The original "Asia"

[Mr Badguy]

A great night out on a stormy night in Glasgow, the 30 mile drive up from the west coast was really shitty (including a 40 minute wait in a traffic jam which cost me my dinner, the fucker).

How many chances will we get to see the original line up of John Wetton, Geoff Downes, Carl Palmer and the master, Steve Howe?

I doubt this will happen again as the guys are getting on.

Any other line up of Asia isn`t really worth bothering about but this one is special.

No support.

Set 1
====
Time Again
Wildest Dreams
One Step Closer
Roundabout
Without You
Cutting It Fine
Steve Howe solo (From The Balcony/Mood For A Day)
Fanfare For The Common Man

(15 Minute Intermission)

Set 2
====
The Smile Has Left Your Eyes (Acoustic)
Don`t Cry (Acoustic)
In The Court Of The Crimson King
Here Comes The Feeling
Video Killed The Radio Star
The Heat Goes On
Carl Palmer Drum Solo
Only Time Will Tell
Sole Survivor

Ride Easy (Acoustic)
Heat Of The Moment

I had a great place right at the front of the right of the stage standing just behind an English girl who was complaining that the crowd wasn`t going crazy enough for her.

It was a pretty old crowd.

The show was recorded for the "Instant Live" CD promotion and the band came out to the hall to sign the CDs.

I got to meet the whole band and said "Thanks" to Steve Howe for his wonderful guitar playing over the years.

God, how often do you get to meet your all time favourite guitarist?

The only pisser was that I only got 2 1/2 hours sleep before I had to get back up for a 10 hour shift at work.

Hell, it was worth it.

[DrMaddVibe]

"Mood For A Day"...NICE!

I hope they hit the States!

[Tiki-Tom]

Very, very cool. Thats one show I'll definitely be seeing if they come round this way. Glad they're back in action.
Let's hope it lasts for more than a few months as the guys don't seem to be able to tolerate each other for very long.

How did they sound? Still as good as they used to?

[Mr Badguy]

Originally posted by Tiki-Tom
How did they sound? Still as good as they used to?

Well, on the night I thought the first four songs were a bit...ragged.

I listened to the CD of the show at work this morning and found that they were.

The first half of "Roundabout" was particularly shambolic, but I`m used to hearing Yes doing it, they got it together during the middle section and it was alright from there.

Starting with "Without you" the show was pretty solid, standouts being "In the court of the Crimson King", "Here comes the feeling" and surprisingly "Video killed the radio star", which was a band performance rather than Geoff Downes doing it solo like he usually does.

Steve Howe nailed all of his parts and it was only him that held "Roundabout" together.

Also special mention to Carl Palmer`s drum solo, which was far from being the usual boring stuff and featured lots of drumstick trickery and various amazing techniques.

I doubt it will be a long standing reunion as all members either have solo bands on the go or day jobs in bigger bands. Also, Wetton`s replacement and current Asia frontman, John Payne, still owns the rights to the "Asia" name. They came to an agreement to allow them to do the tour.

[Mr. Vengeance]

One of those bands that you think only about when a tune comes on the classic rock station. I always remember being in H.S. at some gymnastics competition, watching the chicks doing all these moves that made all us brothers double over, checking out their good in little gymnast tights...(ohhhh to be young again)....while Heat of the Moment played through the PA......

[bueno bob]

Awesome that the original lineup's able to tour together, hopefully I can get a chance to see them. I still listen to Asia pretty regularly (have almost everything on CD from "Asia" on up)...I'd like a chance to see them, for sure.

[Simon Ribeiro]

Nice review. Thanks for sharing.
Good to hear that Palmer's drum solo was cool.

[Hardrock69]

Asia? You mean the band who put out that lame tune "The Heat Of Your Momma"?

:rolleyes:

[Steve Savicki]

Never understood why all the albums were titled starting with "A."
The first 3 were enough for me:

Asia
Alpha
Astra

[bueno bob]

Originally posted by Hardrock69
Asia? You mean the band who put out that lame tune "The Heat Of Your Momma"?

:rolleyes:

Believe it or not, there's actually some considerably good work from them outside of that number...especially so with their more recent (say 1995 and up) work.

[bueno bob]

Originally posted by Steve Savicki
Never understood why all the albums were titled starting with "A."


It's called a "gimmick".

Bands use them sometimes to stick out from the crowd...

:D

[Mr. Vengeance]

Dear DLR Army,

We NEVER used gimmicks in our album titles. That would be wrong!

Sincerely,
Def Leppard

War all album titles ending in "ia" ot "ize"

[Hardrock69]

LOL!

Oh I am sure they put out great stuff. They did some kind of PPV concert from Japan or some shit back in the 80s or 90s. I taped it on VHS....I might still have it.

Very symphonic in scope.

Heat of the moment was a nice radio-friendly song.

They just never were my cup of tea. Just seem a bit bland for my taste....

[bueno bob]

Originally posted by Hardrock69
LOL!

Oh I am sure they put out great stuff. They did some kind of PPV concert from Japan or some shit back in the 80s or 90s. I taped it on VHS....I might still have it.

Very symphonic in scope.

Heat of the moment was a nice radio-friendly song.

They just never were my cup of tea. Just seem a bit bland for my taste....

There were a lot of people standing around scratching their head back in '82 when the first album came out, I'm sure...you take Carl Palmer, Steve Howe, Geoff Downes and John Wetton and get...Heat of the Moment?

I'd imagine more than a few people were having a "What the FUCK?!?" moment...

:)

[Tiki-Tom]

Originally posted by bueno bob
There were a lot of people standing around scratching their head back in '82 when the first album came out, I'm sure...you take Carl Palmer, Steve Howe, Geoff Downes and John Wetton and get...Heat of the Moment?

:)
Yep, but when you dig deeper in the records past the Radio cuts you could then tell why they where called a "Supergroup". When you got past the fluff they had some unbelievably good songs hidden in there.

[MAX]

I always liked Asia. If any of you dig John Wetton at all, you have to check out the first U.K. album. They actually opened for VH on their (VH's) second tour. The band consisted of:

John Wetton - Bass, Vocals

Allan Holsworth - Guitar

Bill Bruford - Drums

Eddie Jobson - Keyboards

EPIC and STELLAR album.

Plus, Asia had a few good songs. I'd dig seeing them.

[bueno bob]

Originally posted by Tiki-Tom
Yep, but when you dig deeper in the records past the Radio cuts you could then tell why they where called a "Supergroup". When you got past the fluff they had some unbelievably good songs hidden in there.

Oh, not denying it...like I said, I own almost the entire Asia discography, past to present...big fan, actually.

It's just that the common listener would have never heard it from Heat of the Moment...

[Tiki-Tom]

Originally posted by bueno bob
Oh, not denying it...like I said, I own almost the entire Asia discography, past to present...big fan, actually.

It's just that the common listener would have never heard it from Heat of the Moment...

I know your a big fan, me too. sorry, I should have been more specific. I was pointing out how right you are about how the record probably looked on the surface to some back then."The smile has left your eyes" sure didn't help matters on the second record.

[bueno bob]

Originally posted by MAX
I always liked Asia. If any of you dig John Wetton at all, you have to check out the first U.K. album. They actually opened for VH on their (VH's) second tour. The band consisted of:

John Wetton - Bass, Vocals

Allan Holsworth - Guitar

Bill Bruford - Drums

Eddie Jobson - Keyboards

EPIC and STELLAR album.

Plus, Asia had a few good songs. I'd dig seeing them.

Was that the one with "In the Dead of Night" on it?

[Steve Savicki]

Originally posted by bueno bob
Believe it or not, there's actually some considerably good work from them outside of that number...especially so with their more recent (say 1995 and up) work.
Who's promoting them these days? Don't recall anything from '95 on the waves.

[MAX]

Originally posted by bueno bob
Was that the one with "In the Dead of Night" on it?

YUP!!!

That's it!!! A fucking stellar, no...EPIC album!!!

The track called "Thirty Years" 'tis Un-Fucking-Believable!!!

[bueno bob]

Originally posted by Steve Savicki
Who's promoting them these days? Don't recall anything from '95 on the waves.

Who knows? Each album seems to come out on a different label, I think the last official studio album came out on InsideOut or something...I'll have to check...

In regards to their management, I don't have a clue, honestly...

[bueno bob]

Originally posted by MAX
YUP!!!

That's it!!! A fucking stellar, no...EPIC album!!!

The track called "Thirty Years" 'tis Un-Fucking-Believable!!!

Been quite a while since I heard it all the way through. We used to warm up and sound check with Dead of Night on occasion...FUN song to play... :)

[The_KiD]

Nice Review! I would have loved to have caught that show. I will have see where and when they are coming to the States.

Their first album cover remains one of my Favorites..

Cheers,

KiD

[ppg960]

They had some good tunes in the 80's.
Good to hear they put it together again.