Alan White on Yes' upcoming Rock Hall induction and the possibility of Geddy Lee performing with the band

Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson will have the honor of inducting Yes into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at this coming Friday's induction ceremony at the Barclays Center in New York. The members of Yes that will be inducted are Jon Anderson, Bill Bruford, Rick Wakeman, Steve Howe, Alan White, Tony Kaye, Trevor Rabin and Chris Squire - whose wife Scottie will be accepting on her late husband's behalf. Yes founding member and original vocalist Jon Anderson caused a bit of confusion last month when he stated in an interview with Billboard.com that Geddy Lee would be sitting in on bass guitar for Yes' performance of Roundabout at the induction ceremony. This garnered a great deal of excitement from Rush and Yes fans alike, but unfortunately a few hours after publishing the story Billboard posted the following update/retraction:

UPDATE: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation sent a statement to Billboard after this story was published denying that Lee would perform at the ceremony. "Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson were only confirmed to do the induction speech for one of their favorite bands and not perform. They, like all the other Yes fans, look forward to honoring them and watching them perform at the induction ceremony on April 7 and the HBO broadcast on April 29."

The Billboard article was posted on March 8th, and doesn't explicitly rule out the possibility of Geddy performing - it just says they were only confirmed to induct the band at that time. Then on March 15th, fans submitted questions to Yes drummer Alan White via the official Yes website and they've been posting his answers over the past couple of weeks. Fan Rob Leas asked White whether he'd be playing at the induction and whether Geddy would also be playing. Here's White's reply (thanks David J):

Yes, we will be performing and I do believe Geddy has agreed to play bass for the band. We'll be playing 2 songs that everybody knows. I'm going to New York with a very positive sense of playing together again. It will be a bit of an adventure for everybody but when you put us all in the same room, we all know the songs, so it shouldn't take too long to rehearse them.

So maybe Geddy will play? Or maybe Alan White is just as confused as Jon Anderson about it. I guess we'll find out for sure this Friday. The other inductors for the 2017 class will be George Harrison's son Dhani Harrison (inducting ELO), Jackson Browne (inducting Joan Baez), Pat Monahan of Train (inducting Journey), Pharrell Williams (inducting Nile Rogers), Neil Young (inducting Pearl Jam) and Snoop Dog (inducting Tupac Shakur). Tickets for the 32nd Annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony have long since sold out, although there are still plenty of overpriced tickets available on Ticket Broker websites. An abridged version of the induction ceremony will air on HBO on Saturday, April 29th.

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