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The YES concert - a snapshot memory
Jul. 21st, 2002 06:52 pmWhat a wonderful concert! The Shoreline Amphitheatre is an open air place with big white canvas tent-like covering over the stage and about half the seats. We were just over halfway up on one side. On the way in we got tie-dye tour shirts. I ended up putting mine on during an intermission because there was a bit of a cool breeze and I hadn't brought my jacket.
When YES started playing, it was still daylight. Birds were swooping over the crowd. They were black with tan undersides. I think they were swallows eating the bugs gathering to bite us. The birds were barely missing people's heads. One even buzzed Rick Wakeman while he was playing! He didn't miss a note. The music was beautiful and flowing over us. I looked back over the crowd. The sky was at its most beautiful! The wispy clouds were glowing hot pink against a medium teal blue sky. I touched Eric's arm and leaned over to tell him "Look at the sky!" He did. I said, "Snapshot memory time!"
He grabbed my hand and squeezed it. "Yup!" he agreed and he leaned over to rub his head on mine. YES had gathered set list suggestions from fans for this concert series. They played most of Eric's favorite songs from their early days. I didn't recognize many of them but it doesn't matter. I love their music. I love the mixture of classical and rock styles. It's heady emotional stuff. I don't um... "party" anymore but I don't need to. I can get into the feeling of the music without outside help. The aroma of other people partying probably didn't hurt. ;)
Eric was so cute! They'd start the intro to a song and he'd say "Oh! This is my favorite song!" then the next one they'd start, he'd say, "No, THIS is my favorite song!" LOL
The only downside of this concert is that for some reason they kept shining colored spotlights on the crowd from the back of the stage. Bright lights actually hurt me. My glasses have a slight rose tint because regular fluorescent lights bother my eyes and give me a headache. Sudden spotlights in my eyes when I'm sitting in the dark HURT. I spent about half the concert with my hands blocking the stage from view. Luckily they've got a screen that shows closeups of the band members throughout the concert. I was able to watch that. Even Eric who isn't sensitive to bright lights was upset about it. I'm going to email them and let them know they're annoying people. I didn't pay 50 bucks a ticket to NOT look at the stage! I'm planning to tease them by saying they shouldn't worry about looking old, because their fans are growing old too. They don't need to blind us with bright lights so we don't notice their jowls and wrinkles!
Well there was also another bad thing. We each got a polish sausage on the way in because we hadn't had dinner. I don't know if mine was bad or if something else I ate earlier was bad, but toward the end of the concert I started having warning pains that my belly wasn't happy. We had noticed that the shirts we bought didn't have the tour venue list on the back and we wanted that so we decided to get the black T-shirts with that too. As we waited in line at the booth my belly let me know it wasn't going to let me get home before giving in to it, so I handed the money to Eric and said I had to hit the ladies room NOW. By the time I was OK to come back out, he had one of each of the black shirt designs. I barely made it home before the next wave hit me. Eric had a similar experience a few days ago and couldn't figure out what he'd eaten. Just in case it's a virus I'm staying away from my dad.
Even so, the music was wonderful and it was great to see Rick Wakeman. He didn't look well but he played beautifully as always. He didn't wear a spangly cape this time, he was wearing a long white trenchcoat. He must have been hot up there. All of them were wearing long sleeves and long pants and jackets. They took a break in the middle which is unlike them. They only did one encore which is also unlike them. I hope this isn't Rick's final tour. Eric pointed out that the first time he took me to see YES (at Shoreline in 1993) that Chris Squire looked ill. There is mention on Jon Anderson's webpage that Chris felt better the next year, so I guess we were right. He was dancing around like a silly guy two years ago when we saw them at the Fillmore in San Francisco, and again last night.
It was a fun night. Plus I've got that wonderful snapshot memory. I like to do that, make a point of remembering a specific moment that really moves me. The next time I count my blessings, that snapshot memory will be in the stack!
When YES started playing, it was still daylight. Birds were swooping over the crowd. They were black with tan undersides. I think they were swallows eating the bugs gathering to bite us. The birds were barely missing people's heads. One even buzzed Rick Wakeman while he was playing! He didn't miss a note. The music was beautiful and flowing over us. I looked back over the crowd. The sky was at its most beautiful! The wispy clouds were glowing hot pink against a medium teal blue sky. I touched Eric's arm and leaned over to tell him "Look at the sky!" He did. I said, "Snapshot memory time!"
He grabbed my hand and squeezed it. "Yup!" he agreed and he leaned over to rub his head on mine. YES had gathered set list suggestions from fans for this concert series. They played most of Eric's favorite songs from their early days. I didn't recognize many of them but it doesn't matter. I love their music. I love the mixture of classical and rock styles. It's heady emotional stuff. I don't um... "party" anymore but I don't need to. I can get into the feeling of the music without outside help. The aroma of other people partying probably didn't hurt. ;)
Eric was so cute! They'd start the intro to a song and he'd say "Oh! This is my favorite song!" then the next one they'd start, he'd say, "No, THIS is my favorite song!" LOL
The only downside of this concert is that for some reason they kept shining colored spotlights on the crowd from the back of the stage. Bright lights actually hurt me. My glasses have a slight rose tint because regular fluorescent lights bother my eyes and give me a headache. Sudden spotlights in my eyes when I'm sitting in the dark HURT. I spent about half the concert with my hands blocking the stage from view. Luckily they've got a screen that shows closeups of the band members throughout the concert. I was able to watch that. Even Eric who isn't sensitive to bright lights was upset about it. I'm going to email them and let them know they're annoying people. I didn't pay 50 bucks a ticket to NOT look at the stage! I'm planning to tease them by saying they shouldn't worry about looking old, because their fans are growing old too. They don't need to blind us with bright lights so we don't notice their jowls and wrinkles!
Well there was also another bad thing. We each got a polish sausage on the way in because we hadn't had dinner. I don't know if mine was bad or if something else I ate earlier was bad, but toward the end of the concert I started having warning pains that my belly wasn't happy. We had noticed that the shirts we bought didn't have the tour venue list on the back and we wanted that so we decided to get the black T-shirts with that too. As we waited in line at the booth my belly let me know it wasn't going to let me get home before giving in to it, so I handed the money to Eric and said I had to hit the ladies room NOW. By the time I was OK to come back out, he had one of each of the black shirt designs. I barely made it home before the next wave hit me. Eric had a similar experience a few days ago and couldn't figure out what he'd eaten. Just in case it's a virus I'm staying away from my dad.
Even so, the music was wonderful and it was great to see Rick Wakeman. He didn't look well but he played beautifully as always. He didn't wear a spangly cape this time, he was wearing a long white trenchcoat. He must have been hot up there. All of them were wearing long sleeves and long pants and jackets. They took a break in the middle which is unlike them. They only did one encore which is also unlike them. I hope this isn't Rick's final tour. Eric pointed out that the first time he took me to see YES (at Shoreline in 1993) that Chris Squire looked ill. There is mention on Jon Anderson's webpage that Chris felt better the next year, so I guess we were right. He was dancing around like a silly guy two years ago when we saw them at the Fillmore in San Francisco, and again last night.
It was a fun night. Plus I've got that wonderful snapshot memory. I like to do that, make a point of remembering a specific moment that really moves me. The next time I count my blessings, that snapshot memory will be in the stack!
