The Close to the Edge Tour was a concert tour by progressive rock band Yes in promotion of their 1972 album, Close to the Edge. Lasting from 30 July 1972 until 22 April 1973, and including 97 performances, the tour began at the Dallas Memorial Auditorium, and ended at the West Palm Beach Auditorium in West Palm Beach, Florida. The tour was Alan White's first with the band.

Recordings from the tour—both film and audio—were included on the band's 1973 live album, Yessongs. The filmed performance was recorded at the December 1972 shows at the London Rainbow Theatre.

Recordings Eleven songs from the tour (with no information about recording dates or locations) were included on the band's 1973 live album, Yessongs—the excerpt from Stravinsky's Firebird Suite, "Siberian Khatru", "Heart of the Sunrise", "And You and I", "Mood for a Day", excerpts from Wakeman's The Six Wives of Henry VIII, "Roundabout", "I've Seen All Good People", "Close to the Edge", "Yours Is No Disgrace", and "Starship Trooper".

Film footage of the 15–16 December 1972 shows at the London Rainbow Theatre was the source of the 1975 film Yessongs. Fans determined that "Close to the Edge" and "Starship Trooper" from the film were the same versions from the 1973 album. With the release in 2015 of the box set Progeny: Seven Shows from Seventy-Two containing concert recordings from between 31 October and 20 November 1972, in Canada and the United States, it became possible to identify the dates of most of the remaining performances from the album.

Members The line-up for the tour unchanged throughout its duration; the line-up was the seventh incarnation of Yes. Bill Bruford left the band on 19 July 1972, after the recording sessions for Close to the Edge had finished. Alan White joined the band by the end of the month, after a number of dates had been cancelled in the wake of Bruford's departure. As he played on the album but was replaced for the tour Bruford was contractually obliged to share album royalties with White, and claims that Yes manager Brian Lane enforced a compensation payment of $10,000 from Bruford.

Jon Anderson — lead vocals Steve Howe — guitars and backing vocals Chris Squire — bass and backing vocals Rick Wakeman — keyboards Alan White — drums

Tour The tour saw the band play a total of 97 concerts in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan and Australia over seven legs—three North American legs, two European legs, an Asian leg and an Australasian leg.

Support came from Eagles, Gentle Giant, Edgar Winter, Lindisfarne, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Gary Wright, The J Geils Band, Wild Turkey, Badger, and Focus.

Setlist Setlist:

"Siberian Khatru" (Anderson, Howe, Wakeman) "I've Seen All Good People" (Anderson, Squire) "Heart of the Sunrise" (Anderson, Squire, Bruford) "Clap/Mood for a Day" (Howe) "America" (Paul Simon) (Dropped after 2 August 1972) "And You and I" (Anderson, Howe, Bruford, Squire) "Close to the Edge" (Anderson, Howe) (Added starting on 2 September 1972) Keyboards solo (Excerpts from The Six Wives of Henry VIII) (Wakeman) "Roundabout" (Anderson, Howe) Encore: "Yours Is No Disgrace" (Anderson, Squire, Howe, Kaye, Bruford) "Starship Trooper" (Anderson, Squire, Howe) (Added starting on 15 December 1972) Occasionally played: Keyboards solo (Excerpts from The Six Wives on Henry VIII) (Wakeman) (Played on 1 August 1972, 29 September 1972, 14, 15 November 1972, 16 December 1972) "South Side of the Sky" (Played on 8 April 1973) "Perpetual Change" (Played on 1 August 1972) "The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus)" (Played on 1 August 1972, 22 September 1972) "Long Distance Runaround" (Played on 1 August 1972, 22 September 1972) "Can and Brahms" (Played on 19, 21, 23, 26, 27, March 1973) "Colours of the Rainbow" (Jon Anderson a cappella song performed just before introducing the next song, "Close to the Edge") Covers: "The Beautiful Land" (Played on 9 March 1973) "Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport" (Played on 19, 23, 26 March 1973) "Sakura Sakura" (Played on 10, 11, 12, 14 March 1973) "America" (Played on 30, 31 July 1972, 2, 20 August 1972) "Waltzing Matilda" (Played on 19 March 1973)

Tour dates DateCityCountryVenueNorth America26 July 1972EdwardsvilleUnited StatesMississippi River Festival27 July 1972LouisvilleCommonwealth Convention Center28 July 1972MemphisMid-South Coliseum29 July 1972Little RockBarton Coliseum 30 July 1972 Dallas Dallas Convention Center 31 July 1972 Houston Hofheinz Pavilion 1 August 1972 Oklahoma City Fairgrounds Arena 2 August 1972 Denver Denver Coliseum3 August 1972 4 August 1972 Long Beach Long Beach Arena 5 August 1972 Berkeley Berkeley Community Theatre 6 August 1972 Portland Memorial Coliseum 7 August 1972 Vancouver Canada Pacific Coliseum 8 August 1972 SeattleUnited States Paramount Theatre 10 August 1972 Trotwood Hara Arena 11 August 1972 Akron Rubber Bowl 12 August 1972 Asbury Park Asbury Park Convention Hall 13 August 1972 Columbia Merriweather Post Pavilion14 August 1972HartfordDillon Stadium 15 August 1972 Philadelphia The Spectrum 16 August 1972 New York City Gaelic Park 18 August 1972 Louisville Louisville Convention Center 20 August 1972 Memphis Mid-South Coliseum 21 August 1972 Edwardsville Mississippi River Festival Europe 2 September 1972 London England Crystal Palace Bowl 4 September 1972GlasgowScotlandKelvin Hall 5 September 1972 9 September 1972 BristolEngland Colston Hall 10 September 1972 Manchester Belle Vue Zoological Gardens – Kings Hall 12 September 1972 Newcastle Newcastle City Hall North America 15 September 1972 Pembroke PinesUnited States Hollywood Sportatorium 16 September 1972 Tampa Curtis Hixon Hall 17 September 1972 Jacksonville Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum 19 September 1972 Cincinnati Cincinnati Gardens 20 September 1972 Indianapolis Fairgrounds Coliseum 21 September 1972 Detroit Cobo Arena 22 September 1972 Chicago Arie Crown Theater 23 September 1972 Minneapolis The Armory 24 September 1972 Milwaukee MECCA Arena 25 September 1972 Hartford Dillon Stadium 26 September 1972 Boston Boston Music Hall 27 September 1972 Richmond Richmond Coliseum 29 September 1972 New Orleans Municipal Auditorium 30 September 1972 Atlanta Municipal Auditorium 1 October 1972 Tuscaloosa Memorial Coliseum 2 October 1972 Columbia Carolina Coliseum 3 October 1972 Charlotte Charlotte Coliseum 28 October 1972 Millersville Millersville University 29 October 1972 Syracuse Onondaga County War Memorial 30 October 1972 WaterlooCanada University of Waterloo 31 October 1972 Toronto Maple Leaf Gardens 1 November 1972 Ottawa Ottawa Civic Centre 2 November 1972 Montreal Théâtre Saint-Denis 3 November 1972 FlintUnited States IMA Sports Arena 4 November 1972 Columbus St. John Arena 5 November 1972 Erie Hammermill Center 7 November 1972 Pittsburgh Civic Arena 8 November 1972 Huntington Veterans Memorial Fieldhouse9 November 1972NorfolkNorfolk Scope 10 November 1972 Roanoke Roanoke Civic Center 11 November 1972 Durham Cameron Indoor Stadium 12 November 1972 Greensboro Greensboro Coliseum 14 November 1972 Athens Georgia Coliseum 15 November 1972 Knoxville Knoxville Civic Coliseum 16 November 1972 Bowling Green Anderson Arena 17 November 1972 Terre Haute Hulman Center 18 November 1972 Notre Dame Edmund P. Joyce Center 19 November 1972 Kent Memorial Gymnasium 20 November 1972 Uniondale Nassau Coliseum 26 November 1972 Youngstown Struthers FieldhouseEurope 15 December 1972LondonEngland Rainbow Theatre 16 December 1972 17 December 1972 Manchester Hardrock Concert Theatre Asia 8 March 1973TokyoJapan Tokyo Koseinenkin Kaikan 9 March 1973 Shibuya Koukaidou 10 March 1973 Kanda Kyoritsu Koudou 11 March 1973 Nagoya Nagoya-shi Koukaido 12 March 1973 Osaka Kouseinennkin Kaikan 14 March 1973 Kyoto Kyoto KaikanOceania 19 March 1973 BrisbaneAustralia Brisbane Festival Hall 21 March 1973 Adelaide Apollo Stadium 23 March 1973 Melbourne Festival Hall 26 March 1973 Sydney Hordern Pavilion27 March 197329 March 1973AucklandNew ZealandWestern Springs Stadium30 March 1973WellingtonWellington Athletic Park31 March 1973ChristchurchChristchurch Town HallNorth America 4 April 1973 San DiegoUnited States San Diego Sports Arena 5 April 1973 Inglewood Los Angeles Forum 6 April 1973 Las Vegas Ice Palace 7 April 1973 San Francisco Winterland Ballroom 8 April 1973 Albuquerque Johnson Gymnasium 9 April 1973 Phoenix Phoenix Symphony Hall 11 April 1973 Wichita Century II Convention Hall 12 April 1973 Oklahoma City Fairgrounds Arena 13 April 1973 San Antonio Municipal Auditorium 14 April 1973 Houston Hofheinz Pavilion 15 April 1973 Dallas Dallas Convention Center 16 April 1973St. LouisKiel Auditorium 17 April 1973 18 April 1973 Nashville Nashville Municipal Auditorium 19 April 1973 Atlanta Alexander Memorial Coliseum 20 April 1973 Savannah Savannah Civic Center 21 April 1973 Tampa Curtis Hixon Hall 22 April 1973 West Palm Beach West Palm Beach Auditorium

Cancelled shows The tour's first four scheduled shows were cancelled in the wake of Bill Bruford's resignation from the band. When Alan White was confirmed as a member, the tour began at the fifth scheduled show on 30 July 1972. A whole leg, covering South America, was cancelled. Dates and venues were never released, except for the scheduled performance at the Salle University in Acapulco on 1 May 1973.

DateCityCountryVenue 26 July 1972 Edwardsville United States Edwardsville Amphitheatre 27 July 1972 Louisville Louisville Convention Center 28 July 1972 Memphis Mid-South Coliseum 29 July 1972 Little Rock Barton Coliseum 29 March 1973 AucklandNew Zealand Western Springs 30 March 1973 Wellington Athletic Park 31 March 1973 Christchurch Town Hall 1 May 1973 Acapulco Mexico Salle University

References