Posted on: September 24th, 2008 Say NO to YES
On the verge of launching their 40th anniversary tour this summer; YES lead singer Jon Anderson suffered a severe asthma attack and was diagnosed with acute respiratory failure and the dates were cancelled. ‘Nuf said. Reschedule the tour for 2009 when Anderson is healthy. Especially given the fact that he has been the lead singer for 40 years and is only sick, not dead. If you’re a YES fan, this would suck, but better he’s healthy and you would see them next year. Now comes news that YES will in fact go on with the 40th Anniversary tour without Jon Anderson. Say what? In what’s become a disturbing and quite frankly, lazy and lame ass trend, YES has turned to You Tube. They have hired Benoit David, a singer for a YES tribute band, to fill in for Anderson touring the tour. Anderson has posted the following on his website in response:
Disappointed, and very Disrespected
Disappointed that, with the exception of one phone call from Alan, none of the guys have been in touch since my illness, just to find out how I am doing, and how we will foresee the future for YES. And disappointed that they were not willing to wait till 2009 when I’m fully recovered.
And I feel very disrespected, having spent most of this year creating songs and constant ideas for the band, spending time with Roger Dean creating a stage design, also working with VH1 and Sirius and XM Radio to help promote the welfare of YES.
Getting sick was not “on my radar”, and I thank my own angel Janeee and my family for helping me through this difficult time, and the many well wishers, friends and fans alike, for understanding that ”things happen”.
Of course I wish the guys all the best in their ’solo’ work, but I just wish this could have been done in a more gentlemanly fashion. After all YES is a precious musical band.
This is not YES on tour…
I send best wishes to one and all,
Jon Anderson
September 2008
We couldn’t agree more with Anderson. The whole point of the 40th Anniversary tour is to celebrate YES. Why would you want to tour without your lead singer? On top of that you have your keyboardists son sitting in as well. Rick Wakeman’s son Oliver will be handling his father’s duties. Where the hell is Tony Kaye? So only 3/5 of the members are YES. Then to do this without Anderson even knowing, while he is sick, that is the definition of low. How fucking greedy can you be that you can’t wait for six months until he recuperates? Hiring a lame ass cover band hack to fill in. I mean what self respecting YES fan would give their hard earned money to see this abortion? To Chris Squire, Alan White and Steve Howe, RockHeap says shame on you, you backstabbing, money grubbing pieces of un-cool dog shit. Jon Anderson might be a fruity elf wanna be, but damn if he’s not the soul of YES.