Yes

Ever-busy Yes guitarist Steve Howe discusses the band's recent US tour and plans for 2026, as well as his own upcoming solo releases.

- Words: Stephen Lambe Portraits: Gottlieb Bros

For a man of 78, Steve Howe is remarkable. He recently completed an extensive theatre tour of the USA with Yes, presenting the band's 1971 classic Fragile in all its glory, and is now looking forward to an equally busy 2026, which will see further live work including a jaunt around the UK playing the same set, a trip to Japan and, astonishingly, the third new Yes album in six years. Furthermore, he has more solo material in the works, following the recent remastered versions of his albums Natural Timbre from 2001 and Portraits Of Bob Dylan from 1999. To accompany the latter, he also put out Signals Crossed, an EP of three unreleased versions of Dylan songs. Prog chats to the guitar maestro a few days after his return from the USA and finds him pleasingly upbeat.

You're just back from a lengthy tour of the USA. Does playing so many dates take a lot out of you?

Not really. I don't know whether that was the year off touring that I had that made me more enthusiastic, but the preparation and depth of playing for that set was not tiring. It was rejuvenating. I've been through a lot of different phases of touring, as you can imagine, but I've got better at adapting and finding ways to truck along and not make a big deal of everything. It's the playing that, in the end, is the only thing that's really important. So it was exciting because there was this mix of material in the set that everybody was kind of happy with.

Aside from rehearsing, do you need to prepare much for a tour these days?

When I know the songs, I can play them in my sleep, but what I can't always do is some of the intricate single-line work that has to really be "there", so I might change how I play something to make it easier. Of course, switching from guitar to steel or acoustic is fun, because I want to recreate how the arrangement is supposed to sound. With