Asia; Grand Opera House Wilmington, DE 10/21/12

[jimmy19029]

Always a wonderful treat to see the reformed Asia. Six years in a row now for this reunion and still sounding awesome! And they conveniently booked even closer to my house this year!

And unlike many of their fellow classic rock travelers still treading the boards, Asia makes a point of not only recording new albums but actually PLAYING MATERIAL from them in their shows. Tonight we got THREE from their new CD, XXX (so named because it's the 30th anniversary of the release of their first album) and all of the tracks (sans two) from their debut. They even found room for Steve and Carl's solos, stuff from all their other albums and Ride Easy (a track that appeared as the b-side of Heat of the Moment but was left off of the debut at the last minute). In comparison, a group like Foreigner might stick one or two new things into their sets only to drop them pretty quickly to just focus on the hits...much to this fan's annoyance.....But with an Asia show for me, it's smiles and a feel good atmosphere all night long as I sigh in amazement at how great they sound and even get a bit misty eyed as I remember where I was and what I was doing when most of these songs were first being played on the radio thirty years ago.

Carl Palmer's drum solo is always a highlight and we gasped in awe as he does a trick with his sticks where he'll let go of them and they'll float back over his cymbal for a few seconds before he grabs them again. COOL!!!

Steve Howe did two of his solo pieces...Diary of a Man Who Vanished and All's a Chord and then John Wetton & Geoff Downes came out to play the brand new I Know How You Feel (a highlight for me!) and the 1983 hits Don't Cry and The Smile Has Left Your Eyes, joined by the other two for a key change finale of the last.

The band has been selling out at many stops along this tour but The Grand Opera House was just under half full, probably since the guys had just played the previous night at the Keswick Theater, which is still in this overall general vicinity.

This year it's more of a no frills show as their were no video backdrops, like we saw last year. Although I thought they were a good addition, I didn't mind as the majority of us were there to hear a great band PLAY their ass off.


Setlist:

Opening Tape (Excerpt from Elgar's Enigma Variations: Nimrod)

Only Time Will Tell
Wildest Dreams
Face On The Bridge
Time Again
Tomorrow The World
Ride Easy
Diary of a Man Who Vanished
All's A Chord
I Know How You Feel
Don't Cry
The Smile Has Left Your Eyes
Cutting It Fine
Holy War
Carl's Drum Solo
An Extraordinary Life
Here Comes The Feeling
Open Your Eyes

Sole Survivor
Heat Of The Moment