The Fragile Tour was a

concert tour A concert tour (or simply tour) is a series of concerts by an artist or group of artists in different cities, countries or locations. Often, concert tours are named to differentiate different tours by the same artist and to associate a specific ...

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

band

Yes Yes or YES may refer to: * An affirmative particle in the English language; see yes and no Education * YES Prep Public Schools, Houston, Texas, US * Young Eisner Scholars, in Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, and Appalachia, US * Young Ep ...

in promotion of their 1971 album, '' Fragile''. Lasting from 24 September 1971 until 27 March 1972, and including 115 performances, the tour began at the

Queen's Hall The Queen's Hall was a concert hall in Langham Place, London, Langham Place, London, opened in 1893. Designed by the architect Thomas Knightley, it had room for an audience of about 2,500 people. It became London's principal concert venue. Fro ...

Barnstaple Barnstaple ( or ) is a river-port town and civil parish in the North Devon district of Devon, England. The town lies at the River Taw's lowest crossing point before the Bristol Channel. From the 14th century, it was licensed to export wool from ...

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, and ended at the Aquarius Theatre in

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

— Bill Bruford's last performance with the band before returning for 1991's '' Union''. The tour was

Rick Wakeman Richard Christopher Wakeman (born 18 May 1949) is an English keyboardist and composer best known as a member of the progressive rock band Yes across five tenures between 1971 and 2004, and for his prolific solo career. AllMusic describes Wakema ...

's first with the band; sources differ as to whether his first live appearance with the band was on 24 September at the Queen's Hall in Barnstaple, or on 30 September—the third tour date—at

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

's De Montfort Hall.

Recordings

Three songs from the tour (from unknown dates)—" Perpetual Change", " Long Distance Runaround", and " The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus)"—were included on the band's 1973 live album, '' Yessongs''. The band's 3 October 1971 performance at the Hemel Hempstead Pavilion was recorded for television broadcast on BBC's ''Sounding Out''. The recording was broadcast on 10 January 1972, shortly before the commencement of the second European leg of the tour.

Members

The line-up for the tour unchanged throughout its duration, though sources are contradictory as to whether Wakeman was present for the first two concerts. The line-up was the sixth incarnation of Yes. Rick Wakeman had joined the band the previous month, spending August and early September in recording sessions for ''Fragile'' at London's Advision Studios. *

Jon Anderson Jon Anderson (born John Roy Anderson, 25 October 1944) is a British, and latterly American, singer, songwriter and musician, best known as the former lead singer of the progressive rock band Yes (band), Yes, which he formed in 1968 with bassis ...

—lead vocal * Steve Howe—guitars * Chris Squire—bass guitar and vocals *

—keyboards * Bill Bruford—drums

Tour

The tour saw the band play a total of 111 concerts in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, the United States, and Belgium over four legs—two European legs and two North American legs. Support came from Jonathan Swift,

Ten Years After Ten Years After are a British blues rock group, most popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Between 1968 and 1973, the band had eight consecutive Top 40 albums on the UK Albums Chart. In addition, they had twelve albums enter the US ''Bi ...

Mary Wells Mary Esther Wells (May 13, 1943 – July 26, 1992) was an American singer, who helped to define the emerging sound of Motown in the early 1960s. Along with the Supremes, the Miracles, the Temptations, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, and the F ...

, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, The J. Geils Band,

King Crimson King Crimson were an English progressive rock band formed in London in 1968 by Robert Fripp, Michael Giles, Greg Lake, Ian McDonald (musician), Ian McDonald and Peter Sinfield. Guitarist Fripp remained the only constant member throughout the ...

, The Blues Project, and

Shawn Phillips Shawn Phillips (born February 3, 1943) is an American singer-songwriter and musician, primarily influential in the 1960s and 1970s. His work is rooted in folk rock but straddles other genres, including jazz fusion and funk. Phillips has reco ...

. At a 16 March 1972 concert in Tucson, Arizona, the band supported

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler, and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. After adopting the Black Sabbath name in 1969 (the band ...

Setlist

Setlist: * "

Roundabout A roundabout, a rotary and a traffic circle are types of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junct ...

" (Anderson, Howe) * " I've Seen All Good People" (Anderson, Squire) * "Mood for a Day" (Howe) * "Clap" (Howe) * " Heart of the Sunrise" (Anderson, Squire, Bruford) * Wakeman solo (

) * " Long Distance Runaround" (Anderson) * "The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus)" (Squire) * "Perpetual Change" (Anderson, Squire) * " Yours Is No Disgrace" (Anderson, Squire, Howe, Kaye, Bruford) * " South Side of the Sky" (only occasionally after 2 October 1971) (Anderson, Squire)

Tour dates

Cancelled shows

Wilkinson (2003) lists only three shows from the tour as being cancelled. The first, on 9 October 1971 at the

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

Empire Theatre, was cancelled after the

PA system A public address system (or PA system) is an electronic system comprising microphones, amplifiers, loudspeakers, and related equipment. It increases the apparent volume (loudness) of a human voice, musical instrument, or other acoustic sound sou ...

failed to arrive at the venue. A newspaper story at the time reported that the equipment van, travelling to Scotland from the

Royal Festival Hall The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,700-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London, England. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a G ...

from the previous evening's concert, broke down in Birmingham. Similarly, two replacement vans also broke down. The band rescheduled the date for 23 October, with original tickets still valid. The band offered free posters to fans attending the 23 October show. The second appearance to be cancelled was on 2 November at the

Oakland Coliseum Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum, often shortened to the Oakland Coliseum, is a multi-purpose stadium in Oakland, California, United States. It serves as part of the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Complex, located next to Oakland Arena. In 2 ...

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

—the first show of the tour's North American leg. The concert was cancelled as the band's PA system was stolen. Other sources state that it was the 8 November show at the San Francisco Winterland Ballroom that was cancelled due to the stolen PA system, implying that the band appeared that night at the Oakland Coliseum (with a rented sound system) instead. The concert in Richmond VA on 3 March 1972, was also cancelled, and supposedly the band played at the TownshipAuditorium in Columbia S Carolina instead. Additionally, reports exist of a show on 29 October in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

, Netherlands, that was also cancelled.

References

{{Yes (band) 1971 concert tours 1972 concert tours Yes (band) concert tours