Yes Postpone European Tour so Steve Howe Can Have ‘Essential Surgery’

Yes have postponed their 11-date Fragile tour of Europe so that guitarist Steve Howe can undergo an “essential operation that requires recovery time,” according to a statement from the band.

“This decision has been made to ensure that Steve can return to the stage in full health and deliver the performances that fans deserve,” reads the statement. “We are working hard to reschedule the UK and EU shows to a later date, with full details to be announced after Easter. Please retain your tickets as they will be valid for the rescheduled dates. Tour dates currently being arranged for later in 2026 will proceed as planned.”

The tour, which was supposed to kick off April 22 in Glasgow, was going to include a complete performance of their 1971 masterpiece Fragile. A North American leg last year also included fan favorites like “Soon,” “Tempus Fugit,” “Wonderous Stories,” and “Starship Troopers.”

There’s no word on when makeup dates will be announced. 

Howe is the only remaining member of the Fragile lineup still in the band. The group is rounded out by singer Jon Davison, bassist Billy Sherwood, drummer Jay Schellan, and keyboardist Geoff Downes, a member of the Buggles who was briefly in Yes during the 1980 Drama period before rejoining on a more permanent basis in 2011. 

With the sole exception of the band’s induction to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2017, Howe hasn’t performed with original Yes lead singer Jon Anderson since 2004. Despite Anderson’s wishes, Howe has ruled out any sort of a reunion. “Yes is about people who love working together and can,” Howe told Rolling Stone in 2020. “That word ‘can’ carries the whole story. That means compatibility and the same awarenesses about what we want to do. And I think [Jon and I] passed that point a long time ago.”

The impasse hasn’t stopped Anderson from flying the Yes flag on his own. He fronted the spinoff group Yes Featuring Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin, and Rick Wakeman (originally billed as Anderson, Rabin, and Wakeman) between 2010 and 2018. In more recent years, he’s toured with a group of session pros under the name Jon Anderson and the Band Geeks. They recorded the 2024 LP True together, and are in the middle of a U.S. tour where they focus the set around Seventies Yes classics. 

Yes, meanwhile, have a new album already in the can. “We’ve just finished it,” Davison told Rolling Stone in March. “It’s all mastered. We’re working on all the details of the album sleeve and Roger Dean submitting the final artwork as we speak. It’s scheduled to be out in, I think, July.”