POP MUSIC REVIEW : Yes Tries to Prove It’s an ‘80s Band With Just a Few Nods to Its Past

If the idea was that a 20-year-old progressive-rock band should not sound too regressive, then Yes pulled it off pretty well this week at the Forum.

Especially if you treated Jon Anderson’s voice as another instrument--as the band often has over the years--rather than keying on those relentlessly dippy lyrics (see “Love Will Find a Way” and “Holy Lamb (Song for Harmonic Convergence),” to name two loony tunes performed Wednesday from the new Yes LP “Big Generator.”)

Musically, Yes--which plays the Pacific Amphitheatre tonight-- planted itself on much firmer ground. Throughout the two-hour set, the group shifted with remarkable precision from soft, subtle textures--sonic pastels, if you will--to muscular, propulsive passages anchored by drummer Alan White and bassist Chris Squire.

Of course, the group has always been adept at switching musical gears. What stood out about the playing Wednesday was that Yes clearly sees itself not as a veteran quintet that happens to have a new album out, but as a wholly contemporary member of the current rock scene--and wants the audience to see it the same way.

The first clue that this was no rickety old outfit hobbling from arena to arena, dusting off the early classics, came when the band opened with the new “Rhythm of Love” from “Generator,” moving into “Hold On” from the previous LP, 1983’s “90125.”

The pattern was set: the group continued to draw heavily from those two albums, with Yessongs popping up only occasionally; aside from one oldie (“Heart of the Sunrise”), nothing in the first hour predated “90125.” And the group passed on such hyper-extended zone-poems from the old days as “Close to the Edge.”

Other aspects of the show reinforced impressions that the group was trying to operate very much in the present, and trying to cut back on the overblown stuff. For one thing, the stage looked modern in a sleek, uncluttered way. Keyboardist Tony Kaye’s modest setup was quite a contrast from the two-story keyboard condo Rick Wakeman used to occupy.

But the best indication that Yes isn’t taking itself quite as seriously these days surfaced before the show started: The band showed some vintage “Popeye” cartoons, which beat songs for harmonic convergence any day.

YES

Saturday, 7:30 p.m.

Pacific Amphitheatre, 100 Fair

Drive, Costa Mesa

$15.50 to $20.35

Information: (714) 546-4875