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8:00 PM FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2018
PAVILION
50TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR
YES
†
featuring
JON ANDERSON
TREVOR RABIN
RICK WAKEMAN
†
Ravinia debut
YES ft. ANDERSON, RABIN & WAKEMAN
Singer Jon Anderson and bassist Chris Squire
began assembling Yes in early
, recruiting
guitarist Peter Banks and keyboardist Tony Kaye
a er nding drummer Bill Bruford through, of
all places, a magazine ad. e group’s rst break
came later that year when they lled in for Sly &
e Family Stone at a prominent club and then
opened for Cream’s farewell concert at Royal
Albert Hall a month later. Following another
Royal Albert gig in early
, Yes was signed
by Atlantic Records and soon released its rst
single, “Sweetness,” written the night Anderson
and Squire rst met. e quintet’s debut, epony-
mous album came out that summer, featuring a
mix of original songs and covers, a nod to their
origins playing almost entirely covers. Between
the recording and release of the group’s
fol-
low-up,
Time and a Word
, Steve Howe replaced
Banks on guitar. As the vastness of Yes’s musical
conception grew, so did its audience:
’s
e
Yes Album
marked a turning point, comprising
entirely original songs such as the landmarks
“Starship Trooper” and “I’ve Seen All Good Peo-
ple,” whose rst half, “Your Move,” became the
group’s rst US top- hit. at same year, Rick
Wakeman replaced Kaye on keyboards and Yes
casually dashed o an even bigger hit in
Fragile
,
featuring the top- single “Roundabout.”
e
group’s ambitious musical designs came to the
fore on
’s
Close to the Edge
, whose title track
lled the entire rst LP side. With Bruford re-
placed by Alan White, Yes went all-in on
’s
Tales from Topographic Oceans
: each side of the
double LP was a song unto itself. As the group
entered the ’ s, the track lengths became pro-
gressively more radio-friendly, culminating in
’s pop-rock smash hit
, which featured
the chart-topping single “Owner of a Lonely
Heart” and brought guitarist Trevor Rabin into
the Yes family. In
, nearly all of the Yes mem-
bers past and present came together for
Union
,
from which “Li Me Up” became a mainstream
rock hit. Until the present group formed in
,
that album marked the trio’s only collabora-
tion. Tonight Yes, featuring Anderson, Rabin &
Wakeman, is making its Ravinia debut.
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