Asia; Keswick Theater Glenside, PA 4/29/11

[jimmy19029]

So glad to see that the Asia reunion continues on five years later, with each of the four guys continuing their other schedules as well; Wetton and Downes with their Icon project, Carl with his Carl Palmer Band and Steve...probably the busiest of them all, juggling Asia, his solo career and YES to boot!

And in the midst of all of this activity, the foursome has even found the time to put out two of their most outstanding albums of material: Phoenix in 2008 and Omega from last year.

When the Omega Tour failed to come to this area last year, I hoped & prayed that they would still be keeping most of the songs from it in their set this year. Thankfully, they are. They dazzled us with "Holy War", "End of the World", "Through My Veins" and "I Believe", which opened tonight's show.

The other big surprise for longtime fans this year was "Days Like These", from their 1990 release of half old and half new material, Then & Now. This was an attempt to get their career rolling again and I recall "Days" getting alot of airplay here in Philly. The song even got to #64 on the Hot 100 before Geffen Records decided to pull the plug and stopped promotion. As a result, a proposed Asia reunion tour of the US was canceled and Wetton quit the following year for a solo career.

But now they're back working harder than ever and obviously seem to be enjoying every minute of it.

I ended up in the middle of the theater where the next section of seats starts. Lots of leg room....Mmmm, I could get used to this.

I ended up next to a guy named Brian who was bringing his daughter, Brianna, to her first rock concert. Of course we swapped our Asia concert stories. He first saw them on City Island near Harrisburg on the Alpha Tour back in the summer of 1983 and he recalled Chris Deburgh opening. Actually, he remembered him as "that guy who sang "Don't Pay the Ferryman" and I quickly named him. He then explained to his daughter the concept of the opening act..."The band that most the people in the audience DIDN'T come to see".

Brian was most impressed with the new material and asked me which albums they were from. He made a definite note to pick them up in the near future.

The band still shows their original 80s MTV era video images behind them as they play classics like Only Time Will Tell and Heat of the Moment.

For their duet set, Wetton & Downes played Don't Cry with an image projected of the classic Roger Dean Alpha cover and the band's Raiders of the Lost Ark themed video superimposed over that. The Smile Has Left Your Eyes featured the moving video of the little girl caught in the middle between two divorcing parents. At the end of the latter song, Howe and Palmer returned to the stage to join Wetton and Downes for the song's finale.

For Steve Howe's solo spot, we got Australia, from his first solo album, Beginnings(1975) and a tribute to one of his guitar idols, Chet Atkins. NICE! Steve explained he'd written Australia about his brother's relocating there. "And I haven't seen him since..." Steve laughed.

And Carl Palmer provided us with his usual insane attack on his drums and gongs during The Heat Goes On.

And...SURPRISE...Steve actually plays guitar on Go and Days Like These...two Asia tracks he was not involved with originally. A nice, unexpected treat!

And after the expected encores of Sole Survivor and Heat of the Moment, the band suddenly charged into Wildest Dreams for a rousing finale!

Brian and Brianna were hoping to catch the guys for autographs and I bid them adieu as I headed for the lobby, another fantastic Asia show ended...for this year......

Setlist:

Intro Music(Saint-Saens Symphony No. 3 'Organ', 4th Movement on tape)
I Believe
Only Time Will Tell
Holy War
Never Again
Through My Veins
Here Comes the Feeling
(Howe solos)
Australia
Chet Atkins Tribute
(Wetton/Downes duets)
Don't Cry
The Smile Has Left Your Eyes
Open Your Eyes

Intermission

Go
Time Again
An Extraordinary Life
End of the World
The Heat Goes On

encores:

Days Like These
Sole Survivor
Heat of the Moment
Wildest Dreams