Legendary progressive rock band YES has announced UK dates for their long-awaited Album Series 2023 Tour featuring their 1974 Relayer album in its entirety together with a selection of other classic fan favourites.
The Relayer Tour was originally planned for 2020 but postponed due to the pandemic and last year saw their highly successful 50th anniversary of their legendary Close To The Edge album. The Royal Albert Hall was the original choice for the tour’s London show but has no availability, so the band will make a nostalgic return to an old haunt, the former Hammersmith Odeon.
The coming tour features Steve Howe (guitars), Geoff Downes (keyboards), Jon Davison (lead vocals, acoustic guitar), Billy Sherwood (bass guitar) with Jay Schellen (drums and percussion) stepping into Alan White’s shoes following his passing in May 2022.
The show will comprise of two sets by the band. The first will feature favourite classic tracks from YES’s extensive catalogue. The band will perform Relayer, their seventh studio album, in full in the second set. Relayer marked a slight change in direction bringing an edgier feel to this album. At almost 22 minutes in length, the opening track ‘Gates Of Delirium’ included a battle scene between keyboard and guitar. The battle gives way to the beautiful closing ballad ‘Soon’, a prayer for peace and hope.
Relayer continues with ‘Sound Chaser’, a prog-rock-jazz fusion experiment demonstrating the power of Alan White and Chris Squire, and ‘To Be Over’, a calm and gentle conclusion to the album, based on a melody by Steve Howe and Jon Anderson.
Released in late 1974 on Atlantic Records, Relayer continued YES’s success reaching number 4 in the UK album chart and number 5 in the US Billboard chart.
Tickets are on sale for the UK tour from 10am on Friday 14th October and available from Yesworld.com, Bookingsdirect.com and all usual outlets.
