What's your favourite Yes live recording?

[Mr. Holland]

....and I'm not talking a whole concert, but one single track. Yes, one single track! It can be from an official live recording or a bootleg. So, what is your favourite Yes live track/recording? And tell us what makes it so.

[Ash Armstrong]

Perpetual Change on Yessongs. It quickly became my favourite track on the album after I bought it around Easter 74, and it remains my favourite on The Yes Album too. The sheer ferocity of the playing, and the tightness and verve of the group, rounded out by Bruford's perfect drum solo, makes it irresistible for me.

Honorary mentions: Awaken on the Wembley concert in 78, and Ritual from Symphonic Yes.

[Gtkgasman]

Yours is no Disgrace - YESSONGS.

YIND is the song that hooked me, when played for me by a friend’s older brother(from yes album cassette in his car). And YESSONGS is the first album I borrowed (or stole! Haha. and kept til I got my own) and played constantly in moms basement. Those tracks, the live versions, are my favs, and how I prefer to hear them I’m sure based on the fact that those were my first impressions. YIND was ripping, fast and slow tempos, Jon soared. It was all so new to me. I was hooked …… forever as it turned out.

Side note - I could hear YIND live at every show, and never get tired of it.

[Homemade Parachute]

Yours is no Disgrace - YESSONGS.

Le bingo.

[Mr. Holland]

For me it's "Ritual", the Yesshows version. It takes me on a mesmerising journey, every time I listen to it. Its complete, no prisoners taken, fierce approach from all players makes it very intense, far more than the studio version. I also feel Moraz' playing and sound fits the song like a glove, better probably than Wakeman.

For me it's the ultimate Yes live track.

[soundchaser09]

tough.... Yours is no Disgrace Yessongs or Starship Trooper Keys to Ascension I think

[Gtkgasman]

Oh - forgot my second choice / honorable mention (since Ash added, I had to also 😁) - Starship Trooper-Wembley 78-from In the Round, vinyl 2lp boot.

[carlmarx38]

I'll pick one new and one old....New - "Yours is No Disgrace" from either "Songs From Tsongas" or "House of YES". Old - "(Excerpts from) Six Wives" and "LDR / The Fish" from YESSONGS.

[Ceasar’s Palace]

Parallels and Don't Kill The Whale, both on Yesshows.

[Yesjim]

The Houston '88 radio broadcast has some of my favorite live recordings. HOTS and AYAI are presented in full Yeswest power - spine tingles and all.

And with all the glitches the MSG '80 FM broadcast is still one of my go to boots, too bad the technical issues prevented a better recording. Through The Lens, Fly From Here and Go Through This still give me goosebumps

And GOD from Yesshows, well there's live Yes at it's finest.

[pianozach]

Starship Trooper
Yessongs

It's the additional minimoog solo in Würm by Wakeman that seals the deal.

[Davy]

Starship Trooper - Quebec, 1979. People rave about the Wembley Wurm, and it's great, but this performance is the best Life Seeker. 😊

[kkleinschmidt]

For me it's "Ritual", the Yesshows version. It takes me on a mesmerising journey, every time I listen to it. Its complete, no prisoners taken, fierce approach from all players makes it very intense, far more than the studio version. I also feel Moraz' playing and sound fits the song like a glove, better probably than Wakeman.

For me it's the ultimate Yes live track.

This is my choice too and what makes it even better is it's not split in half over two album sides in our modern digital age!

[Roundabob]

Perpetual Change on Yessongs. It quickly became my favourite track on the album after I bought it around Easter 74, and it remains my favourite on The Yes Album too. The sheer ferocity of the playing, and the tightness and verve of the group, rounded out by Bruford's perfect drum solo, makes it irresistible for me.

Honorary mentions: Awaken on the Wembley concert in 78, and Ritual from Symphonic Yes.

I have to agree with you on Perpetual Change on Yessongs. Squire and Bruford at their best.

[Chrisklenox]

I'll throw in a left field one since you guys are gobbling up my other picks. haha

America - the BBC Mike Harding show version. Just wish there was a better quality version around (When's that damn BBC box set coming, anyway?). Absolutely ripping performance. Steve in particular lays down one of his most aggressive performances ever. Bill, Jon, Chris, and Tony are all at 100% as well.

This was one of my first bootleg experiences when I downloaded it along with The White Yes Album, and Madrigal Mystery Tour from Winmx almost 25 years ago now. That whole Cleveland '78 gig absolutely floored me. It's still probably my favorite whole gig from the band. They would never quite match the intensity and brilliance of that '78 - '79 tour again, and in my mind it edges out the previous tours as well, as brilliant as they all were.

It's really hard to pick. Live Yes recordings from 1969 - 2004 are essential to my life, each era for different reasons. Tomorrow, I might decide that Houston '88 will be what I need to lift my spirits, and the next day it could be Long Beach 1975.