Jon Anderson’s favourite Yes songs to perform live
The live performance means different things to different people, and how people enjoy live music is widely debated. Interestingly, something that generally unites strangers can also be divisive. Some people like to record their favourite stuff on their phones; some like to dance and sing along, while others prefer to stand there and take it all in. The same applies to the musicians, as the tracks they enjoy playing must differ, given they get different things out of the live experience. This is well reflected in Jon Anderson’s favourite Yes songs to perform live.
Yes started as a prog rock band, meaning they made drawn-out and atmospheric pieces. The complex nature of their music is one of the things that Anderson liked so much about their sound, but it’s a sound that wouldn’t last.
The number one single is a milestone that most groups are desperate to make, but in doing so, many bands set themselves a bar that is only possible to reach with unwanted compromise. This happened with Yes, as their first number-one single, ‘Owner of a Lonely Heart’, gave their record label unrealistic expectations and a new direction for them, one driven by hit singles instead of complex and exciting music.
Jon Anderson reflects on the period following ‘Owner of a Lonely Heart’ and the desperate attempts by their label to make the group churn out more hits. “By the time we got to Big Generator, I was ready to leave because nobody was happy. We were scrambling to make a hit record, and the record company and management were all they talked about. They’d play records and say, ‘This is a hit record, make something like this.’”
This plunge for the top set the stage on which Yes would perform their final act, as their first experience at the top simultaneously doubled up as a trip to the bottom. Granted, they made music after ‘Owner of a Lonely Heart’, which fans liked, but the disagreement between members and labels would eventually lead to the band’s conclusion.
Anderson’s attitude towards this music is also reflected in the songs he prefers to play live. Citing ‘Close to the Edge’, ‘Revealing’, ‘Ritual’, ‘Gates of Delirium’, and ‘Awaken’, he opts for the more atmospheric numbers, ones that strive for elongated moments of elation rather than a quick two to three minutes of dancing around.
“These are really epic pieces of music that would hold 20,000 people in the balance,” he said, “we were playing in front of big audiences in arenas through the 1970s, and people would just sit there and listen for 20 minutes each time, and feel the energy at the end of the piece. We were so convinced about the music we played it like it was a symphony, and then we finished the piece totally exhausted. And the audience would erupt for about five minutes.”
Seeing music live is one of the most beautiful things about the art form, but that doesn’t mean it is all-encompassing, as punters and players get their kicks differently. Jon Anderson’s attitude to playing music is the same as his attitude to writing it; he never cared much for the singalong hits and instead reached for complexity and atmosphere. It’s no surprise his favourite songs to perform live are tracks that highlight those qualities of Yes, rather than the hits they were trying to make later in their career.
Jon Anderson’s favourite songs:
- ‘Close to the Edge’
- ‘Revealing’
- ‘Ritual’
- ‘Gates of Delirium’
- ‘Awaken’
