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"We're basically looking forward to say that none of us know what the future is."

Steve Howe

guitarist

You could say that Steve Howe is working two jobs.

It's not because the 62-year-old guitarist is battling the economic recession or looking for ways to occupy his time. Instead, he is pulling "double duty," touring with the band Yes as well as their opening act, Asia.

"It's quite an unusual situation," Howe said in a telephone interview. "It's one I went through in my mind before I offered my double service."

Yes, with very special guest Asia, will be coming to the Jamestown Saving Bank Ice Area this Saturday, and Howe will be strumming his guitar for both acts. Originally, Howe, who is a current member of both bands, told Yes that Asia had the summer booked and Yes wouldn't be able to tour.

"They were very unhappy if not slightly miserable about this concept," the London-born guitarist explained. "After a lot of consideration, I said 'How about if Asia didn't tour alone, but opened for Yes?' This would seem like a saving-grace idea."

That idea created this tour, which started on June 26 and ends on Aug. 2, the day after the Jamestown show. The two groups have been performing across the country throughout July, and bring their hits from the past four decades to the Ice Arena.

Although Howe has played internationally for decades, there is something special about the Upstate New York area. Rochester, where Asia's 2006 tour began, has special ties with the band.

"Rochester has been something of a base to us," he said. "We have some people in Rochester who look after us, which means at times there is stuff being stored, people coming and going and plans being made there."

Like Asia, Yes also has ties to New York state. In 1971, when the group was trying to "break in America," as Howe says, Upstate New York and central Ohio were two areas where the band did a lot of shows.

"It was a college area that we could play at and get a good crowd," Howe remembered. "When you think about New York, you think of the city with skyscrapers. But when you've been to New York state you obviously think about things like Niagara Falls and things like that. It does have a tremendous beauty.

"It also has a harshness about the weather. It seems the more you head toward Canada, the more you get your winter snows. I think it's marvelously contrasting, but I like places with seasons."

Originally formed in 1968, Yes has seen a variety of band members come and go over the past four decades. The band disbanded in 1981 before getting back together two years later, and then went on hiatus from 2004 to 2008. Howe joined the group in 1970, and their "In the Present Tour" this summer has three of the five members from their 1972 lineup.

"It's always been difficult going forward without people on board," Howe said about parting members. "Right now, we are in the same situation that we were in when we did the "Drama" album. Jon [Anderson] and Rick [Wakeman] weren't in the band."

Lead vocalist Jon Anderson was a member of the band since it's creation in London in 1968, with the exception two years in 1980 and 1981. When Yes began touring in 2008, Anderson was unable to come back and the band acquired Benoit David, who was the vocalist for a Yes tribute band called Close to the Edge. Oliver Wakeman, son of former member Rick Wakeman, has taken his father's place on the keyboard for the "In the Present Tour."

"We're basically looking forward to say that none of us know what the future is," Howe said. "Jon and Rick aren't here, but we've got a band that works. People like us, people enjoy it."

Long time members Chris Squire and Alan White make up the rest of Yes.

In 1981, the rock group Asia was formed with the same four members that will be performing Saturday night, including Howe.

"I don't think Asia really sees it as being the opening act," he said. "It's a bit of a double bill, really... we see it as a bit of a doubleheader."

A lot has changed since Howe received his first guitar as a Christmas present in 1959. Within that time, he has been a member of six different groups, as well as having released 13 solo albums. He was also voted the "Best Overall Guitarist" in "Guitar Player" magazine five years in a row, beginning in 1977.

Today, the music industry is much different than it was four decades ago, Howe says.

"It's obviously changed, almost beyond belief," he exclaimed. "It's almost a different sort of business."

Howe explains that the music industry has almost gone full circle, stressing individual songs like it did in the late '50s and early'60s. During decades like the '70s and '80s, however, he believes that people focused more on an entire album.

"I think what young people might miss is that an album was an event. It was a place that you went for 20 to 40 minutes and emersed yourself in what was going on. We've lost the ability to imagine, love and adore a group of tracks," he continued. "Fundamentally, it's changed in so many ways but it's changed by parodying the single market of the late '50s and '60s."

Howe said that the show that will be taking place on Saturday night will feature songs that made the bands who they are today.

"We bookend different parts in our career," he said. "We have decades of music to look at and what I am trying to do with Yes is put together a desirable playlist that our fans will like and will please us."

Yes, with very special guest Asia, will be at the Jamestown Savings Bank Ice Arena this Saturday at 8 p.m. Tickets can be purchased by calling 484-2624.