In 1977 my favorite band was Yes who were touring in support of the “ Going for the One” album with keyboardist Rick Waksman back in the fold following the Patrick Moraz “Relayer” line up.

Needless to say, seeing Yes at Madison Square Garden was a huge deal for the progressive rock fans in our group. The “Yessongs” triple live album, and the accompanying movie, were landmark events for the genre. The return of the iconic line up at the World’s Most Famous Arena was a big event during what may have been a golden age of live rock and roll music.

Our seats were mid level up toward the right and the stage background resembled the “Going for the One” album cover. It certainly did not hurt that the “ Going for the One” album is one of the strongest in the band’s storied history. It was a traditional end stage set up which is an important note as the band would tour -arenas “in the round” on subsequent tours which turned out to be great because Yes the band were all such extraordinary musicians in their own right and having a different visual focal point as the stage rotated was fascinating. For the “Going for the One” tour the first thing that caught my eye was that Rick Wakeman’s hair was shorter than it was in”Yessongs” and he was not wearing one of his dramatic capes.

Jethro Tull was my favorite band, and “Warchild” was the first rock album that I purchased on my own, but then I discovered Yes’ progressive rock music and the extraordinarily talented musicians who performed these sonic masterworks; while my rock and roll attention runs the gamut, Yes in all its incarnations remain one of my top rock and roll acts of all time.

Awaken

Rock on!

GQ