Influential and pioneering Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductees YES — who are Steve Howe (guitars, vocals),Geoff Downes (keyboards),Jon Davison (vocals, acoustic guitar),Billy Sherwood (bass guitar, vocals) and Jay Schellen (drums) — have today (June 10) announced their “The Fragile Tour 2025, The Album Series” set for this fall in the U.S. This “evening with YES” trek launches October 1 in Wallingford, Connecticut and wraps November 16 in Reno, Nevada. Tickets go on sale June 13. Go to www.yesworld.com/live for ticketing information.
At these shows, the progressive rock titans will perform their iconic “Fragile” album in its entirety along with classics cuts from their legendary body of work. The multi-platinum album features their signature songs “Roundabout”, “Long Distance Runaround” and “Heart Of The Sunrise”. “Fragile”, the band’s fourth studio album, was released in the U.K. in November 1971 and in the U.S. in January 1972. The “Fragile Tour” is regarded as a key moment is YES‘s history — it’s when the band became a headline act in the US.
“All the band’s albums had a unique feel and approach,” says Steve Howe. “After ‘The Yes Album’, so many things came together, with [co-producer] Eddie Offord steering the proceedings. While the band focused on only four main songs with full arrangements, each of us wrote and designed a solo piece, which was Bill‘s [Bruford] great idea. It’s fairly ‘oddball,’ but we were at the height of our creativity, determined for success.” Howe adds: “It gave us confidence, further than our own in-stock belief, we’d crafted this unusual but noticeable musical twist to rock and what later became prog.”
“Fragile” also marks the band’s first album to be designed by Roger Dean. He would also design many of YES‘s future album covers, the band’s logo, and live stage sets. This striking union of music and design is key in how YES‘s sound and vision would be perceived; it also underlined how important artistic visuals were becoming in the rock world. On “The Fragile Tour 2025”, YES will perform in front of a video wall featuring A.I. treatment of Dean‘s art, bringing YES‘s art into the 2020s. Roger Dean art will be available in the merch area at all the shows.
“Roger was and is quintessential to the look of YES,” notes Howe. “He’s still creating great paintings and design — he has no competition.”
See below for the full list of tour dates:
Oct. 01 – Wallingford, CT – Toyota Oakdale Theatre
Oct. 02 – Morristown, NJ – Mayo Performing Arts Center
Oct. 04 – Atlantic City, NJ – Hard Rock Live at Etess Arena
Oct. 05 – Port Chester, NY – The Capitol Theatre
Oct. 07 – Huntington, NY – The Paramount
Oct. 08 – Glenside, PA – Keswick Theatre
Oct. 09 – Glenside, PA – Keswick Theatre
Oct. 11 – York, PA – Appell Center for the Performing Arts
Oct. 12 – Jim Thorpe, PA – Penn’s Peak
Oct. 14 – Washington, DC – Warner Theatre
Oct. 16 – Durham, NC – Carolina Theatre
Oct. 18 – Clearwater, FL – Ruth Eckerd Hall
Oct. 19 – Ft Lauderdale, FL – Broward Center, Au-Rene Theater
Oct. 21 – The Villages, FL – Sharon L. Morse Performing Arts Center ^
Oct. 22 – Charleston, SC – Charleston Music Hall
Oct. 24 – Atlanta, GA – Coca-Cola Roxy
Oct. 25 – Memphis, TN – Graceland Soundstage
Oct. 27 – Louisville, KY – The Louisville Palace
Oct. 28 – Cincinnati, OH – Taft Theatre
Oct. 30 – Indianapolis, IN – Murat Theatre at Old National Centre
Oct. 31 – Des Plaines, IL – Des Plaines Theatre
Nov. 01 – St. Charles, IL – The Arcada Theatre
Nov. 03 – Madison, WI – The Orpheum Theater
Nov. 04 – Milwaukee, WI – The Riverside Theater *
Nov. 06 – St. Louis, MO – Stifel Theatre
Nov. 07 – Omaha, NE – Steelhouse Omaha
Nov. 09 – Denver, CO – Paramount Theatre
Nov. 11 – Mesa, AZ – Mesa Arts Center
Nov. 13 – Inglewood, CA – YouTube Theater
Nov. 14 – Alpine, CA – Viejas Casino
Nov. 16 – Reno, NV – Grand Theatre at The Grand Sierra Resort
^ On sale June 27
* On sale June 20
There are currently no original members left in YES, which formed in 1968, although Howe joined in 1970 and drummer Alan White in 1972. The band is rounded out by Downes, who joined in 1980 and later played with Howe in ASIA; Sherwood, who has played with the group on and off since 1994; and singer Davison, who joined in 2012.
Howe has led YES since late founding bassist Chris Squire‘s death, releasing 2021’s “The Quest” and 2023’s “Mirror To The Sky” albums with Sherwood, who is Squire‘s handpicked replacement.
Former YES members Jon Anderson, Rick Wakeman and Trevor Rabin had started touring as ARW: ANDERSON, RABIN AND WAKEMAN in 2016 and then adopted the YES FEATURING JON ANDERSON, TREVOR RABIN, RICK WAKEMAN moniker shortly after YES‘s 2017 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction.
Photo credit: Gottlieb Bros.
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