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Gig Review |
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| Asia @ The Cheese & Grain - 8th March
2008 |
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By Fred
Hale |
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The venue manager took to the
mike before the gig and us told how, when he informed the house
sound engineer that ASIA were coming to the Cheese & Grain, he
couldn't believe it! The last time he had seen them was at
Madison Square Garden!
I couldn't quite believe it
either! This is the original 1981 line-up of John Wetton, Steve
Howe, Carl Palmer and Geoff Downes.......between them they were
leading lights in some of the greatest Prog Rock bands of the
70's.......King Crimson, Yes, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Uriah Heep....not
forgetting the Buggles!!
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The band are currently touring to
promote a new Album, Phoenix, from which we heard a few songs
NEVER AGAIN and AN EXTRAORDINARY LIFE, the latter being an obvious
catchy song ideal for radio play. This is vintage ASIA and these
songs are very like the debut album material, which is good in my
humble opinion.
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The set was around 2 hours (with a cocoa
break in the middle), to allow the band to fit in a selection of
songs from the different members eminent back catalogues and we got
to hear songs such as Roundabout (complete with Steve
Howe simultaneously playing his Gibson Archtop and his Line 6 Variax
on a stand), Fanfare for the Common Man, Court of the Crimson King
and Video Killed the Radio Star (Geoff Downes donning shades and a
silver jacket)! The Asia originals were a good selection, mainly
from the first album, with the crowd responding best to Heat of the
Moment and Sole Survivor. |
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The Band were refreshingly
enthusiastic and genuinely seemed to be enjoying themselves,
particularly Carl Palmer, with an infectious smile and a gleam in
his eye as he played a cracking 'old school' drum solo....great
stuff. Wetton's voice was as good as ever too. These days Steve
Howe looks like a cross between almost all of the characters from
Lord of the Rings and his playing is unique and very
technical.....can't say I like his sound but he can certainly turn
out a good tune! Geoff Downes demonstrated a mastery of his racks
of keyboards too.
If you like the Roger Dean era Prog
stuff then you really ought to take the chance to see these guys
in an intimate venue like this....great fun.
SETLIST
DAYLIGHT
ONLY TIME WILL TELL
WILDEST DREAMS
NEVER AGAIN
ROUNDABOUT
TIME AGAIN/BOLERO
CLAP
THE SMILE HAS LEFT YOUR EYES
RIDE EASY
VOICE OF AMERICA
OPEN YOUR EYES
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FANFARE FOR THE COMMON MAN
WITHOUT YOU
AN EXTRAORDINARY LIFE
IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING
VIDEO KILLED THE RADIO STAR
THE HEAT GOES ON
HEAT OF THE MOMENT
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DON'T CRY (electric)
SOLE SURVIVOR
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