Asia At Club Nokia

This past Friday night I was able to see a band I never got a chance to see when I was a kid. Years ago on their second tour Asia had a live special on MTV called Asia in Asia. This was broadcast live from Japan and occurred the day before my 11th birthday. Here is a clip from that show that I stayed up until the wee hours of the night to see. They later broke up and went through numerous line up changes.
Some 27 years later I was finally able to see the original line up live at Club Nokia. Strangely I had a number of friends independently at this show as well. So we had a good little group at the show with Natasha, myself, Brian and Jay (from my apartment), and another couple of friends of ours Liz and Steve.

The stage was minimal with only the instruments and a small video screen above the drums. The only thing the video was used for was to show the album cover for the song they were playing.

This was a surprisingly enjoyable show with a great vocal performance from John Wetton, an expectedly good drum solo from Carl Palmer and of course some great acoustic solos from Steve Howe of Yes fame.

For a low key show in a small venue this is probably one of the best theater shows I've been to in years. Great music, a great environment and a crowd that really showed respect for the music, which isn't something you see much as shows these days.

Asia
Club Nokia
Los Angeles, CA
August 27, 2010

I Believe
Only Time Will Tell
Holy War
Never Again
Through My Veins
Don't Cry (Geoff Downes & John Wetton)
Steve Howe Solo (2 songs)
The Smile Has Left Your Eyes (Geoff and John, ended with full band)
Open Your Eyes

Intermission

Go
Time Again
An Extraordinary Life
End Of The World
The Heat Goes On (w/ Carl Palmer drum solo)
Sole Survivor

Encore
Days Like These
Heat Of The Moment