The order of Friday night’s concert lineup at Ruth Eckerd Hall went like this: Carl Palmer’s ELP Legacy, The Moody Blues’ John Lodge, Asia, (featuring a reunion with Steve Howe) and Yes. Oh, and legendary artist Roger Dean, who designed many of Yes’ album covers, was out in the lobby signing his artwork and meeting fans.
How in the world could you pass this opportunity up?
At 7:00 on the dot, the lights went down, the big screen turned on, and a bell rang four times. The last surviving member of Emerson, Lake, & Palmer, along with guest vocalist, the God Of Hellfire, Arthur Brown, and the ELP Legacy band, kicked into Karn Evil 9 1st Impression, Part 2, appropriately. “We’re so glad you could attend, come inside, come inside!” sang Arthur Brown.
Palmer did most of the talking during their set, even telling someone interrupting him to shut up at one point. ELP’s cover of Aaron Copland’s Hoedown was thrown in as well, without a single keyboard. How, you may ask? Hotshot guitarist Paul Bielatowicz has pedals and such to make sure his guitar sounds just like the late Keith Emerson’s keyboards did. Knife-Edge, which was the B-side for the band’s first number 1 in the US, was also thrown in, with Brown on vocals.
Of course, Palmer played in The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown before ELP came around, so with both Brown and Palmer there, it was only appropriate to squeeze out their smash hit Fire. Fanfare for the Common Man wrapped up the set, which featured a five minute long drum solo from Palmer. No backup drums, no backing track, no nothing. Just a 69 year old drummer of countless bands doing what he loves best, in front of fans spanning over 50 years.
Immediately after Palmer headed offstage, without intermission, bassist for The Moody Blues, John Lodge, was up next, opening up with Steppin’ In A Slide Zone. Not a single song off of Days Of Future Passed was played, not even Nights In White Satin. Granted, he just spent the last few years with The Moody Blues on (hypothetically) their final tour, playing the album all the way through for its 50th anniversary. But that doesn’t mean that he played a bad set. The bulk of the set consisted of the Blues’ greatest hits. Legend Of A Mind, for example, was dedicated to the late Ray Thomas, who passed away last year, just before the band got inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.
Of course, it’s not a Moody Blues show without Gemini Dream, or I’m Just A Singer (In A Rock And Roll Band). Lodge closed out his set with Ride My See-Saw, which was turned into a duet between him and Yes’ current lead singer, Jon Davison. They seemed to be having a good time, and it must have been a nice breath for Davison to be vocalizing to something else other than Yes for a change.
Once Lodge and his band left the stage, the lights still didn’t come up. The big screen went from John Lodge’s name written in a Roger Dean-esque font, to white lettering that said “Asia will be onstage in two minutes.”
It wasn’t terribly hard to set up for Asia, considering Palmer’s drum kit was still onstage from the ELP Legacy set, and Geoff Downes’ keyboard rig was already set up.
Guest appearing with Asia this tour is Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal, formerly of Guns N’ Roses. He shreds his double-neck guitar, and sings the vocals of the late John Wetton, who passed away in 2017. And of course with his mad guitar skills, he covers for Steve Howe, who actually came out later in the set, but I’ll get to that.
Asia kicked off their set with Go and Don’t Cry, both semi-hits from the mid-80s. Then came a few tributes to two of the band’s original members’ past lives in music. If you didn’t know, Geoff Downes was half of The Buggles, whose hit record, Video Killed The Radio Star, was the first music video ever played on MTV, when it blasted off in 1981. Considering the fact that both him, and the other Buggle, Trevor Horn, have been members of Yes, both on keyboards, a Yes reunion with Horn added to the current lineup would be a double-reunion, if you think about it.
After a tribute to John Wetton through The Smile Has Left Your Eyes, Carl Palmer was up next. Bumblefoot took lead vocals on ELP’s Lucky Man, which was that first number 1 in the US that was the A-side of Knife-Edge. Behind him scrolled photos of his fallen bandmates with and without him.
Then, Bumblefoot put his guitar down, and out came Steve Howe, to shred out four songs from Asia’s self-titled debut album. Of course, the set closed with the first song from that debut album, the tune-for-the-ages Heat Of The Moment, which had everyone in the house, no matter who they came to see, singing along to the chorus.
Finally, the lights came up, and Carl Palmer, Arthur Brown, and Bumblefoot were actually out in the lobby meeting fans. I walked out to buy a t-shirt, and to wait in line to meet Master Palmer. But while I was waiting to thank him for all the music, I heard the sound of Steve Howe’s guitar coming from the Hall, which caused me to run back to my seat. I ended up missing Carl altogether, because by the time Yes’ set was done, everybody had already left. Damn.
The 2019 incarnation of Yes features Steve Howe on guitar, Geoff Downes on keyboards, Jon Davison (different guy than Jon Anderson) on vocals, Jay Schellen on drums (for a little while anyway) and Billy Sherwood on bass. Billy also plays in Asia, and was handpicked by the late, great Chris Squire, to take his place in Yes, should something happen to him. He died of cancer in 2015.
Their setlist did not consist of the hits the way Yes featuring ARW’s did. This incarnation of Yes focuses on their progressive era, but mainly the deep (to an extent) stuff. By that, I mean everything pre-Owner Of A Lonely Heart. The latest they went was Tempus Fugit, off of the band’s 1980 album, Drama, which did not feature Jon Anderson. At one point, Howe was the only one onstage, while he showed off his plucking on the instrumental The Clap, off of 1971’s The Yes Album. Looking back, that song was one of his first chances to shine in the band, considering that The Yes Album was his first recording with Yes. And to be honest, he may have slowed down a little bit, but everything Howe played that night sounded just like it did on their original recordings.
The Chris Squire penned Onward was dedicated to the man. “Thank you for being in the moment for that one. Didn’t see many ‘ha-ha’s’ or cameras, thanks.” Howe nodded, as he prepared to introduce Alan White. The drummer of the band’s “classic” lineup, White has been having some health problems of the late, alas he cannot play the entire show. But he stuck around for their cover of Paul Simon’s (okay, fine, Simon and Garfunkel’s) America, which Jon Anderson also played in Clearwater not two months ago.
After a longer-than-usual rendition of The Gates Of Delirium, Clearwater received a very generous encore.
Believe it or not, before he joined Yes in 1972, White was a drummer for John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band, hence why he drummed on Imagine. Marking the second cover in their set, Jon Davison sang it out in his own, non-Lennon way. Downes played the piano part exactly how it originally sounded, along with his own solo, and the chorus being repeated an extra time, both near the end. Finally, not that I have to say it, but it’s not a Yes show without Roundabout, and/or Starship Trooper. Howe had two guitars around his neck during that iconic intro to the former.
Every year since 2012, Clearwater gets a little dose of Yes. This year, especially, has been a double dose, with Jon Anderson’s 1000 Hands tour back in May, and with “classic” keyboardist Rick Wakeman on the way in October, the Tampa area shall continue to be no stranger to Yes.
As for the other bands on the bill, especially Carl Palmer, they’re all welcome back anytime they want to drop in, long as they bring their raw talent with them.
Josh Bradley Live 