Asia get ready for 40th anniversary tour

(Image credit: Press)

Carl Palmer and Geoff Downes will tour together as Asia for a 40th anniversary tour later this year. They will be joined by current Yes bassist Billy Sherwood and former Keith Emerson guitarist Marc Bonilla.

"We are planning an extensive tour to celebrate our 40th anniversary," says Downes. "The music will feature all the hits the fans have embraced. 40 years of Asia is a real musical milestone for us. The success we experienced with our early albums has carried us through and gave us the foundation when we reformed in 2006. Asia has been together since, although we lost John in 2017 to cancer. Still we endured and we will carry on now with Marc Bonilla who we know will be a great addition to the band."

"The fans have never left Asia," adds Carl Palmer. "That first Asia album, with all the radio and MTV hits weaved the fabric of the music scene on the early 1980s. Those great sigs like Heat Of The Moment, Sole Survivor and Only Time Will Tell still hold up today. When we play those songs and our other hits, we can see the entire audience singing along."

Asia released their self-titled debut album in 1982, which went on to become the biggest selling album of the year. They followed it up with Alpha in 1983 and Astra in 1985. Geoff Downes led a new line-up of the band through the 90s until the original four members, who also included Yes guitarist Steve Howe, reunited in 2006.

Greg Lake briefly replaced original singer and bassist John Wetton in 1983, while Steve Howe left the band prior to the Astra album, where he was replaced by former Krokus guitarist Mandy Meyer.

Asia recently released the ten-disc The Official Live Bootlegs Volume 1 box set.

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Writer and broadcaster Jerry Ewing is the Editor of Prog Magazine which he founded for Future Publishing in 2009. He grew up in Sydney and began his writing career in London for Metal Forces magazine in 1989. He has since written for Metal Hammer, Maxim, Vox, Stuff and Bizarre magazines, among others. He created and edited Classic Rock Magazine for Dennis Publishing in 1998 and is the author of a variety of books on both music and sport, including Wonderous Stories; A Journey Through The Landscape Of Progressive Rock.