2nd September 2020: Following the outstanding success of their 2019 American tour, YES are to release The Royal Affair Tour, Live From Las Vegas through BMG Records on 30th October. Eager fans will be able to get hold of the PHYSICAL formats from 2nd October if ordered exclusively through the YES Store. Formats are: CD digi sleeve with 12 page booklet; 2LP gatefold with 12” booklet and digital. Pre-Order the album here: https://YesBand.lnk.to/RoyalAffairPR All YES concert tours are special events for their legions of fans and The Royal Affair Tour was no exception, conceived as a wonderful celebration of the best of British progressive music. Guests on the tour were Asia (with YES keyboardist Geoff Downes and a special appearance by Steve Howe), John Lodge of The Moody Blues and Carl Palmer’s ELP Legacy featuring Arthur Brown.
Of The Royal Affair Tour album, Alan White says: “The Royal Affair tour album, being released in October, is a welcome new chapter in the wide expanse of YES live recordings. I hope you enjoy it.”
Steve Howe adds: “Having the opportunity to bring together the band members in the development of a well refined set of songs that captures the bands true potential is simply an honour for me.” The show features many classic tracks across the period 1970 – 1980. The set opened with No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed, the Richie Havens cover from YES’ second album Time And A Word (1970). Tempus Fugit was taken from Drama (1980), Geoff Downes’ first as a member of YES, while Going For The One, I’ve Seen All Good People and Siberian Khatru are from some of YES’ iconic mid-70s albums. The set included a rare live performance of YES’ cover of Paul Simon’s America and John Lodge shared vocals on YES’ cover of John Lennon’s Imagine. Soon-to-be YES drummer Alan White played on the original studio recording. The Royal Affair Tour live set and album, recorded at the Hard Rock Hotel, Las Vegas, in July 2019, reaches a climax with two of the best-loved YES tracks Roundabout and Starship Trooper, always a high note on which to close the set. YES are Steve Howe (guitar) who joined in 1970, Alan White, drums since 1972, Geoff Downes (keyboards) who first joined in 1980, vocalist since 2011 Jon Davison, Billy Sherwood, who played guitar/keyboards in the 1990s and was the late Chris Squire’s choice to take over bass/vocals in 2015 also played with Asia on this tour. Jay Schellen played additional drums. The Royal Affair Tour also featured an exhibition of original art by Roger Dean whose artwork is synonymous having designed the iconic YES logo and the band’s best-loved album covers. Roger Dean recently painted The Royal Affair Tour album artwork live on Facebook while also fielding questions from fans. The 26-date The Royal Affair Tour and YES’ performances were critically acclaimed: “Yes proved again that they are, after all these years, still the kings of progressive rock.” (Vintage Rock) “It was a unique night of rock music history that has endured for half a century.” (Grateful Web) As always, YES put on a magical show and took the crowd on a journey through their hits (Music Connection Magazine) The band sounded great and had brilliant visuals to accompany the songs. Sherwood’s bass playing is perfectly suited to capture the essence of the late Chris Squire while Geoff Downes and Steve Howe are still at the top of their games. Vocalist Jon Davison… looks extremely comfortable on stage, hitting each note with ease. (the progreport.com)
The Royal Affair Tour – Live in Las Vegas track listing: 1. No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed2. Tempus Fugit3. Going For The One4. I’ve Seen All Good People5. Siberian Khatru6. Onward7. America8. Imagine9. Roundabout10. Starship Trooper Recorded live at the Las Vegas Hard Rock Hotel, Friday 26th July 2019, The Royal Affair Tour, Live From Las Vegas was mixed by Billy Sherwood and is released by BMG Records. Customers who order via the YES Store will receive their albums on 2nd October with the album on general release from 30th October.
The Royal Affair Tour – Live in Las Vegas track listing: 1. No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed2. Tempus Fugit3. Going For The One4. I’ve Seen All Good People5. Siberian Khatru6. Onward7. America8. Imagine9. Roundabout10. Starship Trooper
Recorded live at the Las Vegas Hard Rock Hotel, Friday 26th July 2019, The Royal Affair Tour, Live From Las Vegas was mixed by Billy Sherwood and is released by BMG Records. Customers who order via the YES Store will receive their albums on 2nd October with the album on general release from 30th October. About Yes For half a century YES have been one of the most innovative, influential and best-loved bands in rock music history and consistently at the fore-front of the progressive rock movement. Formed in 1968 by Jon Anderson and the late, and much-missed, Chris Squire, their 1970s albums The Yes Album, Fragile, Close To The Edge, the triple live album set Yessongs, Tales From Topographic Oceans, Relayer and Going For The One were ground-breaking in musical style and content. Their music also became synonymous with artist Roger Dean whose distinctive YES logo design and artwork adorned the lavish gatefold presentation sleeves of many YES albums. With sales of over 50 million records, the Grammy-award winning YES were inducted into The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2017, where they performed Roundabout from the album Fragile and the FM radio-friendly Owner Of A Lonely Heart from the 1985 album 90125
Musicians’ musician and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Eddie Jobson, best known for his virtuosic violin and keyboard work with Roxy Music, Frank Zappa, King Crimson, Jethro Tull and supergroup UK, brings us a compilation of live performances from Poland, Russia, Japan and the U.S.A. with his all-star ‘U-Z Project.’
Jobson’s live concert recordings feature guest musicians Marc Bonilla, Alex Machacek, Marco Minnemann, Mike Mangini, Greg Howe, Simon Phillips, Trey Gunn, TJ Helmerich, Billy Sheehan, Ric Fierabracci, Tony Levin and special guest appearances by John Wetton.
The twenty-one tracks include:
Alaska (UK) – Perm, Russia The Only Thing She Needs (UK) – Los Angeles, USA Awakening (Mahavishnu Orchestra) – Boston, USA Nevermore (UK) – Tokyo, Japan Rendezvous 6:02 (UK) – Tokyo, Japan Theme of Secrets (Jobson) – Bydgoszcz, Poland In The Dead of Night (UK) – Tokyo, Japan Presto Vivace (UK)- Tokyo, Japan Bitches Crystal (ELP) – Los Angeles, USA Red (King Crimson) – Perm, Russia Starless (King Crimson) – Tokyo, Japan Caesar’s Palace Blues (UK) – Tokyo, Japan Forever Until Sunday (Bruford) – Tokyo, Japan Carrying No Cross (UK) – Krakow, Poland
We are finally releasing new material! This is a crucial moment for us so we ask you to support us by presaving this song on your Spotify library. In exchange you’ll get 20% on our store!
Due to public demand, Gentle Giant is pleased to announce the very first ‘OFFICIAL’ t-shirt from the band’s own merchandise line. The t-shirt design was inspired by an old poster from a show the band played in Zurich, Switzerland in 1975.
The exclusive pre-sale is available from now until October 1st. All sizes will be available exclusively at GentleGiantBand.com. Use code GG10 for 10% off (valid only for pre-sale)
We hope all friends, fans and followers will enjoy wearing the first of the many ‘OFFICIAL’ Gentle Giant merch!
US-based Art Rock/Prog Fusion band Potter’s Daughter release a poignant video We Could Be from EP, Casually Containing Rage, the EP was released over the weekend.
Q: Tell us about the song and the video We Could Be?
A: The music video was born when Dyanne Potter Voegtlin and Jan-Christian Vögtlin of Potter’s Daughter, and developing filmmaker Serena Kunzler put their heads together to create a message of unity and resistance in the face of racial injustice in the United States. As a US citizen living abroad, Serena still wanted to base her video edit on local images and footage. She first called out to friends on Facebook, and later “stalked” photographers on Flickr, some of which graciously provided their material on Black Lives Matter, Native Lives Matter, Muslim Lives Matter, Families Belong Together, and other social issues. With the addition of abstract paint and color footage from photographers on Pexels, the final music video – along with the song We Could Be itself – layers themes of race, color, struggle, and unity into a multilayered poem.
We Could Be
Dyanne Potter Voegtlin-keyboards, vocals Jan-Christian Vögtlin-bass, drum programming, guitar synth NPR David Greene-radio broadcast Produced by Dyanne Potter Voegtlin, co-produced by Jan-Christian Vögtlin and Joseph Wiggy Wegleski Mastered by Tom Borthwick Recorded at SI Studio, Engineered by Joseph Wiggy Wegleski Video by Serena Kunzler
Huge thanks for the use of photos and videos. Miranda Lynn, Saundi Wilson, Fauxels, Huyen Khanh Do, Rosie Julin, Eino Sierpe, Elvert Barnes, Montecruz Foto, Parker Dubiel, Greg’s Southern Ontario, Jill Ion, Peg Hunter – Video featuring Idle No more SF Bay group, Stef, Kelly Lacy, Matthew Roth, TJ Davis, Free Creative, Lorie Shaull, Fibonacci Blue, Roman K, Jason Hargrove, Scott Carpenter, Taymaz Valley, Thomas Hawk
ProgDay is happy to announce that we are currently pulling together a virtual event for this year. The idea is to present streaming performances from 4 artists a day over the Saturday and Sunday of the originally scheduled ProgDay weekend (September 5 and 6). Once the lineup and scheduling are worked out, details and instructions will be posted on the ProgDay website.
Virtual ProgDay 2020 is being greatly facilitated by Tom Palmieri and Ann Rinaldi of ProgStock (http://www.progstock.com/2020/). On Saturday, August 1, ProgStock kicked off the ProgStock Presents Virtual Series, a series of weekly shows streamed online through StageIt.com. After reading of ProgDay’s cancellation, Tom and Ann reached out to ProgDay and invited us to partner with them for our virtual event. The result is that Virtual ProgDay 2020 will be presented on Labor Day weekend as part of the ProgStock Presents Virtual Series.
Please note that ProgStock is not getting anything for this. All funds that are raised will go to ProgDay and the artists that perform.
Thank you Tom and Ann!
We are also excited to announce that ProgDay is now a tax-exempt non-profit event.
In 2017, Musical Arts Progressive Society, Inc. (MAPS), was formed. MAPS is a non-profit organization that advocates for, educates about, and promotes national and international musical artists creating progressive and innovative music. MAPS recently received its confirmation as a 501(c)(3) company. Donations to MAPS / ProgDay are now tax-deductible.
Virtual ProgDay 2020 Performances
Once it was decided that the physical ProgDay event would not happen, the decision to try to have a virtual event was born from the desire to have ProgDay continue in some form this year and to provide our regular audience with an experience that would be fun, entertaining and worth their while. So we set out to present a series of performances that would be streamed live, as they were happening. The challenge we faced in doing this was the combination of the short time frame in which to contact bands and for them to arrange a concert, as well as the really tough job of each band not only finding a viable performance space, but also having the ability for all of the band members to gather and play at the particular time they were to perform over ProgDay weekend.
Ultimately, between the various situations created by the pandemic in various countries, the technical requirements of ensured streaming and the lack of time for producing the event, it was just not possible for many of the bands to pull off a live-in-the-moment broadcast.
The result is that Virtual ProgDay 2020 will offer truly live performances combined with pre-recorded shows done especially for ProgDay. In the case of pre-recorded shows, the concert you will see will be a performance that has been played and recorded especially for the ProgDay audience and has never been seen anywhere before. The prerecorded shows represent a huge amount of effort on the part of the participating bands to get their music in front of you. During prerecorded shows, we will speak live with band members that will be present during the broadcast.
Once again ProgDay has assembled a group of bands that we think are worthy of your attention. While we know that many of you are already familiar with some of these bands, we also know that few of you will know all of the bands. To encourage our audience to check out all of the performers over the weekend, we have set ticket prices at $6 for all shows. We hope this economical price will allow everyone that is interested to experience all of the music. We also hope that those who are in a position to contribute more will show their appreciation to the artists by tipping additional money during the performances.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The start times shown for each performance are Eastern Daylight Time, the current time zone for the east coast of the US.
Stay tuned… There are three more confirmed bands to be announced.
Seasoned musicians from Austin’s progressive and experimental music scenes mixing influences ranging from Henry Cow, Cardiacs, Haniwa-Chan and Picchio Dal Pozzo, to traditional music from Eastern Europe and South Asia.
This concert has been performed live and recorded especially for ProgDay.
Elements of Space Rock, Psychedelia, Kosmisches Musik, Symphonic Rock and ethnic influences are morphed, mutated and blended into music that varies from one album to the next, but is always singularly Vespero.
This concert has been performed live and recorded especially for ProgDay.
To purchase a ticket for this show, use this link: Vespero ticket
As the band says, “Santana loved Miles. Magma loved Coltrane. Soft Machine loved pop. Pink Floyd loved Soft Machine. Weather Report loved African grooves. The Italian progressive bands loved classical music. Return to Forever loved Brazilian stuff. Frank Zappa loved Black Sabbath. Hooffoot love them all. Forget about labels like rock, jazz, progressive and kraut…”
This concert has been performed live and recorded especially for ProgDay.
To purchase a ticket for this show, use this link: Hooffoot ticket
A cross-genre combination of Symphonic Rock, Fusion, RPI and more, cohesively combined into music that has evolved over the years into an eclectic mix that is uniquely MAD FELLAZ.
This performance will be streamed live from a venue in Italy.
To purchase a ticket for this show, use this link: Mad Fellaz ticket
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