I seem to be being accompanied by a frog, so please sing along.
Jon Anderson prior to beginning “The Gates of Delirium” from this performance. Retrieved from here.
Yes performed on this day in 1975 at the Spectrum Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
This concert was part of Yes’ Relayer Tour, undertaken to promote the album of the same name. Relayer was the first album released after Rick Wakeman’s departure in the wake of the controversial Tales From Topographic Oceans album. Stepping into his shoes was Patrick Moraz, a Swiss keyboardist formerly of Refugee. Moraz would only be with the group for a single album before Wakeman returned.
Yes’ appearance at the Spectrum on July 22 was the second of two Philadelphia appearances on this leg of the tour, the first having taken place the night before. There were some slight variations of the setlists in between the concerts; on this night, the entirety of Relayer was performed out of order, with “Sound Chaser” beginning the concert. The encore track was also different, with “Sweet Dreams” from Time and A Word being replaced with “Starship Trooper” from The Yes Album. As a result, there was no longer a representative from Time and A Word on the setlist, which was now composed of five albums. Also dropped was the prototype of a song from Going For the One, which in its appearance onstage the night before had been titled “High Vibration”.
Reviews of the show note that while it was quite good, Jon Anderson had some vocal trouble, a very rare occurrence in Yes performance history!
This concert is known to have been recorded, and is in circulation online.
Yes performed a staggering twenty-nine concerts total over the years at the Spectrum Arena in Philadelphia, of which this was the seventh. I talk more about this venue Yes’ second most-visited up to this point, here.
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