While guitarist Steve Howe is content with the current line-up of Yes, which has been without founding member and singer Jon Anderson for 15 years, Jon has different ideas.
“I’d love to get the whole of Yes together one day in the next couple of years — 20 of us on stage, that kind of thing. You know, I’m very open to doing it. I’m happy to do it. Had a dream about a month ago that I was actually backstage with my guitar realizing that I go on first, sing a couple of songs, then Steve Howe‘s band play next and then I go again [and play] a couple of songs. And then me and Rick [Wakeman] and Trevor [Rabin] and a couple of other people come on and we all play together [the albums] Close to the Edge and Awaken.”
But Howe doesn’t see it that way, telling Rolling Stone, “I don’t think [the fans] should stay up late nights worrying about that. There’s just too much space out there between people. To be in a band together or even to do another tour like Union [in 1990-’91] is completely unthinkable…
“It was difficult when we went through that, particularly because of the personalities. I’m not saying any one person is to blame, but when you get a big hodgepodge like that together, it’s pretty much a nightmare. We made a nightmare of possibly a good thing back in 1990. I don’t think there is the stamina or the appetite for that kind of thing again.”
Yes replaced Anderson in 2008 with former Yes tribute band singer Benoît David, who has since been replaced by Jon Davison.
In 2015, Anderson, Rabin and Wakeman came together as ARW, which was later changed to Yes Featuring Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin, Rick Wakeman. However, that project has since petered out.
Howe just released a new album, Love Is, and published his memoir, All My Yesterdays.
Anderson just re-released his 2019 album, 1,000 Hands: Chapter One, which features Howe on songs recorded 30 years ago. Anderson is also working on new music as well as his memoir.
