The "Yes" story

In late 1973, when I was 17 and still at school, Yes included Portsmouth Guildhall in their tour schedule. Now, at the time, they were Rock Gods, so several of my pals and I queued all night for tickets, our parents believing that we were all sleeping at friends houses. Oh, how we enjoyed flashing our tickets around school the next day - "They sold out in 30 minutes! I'm seeing Yes, and you aren't!"

Come the night of the fabbo concert, the lights went down, other lights went up, "The Firebird Suite" blasted out and Jon Anderson said "Hi, Portsmouth - here's 'Close To The Edge'!" Fantastic stuff, this is what I'd queued all night for, fallen asleep next day during a particularly boring class on Wordsworth, and suffered a detention for.

Close To The Edge done, and with thunderous applause still erupting, Anderson said "And now here's our new album! It's released next month! It's called 'Tales From Topographic Oceans'! Hope you like it!"

Now "TFTO" is a difficult album, and that's being kind. Except that I don't feel like being kind,  because I queued all night and did some detention time for Yes, plus my parents found out that I didn't spend the night at a friend's place and insisted on The Truth, which they felt would involve strong drink, cannabis and gurls. So, in a "not kind" way, I'll say that TFTO is not "difficult", it's an example of the worst that prog/rock descended to.

The album runs to around 90 minutes. The live version they played that night lasted over two hours, and the bar at Portsmouth Guildhall didn't just run out of beer, it ran out of alcohol.

As Yes ended the terrible claptrap that was the previously unheard TFTO, they left the stage, to the applause of the few who were not in the bar. And yet, they came back for an uncalled encore! It was "Fragile" - and then they were gone.

There may be some here who think that TFTO is a fine album, and I won't take issue with you. All I'll say is - suppose you'd never heard it before, that the entire work is presented to you with extra guitar, bass and drum solos... would you enjoy every one of those 120 minutes? Or would you have swopped them all for "The Clap", or "Starship Trooper"?

Playing your new, unreleased album, is a bit patronising to your audience and fans, because it assumes that "You liked us then, so you'll like where we are now".

I still have my ticket from that Yes gig at Portsmouth Guildhall. At last year's Fairport Convention's Cropredy Festival, I was keen to meet Rick Wakeman after his slot, show him the ticket and demand my £2 back.