Jon Anderson Hints at Yes Anniversary Reunion
The looming anniversary of Yes' founding might just offer the perfect opportunity for a reunion with their former singer.
"There’s the idea, if we get welcomed into the [Rock and Roll] Hall of Fame on our 50th year – which is 2018 – that’s when we’ll all get together," Jon Anderson told eonmusic. "There’ll be about 20 of us onstage. It would be cool!"
Anderson, who concluded his third stint with Yes in 2004, is one of just two remaining founding members of Yes who still makes music. Tony Kaye, the band's keyboardist from 1968-1971 and 1982-1994, works with latter-day Yes member Billy Sherwood in the band Circa. Bassist Chris Squire and guitarist Peter Banks have died, while drummer Bill Bruford has retired.
More recently, Anderson has reconnected with other members of the extended Yes family. He founded a new group called ARW with Kaye's successor Rick Wakeman and 90125-era guitarist Trevor Rabin. That followed years of health issues that ultimately played a role in his departure from Yes. “I always remember my mum saying, 'Life is like the ocean; it goes up and down – you could be high one minute, and down the next minute,'" Anderson noted.
ARW's tour, titled An Evening of Yes Music and More, begins on Oct. 4 in Orlando. A group including longtime Yes guitarist Steve Howe, along with Sherwood and Geoff Downes, has recently toured under the Yes banner. Should these groups combine sometime in the future, it would mirror a similar turn-of-the-'90s reunion that found the then-current members of Yes working with the splinter group Anderson Bruford Wakeman and Howe.
Yes Albums Ranked Worst to Best