Asia (ft. Original Members Carl Palmer & Geoff Downes) Announces 40th Anniversary Celebration, Tour

Asia, the English rock supergroup that first formed in London in 1981, is gearing up for a (slightly delayed) 40th anniversary celebration, with a big tour being planned for this summer and featuring original band members Carl Palmer and Geoff Downes.

Once out on the road, Palmer and Downes will trace their rich musical history alongside longtime bassist/vocalist Billy Sherwood and Asia’s newest member, guitarist/vocalist Marc Bonilla (of the Keith Emerson Band).

“40 years of ASIA is a real musical milestone for us,” said Downes in a statement. “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 have endured and will carry on now with Marc Bonilla … We are planning an extensive tour to celebrate our 40th,” adds Downes, “and the music will feature all the hits the fans have embraced. Stay tuned! It will be show you won’t want to miss.”

“The fans have never left ASIA,” added Palmer. “That first ASIA album with all those radio and MTV hits weaved the fabric of the music scene in the early 1980s. Those great songs like ‘Heat Of The Moment,’ and ‘Only Time Will Tell,’ still hold up today.”

Back in June of 2021, Asia released The Reunion Albums 2007-2012, a 5-CD box set available at this link from our Rock Cellar Store.

For that release, Downes spoke with Rock Cellar for a reflective chat about the band’s history. From that interview, a reflection on John Wetton’s influence on Downes and the project as a whole:

Geoff Downes: John was an absolute genius. He had all of those things, and he was a great musician as well. To have the capacity of those ingenious lyrics and the wonderful concept of vocals that he put across — and the multitracking. You listen to some of John’s vocals, and it really does stir your soul. Certainly, as a bass player and an overall musician, he was incredible. To have all of those elements, the original unique lyrics that he came up with, the concepts, all that sort of stuff, I was very privileged to spend a long time with John working on stuff and writing together. That is a total inspiration to me, and I owe him a lot in terms of what I learned from him.