Wednesday 15 August 2012

REVIEW: Jon Anderson live in London

Jon Anderson's set (55 minutes):
orchestral intro
“Starship Trooper” (abbreviated, ~7 mins)
“I’ll Find My Way Home”
“Earth & Peace”
“Long Distance Runaround” (abbreviated)
“Nous Sommes du Soleil” (with orchestral intro)
“Race to the End”/“Match of the Day” theme excerpt (orchestra only)
“Music is God”
“Change We Must”
“And You and I” (abbreviated, ~6 mins)
“State of Independence”
joint encore with Žbirka: “All You Need is Love”

I arrived at Sadler’s Wells to find the foyer full of beautiful, young people – my first clue that this wasn’t a typical prog concert! You see, this event was a double bill: Slovak singer Miro Žbirka for an hour, then Jon Anderson for just under, and a joint encore. The venue (capacity 1560) was about 60% full. All the Yes fans had the same story: we logged on pretty much as soon as tickets went on sale to find most of the stalls already sold – some sort of mass booking by the Slovaks – and that’s pretty much how the ticket availability remained with further tickets going slowly. [10 Aug: Apparently, this was a block booking to supply free tickets to the Slovaks as part of the Olympics.]

While disappointing that the show had sold poorly – lack of promotion? high ticket prices? – this meant all of us in the second circle (good seat, £45) got upgraded. I ended up with a great seat, front row of the first circle.

Read on...
Check out Jon Anderson's Gonzo Artist Page

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