YES 35th Anniversary Tour
with Dream Theater
August 25th, 2004
Nissan Pavilion,
Bristow, Virginia
Isn't life grand when your favorite bands from the 60's and 70's, like Yes, are still touring and celebrating their 35th anniversary as a band. Just last month I saw that "younger" band Rush on (only) their 30th anniversary tour. Read my review of that
awesome show. Isn't it even grander when these bands invite one of your
favorite "new generation" prog-rock bands like Dream Theater to open for them. Oh, hell yes it is! Yes has continued to stay surprisingly active during the last decade, releasing a couple of great new albums, as well as several concert DVDs. They have also continued to tour fairly
regularly, and have managed to keep together their classic lineup, with the
exception of Wakeman coming and going as he pleases. He has been back with
them since their 2002 Masterworks tour, so we can only hope to see a
new Yes album in the near future that features his keyboard wizardry.
I saw the Masterworks tour at the Merriweather Post Pavilion, in
Columbia, Maryland, and it was amazing, so I was intensely anticipating this
concert.
Dream Theater took the stage at 7:00 PM sharp and played a one hour set. This is not exactly the best way to experience Dream Theater because, hell, they have SONGS almost that long. They opened their set with "Solitary Shell", one of the lighter, acoustic flavored songs from their Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence album. I was ecstatic to see them follow this up with the epic "Learning To Live", possibly my favorite Dream Theater song ever. Next up was "Trial Of Tears", the epic suite that closes the often criticized Falling Into Infinity album. This song kind of rips off Rush's "Xanadu", especially the long intro section, but that is exactly why I love it so much. If Rush won't write great songs like that anymore, hell, Dream Theater may as well. Things get a little bit fuzzy at this point, because I forgot to bring a pen and paper to the concert to take notes, and the alcohol was starting to take effect by
now, so I may get a song or two mixed up. I guess that's why I don't get paid for this stuff. Do not fear though, the Yes review is 100% accurate.
They continued to keep things a tiny bit on the mellow side (for Dream Theater that is) with "The Spirit Carries On", a gorgeous ballad from the killer Scenes From A Memory album. Next, the band decided to throw a bone to their prog-metal, or should I say metal-prog fans out there by tearing through "Stream Of Consciousness", the heavy instrumental jam from their latest album, Train Of Thought. Until then it seemed like they had been tailoring their set list to something more appealing for Yes fans - sticking mostly to the lighter prog-rock stuff, versus the heavier metal stuff. I keep hearing that they played an instrumental section of Yes' "Machine Messiah", but, damn it, I don't remember hearing it. Maybe it was mixed in with "Stream Of Consciousness", as that would have been a good combo. I think they closed their set with the ending of Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence, which consists of the reprise of "About To Crash", and "Losing Time/Grand Finale". I apologize for any inaccuracies in this section.
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