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Rock band Yes coming to Coliseum, but without lead singer Anderson
By Dan Craft
dcraft@pantagraph.com
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NEW 2:35 p.m. BLOOMINGTON -- Pioneering art rockers Yes are bringing their controversial “In the Present” Tour to Bloomington’s U.S. Cellular Coliseum at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 30.

Tickets are priced from $45 to $85, and go on sale at 10 a.m. Oct. 11 via the Coliseum box office and area Ticketmaster locations.

On board for the tour are “classic lineup” members Steve Howe on guitar, Chris Squire on bass and Alan White on drums.

The tour's controversy began in June when it was canceled due to the health woes of founding member and lead singer Jon Anderson.

Anderson was hospitalized after a severe asthma attack and diagnosed with acute respiratory failure. On doctors’ orders, he was told not to perform for at least six months.

When Howe, Squire and White opted to proceed with the tour this fall, the group hired an unknown Canadian singer, David Benoit, who performs in a Yes tribute band called Close to the Edge.

Benoit was discovered by the original members on the Internet, a situation similar to the one involving fellow rock veterans Boston, who played the Coliseum earlier this summer. That group hired a Boston tribute performer, Tommy DeCarlo, after encountering his work online.

Anderson has blogged on his own Web site (www.jonanderson.com) that he’s “disappointed” over the hiring of Benoit. Squire has publicly stated he hopes Anderson will rejoin the tour after his health improves.

Another replacement member in the current Yes lineup is keyboardist Oliver Wakeman, the son of original member Rick Wakeman, who also is on hiatus from the band due to health problems.
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Pioneering art rockers Yes are bringing their controversial “In the Present” Tour to Bloomington’s U.S. Cellular Coliseum at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 30.
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Reader comments on this story - 7 total

Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.

JTE wrote on Oct 2, 2008 8:39 AM:

" Geez- It's not like Squire and Howe aren't critical elements of Yes's sound. And frankly, Anderson is the one responsible for the lycrical drivel that made Yes almost unlistenable. Stuff like "I'll be the roundabout, I'll make you out and out, I'll be the sky your way." But it does come of seeming to be more of a Yes tribute band than Yes. Just like Chicago is just going through the motions of pretending to play music when all they're really doing is miming what's been done in the past. "

pinko commie wrote on Oct 1, 2008 10:13 PM:

" I think the coliseum has finally found their winning formula - hire "rockers" now in their 60's who are now nothing more than a cover band for next to nothing and then sell 300 tickets at $45-85. "

kramer wrote on Oct 1, 2008 7:01 PM:

" is this the same band from 1975??? if it is then know wonder the dump is $250,000.00 dollars in the hole all ready... "

Old Fart wrote on Oct 1, 2008 5:50 PM:

" Without Anderson and Wakeman, it's just like Van Halen w/o David Lee Roth or Journey w/o Steve Perry: a watered-down imitation that will probably satisfy most people (read "sell tickets anyway") but the purists will stay home and listen to Yessongs on vinyl with the headphones on. "

zs wrote on Oct 1, 2008 3:27 PM:

" Yes!!!!!1 I will be there also! Reading Andersons website explains how upset he is that the band is carrying on this year without him. :( I went to a show at the Riviera a few years ago in Chicago and it was nothing short of amazing. Hopefully Benoit David will do an OK job of filling in for Jon! Cant wait. Gonna be an awesome show! :) "

truthiness wrote on Oct 1, 2008 3:10 PM:

" YES! Wow, I had forgotten about them. Glad to see they made the washed up list for the Coliseum. Best of luck in the Echo dome, guys! "

michelle24 wrote on Oct 1, 2008 3:06 PM:

" YES!!!! we'll be there. "
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