(Parallels)
Parallels: The Music Of YES played their third gig on November 16th. I was bound and determined to get to this show, even though it was in Mount Vernon, WA which is 60 miles north of me. They were performing in the historic Lincoln Theater. It would be a bona fide concert, just them, with stage lighting, fog and rear projection artwork.
I got up there just in time for the start of the show. Their fan from Minneapolis showed up at the last minute (he has flown out for all three of their shows!) Like last time, there were a lot of YES T-shirts in the audience and I could hear people engaged in conversations about YES shows they had seen. We were primed to hear some awesome music.
The opening, Parallels, sounded great, but the band had some hiccups with their stage monitors and could not hear themselves properly. It took several songs to straighten out the problems, which could not have been good for the bands nerves. Their confidence a bit rattled, soon the band relaxed and began to feel the YES love from the enthusiastic audience.
The show sounded great and the enhanced visuals and lighting added a lot to the experience. They were playing a lot more songs this time around, so I got to hear them represent a broad swath of YES music, even as recent as their magnification album. They played Close To The Edge, the song, in its entirety. They played a lot of songs from Fragile.
Their version of The Fish includes an awesome medley - it veers into chunks of other YES songs and even Chris Squire solo material. You can tell that, while being extremely faithful to the original arrangements, Parallels also adds their own stamp in the form of signature variations during certain passages.
This band can pull off frighteningly complex songs. They nailed the song Awaken, which is so difficult I can't even imagine the audacity of adding it to a set list. Navigating its maze of chords and time signatures effortlessly, Parallels once again left me awed. I had to work early the next morning so I had to leave right after the show and didn't get to talk to the band. Thanks guys for another great evening!
Parallels: The Music Of YES played their third gig on November 16th. I was bound and determined to get to this show, even though it was in Mount Vernon, WA which is 60 miles north of me. They were performing in the historic Lincoln Theater. It would be a bona fide concert, just them, with stage lighting, fog and rear projection artwork.
I got up there just in time for the start of the show. Their fan from Minneapolis showed up at the last minute (he has flown out for all three of their shows!) Like last time, there were a lot of YES T-shirts in the audience and I could hear people engaged in conversations about YES shows they had seen. We were primed to hear some awesome music.
The opening, Parallels, sounded great, but the band had some hiccups with their stage monitors and could not hear themselves properly. It took several songs to straighten out the problems, which could not have been good for the bands nerves. Their confidence a bit rattled, soon the band relaxed and began to feel the YES love from the enthusiastic audience.
The show sounded great and the enhanced visuals and lighting added a lot to the experience. They were playing a lot more songs this time around, so I got to hear them represent a broad swath of YES music, even as recent as their magnification album. They played Close To The Edge, the song, in its entirety. They played a lot of songs from Fragile.
Their version of The Fish includes an awesome medley - it veers into chunks of other YES songs and even Chris Squire solo material. You can tell that, while being extremely faithful to the original arrangements, Parallels also adds their own stamp in the form of signature variations during certain passages.
This band can pull off frighteningly complex songs. They nailed the song Awaken, which is so difficult I can't even imagine the audacity of adding it to a set list. Navigating its maze of chords and time signatures effortlessly, Parallels once again left me awed. I had to work early the next morning so I had to leave right after the show and didn't get to talk to the band. Thanks guys for another great evening!
posted by markjamesmurphy at 7:58 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home