Resolution
Note: Transcripts adapted from various public and private interviews of the band members.
In 1990, the new and old members of Yes had a problem. They wanted to tour, but they didn’t have enough music individually to fulfill their contractual obligations to the record company first. The solution sent them down a road they could never have predicted.
Jon Anderson: Honestly, we hated each other at the beginning. The album was a mess from the start, not really theirs, not really ours. Two bands, eight members, thrown together by a record company and a history with the band name. We had our songs, they had theirs, and there wasn’t half a good album between the two.
Trevor Rabin: Merging the bands was useful and convenient to everyone, because we wanted to go on the road, and it was a quick way to make that happen.
Bill Bruford: Why the album even saw the light of day is a sad commentary on the state of music at the time. It had a recognizable name, so everyone just assumed it couldn’t fail to go platinum. They titled it “Union” to showcase the old and new members being on it together. It was probably not only the most dishonest title that I've ever had the privilege of playing drums underneath, but the single worst album I've ever recorded.
Rick Wakeman: I called the album “Onion” because it made me cry every time I heard it.
Alan White: The idea of touring together to support the album was laughable, but the lawyers and the record execs weren’t laughing. I suppose I had a choice, sure, in the same way one can choose to stop eating. The record companies controlled lives more back then.
Trevor: We hadn’t made it into the Guinness records book yet back then either.
Chris Squire: The tour started in April of 1991 in Pensacola. But the friction started much earlier. Before we even rehearsed in fact.
Tony Kaye: Set lists for tours back then were generally very static things. It allowed for better lighting, special effects, visuals. But, all that stuff had to be synced up with the music. It also helped the mixing engineer set levels specific to each song. But creating that set list…
Steve Howe: We almost didn’t make it through the first rehearsal, never mind to the first show.
Chris: Everyone has their favorites - songs they think the audience wants to hear, songs they think showcase their best chops, songs that give them a nice break during the set, whatever. With a catalog of 14 studio albums to choose from including at least 30 released singles, even a planned double-length set couldn’t hold them all. And I think the cuts to some songs hit certain people really hard.
Trevor: Easy for Chris to say, he was a part of every song the band ever wrote.
The tour began to mixed reviews. Audiences seemed to appreciate the song choices, but the lackluster effort and lack of cohesiveness was obvious to everyone, including to the band members themselves.
Alan: By the time we were finished with the first European leg of the tour, our second leg overall, we were pretty sick of each other. The live show had devolved into two bands on opposite sides of the stage, kind of taking turns playing their own songs, with poor Chris running back and forth to play with both groups.
Steve: Chris really did have it the hardest, as the only bassist. I’m not sure how he made it as long as he did.
Tony: That second night in Philly, July 13 - yeah, that changed everything.
Bill: We were only a few songs in, just finished with Steve’s solo.
Steve: I was paying attention to my playing, not noticing what had happened behind me. I finished the solo, and we were supposed to transition into “Make It Easy” then into “Owner of a Lonely Heart”.
Bill: Chris just didn’t come back on stage after the solo.
Steve: The show must go on, as they say. So we kept on going, played without him right up to the start of Chris’ vocals, and then, nothing but rhythm.
Jon: I think Trevor realized it first, at least he picked up the slack for us. But not being the lead singer, he filled in the only way he could, with a lead guitar taking its place. But instead of playing something appropriate like the lyrical notes to “Owner”, he just started playing one of his own solo songs. The discord was obvious but no one wanted to stop and admit the mess to the audience. So one by one everyone figured out what he was doing and tried to adjust their playing accordingly.
Rick: It was awful, really, and I think I just blew a fuse in response.
Tony: Rick took over next, refusing to let Trevor take control of the direction, willing the music back to something he preferred. Now we had parts of three different songs going at once.
Alan: You just knew Tony wasn’t going to stand for Rick jumping in like that, like he was claiming to be the better keyboardist. And from there we were off.
Bill: By the time Chris got back on stage, we had been playing for about 45 minutes, flying from song to song as different band members literally tried to take control of the music, fighting through the clashing keys and time signatures. Somehow, he just stepped right back in.
Chris: I don’t really remember that night at all.
Alan: Our live engineer must have seen what was happening, because he started accentuating whoever was taking over, bringing their instrument louder in the mix to both the audience and in the monitors. Really, this whole thing is all his fault.
Jon: The crowd was used to us playing long instrumental songs, so I presume they just thought we were doing a medley.
Tony: Poor Jon. He could barely figure out where to jump in to sing - never more than a verse or two. I think he finally popped offstage for a drink.
Jon: I actually popped all the way to the pub down the block.
Bill: I’ve heard some people’s recordings of parts of that first couple hours. You couldn’t pay me to listen to that again. But eventually, something amazing started to happen.
Steve: It stopped being an individual battle and became something else.
Trevor: We stopped fighting each other for the spotlight, and started recognizing the immense complexity of what we were doing, containing the chaos. And of course, as soon as we did, it all fell apart. We ended the show without an encore. I think the crowd there still hates us for that.
Jon: The next day on the way to Lake Placid, the eight of us just sat around in our own corners of the bus, not talking.
Tony: The Lake Placid night solidified it. Before the first song was even complete, Rick had broken in and overlaid a completely different song on top of it. And away we went again. It must have seemed to the audience like we had forgotten how to play. Everyone tuned into their own instruments for a while, but slowly and surely we found each other again.
Jon: The recordings of the Lake Placid night are some of the most raw and enjoyable ones to listen to for me now. I knew something special was happening at the time. You can really see where it all came from.
For the next few weeks, audiences were subjected to a rock show like no other.
Bill: We never finished another song for the rest of the tour. There was no empty space, no banter, no breaks.
Steve: It had to be odd for the audiences who didn’t know what was coming, trying to navigate the constantly changing overlapping discord, no real beginning or end.
Tony: Each show just sort of ended when we got the signal that time was up and we stopped playing.
Trevor: It was unique. Had to give it that.
As the tour approached its end, word had gotten out about the fluid nature of the concerts, and bootleg recordings began to make the rounds. Audiences seemed to warm up to the new approach, even if the critics did not.
Steve: Management had added a last set of four shows back to back in Las Vegas. The buzz on the tour was huge, though misinformed. Audiences were generally positive. Critics complained it was pompous and all planned out. It was anything but. Though to be fair, we were at least talking to each other by then.
Jon: And then, like that, the idea just came through.
Chris: We started playing that first night in Vegas, and we just, well… We never came off stage. We never ended the first “song”. We just kept going. We rotated in and out, the benefit of being two bands for all intents and purposes.
Alan: We had warned the sound engineer, but I don’t think he believed us until we were still playing the next morning. Luckily, he had assistants who rotated their sleep and picked up his slack.
Trevor: The sun never rises in a concert hall, just like in a casino. Time just didn’t exist.
Jon: The audience issue was not on our minds, ever. I guess it should have been.
For the next few days, music continued unabated as the members of Yes took turns sleeping and taking over the songs. Audiences rotated in and out as people needed to go to work, or to sleep, or just finally reached their breaking point.
Jon: Rick and I went outside at one point for some air while the new guys kept things going. I had heard the line outside was something to see so we went around to the front. Every person as they left was getting cheered by those still in line to get in, because it meant they were that much closer to the experience.
Rick: People with tickets for the last show lined up a day in advance in hopes of eventually getting in.
Alan: The cops were amazingly patient with us. But they wouldn’t let us break the capacity restrictions.
Steve: We really needed a bigger venue.
Tony: Seven days later, we were finally notified that we had to stop because someone else needed to set up for their show the next night. We were still onstage when we got the news.
Chris: I don’t think anyone said a word, but we all knew where it had to go.
As the concert wound down, one by one, each instrument slid its way into a final song. That final song was Roundabout, of course. What else could it have been?
Tony: The one time all week all eight of us were all on the same page, we got together on the same key, same time signature, same everything.
Jon: One last “I’ll be there with you.” Shivers, man. It was the grandest ending ever.
The “YesWeek” show, as it came to be known, lasted just shy of 175 hours.
Chris: It was the longest unbroken concert of all time.
Trevor: For a month, anyway. Copycats.
Alan: We were first though, no one can take that away from us.
Tony: Well, John Cage’s piece started before us and is still going over there at that church in Germany, but it hasn’t ended yet, so technically it doesn’t count.
Bill: We went our separate ways after the end of the show. The tour was over anyway. How could one follow that, really?
Steve: Nothing else comes close.
Rick: It was the most fun I ever had on a tour.
Chris: Just one more piece of the Yes legacy.
The Yesshows ’91 tour supporting the “Union” album featured:
Jon Anderson - lead and backing vocals
Bill Bruford - electric drums
Steve Howe - guitars, backing vocals
Tony Kaye - keyboards
Trevor Rabin - guitars, backing and lead vocals
Chris Squire - bass guitar, backing vocals
Rick Wakeman - keyboards
Alan White - drums, backing vocals
R.I.P. Chris. You are well missed.