I believe 7 Yesmen have releases or live dates announced for 2025: Jon Anderson (Band Geeks live album and tour), Bill Bruford (Pete RothTrio shows), Rick Wakeman (solo shows), Geoff Downes (Asia live), Trevor Horn (onefestival appearance announced), Billy Sherwood (on Dave Kerzner’s Genesistribute album), and Jon Davison (at John Lodge live shows).
Although without announced dates, there are various other
projects expected in 2025. How confident we can be of these actually happening
varies, but I think we can have strong expectations for: a new Yes album and
tour, a new Downes Braide Association album, and a new Rick Wakeman solo piano
album.
More up in the air, but possible, is plenty more. There are
three albums with Billy Sherwood that look like good bets for 2025: exo-X-xeno’s
(also with Patrick Moraz); a new CIRCA: album (also with Tony Kaye and Jay Schellen);
and an album with Dave Kerzner and Fernando Perdomo. There is a whole suite of
Jon Anderson projects that might appear, with various follow-up albums (Anderson
Stolt 2; 1000 Hands: Chapter 2; and a second studio album with the Band Geeks)
and maybe the eventual realisation of some very long-running projects, Zamran (dating
back at least to 2000) and Chagall (from 1980!). Other projects we could see
include a new Asia album and more touring; maybe another Trevor Horn album; and
various projects with Oliver Wakeman (maybe a tour, but more probably a
release).
Can we put any firmer timelines or expectations on some of
those? We know Yes have been working on a new album for a while and it is now
expected in 2025. Can we narrow down that window? Probably not! An announcement
early in the new year wouldn’t surprise me. There is a report that DBA are
looking at a summer release for their next album. Management and everybody else
will want some space (months) between releasing the new DBA and Yes albums, I’d
guess. If DBA think a summer release is viable, that would fit with a Yes album
coming in spring and an announcement in the new year.
On the other hand, the Yes Music Podcast in December said
Paul K Joyce is "currently working on the next Yes album". If we
interpret that literally, that means recording sessions haven’t finished, but
are nearing the end. There were two orchestral recording sessions for Mirror
to the Sky, held on 29 April and 11 May 2022. The album’s first single came
10 March 2023, with album release in May 2023. If Joyce was doing recording
sessions in December 2024, that implies a release deep into the second half of
2025. If DBA think the summer is clear, does that mean a winter Yes release?
I don’t know. Yes run a tight ship and there are few leaks.
If I had to bet, I’d guess spring, but time will tell if that’s wishful
thinking.
Do we have any idea what the album might be like? It’s the
same team as on Mirror to the Sky, including Joyce and I presume
Schwartz. The band rushed straight from The Quest into Mirror to the
Sky, leading to the shortest gap between two Yes albums since the odd
circumstances of Keys to Ascension 2 and Open Your Eyes. But
album number three in this series has taken longer. That’s partly to do with
touring returning to normal levels after COVID-19. Does that mean something
obviously a continuation of the previous two albums, or has more time meant
more evolution? Howe has talked of writing six songs in late 2019 that were then
all used over The Quest and Mirror to the Sky. With that body of
work used up, does that imply something different for the new album?
Another Yes tour is almost inevitable. There have been
rumours of a US tour in the first half of 2025. It may depend on when the album
comes out.
We also have that new DBA album to look forward to. Before
then, we’ve had a scattering of Asia dates already announced across two
continents. I presume we will see more substantial touring; new singer/bassist
Harry Whitley has talked about a West Coast US tour. Whitley has also said that
the new line-up will be working on a new album, although his comments suggest
they have not started writing yet, so that implies a release is going to be
late 2025 or, more likely, into 2026.
Anderson has announced the release of a live album with the
Geeks, Live – Perpetual Change, out in March 2025, and an associated US
tour leg. They are clearly eager to make it over to Europe, but we’ve not seen
any dates yet. While Anderson had initially spoken of not doing another album
with the Geeks, the positive artistic and commercial reaction to True
seems to have changed his mind and he has started on a second studio album with
them. That might be out before the end of 2025 if they get their skates on,
although again I expect 2026 is more likely. But Anderson also has multiple
other projects in play. Before True’s success took over his plans, he
had seemed more focused on Zamran, hoping to release a Chapter One
in 2025, and staging “Chagall” as a musical. Work has been continuing off and
on towards a second Anderson/Stolt album and Anderson has mooted a 2025 release
for that too. 1000 Hands: Chapter Two appears close to completion. It’s an
extraordinary flowering of creativity to have so many projects lined up. The
albums all seem plausible for 2025, although the finances of stage musicals are
much harder to arrange.
Most obviously missing from this list is Trevor Rabin. He had
talked of another solo album to follow Rio and possible touring, but it’s
been a while since we’ve heard anything.
All the above does presume a certain degree of geopolitical
stability. In recent years, COVID-19 was world-changing, while the Russian
invasion of Ukraine impacted some eastern European touring plans (although of
course the effects on the music industry were minor compared to the wider
tragedies of both). Hopefully 2025 won’t bring anything similar, but if Donald
Trump actually went through with a US invasion of Panama or Greenland, that
would probably mean no UK-based bands visiting the US, while his tariff proposals
and any retaliation by other countries could also hit touring plans.
