Jon Anderson-Close To The Edge(Live 2009)

Jon Anderson (Yes): Tribute to Freedom, Live in Bratislava, Slovakia, Castle Devin, August 15th 2009

This is the last date of the last summer's "Have Guitar Will Travel" European mini-tour that Jon Anderson gave after he recovered from his serious illness and after his bandmates from Yes started touring without him. This gig was very special because rather than a one man show, this was a full scale performance with an ensemble of brilliant Slovak musicians. The venue was spectacular, too - the concert took place in the courtyard of the castle Devin, a beautiful historical castle just outside Bratislava with a great historical significance for the Slovak people. The performance was very moving, baeutiful and many people in the audience were literally in tears, including myself. Unfortunately, the TV station that filmed it decided to air only a small portion of the songs that were performed and most of the material will remain only in our memories. Even so, the selection of songs is still very good - there's one new Jon song, one originally by Jon & Vangelis and, most surprisingly, a Yes song, Close to the Edge almost in its entirety in a very original, but still very powerful arrangement. The performance showcases that Jon has pretty much fully recovered now and is ready to please his fans, if outside Yes for the time being, and it also displays the skills of these great musicians from Slovakia.

Lineup:

Jon Anderson: vocals, acoustic guitar, chinese strummer
Peter Machajdik: keyboards
Miki Skuta: piano
Juraj Burian: guitar
Oskar Rozsa: bass
Martin Valihora: drums
Viliam Csontos: backing vocals
Eugen Prochac, Jozef Luptak, Jan Slavik, Vladimir Sirota: cellos

Category:

Music

Tags:

• jon
• anderson
• yes
• 2009
• close
• to
• the
• edge

[hannaheagle]

The 1st album I ever bought as a young 13 year old in sunny slough. Still the greatest piece of music ever. Cant understand why it does not command the same level of grandeur as Pink Floyd. As good as Floyd were they were never a patch on Yes, but then again nobody was or ever will be

[kramsmad8]

@hannaheagle I agree! That album should have won a Grammy. I'm sure most people just didn't get it though. A little over the top for most people.

[revoxpr99]

jon torna con gli YES salvali , la tua voce e unica la quinta essenza YESSSSSSSSSSSS

[Tsnore]

Jon will always be Yes' soul.

[ralph4877]

Musical Masterpiece!

[apollo1064]

this by far the best jon has ever done , the older he gets the better,i wish he could be vangelis again.

[Yesshows01]

Nice version of a YES song.

[MagickBalls]

So good...