Wednesday, February 19, 2014

YES goes roundabout 1978

 TARRANT COUNTY CONVENTION CENTER


Prog-rock legends Yes performed at the Tarrant County Convention Center arena in Ft Worth Texas on October 1st 1978. The show featured a round stage that spun slowly one direction and then the other direction when a new song started and vice-versa. This allowed all the amplifiers and PA systems to be suspended in the air above the stage. They all pointed outward in a radial configuration.
As a result the sound quality was EXCELLENT. Probably the best of any concert I ever attended. The stage was situated at the opposite end of the floor from a normal stage location, so the usually bad loge and balcony seats were now great seats. The floor seats were facing a reverse direction than normal and were on an inclined set of risers. As a result there were no bad seats for this show. The band was touring for the "Tormato" album with no backup band. They played approximately 3 hours and incorporated songs from every album released up to that point. I was always a huge fan of this band and was mesmerized by this show. They managed to sound just like their studio albums, and I think the sound was much better than on the "Yessongs" album and film(which is still really good). The ticket cost was $8.00 for the balcony. The band lineup was Jon Anderson, Chris Squire, Steve Howe, Rick Wakeman and Alan White. True professional musicianship. No stage gimmicks needed...Postscript: I saw this same lineup(i'm not totally sure Alan White was the drummer) at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell pavilion in the Woodlands TX on august 15th 2002. Another fantastic show, but not in the round at this open air pavilion.