Progressive pioneers YES recently announced a change to their forthcoming The Album Series Tour 2022 as they will celebrate the 50th anniversary of their iconic album Close to the Edge. This tour, twice rescheduled due to the Covid pandemic was intended to showcase YES’s 1974 classic Relayer album but will now feature Close to the Edge, performed in full, along with other classic tracks from YES’s extensive catalogue. European Relayer tour dates were recently rescheduled to May and June 2023.
The tour line-up features Steve Howe (guitars), Alan White (drums), Geoff Downes (keyboards), Jon Davison (vocals), Billy Sherwood (bass guitar and backing vocals) with additional drums and percussion by Jay Schellen. All tour dates are as previously announced and all tickets remain valid. A full performance of the Relayer album will now be featured in a future tour in The Album Series.
The show will comprise full production and a high-definition video wall directed by Roger Dean who will also be joining the tour with an exhibition of YES related art.
Following the release of The Yes Album and Fragile, in 1971, YES released what is widely considered one of the most defining albums, not only for YES but for the whole progressive movement. Close to the Edge became an inspiration for their contemporaries and for successive generations of musicians.
“We reached a real high, doing ‘Close to the Edge’,” said Steve Howe. “We valued the musicianship, the artistic ideas and the vocalising that people bring and that’s why we’re still doing it, because it’s exciting to do! ‘Close to the Edge’ was voted the most-proggy album possibly ever made. It was very experimental. We had already done 10-minute epics but with ‘Close to the Edge’ we just took it a stage further and I’m very pleased we were brave enough to do that.”
YES 2022 UK Tour Dates Are:
| 15th June | Wednesday | Glasgow Royal Concert Hall |
| 17th June | Friday | Manchester Bridgewater Hall |
| 18th June | Saturday | Nottingham Royal Concert Hall |
| 20th June | Monday | Liverpool Philharmonic Hall |
| 21st June | Tuesday | London Royal Albert Hall |
| 22nd June | Thursday | York Barbican |
| 24th June | Friday | Birmingham Symphony Hall |
| 26th June | Sunday | Newcastle O2 City Hall |
| 28th June | Tuesday | Dublin Vicar Street, Eire |
29th June Wednesday Cork Opera House, Eire
Tickets remain valid for the rescheduled shows. For full details and to book tickets for all shows go to venue website or http://yesworld.com/live where you can also book Meet and Greets with the band.
