YES Play First Show Since Chris Squire’s Passing at Foxwoods (PHOTOS)

The first YES concert since the passing of founding member Chris Squire started with a poignant and very touching tribute to the passing of the bass legend. A  single overhead spotlight shone down on Squire’s signature Rickenbacker bass, placed on a stand stage-left in the position he typically occupied. While a recording of the beautiful Squire love song “Onward,” from Tormato played in the theater, a giant screen projected a montage of images of the late musician.

The band then appeared on stage and played passionate versions of 11 songs, including requisite favorites (“Roundabout,” “I’ve Seen All Good People,” “Siberian Khatru,” “Owner of a Lonely Heart,” “Clap,” the encore “Starship Trooper”) as well as clever and relative rarities “Going For the One,” “America,” “Tempus Fugit,” “Time and a Word” and “Don’t Kill the Whale”.

Singer Jon Davison, guitarist Steve Howe, keyboardist Geoff Downes and drummer Alan White were told by Chris Squires to continue on without him, and they were joined, by a not too unfamiliar member to the band, Billy Sherwood, who worked with Chris Squires in the past. Billy Sherwood, as Jon Davison called him a “badass cat “performed flawlessly and Chris Squire would be proud as the band now embarks without the leader going into the future.