Yes cancel tour dates following tragic unexpected death of Steve Howe’s son
Yes have pulled the remaining dates of their US Yestival Tour following the tragic death of Steve Howe’s youngest son Virgil. He was 41.
Posting a photo of Virgil, who was the drummer for Nottingham based band Little Barrie, Yes confirmed that their shows in Moorhead, Cedar Rapids, London, Rochester, Boston and Huntington will understandably no longer be going ahead.
Yes wrote: “Due to the tragic, unexpected death of guitarist Steve Howe’s beloved younger son, Virgil, YES regrettably announces that the remaining dates of their Yestival Tour have been cancelled.
“Ticket refunds for the affected tour dates (in Moorhead, Cedar Rapids, London, Rochester, Boston and Huntington) will be available at point of purchase.
“YES — Steve Howe, Alan White, Geoff Downes, Jon Davison and Billy Sherwood — want to thank all their fans for their support and understanding at this time.
“Steve Howe and family ask for their privacy to be respected during this difficult time.”
(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)0; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_GB/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.10"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));
> Due to the tragic, unexpected death of guitarist Steve Howe’s beloved younger son, Virgil, YES regrettably announces... > > Posted by YES (official) on Monday, 11 September 2017
Virgil was due to kick off a lengthy UK tour with Little Barrie tonight (12th September) at The Portland Arms in Cambridge.
Having joined Little Barrie in 2007, Virgil released three studio albums with the band and in January 2015 they wrote and performed the theme tune to Netflix’s Breaking Bad spin-off show Better Call Saul.
Steve Howe’s eldest son Dylan is also a drummer and toured with Yes on their Yestival Tour. Steve and his wife Janet also have two daughters, Georgia and Stephanie.
Virgil performed keyboards and backing vocals on a number of his dad’s solo albums including 1993’s ‘The Grand Scheme of Things’, 2003’s ‘Elements’, 2005’s ‘Spectrum’ and 2011’s ‘Time’.
Multi-instrumentalist Virgil also collaborated with his dad on upcoming album ‘Nexus’, which is released on Friday 17th November via InsideOut.
“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,” Steve told Prog earlier this month.
“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.”
Planet Rock’s thoughts are with Steve Howe and his family at this difficult time.
> LITTLE BARRIE CONFIRM SAD NEWS THAT DRUMMER VIRGIL HOWE HAS PASSED AWAY AGED 41 We can confirm that Little Barrie’s... > > Posted by Little Barrie on Tuesday, 12 September 2017