There was a time where I was friends with Steve Howe. This was during the period where I managed the official Yes sites, including YesWorld, which I created in the late 1990s. That friendship ended with a series of events that was out of my control and through no fault of my own, largely centered on false information and due to their self-serving and unethical manager at the time. This, even though I had saved the band literally thousands of dollars in web-site maintenance fees.
But I’ll save that story for another time. I’m here today to recall a happier memory, when I made a suggestion to Steve Howe that he ran with. It was during the 2001 Yes Symphonic Tour where Yes commissioned local orchestras to perform the symphonic parts created by film composer and conductor Larry Groupé for their album Magnification.
After what I believe was the show at Concord, Calif., on July 31, 2001, my wife Cindy and I were hanging out with Steve in his hotel room, as we had done on numerous occasions. For this tour, the orchestra not only recreated the parts for the new album, but also handled the synthesized orchestral parts that Rick Wakeman created on earlier records. (Tom Brislin was recruited to handle other keyboard parts on that tour.)
On this evening, we were discussing how the tour was progressing, and I mentioned something that was bugging me. One song in the set was “Long Distance Runaround,” but instead of having it segue into “The Fish” — a song not on that tour’s set list — the song abruptly ended. After the last line, “looking for the sunshine,” the song just faded. I thought it was an unsatisfactory finish, and I mentioned that to Steve.
It was then and there that I offered a way to end the song that would bring it to a more fitting conclusion. When the tune ended on both the album Fragile and on previous tours, Howe played an ascending run that led into “The Fish.” Instead of the boring fade, what if the orchestra played that ascending part? Steve seemed interested in the idea, but that’s as far as our discussion about it went that evening.
The next show was on Aug. 2 in Vancouver, BC, and Cindy and I were seated a few rows away from the front of the stage. I might have had my suggestion in my mind as we watched the band and orchestra perform “Long Distance Runaround.” When the song ended, I wasn’t prepared for what actually occurred. Instead of tackling the logistics of creating new parts for the orchestra, Steve simply played the run himself. He took my suggestion seriously enough to take the appropriate action. As I predicted, it made for a more fulfilling conclusion.
Directly after the song ended, something remarkable occurred: Steve Howe looked directly at me, as if to indicate to me that he had, indeed, incorporated my idea. Howe rarely, if ever, would look anyone in the eye during a performance. On more than one occasion, I would even be seated directly in front of him and there was never any kind of acknowledgement I was even there. But this time there was no mistaking that he picked me out from the middle of a crowd.
After the show, Cindy and I ventured backstage, and I was excited to let Steve know I was over the moon at what he had done. “Did you see that I looked at you?” he remarked, confirming that I was correct. He also divulged that when he played that ascending run, the band wasn’t aware he was going to do so, and that Chris Squire had given him a confused look. Steve laughed that Chris might have thought they were they about to launch into “The Fish” after all.
That was only the first occurrence of this suggestion, as Howe would repeat that ending throughout the tour. While Steve might have eventually thought of this idea himself, it’s gratifying that he valued my input enough to incorporate my recommendation.
Thanks to Forgotten Yesterdays, the long-running web site that is the definitive source for information about all of the Yes tours.
© 2020 Mike Tiano. All Rights Reserved.
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