgendwo am Strand liegen, beweisen Yes noch eine Spielfreude, die ihresgleichen sucht. Neue Stücke des letzten Studioalbums "Magnification" und ältere wie "I've seen all good people", "Close to the edge" oder "Owner of a lonely heart" (vom zu Unrecht als Kommerz-Pop verschrieenen Album "90125") werden mit Hilfe des European Festival Orchestra organisch zu komplexen Klangteppichen verwoben, die nur so vor Energie und Einfallsreichtum strotzen und das Publikum nicht lange auf den Stühlen halten. Immer sind neue Elemente dabei, durch die die bekannten Studioversionen neu interpretiert werden.

Obwohl ich viele Yes-Aufnahmen kenne, saß auch ich beim ersten Hören zeitweise mit offenem Mund völlig konsterniert vor dem Bildschirm.
Bro'sis, No Angels, und wie ihr alle heißt: Ihr könnt alle einpacken! Schaut Euch hier mal an, was ihr nicht könnt!

Nicht umsonst steht auf der Cover-Rückseite verschmitzt "be warned: this is no dry 'rock plays the classics' affair" ...
Für Keyboarder noch ein Anspieltipp: Das Solo im bombastischen Finale von "Starship Troopers" von Tom Brislin gehört zum Besten, was ich je gehört habe.

On November 21st and 22nd 2001 Yes visited the Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam and gave 2 concerts of which I visited the first one and didn't see the 2nd one (story of my life), that was filmed and is now available on video and DVD.
During the concert on the first evening I had a seat on the second row just before Jon Anderson and I noticed that the orchestra was not good coming trough the mix. A fact that completely was restored on the DVD version where a beautiful mix of band and orchestra is achieved. The DTS sound gives it all an extra dimension .
The concert starts with an overture by the orchestra, that is not visible at that moment. The background is a Roger Dean-like landscape.
After the intro the band starts with the epic Close to the Edge and, immediately, you sense the asset the orchestra is for this song. It brought tears in my eyes from emotion to see young orchestra members with such dedication to music that was written before they were even born. Also on screen there appear icons for animation in the background and there are multiple camera-angles in this song possible.
Next is Long Distance Runaround from the Fragile album with a beautiful orchestra opening that is really an asset to the song.
From the new album Magnification they played Don't go first. I think it's not their most powerful track of the album and it surprised me the song did it live very well.
In the Presence Off, also from their latest album, are, together with Dreamtime, my favourites. In arrangement and length it's a 2001 Yes semi-epic.
Then, oh my God, finally, after all these years, Gates of Delirium is been introduced. Together with C.T.T.E this is the mother of all Yes epics. Tom Brislin really showed his craftsmanship in the "war" part of the song. This is a perfect song to play with an orchestra and you can hear that they do a perfect job in the changeover from the "war" part to the "peace" part of the song .Soon oh Soon let's the song end in a sea of tranquillity. Multi-camera angles and animations of war are also visible during this song.
After this epic we are attended by maestro Steve Howe and he entertains us with his guitar virtuoso by playing two songs of his solo albums.
Another golden oldie is Starship Trooper from the Yesalbum. During this song the orchestra has leave of absence and immediately you get an "unplugged" feeling when they are not there. The harmonies are perfect in this song and the only drawback is the shifting from the 1st layer to the second layer on the DVD and the lack of the Wakeman solo on his moog during the end of the song because Brislin played it a little thin in my opinion.
Anderson states that the day before they played the next song for the first time live and he introduces the title track of their last album; Magnification. One of the highlights of their album and played perfectly on stage.
It's back to 1972 with And You And I. Played live a zillion times but never lost it's charisma. In the multi-camera angle you can see animation with 2 robots.
If you haven't seen this, you ain't seen nothing yet ; Ritual, from the "Tales" album is one of the four tracks of this double album and one of two, for me, accessible tracks. The drum part in the middle with Anderson, Squire, Brislin and White makes it an attraction of the first order. What an energy pours out of that song!
From the time of it's first release on the Yesalbum "I,ve Seen All Good People"has always been a great rock song that survived decades of rock history. So get up and boogie: as Anderson says in the intro to the audience.
On the first evening (November 21th) Steve and Chris got into an argument if they should play "Owner" from the 90125 album or not. Clearly it has never been Steve's favourite and they didn't play it the first evening. The second evening (November 22nd) with all the cameras rolling, Steve had to make concessions and "Owner" was played before the last song from this evening; Roundabout from the Fragile album. During this song the stage is filled with all the members of the orchestra waving and dancing on the music and expressing their joy of being part of performing in timeless music by a timeless band.
Yes, what a wonderful, magical evening it was. Every bit of it captured on a perfect DVD.

Seit der Gründung von Yes dabei, bin ich von dieser DVD mehr als begeistert!. Chris Sqire und Alan White bilden auch diesmal wieder den soliden Background für filigrane Yessounds, und der sehr gute Keyboarder Tom Brislin unterstützt eigene Sounds - ohne die übliche Wakemansche Dominanz - mit viel Einfühlungsvermögen das European Festival Orchestra.
Gitarrist Steve Howe liegt das klassische Ambiente sowieso (wie er schon oft unter Beweis stellte) und brilliert solistisch mit (u.a.) 'Mood For A Day', was er, selbst nach all den Jahren, in einem immer wieder erfrischend neuen Kleid präsentiert (versteht man ein wenig vom Gitarrenspiel, fällt einem bestimmt die genial überarbeitete Basstimme auf).
Frontman Jon Anderson macht seinen Job besser denn je. So lockert er seine Ansagen durch kleine Anekdoten auf und gibt somit seine Begeisterung über dieses Konzert ans Publikum weiter. Seine einzigartige Stimme fügt sich nahtlos in das Gesamtgefüge ein. Somit kommen auch die mehrstimmigen Passagen brillant und sauber zur Geltung, woran Chris Sqires Zweitstimme keinen geringen Anteil hat.
Mit der Verpflichtung des European Festival Orchestras haben Yes einen absoluten Glücksgriff getan. Das aus überwiegend jungen Musikern bestehende Orchester legt eine Spielfreude und Frische an den Tag, was zu einer Bereicherung der ohnehin schon hervorragenden Kompositionen beiträgt.
Bleibt abschließend zu bemerken, daß diese DVD ein weiterer Meilenstein in der Yes-Biographie ist und der heutzutage ach so oberflächlichen und schnellebigen Musikszene zeigt, das Kunst immer noch von Können kommt.