My wife and I traveled to San Diego, California last week to attend a wedding. The day after we arrived, we went to Petco Park and watched the San Diego Padres play the Seattle Mariners battle to a 1-0 hometown victory. After settling in at our La Jollia hotel, we Ubered our way to Humphreys by the Bay situated outdoors. in the heart of a resort and restaurant development. Despite the resort and restaurant packages, and overall reasonable ticket prices, the concert was nowhere close to sold out. Fortunately for us, for $59.00 (plus the Ticketmaster charges), we sat 3rd row center in the narrow plastic chairs that did not fold making it difficult to pass. Mr. Anderson opened the concert with the classic “Owner of a Lonely Heart” and proceeded to mix songs from his brand new album “1,000 Hands” with older solo works and the Yes catalog. Jon looked and sounded great with a capable band that played well but lacked the stage presence provided by some of Anderson’s other touring bands. The venue had the vibe that you were somehow at some private event with full service bar and cozy atmosphere.. Jon Anderson is still the ultimate showman and the music still holds up; and as all true artists do, he is still creating new and innovative sonic art. Jon seemed to be particularly attentive to a beautiful blonde seated at the end of the first row who I believe turned out to be his wife. She sang along to the new tunes and was seen briefly dancing with Anderson on the side of the stage near the end of the show during an instrumental break. My wife, who was never a big Yes fan, loved the concert and we happily exited with the encore “Roundabout” reverberating in our heads.

Makes Me Happy

Rock on !

GQ