Filmed during YES’s legendary Full Circle and 35th Anniversary Tours in 2003 and 2004, Close to the Edge of Reason is a funny, affectionate and revealing backstage documentary featuring the classic line-up of Jon Anderson, Chris Squire, Steve Howe, Rick Wakeman and Alan White. Over more than three years, the cameras also followed many of the band’s solo tours, rehearsals, recording sessions and television appearances, creating an unusually intimate portrait of one of progressive rock’s most celebrated bands.

Rather than retelling the history of YES through interviews and archive footage, the film quietly observes life behind the scenes, capturing the moments that audiences were never meant to see. Standing just outside the mythology—but close enough to watch it unfold—the camera reveals a world where extraordinary musicians, lifelong friendships, eccentric personalities and decades of shared history combine to create something both hilarious and unexpectedly moving.

As the journey unfolds through airports, hotels, tour buses, dressing rooms, rehearsals, record store signings and concert halls across Europe, an unforgettable portrait begins to emerge. Jon Anderson continues his lifelong search for higher consciousness, universal wisdom and, quite possibly, fairies. Rick Wakeman remains a keyboard genius with an unwavering commitment to wearing capes and telling stories that somehow improve with every retelling. Steve Howe inhabits his own wonderfully private world, speaking volumes with a guitar while saying remarkably little with words. Alan White quietly observes the surrounding chaos with the calm reassurance of someone who has seen it all before, while Chris Squire’s dry wit, effortless charisma and perfectly timed humour repeatedly bring everyone gently back to Earth.

Around them, an experienced touring crew somehow keeps the show on the road, accepting with quiet professionalism that life inside the YES universe rarely follows the same rules as everyone else’s. The result is a rare glimpse into the rhythm of touring life, where the extraordinary gradually becomes ordinary, and the legends themselves become refreshingly human.

More than a concert film—and far more than a conventional music documentary—Close to the Edge of Reason is an observational rockumentary about the strange, funny and wonderfully human world that exists behind one of progressive rock’s greatest bands. Nostalgic, insightful and frequently hilarious, it captures a unique moment in YES history before time changed everything, reminding us that sometimes the line between genius and glorious absurdity is almost impossible to find.