Video: Jon Anderson and the beginnings of Yes

There’s some new video online courtesy of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame featuring longtime Yes vocalist Jon Anderson.  For those of you that missed Jon’s performance with the Contemporary Youth Orchestra of Cleveland last month, you’ll really enjoy this.  On the weekend before the CYO performance, Jon stopped by the Rock Hall for an afternoon of Q&A and performance with Rock Hall Director of Education Jason Hanley.

These Rock Hall events with Jason are always a treat, because he has not only the knowledge to justify the title that he holds, but he’s also a music fan (kinda important, right?), and his interviews are always compelling stuff to listen to.  In this clip, Jon spends some time discussing the early days of Yes and specifically, his first encounter with Steve Howe.  Rounding things out, Jon performs a bit of “Starship Trooper.”   Regrettably, because this session was in the afternoon, I missed it – so I really enjoyed seeing this clip!

On a side note, I did make it out to see Jon with the Contemporary Youth Orchestra on that following Monday night, and WOW.  I had seen the CYO on video via the Styx DVD release, but that didn’t even begin to prepare me for the experience of seeing the CYO in person.  What a wonderfully inspiring experience for this music fan, at a time when there’s so many negatives about the music industry, the Contemporary Youth Orchestra and conductor Liza Grossman are all good!

If you haven’t seen the CYO yet (it took me 15 years!), I invite you to go check them out, and see if you can find something cynical to say about what they’re doing.  On this night, Jon Anderson might have been the featured performer, but the CYO youth were without a doubt, the star performers on the stage.

8 Comments on “Video: Jon Anderson and the beginnings of Yes

  1. Yes indeed….filmed by HDNet. Anderson did a previous show with the CYO a
    few years ago as well that was filmed, so if/when they release this one,
    there is definitely a good chance for bonus footage inclusion, I would
    think. The venue where the show was (Severance Hall) is BEAUTIFUL….

  2. That was pretty. Acoustic Yes. Cool. I hope to see them at Jones Beach next week (if I don't get gouged for tickets).

  3. I've been thinking about this video for a couple of days now. Do you know A) if Yes or Anderson ever did an acoustic album, and B) is there any way to rip the audio from this?

    I did get tickets to Yes/Frampton at Jones Beach for this Saturday. $19. I am loving this no fees summer. Hopefully LiveNation/Ticketmaster will learn from this that if you don't add another $15 to a ticket, people will buy.

  4. I'm pretty sure that Anderson has an acoustic album somewhere in his
    catalog. I haven't ventured far enough into his stuff to know which
    one, though. There is at least half an album's worth of acoustic
    versions of Yes tunes on the third disc of the Ultimate Yes anthology
    that came out a few years back.

    And you can definitely record Youtube audio – check out Audacity,
    which is a free download.

    Glad to hear that you'll see Yes and Frampton….I'd go just to see
    Frampton again – he has been fantastic each time that I've seen him in
    the past few years. And on a musical note, I really enjoyed his Now
    album from 2004 (or around that time).

  5. When I told my sister about the show, she said to get her a ticket too, so she is going with me. I think that she thinks that Frampton is going to look like that foldout cover of Comes Alive.

  6. And as long as he wears the '70s Peter Frampton wig, he WILL look like the
    foldout cover. C'mon Peter, don't let us down!

Comments are closed.