Progressive Rock
Yes have set new dates for the UK “Fragile” tour: nine shows from 2 to 16 May 2027, running from Sheffield City Hall to the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, with two nights at the London Palladium and stops in Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow and York. Tickets bought for the old dates remain valid, except for Bournemouth, which couldn’t be rescheduled and is being refunded; the York Barbican date, on 15 May, is a newly added show. None of the dates are in Spain.
The tour was originally due to happen this May and was postponed in early April, when Steve Howe needed emergency surgery. The guitarist has now spoken about it to “Guitar Player,” three months on: “I had this big thing and it was pretty tough, and it’ll take a while before I’m back to how I was.” He hasn’t said what kind of procedure it was, and warns he doesn’t want to get into it: “I don’t want to dwell on it too much; if I start talking about it I’ll end up somewhere I don’t want to go.”
Howe says he hasn’t stopped playing while he recovers — “I keep my hand in and keep the momentum going” — and sums up the schedule like this: “We’ve rescheduled everything for next year.”
The band released «Aurora», their twenty-fourth studio album, on 12 June through InsideOut Music. On the May tour they’ll play «Fragile» in full, the 1971 album that was the first Howe recorded with Rick Wakeman in the line-up.
Text by Guillem Cardós