The much-delayed live DVD from Yes' 35th Anniversary tour is finally here, and it was well worth the wait. The sound is good, the direction and editing are good, the performances are stellar musically, and the whole thing is put together very well.

If you weren't able to see the tour, then you'll especially enjoy this DVD immensely. This is unlike any other Yes tour. The first thing that is unique is the inclusion of an acoustic set, which is fun and informal, but includes some impressive music. Second, this show is a true retrospective of the band's entire career. We get the standards, of course ("Your is No Disgrace", "All Good People", "Starship Trooper", "Owner of a Lonely Heart", etc). But the rest of the show is made up of rarely-played material: two songs from the early albums ("Sweet Dreams" and a terrific "Every Little Thing"), an ABWH song ("The Meeting"), finally some inclusion of music from the mid-90s ("Mind Drive" and the intro from "Footprints" dressed up as a short song), two Rabin-era songs ("Rhythm of Love" plus the obligatory "Owner"), some newer material ("Time is Time" from MAGNIFICATION and "Show Me"), and a few deep cuts like "Turn of the Century". The whole thing kicks off with "Going for the One" and culminates with a searing "Ritual".

The highlights are an amazing rendition of "South Side of the Sky", one of the most emotional performances of "And You and I" I've ever heard, the gorgeous "Wonderous Stories", possibly the most perfect Yes song ever, and a truly lovely "Century". Other really great moments are Rick's lovely piano intro to the acoustic set, his solos in the Rabin-era songs, Steve's beautiful "Second Initial" which closes the acoustic set, and of course Chris' bass solo in "Ritual", although it is not as long or as raucous as I've seen it before.

I highly recommend this DVD to other Yes fans. If you enjoyed the band's other DVD releases in recent years, then this one will certainly not disappoint. I'll have to go back through my collection to reevaluate everything, but this may be one of the best DVDs Yes has released.

I have been a YES fan since I was in the first grade--1973. I grew up with a rock loving Uncle who introduced me and my brother to some great music--ELP, Allman Bros., Joe Walsh, Fleetwood Mac--and of course, the mighty Yes. I took a particluar liking to Yes-- I was a goner when I first heard Starship trooper. I thought Jon Anderson was cute, and I had a crush on Chris Squire. They were my Beatles.

I started playing bass in high school, and I wanted a Rickenbacker like my hero--Squire. Never got it--but now maybe I will. This DVD has reawakend my longtime admiration of this amazing band.

Their playing is emotional, masterful, fun--Jon's singing is clear and sweet--and he's 60 years old. He looks to be in fine health and he is obviously enjoying himself onstage. Howe still commands the stage with his quiet genius, Wakeman plays with his usual awe inspiring flair (but minus the silver cape--I kinda miss that cape!), Alan White still beats the living daylights out of his skins, and Squire is in fine form--musically and physically. It looks as though he's lost some weight and started eating organic veggies and brown rice again! Yay! He looks healthier than he did on the YESSPEAK dvd. It was good to see---we need Squire around for a long time. He needs to show these young whippersnappers how to REALLY play a bass.

All in all, they all look and sound great. They are getting older--pushing 60--and Jon IS 60 (but you would never know it), and they still put on the best rock show spectacle--complete with a Roger Dean stage design. They haven't lost the energy, the flair, or the feeling. These aren't grandpas onstage--they are YES. I hope they keep touring--they really enjoy it--and so do we.

Thanks, YES. Keep on keepin' on.

In what was indisputably their heyday and the golden age of progressive rock, the 1970s, YES set the standard for composition, musicianmanship, pure spirituality and ecstatic emotion to which lesser mortals --even other great bands like ELP, Genesis and the Floyd-- could only dream of aspiring. I saw them three times back then (on tours following the releases of Close to the Edge, Relayer and Going for the One) and found them --incredibly-- to be even better live than in the studio. Then, in the eighties, tragically, they caught a fatal dose of the Buggles and turned pathetically frivolous and blandly commercial (i.e. they completely lost the plot). I, like countless YES fans of the definitive period, gave up on them altogether. Since then, I've viewed any new product bearing the traditional or redesigned YES logo with extreme caution, but treasured those classic albums as true gems --the lofty pinnacles of progressive rock. Imagine my unadulterated joy, when, having dared to purchase this anniversary DVD, and upon pressing the play button with a sense of trepidation, I discover that, as if by some miracle of reincarnation, the 'classic line-up' is reunited and making old and new music as if that desperate interim period were just a bad dream. They've rediscovered themselves and the confidence in what they originally stood for - they've entered their second youth. No other progressive band that peaked in the 70s and then faded into mediocrity (and there were so many of them) can match the brilliance of this comeback. A moving performance, captured with reverence, that had me leaping about the room in sheer, blissful abandon as if I were still the long-haired, fur-coated, patchouli-reeking, adolescent YES fan that I once was (not the greying, middle-aged, father of two that I now am!). Paradise regained! If God had a houseband, this is (approximately) how it would sound. There's only one answer to life: and it's YES! Thanks, lads, for restoring my faith. (And dear reader: ignore the pathetic whinging of those other reviewers who need to get a life.)

YES is not for everyone, so now that we have that out of the way, let's talk about the concert. I wish I had been there. They gave a tremendously committed effort to these songs and I loved every minute of the film. I don't quite get the complaints about the sound. I have a very good DVD 5.1 system and I found the sound well balanced, with an empahsis on the music making more than the concert experience. Ambient audience noise is muffled. Good. This ain't Springsteen.

From the signature Stravinsky quote through STARSHIP TROOPER, the intensity, humour and passion about this material comes across terrifically, and Steve Howe is an absolute wonder, even if he looks older than God Almighty. Knuckleheads 1/5 his age should play 1/5 as well. And Howe is very much the unsung hero of the history of YES. He plays the works of Peter Banks and Trevor Rabin with the same commitment as though he had been the composer. All of YES's most memorable moments have come courtesy of Howe's fleet command of the classics, jazz and rock and his incredible commitment to his instrument. There has never been a guiatrist quite like him. How could there be? Who else could make musical sense out of the naff lyrics of Jon Anderson?

Chris Squier is still looking for a sartorial genie. Hopelessly out of whack with any sense of fashion, he nevertheless commands his bass with authority and still has the choir boy vocal chops to fill out Anderson's still soaring vocals. Yes the key is lower than it used to be, but Anderson still soars where non-eunuchs fear to tread. White seems to be the picture of health and Wakeman looks like he's determined to make rehab work this time. In any case they cover the entire career, and along with the just published triple CD of concert takes, THE WORD IS LIVE, YES delivers a comprehensive review of an astoundingly creative 35 years. it will be interesting to see where they pick up after the brilliant ILLUMINATION CD/DVD of a couple years back. That CD seemed to point to a whole new direction, and given the positively energetic and brilliant SPECTRUM released by Steve Howe this year, hopefully 2006 will see a new YES release. In any case, silly stage design and all, it is a great concert well filmed and mixed. You should enjoy this one.

"Songs from Tsongas" is a superb document of an incredible tour by the world's greatest progressive rock band. It's one of Yes' two best DVDs, second only to the magnificent "Symphonic Live."

First, the awesome, moving Roger Dean stage set makes this a true visual experience. The set, which is sort of an undersea garden/mystical landscapes hybrid, fills the imagination. Dean, if you recall, did the artwork for many classic Yes albums, and looking at this stage is like watching a Dean painting come to life.

The set list is absolutely, positively spectacular. Yes was much-maligned in recent years for their stagnant, predictable set list, but on their 2004 tour they aired music that never been played live in their 35-year history, most notably the stellar mid-90s epic "Mind Drive." Other songs - ranging from "Going for the One" to "Sweet Dreams" - hadn't been visited since the 70s, and obligatory pieces like "Roundabout" were given fresh arrangements. And there were the 20-minute epics - in addition to "Mind Drive," the show features an excellent version of "Ritual."

The musician line-up is stellar. While the Yes line-up seems to change as frequently as the weather, on this night it was the classic line up of Anderson/Howe/Squire/Wakeman/White. The performances are excellent, but again, when isn't a Yes performance excellent?

The filming and editing are professional and unobtrusive. Quite simply, you feel as if you are there, on a magical and exciting evening.

The downsides? None. I do get tired of whiners who complain that their Personal Coliseum Dolby Spherical Total-Immersion System version 9,000.0 was lab tested in Switzerland to find this DVD is mixed infinitesimally to the whatever (detectable to radiologically-mutated chihuahuas and Borneo guano bats, but not humans of course).

So again, this is an awesome tour of the one of the greatest musical forces of all time, on one of their greatest tours. Highly, highly recommended.