Yes

****

Brighton Centre, March 21

THE purveyors of what became the progressive rock that we all know and love/loathe, Yes once again descended upon Brighton Centre bringing with them arguably the most ardent congregation of classic-rock fans this side of 1973.

As part of their 50th Anniversary 10-date tour, this incarnation of the band featured long-term mainstays guitarist Steve Howe and drummer Alan White, but founding vocalist Jon Anderson and keyboard extraordinaire Rick Wakeman were noticeable absentees - not that this irked the dedicated fanbase who are no doubt accepting of the revolving-door policy.

Opening what was to be a mammoth set with Siberian Khatru, the inventive Yes seamlessly flowed into South Side Of The Sky before taking a short breather to introduce themselves to the audience, during in which they reserved a heartfelt tribute to founding bassist Chris Squire who was ever-present in the band until his untimely death in 2015.

Having bewitched the crowd for just over an hour, the first-half of proceedings was bookended with And You And I and this was where the alto-tenor timbre of Jon Anderson’s voice was distinctly missed.

His replacement Jon Davison injected new energy into the ensemble, but the tone of his singing-voice disappointingly teetered on sounding Journey-esque.

This run of anniversary shows were promoted on the premise that excerpts of UK chart-topping album Tales From Topographic Oceans would be bestowed upon those present, and they kept to that premise in fine fashion.

Once the short intermission was over, Yes resumed with a blistering rendition of The Revealing Science Of God/Dance Of The Dawn much to the delight of the crowd who had again buckled in for a cosmic ride, to which the spacey, vibrant lighting and visuals went hand-in-hand.

Kudos to Steve Howe as he showed no signs of ageing with his nimble and intricate application, displayed magnificently with a solo interlude on a classical guitar.

It was difficult to tell whether or not anyone was even enjoying each performance as there was an unnerving stasis within the audience, but this could’ve partly been down to it being a seated event (three hours is a long time for anyone to stand up for in fairness) or just being awestruck and observing the band in full force.

Completing the set with Ritual/Nous Sommes Du Soleil, each member of the band were introduced before departing the stage.

An opportunity for the audience to show their gratitude was grasped wholeheartedly as they rose to their feet and applauded until Yes arrived back on stage.

Roundabout duly rounded off matters, and although Yes weren’t quite able to transport the crowd back to the heyday of prog-rock, their earnest and exuberant performance came close to the edge.

Thomas Curtis-Horsfall