This is a magnificent performance of an incredible song...a spiritual journey that touches even those who claim to be non-spiritual people! Joyous, joyful and uplifting we all put our own meanings and interpretations to Jon's lyrics - but, I don't think there is any doubt that they come from his soul, and reflect his personal philosophy? Wonderful!
Jon's lyrics are my spiritual guidance. They stir the soul and lead to a higher awareness of life's purpose. In this song " like the time I ran away, turned around and you were standing close to me", is so full of hope and love. It's a true masterpiece. If you like this listen to the Revealing Science of God with the great lyric, " I must have waited all my life for this moment". Yes, the greatest prog band ever and Jon the greatest rock singer and lyricist. Unsurpassed.
Awaken by Yes is one of rock's greatest gems. It is above epic, masterpiece and other great descriptions. I have heard this song hundreds of times and it is always fresh, amazing and great. Absolute talent is on display here. You should also also look for the Jon Anderson Todmobile version too that is magical as well. "Like the time I ran away, turned around and you were standing close to me." That line is so very deep. RIP Alan White and Chris Squire both so very missed.
saw them on this tour at liverpool and the next night at edinburgh...simply stunning both nights and yes when i look back at this and other songs they do...i cry..so many memories over the years from 1974 until now 2023. no other band and music has this affect on me...sublime.
It's with great pride that I can say I saw ever tour Yes played Awaken. Many of us wiped the tears of joy from our cheeks and still do today. God bless 🙏
I saw YES play in Seattle in 77 when this album came out and when they played this song we all just were floored!! Everyone was in a trance like state!! A masterpiece!!🔥🔥✨💫✨🌙✨🌙✨💫🌙
a trancelike state is the best description I have heard so far. The Classic version kept us coming back over and over. In all honesty, it was like a musical cult
Yes and Floyd. I'm 60 and grew up with these amazing artists of emotion and landscapers of sound. I don't know any place on the planet that can produce music like the British isles. I'll say one thing, that triple neck bass looks like it weighs a ton. ✌️♥️🇬🇧
@@lesblatnyak5947 You've got me beat you lucky dog, lol. I've seen them 26-times. One of the highlights was meeting them and getting to tell Chris that I named my son after him. His eyes and smile got pretty big as he asked, "Wow, how is he?" A couple of days later I finally got my son in to see them, soundcheck and all. Obviously a moment(s) I'll never forget. ✌🙏
This is my favorite band of all time performing at such a spiritual level. To me it's as close as you can come musically to going up to Heaven and meeting with God.
This is the music that I want at my funeral - Nothing else, no words, nothing else is needed - the song says it all. I makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up every time I hear it
When ever I hear Jon sing “High vibration go on”, my mind shuts down and my heart opens up….knowing what I am about to hear. I love this song and have been lucky to see it performed live a couple of times. Great reaction to a great song! Thank you… will be subscribing!
I was twelve years old when I first saw this live in 1979. It was performed on a round, rotating stage in the Center of the arena. A fan in one of the first few rows rushed the stage, and tackled Jon Anderson in a big hug, toppling him over on his back. The music stopped, and the lights came on as stunned security guards jumped on the stage to take the man away. Once the stage was clear, the band members conferred, the lights resumed their previous settings, and the band picked the song back up where they had left off, on the exact bar! It was amazing! In my 57 years, I have never known a work of music written in my lifetime that could match its beauty. I feel privileged to have seen them perform it a half dozen or so times.
This is by far the most amazing version of this song. It was played masterfully, everyone was in the groove and played magically. I always get emotional listening to this song, 😭 I probably play it at least once a week .
I'm so glad you reacted to this Great Prog Classic by Yes !! Brillant, emotional and enlightening !!! 🎼🎶✌ "Like the time I ran away, And turned around, and you were standing close to me ! 😇
I saw Yes in concert ( row 5 ) at an amphitheater in Rochester NY about 10 years after Going for the One was released. Their set was mostly Big Generator tracks. Towards the end they played Awaken, and it sounded better than the studio version. I also got to meet the band members briefly as they boarded their bus. Best concert I've ever been to.
In 1977 when this album came out & I heard this song I was blown away. I have seen YES dozens of times This tour was amazing & The UNION tour was a mind blower. The Silent Wings Of Freedom is another good song & all of YES songs are beautiful
Been a Yes fan since 1984 when i was 16. Seen them several times. Got to meet Jon and Rick after a tour they did in 2010. Great band and RIP Chris Squire, sorely missed.
Howe's guitar break about a third of the way into this live version was done by Wakeman on a church organ in the studio version. They recorded it in Switzerland, where Wakeman found the church and got to record using their organ.
Yes often played songs from 'Going For The One' (1977) on-stage with the exact same instruments that were used during the recording of that L.P. record in Montreaux, Switzerland, largely done in 1976. Most bands do not lend themselves to such attention to details.
Excellent reaction and all yes songs are written for each listener to have their thoughts and opinions about them, this is a very spiritual song. Please just keep doing this as you are amazing and thank you. Xxx
You inject LIFE into any review, especially via my favourite band for over 50 years now, astonishing, incredible, LIVE, musicianship. I can admit to seeing them perform on stage, and almost cried at the sounds issued. VBW x - and thank you!
Now why did you have to go ahead and make me cry it's only 7:29 in the morning but it is going to be a beautiful day that's for sure thank you very much for starting my day with this beautiful masterpiece and your wonderful reaction
You get YES!!! I love it, when you said that Andersons lyrics are dependent on the music, that was such an insight! And if you are talking about Howe's solo around the 3:30 mark in the studio version, I agree, he is on fire during that solo. Loved the reaction!
When I saw YES at the Birmingham NEC (UK) the band performed on their circular rotating stage. The lighting was set on arms that curved over the stage forming a dome. During the quiet centre section where Jon plays a harp, the dome opened up showering the audience with spots of coloured lights. I don't have the words to describe the sheer beauty of the experience.
@@MFC007 I don't know, I caught Yes in every tour from Fragile through the mid 1980s, then the Classic Yes Tour in 2002, Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountainview Ca, which featured the main 70s lineup with Wakeman, and I found every one to be awesome beyond belief. I don't think I could pick a "best," though I enjoyed their 1976 concert at the Aladdin Theater in Vegas, which was made all the sweeter because of the unexpected surprise of Renaissance opening for them.
Jon Anderson has said the song is about the divine and he is often writing about this subject. In the Presence of should be on your list. I would watch the Yes Symphonic Live version.
Saw them do 'Awaken' twice in 2003... in Melbourne and Sydney Australia .... and got to meet the guys backstage both nights. A true spiritual experience. Feel extremely blessed to have had those experiences.
I found Awaken to be engaging and in parts superb on first listening. It was one of those songs that grew and grew on me. Until I got it through my thick skull the entire thing is a masterpiece.
What can you say. Just a master piece!! They performed it 25 years after it was written like it was yesterday! Just an extraordinary group of musicians!!
The giving and loving Natural Spirit that is the Infinite Uni-versal Supreme Force is always within and around even when you try to ignore, forget, feel low or lost. Just Awaken your heart
I waited 29 years for Yes to tour Australia again & finally this, the 35th anniversary tour came down under. What a concert & Awaken as the finale was absolutely magnificent! The previous tour a few years earlier for the "Magnification" album they did with a European youth orchestra. They filmed & recorded a concert in Amsterdam & produced the amazing "Symphonic Live" DVD. It contains incredible performances of their other 2 epic masterworks "Close to the Edge" & "The Gates of Delirium" , you will love them. Best wishes.
just cry every time you feel to and do not hold back That's what is part of listening to yes and that means that you are listening to lessions in life :)
Excellent reaction and commentary. YES, these creative humans are obviously with their music and musicianship definitely in touch and harmonically resonating with something even greater than the band, the members here or Human Beings as a whole.
Your reaction to this is lovely, and the way you interpret the song as is exactly the way I understood it when I first heard it, 30-mumble years ago... and still do. Jon isn't a Christian per se, but he has drawn inspiration from Christian views of God - alongside *many* other sources - in his spiritual journey. And that ending resonated so strongly with me and my own struggles in relating to God at the time, living through a kind overdue teenage rebellious phase (I was 20, maybe 21?) as I started figuring out who I really was, and who I really wanted to be, and what *I* really thought about everything instead of whatever I'd been taught by parents or teachers or the very strict fundamentalist church I'd been in before going off to Uni. Those moments of hitting a dead end in my pursuit of pleasure, or freedom or... whatever...; Of fearing that I might have really blown it this time, have rebelled one time too many... and then realising that forgiveness was still available; that my Father's arms were still open to me; that I still had a home.
