[atlantaprog] Schizoids and Yes

<x-tad-bigger>Hi all,

I've been more-or-less incommunicado for a couple of weeks, with a few Z-gigs, an out-of-town sojourn, and several other major distractions. I haven't had a chance to chime in on the Schizoids or Yes - so, here goes...

Schizoids were amazing. I'm not especially familiar with the Islands/Lizards era of KC, so it was like hearing those tunes for the first time. Afterwards I went out and bought those CDs! Much better material than I expected. Of course, hearing the ITCOTCK and WOP material was amazing too. I was less impressed by the Wallace/Giles rhythm section than others though. I thought they were both quite serviceable, but neither of them had the fire or the finesse that one expects from Crim rhythm buddies! Yeah I know, they both have the credentials, but Giles is no Wetton (or Lake) and Wallace is certainly no Bruford OR Michael Giles.

As for Yes, it was a great show musically. The guys were in top form and some of the material was a real treat to hear live. South Side, AYAI, Turn of the Century, Mind Drive, Ritual were all highlights for me. But I could have done without Sweet Dreams, Going for the One, Rhythm of Love, Every Little Thing. The unplugged reworks were a hoot too. I was glad to see they were able to breath new life into those toons - especially Roundabout.

Now for the complaints - as someone who has done a lot of image-based theater work, I was initially excited that they were going to have a Roger Dean stage set. His amazing stages in the 70s had been amazing and inspriational. But, alas, Dean's work proved to be quite underwhelming... no more than big puffy painted balloons. One of them resembled a giant blown-up rubber glove! And then there were these silly looking "robo-drums" that were mounted on spindles around the drum kit. They might have impressed me when I was 16, but to my cynical adult eyes, they just looked like toys. When they finally started moving around and playing themselves in the drum-break in Ritual, it was quite anti-climatic. I couldn't help but think of ways the whole stage concept could have been better. I realize why Dean eschewed the fiberglass sculptural pieces he had used to such great effect in the 70s - too cost prohibitive. But I would have loved to have seen him use aluminum tubing with gauzey fabric stretched. THAT would have been beautiful! Oh yeah, they should get a REAL lighting designer too. The lights were basic rock-show cliches (on-off, flash the strobes, sweep some colors over the crowd, etc.) with none of the subtlety Yes has had in the past. </x-tad-bigger>

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