We hit the TRIPLE Jackpot!

 

Well, you may allready have heard what happened last night.
Yes played maybe its best concert ever.
Tjee after Tuesday and Wednesday I could not have believed they could do any better.
But this show was simply superiour to the night before.
Reason: Well Steve Howe was in a very good mood and that shows!

 

But again, let's start at the beginning.
AS we assumed the show would be recorded and we were all invited to setup the audience
levels by screaming as loud as we could (we didn't).
The show started exactly on time, meaning this time many people came in late, tjeee :}
When Steve Howe hit the stage he was allready smiling, NEVER seen him like this!
They went into a furious CTTE and it was time to give all a good glance. Jon was wearing a green
shirt, Chris in his same outfit, and the orchestra was wearing a light purple blouse over the
white shirts. It all looked magnificent and you could see they were all extra motivated for the
video shooting. The camera's didn't bother too much, allthough I can't believe they can have
shot too good things as they were moving the whole of the time.
Anyway, the magic was immediately there, floating and floating. The orchestra was LOUD, as it
is supposed to be! I could hear great harp playing the whole time - Angelic :}
Tom Brislin got his keyboard solo again PERFECT, man that's one of the highlights of this tour.
I won't go into LDR and Don't Go, that's just some nice things coming around to relax to.
Jon was also in a very good mood, and man, the audiance was so enthousiastic!
The Amsterdam Tour Song was pretty funny, but not as nice as the night before I thought.
Were they going to play Gates? Offcourse they would, but you'd never know (O come on Ruud, you
didn't doubt it for a minute!). Anyway "In the Presence Of" was played magnificantly, the orchestra
really good.
Ok, there was Gates!! Started a bit messy, but soon it was perfect playing from all. This was
great. Even better than the day before, Chris was better I think, and the mix with the orchestra as
well. I even thought the orchestra was too loud in some parts, but hey, we're talking perfectionism
here!! Gates went by as a flow, does this track times 22 minutes? Can't believe it, felt like 5
at most!! Man, I hope they'll play it for you in England because it's so good.
Jon told us it was the last night for the Orchestra, and "they had to get a job" afterwards,
which was yelled at by the audience and he excused himself by saying that they didn't understand what he
was saying anyway. Hmmm, I am curious if they will put that on the DVD....

 

Halfway Gates the curtain drops (maybe I should not spoil this in case you haven't seen it, skip the next line)
and then the beautiful blue night sky appears. O, it's such perfectly done all, amazing.
After Gates all left except Steve with his capable hands, who played the Concerto in D and Mood for A day.
Surprisingly as they played two others the two days before and I would have bet my cards on that.
But he, I looove the Concerto in D, and he played it magnificently. He was very pleased all the way,
but after playing his soloset, we could actually see his teeth!!

 

So, we were ready for the second part of the show. Starship Trooper.... You know what I think of it,
so let's concentrate on the second part. I talked to some who thought Chris was overdoing this. They
are absolutely right, but it is so great to watch. Man, I can't wait for that DVD!! It doesn't have much
to do with the original Wurm but it's shear fun. They audience went wild after this.

 

Next Magnification - tjee have seen this now for three times allready (Yes aMericans this time you might be
a bit healous at us, but we will have our share of jealousy when they again play the states {: ).
Last night was sooo much better than the other two nights. It fitted exactly, the orchestra, the band.
It's a pretty hard thing to play, I am convinced but last night - Perfect! It's amazing how this can
be so different on two occasions.

 

On to AYAI, mjam, mjam, still getting many many goosebumps there. It's so nice to see Jon doing this.
I think he's really into that one, even after a zillion of years. There's nothing "fake" on his
waving stuff! It will look great on the Video.

 

He, the Audience was pretty quiet BTW, so all who were sitting near to me (4th row, center) THANKS!

 

On to Ritual... that one get's more impressive every night you see it. What a killer! Everyone in
the audience loved it. It was again played so perfectly, so intense. Again that Orchestra during the
drumsolo I love it soo much!! And than Steve with that perfect ending, so, so great.

 

OK, this time I will not continue with the verdict but with the show!! The audience got crazy and
everyone was sooo happy. I hope I am not on the DVD in that part, because I completely went nuts.

 

Showtime - starting with I've seen All Good People. Woohoo, love that track, especially the first part.
But this time during the second  it was such a party, rave on!

 

After that, it was over, but we knew to expect Owner as an encore.
And YES, they played it !!! Oh oh, they did it good, and yes, Steve actually plays it and was not bored.
Allthough you can see he thinks it's not serious, he made the best of it. And than the Trevor Rabin
Solo !!!! Played by Tom ha ha. No Steve is not going to do that one! But afterwards he played his solo in it,
very nice.
The crowd went mad again! And than Roundabout, still! And a very nice surprise the whole orchestra joined
them onstage, waving and dancing. Ehh how should I put this polite... All these young girls, very beautiful,
dancing behind the band. I believe I payed more attention to them as to the band. AND SO DID CHRIS !!
Wow, must be nice to be over fifty doing this. I should never have givin up playing in a band ha!
No, it was one wild party and everybody loved it! After that, it was over.

 

Man, this WAS the best Yesshow ever, and also one of the longest. We did some aftertalk (hi Ernst, Albert)
and than had a safe (but very long) journey home.

 

O, this will be so perfect when it will be on DVD, allthough our recording was ALSO perfect.
Release it quick, boys!

 

THANKS YES FOR AN INCREDIBLE NIGHT !!

 

Bye, Ruud