YES
Taste Of Chicago
Petrillo Band Shell
Grant Park
Chicago, IL USA
July 8, 2000
ex- to ex MONO aud

Kansas opened for Yes.

Lineage -

Imation 80 min. CD-Rs (very low gen, received in trade) >
Cakewalk Pyro 2005 (ripped CD-Rs here onto HD) >
Cakewalk Pyro 2005 (retracked and edited wav files here on HD) >
Trader's Little Helper (new wav files to flac,
encode level 8, aligned on sector boundaries)


This is 99% complete. The wav file shapes of each song
(left & right channels) were IDENTICAL, hence the
identification of the recording as monaural, which
also explains the low 327 MB size of the show.

I have three versions of this concert: my own (version 1), my
friend's (version 2) and this one (version 3). This one sounds
better by far than the other two because I'm sure that it was
taped in the seated area close to the stage. There's very little
talking in this one whereas the other 2 have a lot of drunken
scumbag babbling in them (no fault of the tapers). My version is
stereo and is absolutely complete. Version 2 is slightly incomplete
but sounds virtually identical to mine as we were standing side-by-side
when we were recording. This one (version 3) is missing only the intro
music and is mono but it sounds GREAT !!! Don't let the mono scare you
away ; remember, even with 2 mics, the stereo separation of any of
these stealth recordings is so slight that they may as well be
considered mono for all practical purposes. IF there is sufficient
interest, kindly old Uncle Jojo will unleash all three versions on an
innocent and unsuspecting Dime public. What a prince of a guy !!! Let
me know if y'all want the other 2 and give me some time...

I attended the concert and taped my show so I'll give you as accurate a
description as I can. It was a hot, beautiful day in downtown Chicago, IL
but it was a free show so it was MAYHEM. By the time I parked the car in
a garage and crossed that big street into Grant Park, the place was packed.
There was an area that one could buy tickets for and sit through the shows but
the tickets were long sold out. Every drunken downtown Chicago scumbag/deadbeat
was there and I could see that this was going to be a hellish show as far as
"audience participation" was concerned. I made my way through the crowd and saw
an empty area but the view of the stage was blocked by a giant "backstop" for
lack of a better term. I figured that I didn't need to see the bands to tape them
so WTF. When I first got there, there was almost nobody in this area. As soon as
the music started, however, the drunken idiots started to filter in and soon it
was recess at the looney bin. Everybody was blabbing as if no bands were there.
I could see a little through the backstop and caught glimpses of Yes but the
sound quality of MY show was wonderful except for the loaded assholes.

The SQ of this one is really good ; vocals and instruments are all clearly heard.
I believe that this recording is uncirculated. There was one other taper there
who ended up standing right next to me !! We both got Yes (he had a minidisc
recorder IIRC) but his version is slightly incomplete for unknown reasons. I
could barely see the stage so I have no great visual news to impart. Jon was in
excellent voice but sounded very stoned ; you'll hear examples on the recording.
I cannot believe that this show happened 10 years ago ! My, how time flies when
you're getting old...that's about all that I have for this show so let's get the
ball rolling...

Finally, please don't buy, sell or convert this show to mp3 or any other
lossy format. Please seed this as long as you can. Please trade this freely
as it is almost certainly uncirculated. This show will be a welcome addition
to any Yes fan's collection. I will post a sample to help some of you decide
whether or not to download it but it's really unnecessary. So, as Mr. Natural
is so fond of saying, have fun, don't freak out and enjoy the concert !

jojogunne 7/30/2010