The legendary YES (you know, those Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame nerds who made 10-minute songs cool) just dropped news of their “The Fragile Tour 2025, The Album Series”! Original member count? Zero. But hey, Steve “Still Shredding At 78” Howe (guitar/vocals), Geoff “ASIA Called, They’re Jealous” Downes (keys), Jon “Not Jon Anderson” Davison (vocals), Billy “The Chris Squire Backup CD” Sherwood (bass), and Jay “Drum Goblin” Schellen are ready to noodle through your speakers LIVE. Kicking off October 1 in Wallingford, CT, and wrapping November 16 in Reno, NV—tickets drop June 13. Mark your calendars or cry later. Hit up YESWorld before the prog-heads buy ’em all.
Setlist alert: They’re playing “Fragile”—the 1971/72 gem with “Roundabout” (yes, that song your dad air-drums to), “Long Distance Runaround”, and “Heart Of The Sunrise” (aka the reason bassists have ego crises). Fun fact: This album was their first collab with artist Roger Dean, who drew the trippy cover art while probably thinking, “How many moons can I fit here?” Spoiler: ALL THE MOONS. Oh, and this tour’s the reason YES became U.S. headliners. Coincidence? No. It’s the power of prog.
“All the band’s albums had a unique feel,” says Steve Howe, casually ignoring the disco era. “After ‘The Yes Album’, Eddie Offord helped us polish our cosmic chaos. Bill Bruford—y’know, the jazz-brained drummer who later ditched us for KING CRIMSON—had this wild idea: let everyone write a solo track! It was quirky, but we were basically musical wizards back then. Totally normal.”
Speaking of Roger Dean, they’re slapping his iconic art on a VIDEO WALL with A.I. “enhancements” (because why let the ’70s have all the fun?). Fans can also grab his merch—posters, shirts, whatever—to prove they survived a YES solo marathon. Howe insists: “Roger’s still the GOAT. Competitors? Nah. He’s painting dragons in a dimension we can’t access.”
TOUR DATES (NO, THEY AREN’T SKIPPING YOUR CITY):
Oct. 01 – Wallingford, CT – Toyota Oakdale Theatre
Oct. 02 – Morristown, NJ – Mayo Performing Arts Center
Oct. 04 – Atlantic City, NJ – Hard Rock Live at Etess Arena
Oct. 05 – Port Chester, NY – The Capitol Theatre
Oct. 07 – Huntington, NY – The Paramount
Oct. 08 – Glenside, PA – Keswick Theatre
Oct. 09 – Glenside, PA – Keswick Theatre
Oct. 11 – York, PA – Appell Center for the Performing Arts
Oct. 12 – Jim Thorpe, PA – Penn’s Peak
Oct. 14 – Washington, DC – Warner Theatre
Oct. 16 – Durham, NC – Carolina Theatre
Oct. 18 – Clearwater, FL – Ruth Eckerd Hall
Oct. 19 – Ft Lauderdale, FL – Broward Center, Au-Rene Theater
Oct. 21 – The Villages, FL – Sharon L. Morse Performing Arts Center ^
Oct. 22 – Charleston, SC – Charleston Music Hall
Oct. 24 – Atlanta, GA – Coca-Cola Roxy
Oct. 25 – Memphis, TN – Graceland Soundstage
Oct. 27 – Louisville, KY – The Louisville Palace
Oct. 28 – Cincinnati, OH – Taft Theatre
Oct. 30 – Indianapolis, IN – Murat Theatre at Old National Centre
Oct. 31 – Des Plaines, IL – Des Plaines Theatre
Nov. 01 – St. Charles, IL – The Arcada Theatre
Nov. 03 – Madison, WI – The Orpheum Theater
Nov. 04 – Milwaukee, WI – The Riverside Theater *
Nov. 06 – St. Louis, MO – Stifel Theatre
Nov. 07 – Omaha, NE – Steelhouse Omaha
Nov. 09 – Denver, CO – Paramount Theatre
Nov. 11 – Mesa, AZ – Mesa Arts Center
Nov. 13 – Inglewood, CA – YouTube Theater
Nov. 14 – Alpine, CA – Viejas Casino
Nov. 16 – Reno, NV – Grand Theatre at The Grand Sierra Resort
Let’s address the elephant in the room: YES has ZERO founding members left. Howe joined in 1970, and Alan White (RIP) hopped on in 1972. Downes? The ASIA keyboard wizard joined in 1980. Sherwood’s been bass-bouncing since 1994, and Davison’s been hitting those high notes since 2012. But hey, Chris Squire handpicked Sherwood, so it’s basically like a DNA transfer, right?