|
The names of John Wetton and Geoff Downes
are written in tablets of stone in the great encyclopaedia of rock as one
half of 80's super group Asia, and for many in the audience tonight that
is what they'd come see.
But the two are more than just that, with
both men’s careers spanning more than 30 years, each working on solo
projects and again with Asia in its varying incarnations over the years,
and more recently working together on the Icon project. Speaking of the
Icon project, Wetton and Downes are joined on stage tonight by Arena’s
John Mitchell and Steve Christey of Jadis, both of whom also collaborated
on the mighty Icon album.
As the time reached 8.30pm the audience
waited with baited breath as the band slowly walked onto stage to the
'Intro In D Flat'. This is probably the smallest stage they have ever
appeared on, with the keyboard set up of Downes taking up nearly half of
it. But the size of the stage didn’t seem to bother them as once
they'd hit the stage, this most appreciative crowd gave them a warm and
rousing welcome.
As they started off the set with 'The
Heat Goes On' they immediately got the audiences seal of approval.
Many of the fans hadn’t been to this venue before tonight so they couldn’t
compare the sound with other gigs here. But having been here several times
before myself, I instantly noticed the high quality of sound that was
coming off the stage.
This had to be the best sound I’ve heard at
this venue to date, which just goes to show with the right sound tech and
the right equipment it's amazing what can be accomplished. |
 |
The set continued with the timeless
classics 'Only Time Will Tell' and 'Voice Of America', both of which set
back the years for many of the more mature members of the audience.
Then it was time for the majestic ballad
'I Lay Down' from Wetton’s solo album 'Rock of Faith'. Apparently a
song about masturbation according to one John Wetton!
|
 |
The next track was the first of the night
from the Icon album, 'Hey Josephine', which ranked high as one of the
songs of the night.
The set continued with 'Days Like These' before
the solo interlude of Downes, which started off with the infamous buggles
song 'Radio Killed The Radio Star', before going into 'Bolero'.
The next song saw Mr Buggles joined on
stage by John Wetton as they performed 'We Move As One', a song written by
them for ABBA’s Agentha Faltskog.
|
It was back to the Icon album for 'Meet
Me At Midnight', then a couple of Wetton classics 'Emma' and the great 'Battlelines',
before the last of the Icon songs in the set 'Paradox' and 'Let Me Go'.
Both of which went down a absolute storm with the now hyper crowd.
Then it back to the Asia back catalogue
for the remainder of the set. Starting off with 'Don’t Cry' from the
Alpha album, then it was time for John Mitchell to rip it up on 'Go'.
'Sole Survivor' got the crowd really
going and it also got the biggest cheer of night, with Geoff Downes
pulling out all the stops on the keyboards for this one. The crowd watched
on in awe at this mighty musician as he played across all 6 of his
keyboards.
The set was rounded off with 'Open Your
Eyes' before the band left the stage to phenomenal applause from a very
appreciative crowd. |
 |
The band returned to the stage for the
encore of two of Asia’s biggest hits starting off with 'The Smile Has Left
Your Face', this only meant one thing, and the song that was to finish of
a superb show could only be 'Heat Of The Moment', which still sounded as
good as it did all those years ago. There was even a rye smile from
John Wetton as he sang the line ... 'and now you find yourself in '82, the
disco hot spots hold no charm for you' ... was it really that long ago?
To sum up this
was a great show by a couple of AOR legends and let's hope the 25th
anniversary tour makes its way up North so we can see these two giants
perform on a much bigger stage, one worthy of their stature.
|
