Hot off the back of a recent US tour, progressive rock legends YES returned to Tyneside on Sunday evening, bringing with them in tow their Classic Tales of Yes tour.

In previous years, the band has focussed on specific releases within their extensive discography. On this run, the group are performing an: "Eclectic celebration of YES music," as frontman Jon Davison put it.

It was a show of two halves from the masters of progressive rock. The night got underway with an epic rendition of Machine Messiah. Whilst, Going For The One featured some masterful pedal steel playing from Steve Howe. The YES guitarist acknowledged that on this run, the band were: "Touring places that gave birth to YES music."

The versatile guitarist grappled with a multitude of instruments during the evening, with the Spanish Laud featuring on a crowd-pleasing airing of I've Seen All Good People. Davison's voice soared towards the heavens during the track; he made his vocal performance seem effortless throughout.

An instrumental rendition of America by Simon and Garfunkel allowed the band to spread out and jam, with Davison grappling with percussion alongside drummer Jay Schellen. The band's eco-friendly composition Don't Kill The Whale featured some astonishing keyboard wizardry from Geoff Downes, who was positioned at the rear of the stage behind his command centre of keyboards and synths.

YES has strong ties to the North East through the band's sadly missed drummer, Alan White, who hailed from County Durham. Before Turn of the Century, Davison stated that the song was: "Dedicated to the loving memory of Alan White,” which was a nice touch to the proceedings on Alan’s home turf.

The second half of the set opened with fan favourite South Side of the Sky before the band brought the set up to date with Cut From The Stars from their new album Mirror To The Sky. Billy Sherwood’s prominent bass line radiated throughout the Glasshouse auditorium.

The latter stages of the show featured a segment of music from the band’s magnum opus Tales From Topographic Oceans, with four songs from the record featuring. For this tour, Howe elaborated that they had: “Condensed some of the music that hasn’t been played on stage for 50 years.” The result to the medley was a standing ovation from the Tyneside audience.

A two-song encore featuring timeless classics Roundabout and Starship Trooper brought the proceedings to an end at the Glasshouse in Gateshead.

And if the musical entertainment wasn’t enough, an exhibition from artist Roger Dean in the foyer provided further visual accompaniment to the proceedings. Of course, Dean’s artwork is synonymous with that of YES amongst other rock luminaries.

In conclusion, was the show and the evening enjoyable? One would have to say – absolutely YES!