Long Beach Boogie (Virtuoso 109/110)
Long Beach Arena, Long Beach, CA – May 25th, 1979
Disc 1 (7220): Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, Siberian Khatru, Heart Of The Sunrise, Future Times, Rejoice, Circus Of Heaven, Time And A Word, Long Distance Runaround, The Fish, Survival, Perpetual Change / Survival, The Gates Of Delirium, Soon, Clap
Disc 2 (65:05): And You And I, Starship Trooper, Rick Wakeman solo, Awaken, Tour Song, I’ve Seen All Good People, Roundabout
Yes began their tenth anniversary tour in 1979 with six weeks in April and May before a short break. Two shows were scheduled for Brazil, on May 12th in Rio De Janeiro and May 19th in Sao Paulo but both were cancelled. The second and final half of the tour, and the final trip for Yes in the seventies, began on May 24th in Fresno, California.
Fresno was followed by the two Long Beach shows, the first on May 25th and the second May 26th. The second show was released on Colours Of Jade (Virtuoso 093/094) last November. Virtuoso follow that up with the first Long Beach show on Long Beach Boogie.
The source is a very good to excellent audience recording, similar to the first night. There are some drop-outs during “Siberian Khatru” and there is a small cut 11:35 in “Awaken” but nothing is really missing. It captures the dynamics of the performance very well. Yes gave some of their best concerts during these tours and all recordings are worth having.
Mike Tiano posted on the not-forgotten Forgotten Yesterdays website that “in 1979 Yes toured with the same show with no album to support (I think the live album was the ultimate reason). I saw two shows in 1978 at the Los Angeles Forum, and in 1979 I saw two shows at the Long Beach Arena and one show at the San Diego Sports Arena. All shows were near or total sellouts.”
Very well captured also is the audience’s participation in the show, the buzz created by a sell-out crowd. It demonstrates that progressive rock, far from being a spent musical form in the late seventies, had support and was still quite viable.
The setlist is identical to the previous night. It starts off with the Yessongs double of “Siberian Khatru” and “Heart Of The Sunrise” both sounding extremely powerful.
“Thank you. Woo! Good to be back in California. Here’s one or two new songs for you from last year” before playing the two songs from Tormato, “Future Times / Rejoice” and “Circus Of Heaven.” It’s notable that the latter still receives a tremendous ovation when the tape of Damian is heard at the end.
Anderson introduces the big medley as “one or two songs which you will remember.” Although the intention is to showcase older songs, this night it belongs to Chris Squire. Not only in his piece “The Fish,” but be brings a great balance of lyric and bombast to all of the numbers in the set.
The little bridge from “Perpetual Change” into “The Gates Of Delirium” is pure magic in this performance. Anderson singles Squire out afterwards, saying “on bass guitar, Mr. Christopher Squire. Let’s hear it for Chris. Thank you so much” before leaving the audience with the “magic fingers of Mr. Steve Howe on acoustic guitar.” Howe plays “Clap” which also contains a reference to “Surface Tension” from his recently released second solo LP The Steve Howe Album.
After “Starship Trooper” Anderson introduces Wakeman for his solo spot. His piece contains references to The Six Wives Of Henry VIII, Journey To The Centre Of The Earth and ends with a reference from George Gershwin’s Rhapsody In Blue.
The gorgeous “Awaken” closes the show. The “Tour Song” is the same as on the first night, and “I’ve Seen All Good People” and “Roundabout” (again called the “Long Beach Boogie”) are the encores for another impressive concert on their Ten True Summers tour. Virtuoso have been focusing their last couple of Yes silver releases on this era and have done a very good job. Long Beach Boogie is packaged in a slim jewel case with photos from the era on the artwork.
