Live Review: Jon Anderson, Harry Healy

Opening for the former frontman and cofounder of Yes tonight was Byron Bay-based singer-songwriter Harry Healy whose style suggested he was really meant to be fronting a pub rock band. He worked hard.

Tonight though, the audience was here to sit at the feet of the master Jon Anderson and, from the moment he opened his mouth and started singing – typically about sunshine – he had them. A natural alto tenor, no one can deny the uniqueness of Anderson's voice within the rock pantheon. As he eased us into the evening with a couple of tunes – Yours Is No Disgrace and the pre-“classic” Yes title track from 1970's Time And A Word – two things became very apparent: despite the near-fatal bout of respiratory illness that knocked him down in 2008, his voice remains unaffected and as angelic as ever and, considering his obvious limitations as a guitarist, it's extraordinary that he could have written some of the most complex, majestic progressive rock music of the 20th century.

Occasionally observably lost on the fretboard of his acoustic guitar, ukulele or Mountain Dulcimer, Anderson showed us the bare bones of the songs Yes fans have been entranced by for 40 years and it was obvious it was all in the airy melodies of that voice. Though he sang a few things he'd written with Vangelis – the “hits” I'll Find My Way Home and State Of Independence – as well as material from his debut solo album, Olias Of Sunhillow; even snatches of Bob Marley, The Beatles, The Everly Brothers and The Beach Boys – the set was inevitably predominantly classic Yes. The likes of Heart Of The Sunrise, Starship Trooper, Your Move, Owner Of A Lonely Heart were delivered with an obvious joy and generosity that lit up the night for everyone there.