Yes
Paramount Theater
Denver, Colorado, United States
November 9, 2025

Steve Howe
John Davison
Geoff Downes
Jay Schellen
Billy Sherwood

lineage: Sony ECM-717 (mic)* / Sony PCM-M10 (recorder) > 24/96 (some light limiter on some hand clapping plus fades added at the beginning and end of sets using Audacity) > CD wav (track splitting) > FLAC (using Traders Little Helper) Level 8

*note: internal mic used for first set, level set to automatic; manual setting used on second set

Tracklist (1:53:08):

01 Siberian Khatru
02 On The Silent Wings Of Freedom
03 Onward
04 Madrigal
05 Soon
06 Wonderous Stories
07 Circles Of Time
08 Tempus Fugit
09 Roundabout
10 Cans And Brahms
11 We Have Heaven
12 South Side Of The Sky
13 Five Percent For Nothing
14 Long Distance Runaround
15 The Fish
16 Mood For A Day
17 Heart Of The Sunrise
18 The Word
19 Starship Trooper

Notes: My history with Yes goes back to my high school years in the '80s. Like a lot of people from that time period, I came to them via 90125 and saw them for the first time in Denver on the Big Generator tour in March of 1988. Once I got into 90125, I realized that they had this whole other period in the '70s, but, ironically, the next album of theirs I got into was Drama! Then, I heard Rick Wakeman's keyboard solo on Yessongs, and just kept going deeper and deeper until, other than the Beatles, they became (and remain) my favorite band.

But, as I'm sure many Yes fans relate, they've put me through a lot of heartache over the years, the biggest being when they decided to tour without Jon Anderson in 2008. At first, I thought it was sort of cool idea that they were going out as "Howe Squire White of Yes" and playing some Drama songs and other stuff that they hadn't touched in a long time. But, one tour turned into calling themselves Yes officially, then more tours, then the Fly From Here album (which I loved), then Heaven & Earth (which I didn't), then Chris Squire died and then they decided to continue making albums under the Yes name.

It was a lot to take in, to the point that, by the time we saw them in 2023, I found myself questioning if I even wanted to go to concerts anymore. Being in our mid- to late-50s now, it takes a lot of motivation for my wife and I to get psyched up to be out late at night, hang with a crowd of people that are drunk and unnecessarily obnoxious and listen to really loud music being played by musicians either not the original performers or long past their prime.

Add in rising ticket prices, and we've been feeling pretty cynical about the concert industry of late. Which brings us to the most recent Yes concert in Denver, 2025.

This concert came at the end of a long, busy weekend. Firstly, I somewhat unexpectedly went to see Queensryche / Accept with some buddies on Friday, then woke up the next morning to drive with my wife to Fort Collins (about 75 miles from our house) to see our son and his girlfriend's new house, drove back, then went to Casa Bonita (which is also quite a drive from our house) with my brother and his family. So, after all that I've written here, I would've fully expected to have been dreading going out on a Sunday night to see Steve Howe's Yes.

Fortunately, this time, Yes far exceeded my expectations.

For starters, the Paramount Theater is our favorite vendor. It's got a huge ceiling, which makes the sound boomy and echoey, but it's very easy to access, they offer free parking (in downtown!) and it's just an all around easy experience. I had heard that the tour program this year was excellent, so we got in the merch line and bought one ($35 - well worth it!), then checked out the Roger Dean prints on the balcony level. After that, we got to our seats and we were very close - fifth row center. These seats are very tightly packed together, so while that wasn't great, our view of the stage was terrific - and, I'm happy to report, the people in front of us were not the typical giants that seem to find their way in front of us at every other show!

The show itself was a delight. It was great to have Siberian Khatru return as an opener, followed by a mini-suite of songs from Tormato - which may have left the casual attendee baffled, but was awesome for me. Is this the first tour that Madrigal has been played in its entirety? I don't love the arrangement of Silent Wings, but I'll take it. Also, the updated Soon arrangement added just enough of the "Gates" battle sequence to be a worthwhile listen (even if I'd prefer the whole thing) and Circles Of Time, while not the greatest Yessong of all, is a pleasant showcase for Jon Davison. Ending the first set with Tempus Fugit left me wanting more.

Of course, the draw of this tour is the performance of Fragile in its entirety. While it's not the first time they've played this album with Jon Davison and Geoff Downes, it is the first time they've done it since Chris Squire passed away. And, while it's not my personal favorite album, it is an essential part of their discogrpahy, so I approached this show with tentative interest. I'm happy to report that my wife and I very much enjoyed it - her favorite Yessong is South Side Of The Sky, so that was warmly received by her and I, and I was glad to see that the band worked out (or rehearsed) better arrangements for Five Percent and Cans and Brahms, as these were much better this tour than the last time Fragile was played. The rest of the album was solidly performed, with The Fish being a great opportunity for Billy Sherwood to simultaneously channel the fallen Squire and to stretch out into his own grooves.

The Word is a fun and surprising cover, though, Yes has a history of covering The Beatles (and, as noted above, they are my firm number one band), so that was welcome. If Starship Trooper is a bit time worn at this point, it still is a satisfying conclusion to a satisfying evening with Yes. Overall, this could've been the best performance by the Jon Davison-fronted version of this band (though the Topographic Drama tour was also very good).

There are still issues for me in accepting a Yes without Jon Anderson or Chris Squire. While Steve Howe is my favorite guitar player not named George Harrison or Paul McCartney, I'm not sure if his sense of quality control for a band with such exacting standards as Yes is there - The Quest and Mirror In The Sky are decent records, though far below in my estimation of even Fly From Here (much less any of the classic canon). That said, as they note in the performance, this version of Yes has outlasted any other lineup. I guess that means something and I find myself back to where I've been for the last 40 years - if there's a band calling itself Yes, playing Yes music, I'm probably going to be there for it.

A couple of comments about the recording: I had some user errors just as the show was starting, so I pulled my mic and did the first set with the external mic. At the intermission, I realized that I had also set the recording level to automatic. These were problems were corrected in time for the second set and encore. Also, because I was holding the PCM, my wife was gracious enough to take pictures during the first set. I wish that all of you find (or have) the kind of loving relationship that I have with my wife - not the least of which because she has been to every Yes show that I have, including that first one in 1988, before we even met!

I've included 10 photos taken from our seats - they ain't art, but they give you an idea of the stage set-up and how the show looked from where we sat. That said, being as close as we were, these are amongst the best pictures I've taken at a concert.

Finally: please don't sell the recording, but, otherwise, do with it what you wish. Share it and trade it, and remember: these and other greats will not be around forever, so, let's enjoy them while we have them. Best wishes to all of the fans out there and Namaste.

Images for all shows as well as full size images for this show.

Images for this show: