ASIA Drummer Comments On U.K. Tour Cancelation

December 14, 2012

ASIA, featuring the original lineup of Geoff Downes (keyboards),Steve Howe (guitar),Carl Palmer (drums) and John Wetton (lead vocals, bass),was forced to cancel its 30th-anniversary U.K. tour due to Palmer coming down with a severe case of E. coli.

The drummer has now issued the following statement regarding the cancelation:

"By the time many of you read this, you will have heard that I have had to cancel the ASIA 30th-anniversary tour of the U.K. this week. I was given less than a 10% chance of playing the tour. On Thursday afternoon, I had lost my battle and under strict instructions from my doctors I was told I had to cancel. By this time, I could hardly stand up to the infection. E. coli had completely taken over.

"I have always been proud of the fact that I have never canceled a tour in my professional career, in 47 years as a musician. It had always been a personal goal of mine to maintain this feat, now sadly lost.

"I would like to say to the people of Holmfirth and my home city of Birmingham, and to all the other places we were about to play, please accept my deepest apologies.

"I would like to thank all of the people involved, including the promoters and all of the management involved In helping me through this terrible experience I am going through with E. coli. The messages and support from band mates have been so warm. Most of all, many thanks to ASIA fans for being so understanding."

Affected dates:

Dec. 15 - Tavistock, UK - The Wharf
Dec. 16 - Holmfirth, UK - Picturedrome
Dec. 17 - Edinburgh, Scotland - Queen’s Hall
Dec. 19 - Salisbury, UK - City Hall
Dec. 20 - Birmingham, UK - Town Hall
Dec. 21 - Manchester, UK - Royal Northern College of Music
Dec. 22 - London, UK - O2 Shepherds Bush Empire

ASIA released its latest studio album, "XXX" (pronounced Triple X) via Frontiers Records on June 29 in Europe and July 3 in North America. The new record, produced by Mike Paxman, which is being hailed as ASIA's best album since its classic early '80s releases, was made available as a CD, collector's-edition CD/DVD (featuring new music videos and behind-the-scenes footage),and on vinyl (limited edition Europe only). Original artwork for "XXX" was created by Roger Dean.

In addition, ASIA has also released "Resonance", a DVD concert film of the group's 2010/2011 Omega World Tour, captured live in Switzerland. The effort came out at the end of November.

ASIA is:

Geoff Downes - keyboards
Steve Howe - guitar
Carl Palmer - drums
John Wetton - bass and vocals

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