Throughout the concert each time an icon appears
you can watch an animation. During the orchestra’s overture a first
animation takes us through a Roger Dean landscape and then into space in which
the immortal YES-logo flies like a huge spaceship. The spacecraft transported
Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Chris Squire, Alan White, Tom Brislin and a huge
symphonic orchestra and landed in the Heineken Hall in Amsterdam. What better
way to introduce the atmosphere of the YES galaxy than by performing ‘Close
to the edge’ encorporating large chunks of powerful strings. It’s exactly
those strings which extra emphasize the many breaks and changes the song
contains. Due to many camera’s available all angles of the stage are covered
and whilst animations pop up during long stretched parts you are given the
possibility to watch the same part in two different ways. It’s amazing how
the orchestra’s horns add to the dramatics during the ‘I get up I get
down’ section and great also to see how Tom Brislin introduces his own
solo’s which fare much better than the Wakeman clone Koroshev could ever
achieve in his life ! Astonoshing also to hear and see with how much ease Jon
Anderson tackles those high notes. This guy gets better with age ! A new symphonic introduction preceeds a rousing
version of ‘Long distance runaround’ which certainly pleases members of
the European Festival Orchestra. New songs such as ‘Don’t go’ and ‘In
the presence of’ from the new album “Magnification” sound like true Yes
classics already. Especially the vocal harmonies during ‘In the presence
of’ sound ever so well. Having witnessed the band live with the orchestra
both in Belgium and the night of the DVD recording in Holland, I found
‘Gates of delerium’ to be thé absolute highlight. Sadly they didn’t
perform it in Belgium so Belgian fans will be ever so pleased to see it
included in this set, maybe feeling even more bitter to see what they missed
live in Antwerp ! Here Tom Brislin evokes the Patrick Moraz style merging ever
so well with the orchestra. Once Steve Howe attacks his steel guitar we all
know we’re on our way to the most beautiful melody in the history of
popmusic : ‘Soon’. Again Jon’s voice is cristalclear, nicely contrasting
with Chris’ loud bass. With a camera high in the air we can see that
Steve Howe has a carpet under his feet but not during his solo spot when he
moves towards the centre of the stage. One wonders however why he keeps on
playing either ‘The clap’ or ‘Mood for a day’ like tonight. I mean the
guy has released so much solo material over the years, why doesn’t he make a
medley with some of these tunes and surprise us ? Together with the orchestra
it’s as if ‘Starship trooper’ gets another dimension. It’s also the
song in which Chris Squire demonstrates his skills. Although very much Yes,
the titletrack ‘Magnification’ has a very contemporary feel about it.
Again the strings do a remarkable job during ‘And you and I’ whilst we see
Squire playing harmonica. By now the atmosphere in the hall is boiling and
what better way to continue than with ‘Ritual’ from the sublime double set
“Tales from topographic oceans”. No doubt the highlight here is the battle
between Squire, White and the orchestra culminating in a solospot for Squire
and a drumsolo for White. It really explodes when next to Alan, Chris attacks
the kettle drums whilst also Jon and Tom bang on some drums. It’s sounds
like carnival in Rio de Janeiro ! After almost 2 ½ hours Jon’s voice is still
fresh enough to tackle a swirling version of ‘All good people’ making sure
everyone in the hall stands up to sing and to clap along. It marks the end of
the actual concert but the crowd wants more … and gets more ! Steve Howe
even has to attack his least favourite Yes-track of all time when ‘Owner of
a lonely heart’ is performed. To help him out of his misery Trevor Rabin’s
guitarsolo is performed on keyboards by Tom. Certainly not vintage Yes but
still the best selling Yes song of all time. Now the hall is really cooking so
what better song to finish this unique event than with ‘Roundabout’ ? By
now all the girls from the orchestra have joined the band on stage to sing and
dance along as this was their final concert on this tour. No doubt an
incredible end to an incredible tour ! For the band, the orchestra ad the
audience this was a night never to forget. With this DVD we are unlikely to,
being able to relive every single second. Pitty Rick Wakeman wasn’t there to
make the picture complete though ! Reviewed by John 'Bobo' Bollenberg
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