Setlist wisdom: "Lead with a hit."

As my readers are probably aware, I've spent a lot of time lately studying the YesWest live oeuvre and my primary discovery is I think my favorite tour from a performance perspective is The BIG Tour of 1987-88, which runs counter to conventional fandom opinion: fraught with illness, logistical issues, and interpersonal conflicts, this was considered the worst tour for a lot of fans.  But I've become rather attached to it emotionally; I think despite the problems they were playing wonderfully because they had finally gelled as a band, and here's one example...mind you, I've got no actual memory of this, despite having seen the tour in March 1988 (my boyfriend at the time took me to the show at the Los Angeles Forum for my birthday).  But when the tour continued after a month off for the holidays, the show opener was changed from "Almost Like Love" to "Rhythm Of Love."  The latter song had been played on a handful of dates on the back end of the tour in 1987, so it likely speaks to the song's increasing popularity that they decided to take another crack at it.  The way in which it was introduced was really cool: they played one of the extended dance mixes of the song on the PA as overture/entrance music which then segued into the live audio of the band after a couple minutes with the stage lights coming up in full as they began the song, very dramatic!

This type of entrance had already been in practice on the previous tour, as the Hello, Goodbye mix of "Leave It" was aired just prior to the band taking the stage to open with "Cinema" leading in to "Leave It"  (likely the reference of the "Roll the tape!" montage we see in the Access All Areas documentary on the 9012Live DVD).

Once it had been permanently incorporated into the setlist in 1988 "Rhythm" became a YesWest stalwart in live performance during both the Around the World in Eighty Dates tour and the Talk tour.  It was also performed by the Open Your Eyes lineup in 1997-98 and by the Classic lineup on the 35th Anniversary tour in 2004.

There were a number of variations on the dance mix - I can't discern exactly which one was used although it might have been The Rhythm of Dub, but I believe they're all available to hear on YouTube.  Along with the Hello, Goodbye mix of "Leave It" I really like the extended versions of this song, all of which were remixed by Paul Fox, I believe.