OneVoice - September 25, 2008
September 25th, 2008 | by Tom |I just happened to be checking the official Yes website last week (I put it on my favorites list a while back) when I saw the announcement regarding their upcoming tour. Yes was supposed to have toured this summer when lead singer Jon Anderson suffered acute respiratory failure, and was told to rest for at least six months. ‘Jon must have made a miraculous recovery,’ I thought to myself until I read the official press release. The tour would not include Anderson, but in his place would be a Canadian by the name of Benoit David, who had performed in several Yes tribute bands and was found by “the band” on the Internet.
I quickly jumped over to Jon Anderson’s site, hoping to hear he had somehow blessed this decision, only to find a post that said he felt “disappointed and very disrespected” by the decision of Yes to tour without him, one of the two remaining original members of the band.
Now, Yes had toured once before without Anderson (the Drama tour with Trevor Horn of the Buggles as lead singer), and Anderson has done solo shows in between Yes tours. There was even that “law firm” tour of Anderson, Wakeman, Bruford and Howe (with the excellent Tony Levin filling in on bass where Chris Squire would usually be). I just never thought Yes would stoop so low as to blow off Anderson and pluck someone off MySpace or YouTube to fill in for one of the most unique front men in rock history.
I know other bands have gone down this path (and that’s a column for another day) - I just never thought Yes would go down this path without Anderson having agreed to it. I don’t care how good this David guy is - he’s not Jon Anderson and I have zero interest in seeing Squire, Howe, Alan White and Rick Wakeman’s kid Oliver without Anderson handling the vocals.
I never saw Genesis with Peter Gabriel (although I did see Gabriel in a solo show when he was still playing clubs), but vocally Phil Collins was so similar to Gabriel that he could handle the old material and was already part of the band, such that you had no problem staying a Genesis fan, especially for the first few albums after the transition. I’d have to say, though, that I would have had no interest in the Genesis with Ray Wilson as lead singer, especially if they planned to do older material. He couldn’t possibly do justice to the songs, even with original band members playing the music. To me, that’s karaoke, something you might do with friends in a local bar with a couple of drinks in you, not something you’d pay big money to go see in a theater or arena.
Just in case anyone wasn’t clear, I won’t be buying tickets for Yes’ “In the Present” tour. Anderson said it best at the end of his post - “This is not Yes on tour.” Amen, Jon!
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