Asia Omega Tour in Paris review

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   Last night I went to the Casino de Paris with my sister to see Asia, I should precise the original Asia...
I'm 29 and my sister 26, so we never had a chance to see the original band before. I will cut the suspense now and say the band did an excellent job.

The venue is quite small (1500 seats I think), but sadly it was far from fulfilled. Actually, the balcony was closed and those like us who had taken a ticket on the balcony were placed in the orchestra! good deal cause the view was perfect. The orchestra was completely packed nevertheless.

I will begin with the only bad point of this show which has nothing to do with the music but with the audience. In my opinion, bands like Asia which are playing a very dynamic rock should never play in front of a seating audience. Lots of people were older than 50 years and lots of them have lost the "feeling", almost noone sang the refrain or clap during the songs, some didn't even clap at the end! Most of them don't stand up....Just like it was for Yes some months ago, the audience was globally a pity. Some people can't understand why lots of calssic rock bands don't come to France, but the answer is quite simple: "no feeling!". The only good reactions were just before the break at the half of the show, after the drum solo (I will speak about it later) and the final Heat of The moment.

Now let's talk about the show! The setlist was almost perfect with three new songs from Omega and 2 from Phoenix. The rest was dedicated to the three first albums of the 80s. Yes , Astra was also in the set with Go being played by Steve Howe! One of the good suprise of the show.
The new songs are great live and will be a perfect fit for the next tours. The classics included randomly Only Time Will Tell, Sole Survivor, Time Again (incredible live!!!!), Here Comes The Feeling, Heat of The Moment, Don't Cry and The Smile Has Left Your Eyes (as a delightful vocal/piano performance), Eye To Eye (excellent song too) and The heat Goes On.

Beside the piano/vocal performance from john and Geoff, there were Steve guitar solo in which we were gratified of Masquerade from the Union album of Yes!!!! I think it's the first tour he played it. The two other songs were the classic The Clap and Mood For A Day, greatly played as usual with Steve. I would only complained on the fact that Steve didn't break between the songs and so the audience can't applause but at the end of the three songs, bad strategy I think!

And now the highlight: the drum solo! Carl did its classic ELP solo (remember the Montreal show in 77), my sister and I were absolutely blown away just like everyone in the audience. His mastery is unbelievable! I read people on the net telling he was not so good but guys how wrong can you be! I ve seen Simon Philips, Alan White, Mike Portnoy, Phil Ehart, Phil Collins, Roger Taylor, Nicko McBrain...these guys are gods but carl is the ultimate drummer no doubt about it! Such precision, power, creativity....I ve never seen someone using his kit so damnly well. Im no drummer but no need to be one to compare!
The audience was very receptive during the solo and when he finished he got a 5 minutes stand up and the crowd was just crazy!

In conclusion, a great preformance, I hope they will come again in Paris but not as a seating show.
It gives a lot of hope in the ELP reunion this summer!