Asia back in Birmingham to celebrate 30th anniversary

Singer and bassist John Wetton laughs when I suggest that it's probably not the best idea to Google 'Asia XXX' on my office computer.

"I know," he says. "There was a little part of me that thought that might be quite good fun! To me, 'Asia, Triple X' just sounds like an Asia record.

Note (December 13): Asia has had to cancel the tour after drummer Carl Palmer went down with a severe case of E. coli. Tickets are refundable from the point of purchase.

ASIA, featuring the original line-up of Geoff Downes (keyboards), Steve Howe (guitar), Carl Palmer (drums) and JohnWetton (Lead Vocal, bass), has been forced to cancel the 30^th Anniversary UK Tour due to drummer Carl Palmer coming down with a severe case of E. coli.

Tickets are refundable from the point of purchase.

"When we were saying what do we hang the tour, the box set and the next album on, I just said for my money it should be XXX, just because it's the 30^th anniversary and it's the Roman numerals."

Asia's 30^th anniversary tour calls in at Birmingham Town Hall on Thursday, December 20, and Derbyshire-born Wetton is looking forward to reacquainting himself with the venue.

"I haven't played the Town Hall in donkey's years. It used to be a staple in the 70s. The Town Hall used to be, for King Crimson and practically every band I played with in the 70s, the gig to play in Birmingham. The great thing I remember about it is that you can stand on the stage and you'd be really close to the people in the balcony, it's really intimate."

Asia came together with the encouragement of record company talent guru John Kalodner, the line-up completed by guitarist Steve Howe from Yes, drummer Carl Palmer from ELP and keyboard player Geoff Downes from Buggles.

Casting his mind back to the first album, which spawned the massive rock radio hits Heat Of The Moment, Sole Survivor and Only Time Will Tell, Wetton says: "It was pretty outrageous really. We never could have seen that one coming really - I don't think anyone could - exactly how much of an impact we had on the year of '82.

"It was the biggest–selling album of that year in the world. It doesn't get any bigger than that."

Their record company, Geffen, wasn't convinced by the album though.

"When we gave Geffen the album they didn't particularly like it. They didn't see it. The record label president took me to one side and said 'Quite frankly John the record's a little bit dark for us, the logo's illegible and frankly we don't hear a single'."

So how fast have those 30 years gone since then?

"Oh, extremely fast. It's been great. It took a lot of living down, the first two years of Asia, really. It was pretty spectacular and then it came back down to being a gigging musician and doing the best I could. I got bogged down with a couple of health problems, including alcoholism. The other one was a heart problem, for which I had open heart surgery. Coming through the other side of both of those things gave me a little bit more of a philanthropic attitude towards life. But it really is only one day at a time."

A number of different line-ups have gone out under the Asia banner over the years, but the original line-up reunited in 2006 and Wetton is delighted that their core audience remains intact.

"We've made three albums since then, we've made concert videos and a box set and we've done somewhere in the region of 300 shows. We've worked hard.

"We play to between 600 and 1,200 people a night wherever we play, in America, in Japan, in Europe and in South America too. Fortunately we've got a very strong fan base. Not in the same ballpark as the original 1982 audience, but when you have a couple of big hits like we did in '82 you're not just playing to your core fans, you pick up all the peripheral audience because you're the thing to see that night."

Asia have recently completed a series of dates in the United States, which coincided with the U.S. presidential election and Hurricane Sandy.

Wetton says: "We had a few eventful nights with the elections and Hurricane Sandy. I was quite glad to see Obama get in because the other guy, Romney, worried me a bit. I think he worried a lot of people!

"Hurricane Sandy, if it had been a week before we'd have lost about five or six shows in that area. As it turned out we lost one – in Annapolis.

"It was coming in to New York City as we were leaving. They'd already closed the subways, they'd closed the bridges and they were just about to close the tunnels and we were leaving that afternoon.

"We were going to York in Pennsylvania. We did that gig and we were supposed to do Annapolis the night after and the truck couldn't get through. They weren't allowing any trucks to drive in the state of Maryland that night, so we couldn't do the gig.

"So we headed straight up to Pittsburgh and Sandy was right behind us. It had already hit the coast and done all the damage and it kind of petered out, effectively. We were right in it at one point, it was pretty scary."

Safely back home, Asia are ready to connect with their UK fans.

Wetton says: "Whatever job you get where you look out at the end of the evening and see a sea of smiling faces - where else do you get that kind of job satisfaction? I'm very fortunate. Blessed in fact and I think we all feel like that. We didn't in '82 – we were a bit more cocky.

"We've got a few more miles on the clock now and we're a bit more tolerant and a bit more easy going. There's a little bit more love in the band."

• Asia has had to cancel the tour after drummer Carl Palmer went down with a severe case of E. coli. Tickets are refundable from the point of purchase.

By Ian Harvey