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when anyone asked him about Yes not being
inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: “It’ll
happen when it happens.” Last year, it happened.
In his euphoric induction speech, Anderson, the
frontman during the band’s classic era, marveled at joining his
musical heroes in the Hall, among them Little Richard, Bill
Haley & His Comets, and Stevie Wonder. He also honored the
memories of guitarist Peter Banks and bassist Chris Squire,
two of the band’s co-founders, both of whom passed within the
past ve years.
“I was in shock; I didn’t know what to say,” Anderson told
Ravinia
Magazine in a phone interview. “It was very surreal. We
did a couple of songs, and a er that, I drank a bottle of wine.”
ose “couple of songs” (“Roundabout,” “Owner of a Lonely
Heart”) represented something of an extraordinary moment
in Yes’s tumultuous -year history. It marked the rst time in
more than a decade that Anderson performed onstage with
guitarist and co-founding member Steve Howe and drummer
Alan White, who tour in their own incarnation of Yes.
Yes, there are two Yeses, but let’s not reopen old wounds—
“I never le Yes; it le me,” stated Anderson, who was uncere-
moniously replaced in
a er being sidelined by a serious
health issue. e ensemble that will perform at Ravinia on
September is aptly billed on the schedule as “Quintessential
Yes”; they have also toured as ARW. It features Anderson,
whose distinctive alto-tenor is the band’s trademark voice;
keyboardist Rick Wakeman, who in
joined the lineup that
RAVINIA MAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER 3, 2018 – MAY 11, 2019
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