JON ANDERSON ‘Would Love To’ Get All Surviving YES Members Together For A Tour

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Ex-YES singer Jon Anderson has told Meltdown of Detroit's WRIF radio station that he is still hopeful he can reunite with his former bandmates to mark the group's 50th anniversary. "I'd love to get the whole of YES together one day in the next couple of years — everybody, 20 of us on stage, that kind of thing," he said. "I had a dream about it about a month ago. I was there with my guitar. I went on first. I sang a couple of songs and said hello to everybody. And then Steve Howe's band came on, and then, after that, I joined the band, with Steve in the band, and sang 'Close To The Edge', and Rick [Wakeman] came on as well, and then Trevor [Rabin] came on, and we did 'Owner Of A Lonely Heart', and then we all did 'Awaken' and it was a beautiful moment." Anderson co-founded YES in 1968 with bassist Chris Squire, and remained with the band until 2008, when YES replaced him with Benoit David, an Anderson sound-alike who previously fronted the YES tribute band CLOSE TO THE EDGE. David left YES in 2012 and was replaced by Jon Davison. Last month, Howe told Rolling Stone that there is virtually no chance of the surviving members of YES reuniting for a tour. "I don't think [the fans] should stay up late nights worrying about that," he said. "There's just too much space out there between people. To be in a band together or even to do another tour like 'Union' is completely unthinkable," referencing the group's 1990 "Union" LP and tour, which brought together the previous YES album's lineup (Jon Anderson, Chris Squire, Trevor Rabin, Alan White, Tony Kaye) and the then-ex-YES members' group ANDERSON BRUFORD WAKEMAN HOWE (Jon Anderson, Bill Bruford, Rick Wakeman and Steve Howe). "It was difficult when we went through that, particularly because of the personalities," Howe said. "I'm not saying any one person is to blame, but when you get a big hodgepodge like that together, it's pretty much a nightmare. We made a nightmare of possibly a good thing back in 1990. I don't think there is the stamina or the appetite for that kind of thing again." Anderson, Wakeman and Rabin had started touring as ARW: ANDERSON, RABIN AND WAKEMAN in 2016 and then adopted the YES FEATURING JON ANDERSON, TREVOR RABIN, RICK WAKEMAN moniker shortly after the group's 2017 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction. Howe last toured with Anderson and Wakeman in 2004. YES has released over 20 albums across its career, including its self-titled debut in 1969, "Tales from Topographic Oceans", in 1973, and its last album, "Heaven & Earth", which came out in 2014.