ShareARW performing An Evening Of Yes Music & More at The Royal Concert Hall Nottingham on Tuesday 21st March 2017
Images and Review by Kevin Cooper
The recently formed ARW showed a packed Royal Concert Hall last night that with a combined age of 202, they still have plenty of inspiration and innovation left in them to entertain this eager crowd.
With Rick Wakeman still a wizard on the keyboards, and Trevor Rabin with his subliminal guitar skills, all you needed to add was the vocals of Jon Anderson and the Concert Hall was transported back in time to the heady days of Yes and their psychedelic progressive rock music.
Joining them on stage was the very talented Louis Molino III on drums and bassist Lee Pomeroy who added expert musicianship as well as additional voices that completed the exquisite wall of vocal harmonies.
They came to treat fans to the hits of Yes and that is exactly what they did. They played a mixture of material from the 70s like Perpetual Change and I’ve Seen All Good People which was a crowd pleaser, through to the 80s songs Hold On and Lift Me Up with its excellent drum solo from Molino.
Heart Of The Sunrise was a mid set highlight with its instrumental sections that allowed Wakeman and Rabin to show off, whilst Long Distance Runaround was dedicated to Yes bassist Chris Squire who passed away in 2015. Pomeroy stepped forward to play Squire’s signature bass piece on The Fish, and Awaken saw Anderson plucking a small harp.
It was fans favourites Owner Of A Lonely Heart and Roundabout that ended the show and went down an absolute storm. With Rabin having been away from the stage for more than two decades, there was no sign of any rustiness. And whilst Anderson might not have gotten quite as high as he did the first time around, for 72 he sounded and looked tremendous as he rhythmically swayed and danced to the music.
With hugs all round, a two hour set was brought to a close leaving no doubt that we had been in the presence of greatness.
