Library Rock's Backpages

Yes live at Los Angles Universal Amphitheater

Dave DiMartino, MOJO, February 1998

IT'S ALWAYS seemed a tragic waste of snottiness that some safety-pinned '70s punk combo never thought to take the early, pre-Roger Dean Yes logo – the three-letter 'YES' in a comicbook word balloon – and transform it into 'NO'. Instead, such snottiness is left to journalists – the sort who'd point out that the long-standing artrock group's performance in Los Angeles marked the 56th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, and thus America's entry into World War II. But it has been comforting, in a way, to know that Yes continue long after most of their contemporaries have vanished; never really losing the plot because, let's face it, when you've got a high-pitched vegetarian vocalist at the front of the stage singing about mountains that "come out of the sky and just stand there" there is no plot.

Total word count of piece: 428

Subscribe

Becoming a member is easy. Membership gives you access to all the thousands of articles in the library.

Click here to go to Subscribe page.

Click here for academic and other group subscriptions.