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
Pre-order the album from Amazon here:
https://YesBand.lnk.to/RoyalAffairPR
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