Following the overwhelming success of their 2023 tour, Jon Anderson and THE BAND GEEKS have announced the first 22 shows of the 2024 “YES Epics, Classics, And More” tour. The tour begins on May 30 at the State Theatre in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
Like the 2023 tour, the setlist will contain numerous YES songs from all stages of the band’s Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame career that feature Jon as their lead vocalist and songwriter. The tour also promises the introduction of new material created by Jon and THE BAND GEEKS.
Jon and THE BAND GEEKS are currently putting the finishing touches on a brand new nine-track CD set for release in late summer, with a first single and video targeted for release in late June.
Tour dates:
May 30 – New Brunswick, NJ – State Theatre
Jun. 01 – Englewood, NJ – Bergen PAC
Jun. 03 – Rochester, NY – Kodak Center Theatre
Jun. 06 – Albany, NY – Hart Theatre
Jun. 08 – Hammondsport, NY – Point of The Bluff Concert Pavilion
Jun. 13 – Chicago, IL – Copernicus
Jun. 15 – St. Louis, MO
Jun. 18 – Greensburg, PA – Palace Theater
Jun. 20 – Hershey, PA – Hershey Theatre
Jun. 22 – Concord, NH – Capitol Center for the Arts
Jun. 25 – Boston, MA – Shubert Theatre
Jun. 27 – Ridgefield, CT – Ridgefield Playhouse
Jul. 21 – Patchogue, NY – Great South Bay Music Festival
Jul. 24 – Nashville, TN – Ryman Auditorium*
Jul. 27 – Peachtree City, GA – Frederick Brown Jr. Amphitheatre
Jul. 30 – Camdenton, MO – Ozarks Amphitheater*
Aug. 02 – Bonner Springs, KS – Azura Amphitheater*
Aug. 04 – La Vista, NE – The Astro Outdoors*
Aug. 07 – Waite Park, MN – The Ledge Amphitheater*
Aug. 10 – Denver, CO – Paramount
Aug. 14 – Phoenix, AZ – Celebrity Theatre
Aug. 16 – Thousand Oaks, CA – Thousand Oaks Performing Arts Center
* With special guests THE RETURN OF EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER
In a recent issue of Mojo magazine, Anderson said that he was open to reuniting with his former YES bandmates Rick Wakeman and Steve Howe.
“I was talking to THE BAND GEEKS and said, hopefully we can play in London and Steve will get up and do a couple of songs with us, maybe Rick too,” Anderson said. “It just means talking. When I’m out there singing on my own, I still think I’m part of YES. They still feel like my songs.”
Anderson co-founded YES in 1968 with bassist Chris Squire, and remained with the band until 2008, when YES replaced him with Benoit David, an Anderson sound-alike who previously fronted the YES tribute band CLOSE TO THE EDGE. David left YES in 2012 and was replaced by Jon Davison.
In July 2020, Howe told Rolling Stone that there is virtually no chance of the surviving members of YES reuniting for a tour.
“I don’t think [the fans] should stay up late nights worrying about that,” he said. “There’s just too much space out there between people. To be in a band together or even to do another tour like ‘Union’ is completely unthinkable,” referencing the group’s 1990 “Union” LP and tour, which brought together the previous YES album’s lineup (Jon Anderson, Chris Squire, Trevor Rabin, Alan White, Tony Kaye) and the then-ex-YES members’ group ANDERSON BRUFORD WAKEMAN HOWE (Jon Anderson, Bill Bruford, Rick Wakeman and Steve Howe). “It was difficult when we went through that, particularly because of the personalities,” Howe said. “I’m not saying any one person is to blame, but when you get a big hodgepodge like that together, it’s pretty much a nightmare. We made a nightmare of possibly a good thing back in 1990. I don’t think there is the stamina or the appetite for that kind of thing again.”
Anderson, Wakeman and 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 the group’s 2017 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction.
Howe last toured with Anderson and Wakeman in 2004.
YES has released over 20 albums across its career, including its self-titled debut in 1969 and “Tales From Topographic Oceans” in 1973.