South Side Of The “Tulsa” (Highland HL482/483)
Civic Center, Tulsa, OK – December 5th, 1974
Disc 1 (43:47): Opening, Sound Chaser, Close To The Edge, To Be Over
Disc 2 (40:27): Ritual, Roundabout, South Side Of The Sky
Yes’ date in Tulsa occurs about a month into their first Relayer tour. The tape Highland use is distant, thin and somewhat distorted but listenable considering its rarity. Highland also use an incomplete tape. More complete sources circulate with “Gates Of Delirium” and “And You And I” after “To Be Over,” but both tracks are unfortunately missing on South Side Of The “Tulsa.” The set list is standard for the late 1974 show with the new songs forming the bulk of the set. Two songs from Close To The Edgewere also played with “Roundabout” as the encore. In the later tours they would add a long acoustic set in the middle pushing the show to more than two hours in length. “To Be Over” sounds majestic, especially by the end with the celestial chanting and loud bells ringing.
“Ritual” contains snippets of “The Revealing Science Of God” from Tales to form somewhat of a medley. The pieces from their epic masterpiece are inter-related thematically and musically and the short chorus fits the song very well. But what makes this tape special is the rare encore. Normally they would play “Roundabout” and in some shows would play “Siberian Khatru” as a second encore. But on this night they pull out “South Side Of The Sky” for the first time in three years and for only the second known time in the seventies.
The arrangement differs from Fragile by beginning with country picking by Steve Howe (the same little melody they sometimes play as an introduction to “Starship Trooper”) and the middle piano interlude is cut and replaced by another Howe solo followed by a Patrick Moraz solo. The keyboards have the same sound as other pieces from Relayer and sound strange but intriguing. The tape cuts out after five minutes cutting off the very end of the song. An overhaul of this show would make a welcome silver release in the future since this is far from being definitive.
