Ode to Steve

[Dances w/PURPLE]

This is a thread for discussion on Steve. I see one on Chris, Alan and Jon but only a few on Steve...so here we go.

Just listened to the last song from YES UNPLUGGED, thanks to Earl, before I turned off the motor and Steve was doing his solo. Anyone notice Steve would fit right in at a Bluegrass festival? So what are your thoughts on Steve.

[Q]

His solo spot in the past tour was just incredible ... snippets of everything, great variety, and yet there was this wonderful unified beauty to it all ... he did a bit from Natural Timbre, which just rocked me ... I've seen him thru the years doing his moment in each show, but this tour he just ruled ...

Q

[Dances w/PURPLE]

a man of few words, his guitar speaks volumes. ( although that interview that was recently up was an excellent read and he had much to say)

[Bugeyes]

Steve is one of the men that scare me by his looks. Kind-of-like Strider, the King, Aragon of Middle Earth, he looked foul, but felt fair and he is definitely man-made, (that's from a dream I had the other day).

[Dances w/PURPLE]

November

9 Orlando, FL House of Blues hub 1 2 3 4

10 St. Petersburg, FL State Theatre hub 1 2 3

11 West Palm Beach, FL Carefree Theatre

Anyone know when Steve Howe toured by himself? Was checking online for a photo and info and came across a lovely review of one of his shows and the tour dates.

Anyone?

[PO]

Steve will also be in a new book about steel guitars (amongst other players). Almost all of the players are Country or Hawaiin. But not Steve! And can Steve pick. He loves Bluegrass and all of that, too.

He is also the master of guitar use.

To Be Over in sequence:

Sitar
Steel
Fender Telecaster
Pedal steel (10 string)
Fender Telecaster
Sitar

And You And I:

12 string acoustic
Gibson 175
12 string acoustic
Steel
12 string acoustic
Gibson 175
steel 12 string acoustic
Steel

I can't think of any guitar player, living or dead, that can do this. He is truly a legendary guitarist. Rick Wakeman is the Steve Howe of keyboards! Now we know why those two work so well together.

I did see his solo tour and have the tour program. I'll have to look, but I think it was 1994. He even stopped at a local music store and signed autographs! More than a few people brought in their guitars and he signed them.

[R'tanys]

Back when Fox's cable channel, FX was new, they did really cool things like original programming and segues from an uptown New York apartment. One of their programs was called "Personal FX" and it was a collectables show. It was kinda like "Antiques Roadshow" in the sense that people got their rare stuff appraised. They also had a segment shot from a remote location. One day it was from a guitar shop in New York. The owner of this shop has quite an extensive collection of rare and vintage guitars, not to mention a rather famous musician friend who happened to stop by on the day of their shoot. He played for about a second and a half before they cut to some obnoxious commercial, and I almost swallowed my tongue. How could they treat a talent the calibre of Steve Howe that way? I wrote them a nasty letter, scolding them for their crass lack of judgement, yet, oddly enough, never got a response. I assumed it was due to the difficulty of operating a typewriter with cloven hooves.

Anyway, that's my Steve story, and that's all I have to say about that.

[upbgirl]

Originally posted by R'tanys
I assumed it was due to the difficulty of operating a typewriter with cloven hooves.
:sofunny:
steve is THE guitar man in MY book. i ask other guitar players to give his stuff a try, and they wind up mad at me.. hehe.. guess he scares the crap out of em..
i think what makes him the BEST is the fact that he can play almost any stringed instrument and any style..from country to bluegrass to blues, to rock to classical.... everything..versatility is the KEY..
i also picked him on the 'who would you like to spend time with' thread. he is so quiet and unassuming i would LOVE to pick his brain..

[BredYes]

Steve's contribution to Yes is enormous. He has a lot of input in the Yes Album which breakthrough saved Yes. He wrote a large part and played on their other classic albums (Fragile and CttE), he wrote with Jon the controversial Tales, played fabulous on Relayer (the favorite hard core Yesfans), was very strong on GftO. Was a brilliant live artist in the seventies (listen to Yessongs), played fantastic shows with ABWH, was part of the legendary Union tour and was responsible (I think) that Yes played songs like Gates of Delirium and Ritual in recent years.

His accoustic solo album Natural Timbre is one of my favorite albums in my music collection.

[PaulH]

Originally posted by dancesw/purple
November

9 Orlando, FL House of Blues hub 1 2 3 4

10 St. Petersburg, FL State Theatre hub 1 2 3

11 West Palm Beach, FL Carefree Theatre

Anyone know when Steve Howe toured by himself? Was checking online for a photo and info and came across a lovely review of one of his shows and the tour dates.

Anyone?

I saw Steve solo shows twice...while I was living in Colorado.
The first was in 1993 at the Fox Theatre, in Boulder, and a year later he came back in 1994 (after I had seen the Talk tour at Red Rocks..) and played the Boulder Theater.

I believe I have a flyer from one of the gigs floating around somewhere in the house...I will try and dig it up.

The shows were great...very similar to the "Not nessesarily acoustic" CD...in fact I think those shows were from the initial 93 tour from Philly and a few tracks from Montreal? If I am not mistaken.

The first show I saw there was a problem with Steve's equipment getting to the venue and he used his Martin guitar the whole evening.

The second time around he had many different instruments...including his 12 string (which he delivered a beautiful "masquerade" on....and his Steinburger, as well as the trusty martin, a nylon string and a steel.

Steve was amazing both times....and seemed to making a real effort to connect to the crowd, which at times seemed a bit uncomfortable for him. The second time around he surely seemed more relaxed, but that could have been for a number of reasons.

I think he really appreciated the small shows and the enthusiasm of the crowd....but I am sure he could have done without the buzzed guys trying to sing Jon's parts falsetto over his playing.

[TNyesfan]

After that now legendary RCMH concert last year, I stayed by the backstage door for about 2-3 hours after the show to see if I could possibly meet our heroes. I did; I met all of them, but it was Steve who surprised me the most.
After Jon had come and gone, about a half -hour later Steve come bursting out of the door, bounding down the stairs. The guys in front yelled, "Steve, Steve!!! Great show, Steve!" Of course, after a lifetime of waiting, all I could do was stand there like a codfish with my mouth hanging open. I was speechless.
I drew in my breath, there he was! He reminded me of a thoroughbred racehorse, fine- boned and elegant, exquisitely sensitive. Startled, he wheeled around and stared at the small crowd in front of him. I thought, "My God, he's actually SURPRISED that we're here! That we'd actually wait for him!" He still has no idea how much we love his work, how great he really is.
Well, he very graciously approached us to shake hands and sign autographs. Though small in stature, he had all the grandeur befitting a man of his stellar position. He had a magnificent energy about him. And he was kind to us all.

[Thoughtbecontact]

One of the most amazing things about last year's concert tour was the interplay between Rick and Steve. They are the perfect foils for one another as each are virtuosos in their own right. I keep going back to the extended jam at the end of SSOTS. Actually, Rick leads the way in it. I don't know how many of you picked this up, but Rick starts improvising from Six Wives of Henry VIII. I once read that the bridge from SSOTS was originally supposed to be part of the Six Wives album. The ending jam from the 2002 tour comes from Catherine Paar off that album--Steve duels with Rick and is magnificent!

[Dances w/PURPLE]

all the personal stories, all the details of his talent. Paost, YES! The thing I love about listening to his music is if you close your eyes and listen intently, you pick up bits of bluegrass and classical all woven together.


Cloven hooves can't use a typewriter. HA! New line for me.

[TNyesfan]

Steve in the morning
Sound like the sun piercing dark
Sets the day aflame.

[tardistraveler]

TNYesFan - I too had the pleasure of meeting Steve Howe quite by accident in a Nashville hotel. He was signing some autographs in the lobby. I asked him for an autograph, which he was gracious enough to do, and while he was signing, I blurted out "I've seen you guys about 20 times!" He stopped what he was doing and looked at me in astonishment, as if he couldn't believe ANYONE would see them that many times! Seemed to be a very kind person.

That's not to mention his obvious talents on the guitar. Any style - he does it all! With excellence!

[TNyesfan]

Originally posted by tardistraveler
TNYesFan - I too had the pleasure of meeting Steve Howe quite by accident in a Nashville hotel. He was signing some autographs in the lobby. I asked him for an autograph, which he was gracious enough to do, and while he was signing, I blurted out "I've seen you guys about 20 times!" He stopped what he was doing and looked at me in astonishment, as if he couldn't believe ANYONE would see them that many times! Seemed to be a very kind person.

That's not to mention his obvious talents on the guitar. Any style - he does it all! With excellence!

At least you had the presence of mind to speak! Good Yesfan. I know I didn't read it wrong--he was genuinely surprised that we stayed. Can you imagine? BTW, was it the Hyatt?

[tardistraveler]

Yes, it was the Hyatt - the morning after the Tormato show. I happened to be uptown with a friend, and we ducked into the Hyatt looking for a water fountain. And there was Steve in the lobby. I had on my jeans from the night before with my ticket stub in the pocket, so I pulled it out and asked him to sign it! Couldn't resist the opportunity. I was glad he was so nice about it!

[PO]

Again, for his 1994 solo tour, he played just 5 minutes from my house. The surprise was the backup band, Man. I never heard of them but found out that the drummer was John P. Weathers of Gentle Giant!. I went back to my house and got my Octopus CD. It was the first GG I had heard. Steve was playing Soon, and I saw John P. at the rear of the club watching. I went back and we chatted and he signed my CD.

So, there I was with a Gentle Giant member watching Steve Howe in a club 5 minutes from my house! Timothy Leary and the KGB together could never come up with a drug to match that experience!

[Q]

"Timothy Leary and the KGB" sounds like the name of a band ...