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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. |
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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!
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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.
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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. |
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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.
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