Atlantic City Weekly

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Last March, members of the British progressive rock band Yes announced plans to celebrate the band's 40th anniversary with its first North American tour in five years. The tour was to feature the group's most commercially successful lineup: singer Jon Anderson, bassist Chris Squire, guitarist Steve Howe and drummer Alan White.

Unfortunately, shortly after the tour was announced, Anderson suffered a severe asthma attack and was diagnosed with acute respiratory failure. Doctors advised him to rest and not work for at least six months or risk further health complications.

Fans assumed they would have to wait at least another year for the tour, but Squire, Howe, and White were determined to carry on. Thus, the "In the Present" tour, which kicked off earlier this month in Ontario, stops at the Borgata this Friday.

Filling in for Anderson will be Benoit David, a Montreal native who fronts a Yes tribute band called Close to the Edge, named after one of the band's most popular albums. David was discovered when Squire saw a clip of him performing on YouTube and called to offer him an audition.

"This isn't an attempt to replace Jon Anderson because, as we all know, that would be impossible," Squire said in a statement. "With Benoit, we are bringing in a talented singer so that we can go out and honor the music of Yes for the fans who have waited for the past four years to see us perform."

The quartet will be joined by keyboardist Oliver Wakeman, the son of legendary Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman, who, like Anderson, is not touring with the band for health reasons.

Prior to the rescheduling of the tour, drummer Alan White spoke with Atlantic City Weekly. Yes has earned a reputation for crowd-pleasing, virtuoso live performances, but White admitted that choosing a set list from nearly 20 studio albums worth of material can be difficult.

"I like to play the more obscure, crazy stuff," he said. "But the public sometimes demands to hear the stuff we've always done, so we have to do a mixture. The set list is being worked on right now. We're rehearsing some classic songs that personally I like to play, like 'Perpetual Change,' 'Close to the Edge,' and 'Awaken.' It's going to be a great evening, I can tell you that."

The last studio album Yes released was Magnification in 2001. White said that at this stage of the band's career, it can tour with or without a new album to promote. However, he added that the group has been working on new material and fans can expect to hear at least one new song on the tour.

By the time White joined Yes in 1972, he had already amassed an impressive resume. While still in his teens, he had worked with Denny Laine, Ginger Baker and Steve Winwood. In 1969, White received an invitation by John Lennon to drum for the Plastic Ono Band at a show in Toronto. This led to White's participation in recording sessions for Lennon's Imagine, as well as his involvement in George Harrison's solo debut, All Things Must Pass.

"It was very, very cool," White said about working with Lennon and Harrison. "The one thing about that whole era was I was only 20 years old and I thought it was just a natural progression in the music industry. I thought, 'I guess this is what happens.' It was a very, very special time in my life, but at the time I was just a guy playing the drums that John really liked. Years later, I eventually realized what I had done, in terms of the history of music."

White is equally proud of the place Yes holds in music history, even if the music establishment is reluctant to acknowledge it.

"There's no reason in the world why this band shouldn't be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame," he says. "It's really quite surprising how many young fans the band has. I'm not sure whether or not it's brainwashing from their parents, but these kids know all of our music inside and out. I guess the legacy of the band has been pretty huge."

White has witnessed countless changes over his 40 years in the music business. But he says that at least one important aspect of the business has remained constant throughout.

"Playing has stayed the same," he says. "The basic root of everything is how people play together on stage, and the feeling you get performing and creating something that's really, really good. It's like that with Yes. Everybody in the band is very talented. It's a great feeling to perform with people that create such great music."