Rock legends' concert benefits Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame
 | Reported by: Russell Mills Email: webmaster@kjrh.com Last Update: 1:46 pm |
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The Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame sponsored the concert, a fundraiser for the non-profit group also based in Muskogee.
Asia, with a lineup of John Wetton on vocals and bass, Steve Howe on guitar, Geoff Downes on keyboards, and Carl Palmer on drums, opened the show.
The band, collectively and individually, have sold more than 120 million albums. Asia was one of the original "supergroups," with members of King Crimson, Yes, the Buggles, and Emerson, Lake and Palmer respectively forming the quartet.
The group paid homage to each of those bands during their show Thursday night, pulling out treasures like The Boggles Video Killed the Radio Star and King Crimson's In the Court of the Crimson King.
Steve Howe then returned to the stage with the band that made him a household name in prog rock circles, Yes.
Founded in 1968, Yes has seen literally dozens of lineup changes. Thursday night's personnel were Howe, and longtime fellow Yes members Alan White on drums and Chris Squire on bass.
Joining the group for the first time on this tour were keyboardist Oliver Wakeman, son of longtime Yes member Rick Wakeman, and Benoit David, a French Canadian singer who sounded uncannily like the original Yes vocalist, Jon Anderson.
The group played some of their more popular numbers, like Owner of a Lonely Heart and Roundabout, but also brought out some rare treasures not normally heard in concert, like Siberian Khatru and Machine Messiah.
While the audience filled less than half the available space, they received both bands with great enthusiasm.
The Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame
KJRH.com asked Max Boydstun, the President of the OMHoF Board of Directors, how the organization came to book two British progressive rock bands for a benefit show.
"We have a semi-anonymous patron," he said, "who has a few favorite bands...he wanted to put on some concerts this year and if there were any profits made, the proceeds would go to the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame."
He went on to say that while the group's main mission is to promote Oklahoma music and musicians, it also considers bringing live musical acts to the state to be part of its mission.
Previously, the OMHoF has staged concerts featuring the bands America and the Doobie Brothers.
Asked about plans for future shows, OMHoF treasurer Tracy Blair said the group holds an annual induction ceremony and concert some time in October.
"We're not at liberty to say at this point" who the inductees will be, Blair said, but "we're in the final stages." The announcement should take place in the next month or so.
The dates of the induction ceremonies vary because it takes a lot of effort to coordinate with the inductees to ensure they can attend.
The Hall of Fame has a rule that inductees, if living, must accept their honor in person. The number of inductees each year so far has ranged from three to five, Boydstun said.
"You gotta remember too that we're asking the inductees for a non-paying gig," he added. "So it's a little bit tough some times to coordinate all that, but we've managed to pull off thirteen of them now and we're working on number fourteen."
Boydstun also hinted that the Museum has plans for expansion.
"One of the things we learned very early on...is when you are trying to build a museum in a hall of fame setting, there's no use breaking ground for the first ten or fifteen years, because you've got to have several inductions before you're really ready to start building a museum. We're getting very close to that stage."
Click the link at the top of this page to learn more about the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame and museum.
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