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Ralf und Kerstin
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
YES
in Deutschland 2003!
11.
Juni 2003 Berlin,
Germany
( Im Tempodrom)
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Immer und immer wieder! YES muß man einfach selbst erleben! Unbeschreiblich!
YES-Fans: Winston, Paula, Kerstin, Ralf, Marielle, Peter
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Es macht uns glücklich so viele Gleichgesinnte kennengelert zu haben!
Das war ein ganz
großer
Augenblick.
Es ist wirklich das Beste,
was YES passieren konnte, Rick Wakeman wieder dabei zu haben. Ein sehr,
sehr symphatischer Mensch mit einer ganz natürlichen Ausstrahlung.
Auf dem Balkon stehen: Jan, Winston, Kerstin, Thomas und Ralf
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Blumen
für
YES und Worte des Dankes.
Nach dem Konzert,
sichtlich geschafft.
Mit Danny aus
Belgien.
Konzertbericht von Dieter Löffler aus dem Südkurier Singen Hohentwiel Juli 2003
Wenn
Rockstars ins Rentenalter kommen, führt der Weg nicht
zwangsläufig
in den Ruhestand. Sie können weitermachen wie bisher
(Rolling
Stones), auf Kaufhaus-Musik umsteigen (Genesis), in der
Versenkung
verschwinden (Emerson, Lake & Palmer) oder sich zerstreiten (Pink
Floyd).
Oder aber sie können ihr eigenes Ding durchziehen. Zu
dieser Sorte gehören die Musiker von Yes, der britischen
Rocklegende
aus den Siebzigerjahren.
Seit
1968 steht die Band um den Sänger Jon Anderson in wechselnder
Besetzung
auf der Bühne, produziert Album um Album, absolviert Tournee um
Tournee
- wie ein Dinosaurier, der nicht aussterben will.
Yes-Konzerte sind daher immer eine Zeitreise in die Kreidezeit der Popmusik, zurück in jene Jahre, in denen Haare und Röcke noch lang waren. Nach einigen Ausflügen in seichtere Gefilde haben die fünf Briten zu ihrem ursprünglichen Sound zurückgefunden. Art-Rock nannte man das damals - ein dicker, flauschiger Teppich aus Gitarren- und Keyboardklängen, kunstvoll geknüpft und dicht verwoben, über den sich die unverwechselbar helle Stimme Andersons legt. Wer kurze, eingängige Hits zum Mitklatschen sucht, ist bei Yes an der falschen Adresse: Das Quintett stammt aus einer Zeit, als Rockmusik nicht unterhalten, sondern beeindrucken wollte. Für ihre bombastischen Darbietungen wurden sie in den Siebzigerjahren verehrt, in den Achtzigern belächelt und in den Neunzigern vergessen.
Heute sind sie wieder da. Und wie. Selten hat man auf dem Hohentwiel, auf der wohl schönsten Freilichtbühne des Landes, ein imposanteres Konzert erlebt. Zweieinhalb Stunden lang erzittert Singens Hausberg unter den Klangkaskaden der fünf Rock-Senioren, die laut Plakatwerbung "in Original- besetzung" in den Hegau gekommen sind - inklusive Rick Wakeman, der sich immer noch mit Glitzerkleid und blonder Mähne hinter einer Wagenburg von Tasteninstrumenten verschanzt. Am Anfang hat die Gruppe zwar etwas Mühe mit den Gesetzen der Akustik. Nach drei, vier Stücken aber zündet es. Bei "Dont kill the Whale" vom Album "Tormato" springt der Funke über, die Band fängt sich und wird von Minute von Minute besser. Spätestens bei "Heart of the Sunrise" aus dem Jahr 1971 ist das Publikum der Gruppe wehrlos ausgeliefert: Der unglaublich satte Sound bringt die Menge geradezu physisch zum Beben. Noch immer gilt: Yes ist keine Band, sondern eine Naturgewalt.
Auch der Auftritt auf dem Hohentwiel zeigt, in welchem Maß diese Gruppe von der Individualität ihrer Mitglieder lebt. Das RocknRoll-Leben hat sich tief in die Gesichter der fünf Musiker eingegraben. Frontmann Anderson - im kommenden Jahr wird er 60 - wirkt kauziger denn je; zudem zwingt ihn ein Rückenleiden zum verhaltenen Einsatz der Kräfte. Gitarrist Steve Howe büßt für vergangene Drogen-Exzesse und steht auf der Bühne wie eine Mumie - ein Anblick, der wehtut. Einzig Bassist Chris Squire wirkt munter wie ein Animateur beim Altennachmittag.
Kunst wird den Menschen geschenkt, weil sie der Vergänglichkeit entgegenwirkt. Aus den fünf Yes-Mitgliedern sprudelt die Musik heraus wie ein Gebirgsbach: Im kleinen Finger hat jeder dieser alten Herren noch mehr Energie als alle Boygroups heutiger Zeiten zusammengerechnet. Das gilt selbst für den in sich versunkenen Steve Howe, der meist ins Leere blickt und sich der Außenwelt offensichtlich nur noch über sein Instrument mitteilen kann. Sein Gitarrenspiel scheint Himmel und Hölle aufzureißen.
Höhepunkt des Konzerts ist das 20-Minuten-Stück "Awaken" vom 77er-Album "Going for the one". Die Gruppe holt noch einmal alles aus der Trickkiste, was sie in 35 Jahren angesammelt hat. Howe brilliert mit schwindelerregenden Gitarrensoli, Squire traktiert scheppernd seinen Rickenbacker-Bass, Wakeman hetzt von Keyboard zu Keyboard und zieht sämtliche Register. Endlich entfaltet in der hereinbrechenden Dunkelheit auch die Lichtanlage ihre frappierende Wirkung. Yes seien für die Rockmusik, was Richard Wagner für die Klassik bedeute, schrieb einmal ein Kritiker.
Das
mag
übertrieben sein. Jon Anderson ist nicht Rene Kollo, der
Hohentwiel
ist nicht Bayreuth. Sicher ist aber auch: Yes ragt aus dem
Mittelmaß
der Szene weit heraus, weil die Band sämtliche Kompromisse hinter
sich gelassen hat und nur noch die Musik spielt, die ihr wichtig
erscheint.
Als Zugabe gibt es denn auch "Roundabout", einen 32 Jahre alten
RocknRoll-Kracher.
"Owner of a lonely heart" und die anderen großen Hits aus
späteren
Zeiten, als die Band das große Geld machen wollte, stehen nicht
mehr
auf dem Programm. In Singen finden sich nicht viele, die darüber
traurig
sind.
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Juni 2002
Die Zeit vergeht, doch
die
Erinnerungen bleiben. Am 1.6. 02 trafen sich in Berlin
einige
Menschen, die
eines miteinander verband:YESDie
Idee einen deutschen Fanclub zu gründen, stand
natürlich
im Vordergrund und YES hat es wirklich verdient.
Leider
waren wir nur einige YES-Lichter, die es sich nicht nehmen ließen
gemeinsam YES-Musik zu hören, YES-DVD‘s zu sehen und somit der
Band
ganz nah zu sein.
Es gab viele interessante
Gespräche,
Freundschaften wurden geschlossen und man war sich darüber einig,
die beste Band der Welt zu feiern.
Für die Gründung eines
YES-Fanclubs hat es allerdings dieses mal noch nicht gereicht. Wir
waren
einfach noch zuwenig Personen. Der Anfang ist aber gemacht worden und
die
Musik und die Botschaft von YES für jeden allgegenwärtig.
Ganz herzlich möchte ich
mich bedanken bei: Thomas, Klaus-Peter,
Gunnar,
Ralph, Andreas, Gisela, Gordon, Owen und die anderen ....
Danke anYES.
Die Band, die alles möglich machte.
Kerstin
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-------------------------------------------- Source: Music Street Journal - Issue 33 http://www.musicstreetjournal.com/jonandersoninterview.htm Interview With Jon Anderson of YES - Oktober 2001 Music Street Journal: How did the idea come about to work with a symphony orchestra? Jon Anderson: Well, basically, we had talked about the project on and off for about 5 or 6 years. I think Steve came up with it and said, "Let's go for the orchestral this time." It's interesting to me that Chris and Alan said, "yes", because before that they'd always been more into the rock, heavy sort of style of the band. It was very interesting that they sort of leant towards it this time. Music Street Journal: How do you think it's worked? Jon Anderson: I love it. I really do. I think it's part of the history of the band. It's a nice place to before the next two or three years. We're just going to tour this project for a couple of years and then have a break because we've been steadily working on this band no, on and off, for about seven or eight years without a break. So, we talked about, OK, we'll do that album. We'll bring in the right kind of arranger, Larry Groupe, who's this guy we found - who has a really good sort of cinematic orchestration style. And, the over all picture of the album turned out great for us. So we said, OK, let's tour it for a couple of years and then have a break. It's a nice place to stop for a while. Music Street Journal: With this being an extended tour, will you get back to the states? Jon Anderson: We hope so, next spring or next summer. We're talking about doing a tour next summer, probably doing more the new album. Just this last tour we only did a couple of songs, because it isn't released yet. It comes out in a month or so - December the 4th it comes out in America. So, the general idea was that next spring - late spring/early summer - we could do another tour just concentrating on the new album. Music Street Journal: How is it feeling on stage? You seemed a little crowded up there. Jon Anderson: Where did you see us? Music Street Journal: Toronto. Jon Anderson: Oh yeah, it wasn't a great gig. It was weird. We'd just sounded great in Quebec, and we had a great run of a week and when we did Toronto for some reason it just didn't feel like a great show for us. I know we talked about it afterwards that we didn't feel uncomfortable, - the stage is a good stage -it just sounded very boomy in that place for some reason. We just thought it was OK. We're very critical of what we do so we remember that show. The orchestra generally - you know we picked up orchestras ever night because the conductor was so good with them. He worked with them in the afternoon. Then we just got on with the show in the evening. Like anything, you can have a rough night. You can be the best football team in the world and you'll still get beaten one day. It's the same with baseball. It's the same with musicians. Some nights it's just not happening for some reason. For some reason it didn't sound as good as we thought it would because we like that place very much, but it didn't sound clear to us. Whereas the night before in Quebec - and it was bizarre because it's a very big hall in Quebec - it sounded fantastic. That can happen. The sound guy gets it right six or seven nights, then one night he won't quite get it right. Music Street Journal: How has this compared with your previous attempts at working with orchestral instruments? Jon Anderson: Well, I did an album called "Change We Must" in '91 or '92, and I really enjoyed working with the orchestra so much and I understood the quality of an orchestra it it's done correctly. All you need is a good arranger. There's no point in hiring 50 people to play in the background. It's bizarre that this year there have been some great recordings that have been sort of hit records along the way with full orchestra. So, this year was very big on bringing out the orchestral music, if you like. It's one of those things. A lot of people start thinking the same thing at the same time. We just had to make sure we had a good arranger. Because if you listen to the album it has this sort of ebb and flow - one moment it's sort of pretty heavy, then beautiful music, then a poignant song, then a very simple sort of 17th century kind of feel about some songs. I like the album very much. Music Street Journal: How would you compare this experience to the situation of using strings way back on Time and A Word? Jon Anderson: Well, it was a lot easier to do simply because 30 years ago the musicians that we worked with were very, very "oof, rock and roll", but most of the people we've worked with on this tour - they love Yes. They started listening to Yes before they became musicians. We got a lot of orchestral players who are fans. They stand backstage and wait for us to come off, shake hands and autographs. It's a lot like a little lovefest every night. It's bizarre. Music Street Journal: How do you see this album in comparison to the last couple of releases? Jon Anderson: I always thought we had a lovely turning point when we did The Ladder because I wasn't in the creative world with Chris and Billy when they wrote songs for Open Your Eyes. So, it was a question of keeping it going - keeping the band going. Management thought it was going to be a big record, but it never happened. I was so happy when we got to The Ladder. That was a bit of fresh air for me. It's not classic Yes music in the sense, but in the same vicinity, shall we say. The bizarre thing is. I was listening to a song yesterday, which I really like. It is Elton John's new single. It's just beautiful if you listen to it. The more you hear it, the more you get into it, shall we say. And that's the same wit most music. I remember listening to Dave Matthews' "Space Between". I thought it was OK, and now I've heard it 50 times -it's everywhere, you know. I started to get into it. I think that's what music does. If it's played enough people definitely get into it. That's been the biggest problem with our music is that we don't have a forum to play it because people don't want to play our music on regular radio. Music Street Journal: What happened with Igor? Jon Anderson: Well, he wasn't really fitting in. Eventually the guys said, "do we need another keyboard player?" He was getting too frisky in his work - a bit of a superstar. We thought it was just part of his makeup, but eventually it just became the dominant part. You can't work all the time with people like that. We had a similar thing - I can't tell you who it was - down the line we had a guy in for about a year. He just became such a superstar because he was in Yes. That freaks us out because we don't believe we're superstars. We don't believe we're legends. We believe we're musicians trying to make it work, trying to get it right. Trying to do good shows and trying to survive the business. It's one of those things. The first period of time when you work with anybody you're going to hoping it's going to be great. You start sounding great, then it eventually it goes downhill very fast. Music Street Journal: What about the man you have on keys right now, Tom Brislin? Jon Anderson: Tom is great simply because he knows he's part of the team. He's not in the band, but he loves Yes music. He was so quick in rehearsal. He knew all the parts. He was very quick to get on with everybody. Half the battle is making everybody appreciate who you are, what you do and what you did to the group. So, we can always rely on him coming in and working with us. I don't know how long he wants to stay or if we want this to happen maybe another year. Then, as I say, we might have a break for a while. I like him. He's a good guy. Music Street Journal: Do you have any side projects in the works? Jon Anderson: I'm working on my own project at the moment. I've been working on this piece of music for a year now, and it will be ready next summer, I believe. I'm very excited about it. I did an album years and years ago called "Olias of Sunhillow" where I performed all the music, and I'm getting back to that place again. Music Street Journal: Will this be a sequel? Jon Anderson: Yeah, I'm trying to figure it out as we speak. It has a lot to do with the mysticism that surrounds us. We're going to go through a period now, because of the Lord of the Rings movie coming out. There will be a lot of interest in the mysticism of life and things like that. So, by the time I'm finished, it will be the right time. Music Street Journal: You've always been looked upon as a very spiritual man, and a pacifistic man. What is your take on the events regarding the terrorist attack on September 11th? Jon Anderson:Well,
very simply, we're all spiritual people. Islamic people are spiritual.
Buddhists are spiritual, Zen. All the rivers meet in the same ocean.
I've
always said this because it comes from Gandhi. It comes from all
the great people. I've read it years ago that Krishna was Christ.
Buddha
was Christ. Mohammed was Christ. Jesus was Christ. Why keep
differentiating
the difference and say that we're the infidels. Actually there's
been more massacres created out of religion over the years than
as
long as your arm, and it's not a good thing. It's got little to do with
reality. I believe, honestly, I believe that it's sort of raising
the world consciousness for us to realize that we are all one on this
planet,
and we've all got to look out for each other. And, there's got to
be a way of distributing not only the wealth, but idealism. When
you think about how much of the Western world's food gets thrown away,
compared to the other side of the world that starves. And now we're
sending
all this money to feed the Afghans. Why has that not been
happening
since Bob Geldoff started the whole ball rolling? I used to know Bob
when
he was doing Live Aid, and he came up against so many
brick walls, simply because there's so much corruption in this
world,
and, it doesn't stop over there. There's a lot of corruption over here.
I think that the worst thing that can happen to any civilization is to
start doubting itself. That's why America has not always been
asserting
itself. I've got a flag on my jeep, and I'm not American. I'm
only
American because of my lovely wife Jane. We live in America. I love
America.
America, and this is the truth, we are the children of the nations of
the
world. We're all here. All the nations of the world came to live here.
This is the eye of the storm. This is where we should be seen to be
healing
the world because we have everything here. Jane and I were in
Washington
when it happened, and the first thing that you realize is there's
black area, there's white areas. In every town we go to there's these
regions
for different people. You have your Chinese area. So, it's all separate
nations within one nation. In most terms, everything
lives in harmony, but there are these under currents of definite
one-upmanship.
Who's got the money? Who's the richest person? Who's got control
of the money? It's an endless conversation, I suppose. But it's
such
a sad time in my life and for everybody else. Music Street Journal: This situation is making many people question that. Jon Anderson: It's fear. It's fear of the unknown - fear of what's next. You've got the picture in your head and millions and millions of people around the world have that picture in their head. It's bizarre on the new album I was singing about "can't keep this picture from out of my mind." It was all about those little children being escorted across the road in LA out of the Jewish school where a guy had gone rampant with a gun. I couldn't get that picture out of my mind, and the whole song I was getting into other pictures - about the slave trading going on in West Africa and the slavery of children into war and stuff. The guys in the band were saying, "OK, Jon, you're getting a bit heavy here." I said, "but it's real." They said, "well, can you cut out the slavery?" So, I rewrote it because they were saying I was getting too dark. I could understand that because I was into this whole place that the spirit is very, very strong within us to survive, but yet there's so many things out there that need to be sorted out. We all know it. It's not like we're all stupid. We all know that the government's got to get their act together. CIA, FBI - they've seriously got to get their act together. Everybody thinks the same way. Isn't it about time that there's no starvation on this planet? Isn't it about time that we can look towards Africa and see it as a safe place and growing community instead of incredible corruption? They learned it all from the British and Dutch and Belgium. They learned it from the Europeans.
Source: Rock Ahead
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