Steve Howe from Yes has said that fans shouldn't feel bad for singer Jon Anderson, who claims to have been ousted from the band, and that they also shouldn't give replacement singer Benoit David a hard time during the group's 40th anniversary tour. Criticising audiences who heckle, he said "They're basically disruptive people who pay their money and then go spoil it for everybody, it's almost like musical terrorism".
As previously reported, the band's world tour plans were stalled back in June after Anderson was taken ill with acute respiratory failure and was told that he couldn't work for at least six months, meaning that twenty-five dates had to be cancelled. About a month ago, however, the band announced that they'd taken on the aforementioned David, a singer with a Yes tribute band, and would be recommencing the tour. Anderson's reaction was to post on his website that he hadn't even spoken to his bandmates about being replaced and that he felt "disappointed and disrespected".
Howe doesn't agree with Anderson's version of events, of course. Insisting that he hopes the singer will re-join the band for European dates in 2009, he said: "Jon put an announcement out and said, 'Oh, it's not really Yes, they've not been kind to me', and that's nonsense. We've been kind to him, we've been considerate, we've not let him down, but he started up a movement to boycott the tour. But it's not working, we're getting great ticket sales, people want to come and see us".