Asia will give fans a special keepsake at some of their upcoming shows in the U.K. The band will record three concerts this week and offer them to fans on CD immediately following the shows. Two-disc sets will be produced tomorrow (Tuesday, November 28th) in Liverpool; Thursday (November 30th) in Glasgow; and Sunday (December 3rd) in London. The band members -- singer-bassist John Wetton, guitarist Steve Howe, drummer Carl Palmer, and keyboardist Geoff Downes -- will make it even more special for those in attendance by signing the CDs after each performance. Plans will be announced soon for a wider release of the concert recordings.
Howe told us that when the guys reunited earlier this year, it took a lot of work for them to get the music where they felt it needed to be: "It was really good to come back to the music and think that we were gonna take it to the level that was required. Not the '92 level, which was the non-original Asia, if you like, but to find the original Asia back together and say, 'Well, let's play the original, the first album...'-- it was demanding, because artistically, it was a demand to get that music back to where it was, where it ought to have been, and where it can be, you know, with the original members."
Asia will tour Japan in March, and they're expected back for more North American shows next summer.
