Due to the tragic death of Steve Howe’s youngest son, Virgil, Yes has announced that the band has canceled the remaining dates on their Yestival tour.
According to a post on the band’s Facebook page, “Ticket refunds for the affected tour dates (in Moorhead, Cedar Rapids, London, Rochester, Boston and Huntington) will be available at point of purchase.
“Yes—Howe, Alan White, Geoff Downes, Jon Davison and Billy Sherwood—want to thank all their fans for their support and understanding at this time,” states the post. “Steve Howe and family ask for their privacy to be respected during this difficult time.”
The death of Virgil Howe—the cause has not yet been revealed—occurred two months before the Nov. 17 release date of Nexus, an instrumental album on which he collaborated with his father, Yes’ guitarist.
Virgil Howe, a drummer, was a member of Little Barrie, described as a rock/R&B group, along with Barrie Cadogan and Lewis Wharton. The band was about to start a U.K. tour to support the July release of an album with a now-eerie name, Death Express. Their first date was scheduled for this Tuesday, September 12, in Cambridge.
Related: Little Barrie issued their own statement on Sept. 12
Dylan Howe, Steve’s other son and also a drummer, was on the Yestival tour with his father this summer.
In an interview with Prog, posted just over a week ago, Steve Howe talked about the album he’d made with Virgil: “I’ve done a wealth of different things but I haven’t done anything like this before. I feel it’s steering me in a different direction,” he told the publication. “It’s a full-on collaborative album, not a duet. It’s been refreshing to work with Virgil and we’ve pulled this beautiful album together. Although it’s got shades of mellow music, it doesn’t sit still. It moves across electronic music and my guitars – this is an opportunity to discover what Virgil’s been doing on the side of his drumming with Little Barrie. He’s got a hard rock and funk side but this has totally different shades.”
Yes lost its founding bassist, Chris Squire, in June 2015.
Listen to “Someday,” a track by Virgil Howe
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Watch Yes perform “Heart of the Sunrise” earlier this year
1 Comment
So sad to hear. My heart and prayers go out to Steve and his family. I just saw Yes last month here in Brooklyn and they were so great! I can’t imagine what Steve is going through losing his youngest son but I hope he recovers and continues on with Yes at some point. Blessings to the Howe family!