Yes - Live In Sydney (1973-03-26) Bootleg

(U.K 1968 - 2004, 2008 - Present)

Yes brought their Close To The Edge tour to Australia in early 1973, commencing in Brisbane on the 19th of March, then playing in Adelaide on the 21st, Melbourne on the 23rd, and then finishing up in Sydney on the 26th and 27th. Unfortunately, there is no known recording of the 2nd concert in Sydney - held on the 27th, while only half of the concert held on the 26th is available (thanks to the forgotten-yesterdays.com website).

In an attempt to make this bootleg complete, I chose to fill the gaps using recordings available from their Brisbane and Adelaide concerts. I have also produced my own custom artwork based on the artwork from the incomplete bootleg 'I Feel Lost In The City'. I have also managed to source two interesting reviews written for the Sydney concerts.

YES Deja Vu Sydney 1973
(taken from RAM Magazine, Dec 3 1976, by Anthony O'Grady)

'Yes remember it as one of their best concerts ever. Anthony O'Grady remembers it as a night that was near magic'

It was one of those warm nights when a vibe sweeps through a city like a pervading breeze, catching you up in it, whether you're ready or not. Sure we knew Yes were doing their second Sydney concert. But we'd just moved up from Melbourne, and unpacking was first priority until the third all-vibed up person entered blowing with near-translucent excitement. "Hey man, aren't you going to see Yes?? Yeah, to hell with the 55 unpacked cases, let's go".

Steve Howe

The morning and unpacking are only worth mentioning because it's a simple fact that only the promise or eventuality of a 'mutha of a concert' can liberate you from the press of mundane matters.

Not that I'm the greatest Yes fan stalking the city. It requires a suspension of natural prejudices, a certain rare tranquility and mental latitude. I'll put on one of their best records and not find moments of musical blah, techno overkill and lyrical tweeness amongst the soaring grandeur and honest statements of high ideals and cosmic beliefs. But I'll attest to this: the band, on its merits, can burn with incandescent energy, inflaming both body and imagination with cleaning Apollonian fervor.

And that's a feeling that's rare in rock. The vast majority of rock music, when it really works and isn't just being played by rote as another gig, another pay cheque, produces an overwhelming feeling of exuberance. A feeling that comes from the melding into a glorious , violently active one with the band, the music, the rest of the audience. It's a process that can be accelerated and heightened by drugs and the sexualised wildness of dancing.

Jon Anderson

And my God you couldn't get much higher than the Sunshine Brilliance at the second Sydney concert. The details of what they played, in what order are , at this stage, minor details in the wider scheme of what the feeling was. But it was a propitious time to see them. Their career had taken them through the five albums: Yes, Time and a Word, The Yes Album, Fragile and Close To The Edge. The last three showed them in the full bloom of their reactivity after a rather messy and over bloated lift off with the first two.

This concert lifted into overdrive from the opening moments. There was a sense of Wonder, a palpable feeling that the musicians were getting to grips with their instruments and music like pilgrims beating down the last straight to clutch the Holy Grail. There was beaty, hot excitement sure, but there was more - there was mind stretching. One was led into increasingly detailed , increasingly subtle patterns of fantastic detail - it was a gradual entry into a different time-zone, with a steadily intensifying golden glow spreading out from the edges.

Chris Squire

Sounds like someone had spiked the ice-creams sure, but it happened. And not just to me, but to everyone around us, as far as we could see. There was a bond of communion between everyone in that hall that night. And surely I wasn't the only one to feel a stream of cosmic particles pass through me when Jon Anderson opened wide and launched his pure soprano into "Heart Of The Sunrise". Like everyone else I whirled up and down the steel stringed filigree of guitarist Steve Howe and bass player Chris Squire weaving through "The Clap", and was taken into a different time-zone altogether with Howe's magnificence on "Starship Trooper". I was lifted to the heights by Rick Wakeman on keyboards and kept there by the piston-like solidness of Alan White's drumming.

At times it seems that Yes have indeed blasted off and currently inhabit their own private child-like dream state. I've been waiting these past three years for a night as uplifting as that Yes concert, and haven't found one in rock music yet.

Brian Draper Concert Review
(taken from forgotten-yesterdays.com)
Tuesday, August 20, 2013

A number of contributors to NFTE from downunder have commented on the 26 year drought that we have endured since the one and only Yes tour in 1973. I was fortunate to see them in Sydney - not that I was a Yes fan at the time. I was really only aware of I've Seen All Good People as it had received limited airplay and modest chart success a few years earlier.

In the early seventies I was a uni student willing to try most things once -- and that was my attitude towards music. Touring bands from overseas were not common so along with my friends I tried to see as many acts as possible. Jethro Tull, Focus, Santana, Joe Cocker, Cat Stevens and Lou Reed featured amongst the eclectic array of performers. So my decision to see Yes was based on that attitude and the recommendations of friends. When they arrived in Sydney they were featured on the evening news and I remember most attention was given to Rick Wakeman's police siren that was used in his solo at the time.

Rick Wakeman

The concert was held on a balmy March evening - early Fall in Australia. It was held in the Hordern Pavilion, a converted agricultural show pavilion that was the main indoor rock concert venue in Sydney in the seventies. At the time the Musician's union in Australia had an edict that every overseas act had to have an Australian performer on the program. So the opening act was a relatively unknown group called Mother Earth that subsequently split up and would have disappeared into complete obscurity except that their lead singer, Renee Geyer, has since become an icon of Australian R&B. She sang exceptionally well and I recall that Jon Anderson commented on her favourably in the local media.

Hordern Pivilion

The interval seemed to stretch for nearly an hour -- the audience were getting restless. Suddenly the lights started to dim and the strains of the 'Firebird Suite' were heard as we fled back to our seats. I was so naïve that I thought perhaps this was a Yes recording! Anyway all was revealed within minutes as that spectacular opening to their show unfolded with Wakeman playing the last chords under a spot with his long blonde hair cascading over his golden cape. Then suddenly the full stage lights came on as the group erupted into Siberian Khatru. Of course all of this has been so brilliantly captured on Yessongs and to this day just listening to that opening track brings back floods of memories along with a tingle down my spine.

Alan White

The concert stunned me. Never before had I been so enthralled by the intensity of performance, musicianship, stagecraft and music itself. Only knowing one of their songs was no impediment. I was amazed at the length and complexity of their songs, yet at no time did they seem too long. The interaction with the lights added another dimension with each sequence being accompanied by the appropriate colours, creating an ambience that at the time had not been seen before in Australia. All commonplace now but not then. Rick Wakeman particularly caught my attention. At the time I regarded keyboards as largely an accessory to a rock group. For the first time I could see how they could be vital to a groups performance, sharing the limelight with guitars and vocals. The range of keyboards that he played simultaneously was new to Australia. He influenced many budding keyboard players.

The audience was won over early and by concert's end nobody wanted to leave. We sat in the car park for quite a while later trying to summon courage to drive away as I was so emotionally drained by the experience. Needless to say they received rave reviews. I purchased Close To The Edge and played it constantly.

This post consists of FLACs (Thanks to the taper and Dave for sharing) recorded at Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide. Custom artwork is also included along with a scan of the RAM article.

It was also interesting to note that a Union Strike led by the Theatrical and Amusement Association at the time, nearly prevented the Sydney Yes concerts from taking place. Thankfully, the strike action was averted in time. See article below

Track List

1.1 Firebird Suite (0.51)

1.2 Siberian Khatru (8.48)

1.3 Heart Of The Sunrise (11.12)

1.4 I've Seen All Good People (7.26)

1.5 Mood For A Day - The Clap -

      Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport (7.06)

1.6 And You And I (10.35)

2.1 Close To The Edge [Brisbane] (19.16)

2.2 Wakeman Solo [Adelaide] (8.14)

2.3 Roundabout [Adelaide] (8.22)

2.4 Yours Is No Disgrace [Brisbane] (8.43)

2.4 Starship Trooper [Adelaide] (9.54)

Date : Monday, March 26, 1973 

City : Sydney, Australia 

Venue : Hordern Pavilion 

Capacity : 5,000 

Backing Band: Mother Earth (Featuring Renee Geyer)

Lineup : Jon Anderson  (Vocals) 

Steve Howe  (Guitars) 

Chris Squire  (Bass) 

Rick Wakeman  (Keyboards) 

Alan White  (Drums)    

Yes Link (633Mb) New Link 12/10/2023