UPDATE: You can hear another version of this review on The Jason Crane Show. Check out Show #8: Rock ‘N’ Roll – And Howe!.
When I was in high school, a group of my friends had a band called Fair Warning. They played tunes by Rush, Genesis, INXS — all your favorite 80’s bands. As it turns out, the one band they didn’t play tunes by was the band they most resembled: 80’s supergroup Asia. Judging by tonight, Fair Warning should get back together. They could give Asia a run for their money.
Tonight in Rochester, the original four members of Asia reunited for the very first show on their 25th Anniversary Tour. These four guys represent a cross-section of prog rock from the 70s. Bassist/vocalist John Wetton played with King Crimson in arguably its finest incarnation; drummer Carl Palmer was one-third of Emerson, Lake and Palmer; guitarist Steve Howe was a key member of Yes; and keyboardist Geoff Downes was … er … in the Buggles. He also played in Yes for about 30 minutes. OK, so they weren’t all super.
When the band put out its debut album, Asia, in 1982, they scored an immediate hit with the song “Heat of the Moment,” which peaked at #4. They followed that up with more radio hits — “Only Time Will Tell,” which hit the Top 20, and “Sole Survivor.” Within three years, though, the original gang of four disbanded. Although the band carried on with various members, it was never quite the same.
It’s not really the same now, either, although tonight wasn’t as bad as it could have been. First off, John Wetton sounded great. Really great. Schockingly good, in fact. He always sounded like he was straining to hit the notes back in ’82, but it turns out that’s just the way he sings. He sounds every bit as good now. And while the tight pop confines of Asia don’t allow him to unleash his monster bass sound a la King Crimson, he still held down the bottom and did his best to have a stage presence.
Steve Howe looks like a reanimated corpse, but he looked that way with Yes in the 70’s, too. He still plays the same, although I’m not sure that’s enough to make me go see his solo “Evening of Music & Storytelling” that was advertised on handbills outside the show.
My friend Kevin, who accompanied me to the gig, described Carl Palmer as “the most enthusiastic performer I’ve ever seen.” And he’s on to something — Palmer attacks every beat of every measure as if his paycheck depended on it. His playing in Asia is very different from his ELP style, and Kevin again weighed in to say that he believes Palmer found Asia more suited to his tastes.
The weakest link was Geoff Downes. He was all over the map during many of the tunes — out of synch with Howe, out of time with Palmer. Thankfully, he’s given up the strap-on keyboard-guitar of his 80’s megasolos, but I for one could have used more of that flair tonight. In his defense, he’s responsible for one of the more interesting and well-played songs of the evening, “Video Killed The Radio Star.” That song peaked at #40 in 1979, which means Asia had a bigger hit than the Buggles. I guess all is right with the world. (For the record, the second-best song of the night was probably ELP’s arrangement of Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man.” Go figure.)
I can only hope that the band will get tighter as the tour continues. Tonight was a fun trip down memory lane, but it paled in comparison to last summer’s 35th Anniversary Tour by Yes. If you’d like to see them, check the tour dates at The Official Original Asia Members Web Site.
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