''Yes 50 Live'' is a double live album by English

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

band

Yes Yes or YES may refer to: * An affirmative particle in the English language; see yes and no Education * YES Prep Public Schools, Houston, Texas, US * YES (Your Extraordinary Saturday), a learning program from the Minnesota Institute for Talente ...

, released on 2 August 2019 by

Rhino Records A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct species o ...

Background

Yes reached their fiftieth anniversary year in 2018. To commemorate the milestone, the band—consisting of guitarist

Steve Howe Stephen James Howe (born 8 April 1947) is an English musician, best known as the guitarist in the progressive rock band Yes across three stints since 1970. Born in Holloway, North London, Howe developed an interest in the guitar and began to l ...

, drummer Alan White, bassist

Billy Sherwood William Wyman Sherwood (born March 14, 1965) is an American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, singer, record producer and mixing engineer. He is best known for his tenures in the English progressive rock band Yes (band), Yes as guitarist and ke ...

, keyboardist

Geoff Downes Geoffrey Downes (born 25 August 1952) is an English keyboardist who gained fame as a member of the new wave group The Buggles with Trevor Horn, the progressive rock band Yes, and the supergroup Asia. Born in Stockport, Downes moved to London ...

, and lead vocalist

Jon Davison Jon Davison (born January 16, 1971) is an American singer, musician and songwriter who has been the lead vocalist of progressive rock band Yes (band), Yes since 2012. He is also known as the former lead singer of progressive rock band Glass Ha ...

—completed the 50th Anniversary Tour across Europe and the United States between March and July 2018. The five were joined by American drummer

Jay Schellen Jay Schellen (born May 20, 1960) is an American drummer who is best known as a member of the hard rock band Hurricane. Schellen has also worked and currently working with a number of other heavy rock and progressive rock bands, including with A ...

, who performed the majority of Yes's live sets since 2016 while White recovered from surgery and a bacterial infection that affected his playing. The tour's set list included songs that spanned most of the group's history, from ''

Time and a Word ''Time and a Word'' is the second studio album by English rock band Yes, released on 24 July 1970 by Atlantic Records. It was put together several months after the release of the band's 1969 eponymous debut, during which they continued to tour ...

'' (1970), their second album, to ''

Fly from Here ''Fly from Here'' is the twentieth studio album by the English progressive rock band Yes. It was released on 22 June 2011 by Frontiers Records, and is their only album featuring lead vocalist Benoît David and keyboardist Oliver Wakeman. Yes ...

'' (2011), their twentieth album.

Recording

''Yes 50 Live'' was recorded on 20 and 21 July 2018 at The Fillmore Philadelphia in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

during the North American leg of the tour. It features the majority of the set list performed on the two nights. This particular leg featured guest performances from former keyboardists Tony Kaye and

Patrick Moraz Patrick Philippe Moraz (born 24 June 1948) is a Swiss musician, film composer and songwriter, best known for his tenures as keyboardist in the rock bands Yes and The Moody Blues. Born into a musical family, Moraz learned music at a young age a ...

; Kaye joined the group for the encores ("Yours Is No Disgrace", "Roundabout", and "Starship Trooper") and Moraz plays on "Soon", the closing section to "

The Gates of Delirium "The Gates of Delirium" is a song by the English progressive rock band Yes, recorded for their seventh studio album, ''Relayer''. At almost 22 minutes in length, the song is loosely based on the 1869 novel ''War and Peace'' by Leo Tolstoy which ...

". Sherwood, who has produced and mixed several Yes albums, reprises his role as the mixer on this album.

Release

The album was available as a 2-CD and 4-LP set, along with a colored vinyl pressing limited to 1,200 copies.

Critical reception

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

gave the album three out of five stars and noted that it "adheres most closely to the prog rock that made their name in the early '70s" and that the current incarnation of the band "does this sound justice, which makes the album precisely what it's intended to be: a celebration of a particular time and sound, delivered with affection and skill".

Track listing

Personnel

Yes *

– guitars, backing vocals, production * Alan White – drums, percussion, production *

– keyboards, production *

– bass guitar, backing vocals, production, mixing *

– lead vocals, acoustic guitar, percussion, production with *

– additional drums, percussion * Tony Kaye – keyboards on "Yours Is No Disgrace", "Roundabout", and "Starship Trooper" *

– keyboards on "Soon" Production *Dean Mattson – recording *Maor Appelbaum – mastering * Roger Dean – painting, design, cover *Douglas Gottlieb – photography, design *Glenn Gottlieb – photography, design *Daniel Earnshaw – product manager

Charts

The album made #34 in the UK midweek album chart."Official Albums Chart Update Top 100, 05 August 2019 - 11 August 2019", Official Charts Company, 5 Aug 2019

References

{{yesband 2019 live albums Yes (band) live albums Rhino Records live albums Albums with cover art by Roger Dean (artist)