Yes
The Royal Affair Tour (Live From Las Vegas)
(BMG Rights Management)
You really can’t keep a good prog band down. The classic band Yes, currently consisting of Steve Howe, Alan White, Jay Schellen playing additional drums, Geoff Downes, Jon Davison, and Billy Sherwood, have shouldered on despite personal changes and original members’ deaths. On their 26-date, “The Royal Affair Tour,” they happened to stop into Sin City, and this is where and when this new live record was recorded.
Here we get old Yes, like their version of Richie Haven’s “No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed,” that they open this near dozen with, round through classics from their cannon, like “I’ve Seen All Good People,” and “Siberian Khatru,” There is also, as anyone would doubt, “Roundabout” and “Starship Trooper.” There was more to this show than what is represented here, but this is a tight little live set to enjoy.
The band also manages an interesting take on John Lennon’s “Imagine,” (before joining Yes, Alan White played on the original recording of this John Lennon classic), and the band takes a deep dive playing one of my personal favorite Yes tracks, and a killer one at that, “Onward,” from their Tormato album. It’s especially poignant that the man who wrote the tune and sung such great harmonies on it, original Yes bassist and the only member to appear on all of their studio recordings, Chris Squire, died in 2015.
The Royal Affair Tour (Live From Las Vegas) from Yes is an album you should definitely say “Yes,” to.
