Asia & all-stars ready to heat up Chevalier

(Photo courtesy Artist Management)

When Asia’s debut album came out in 1982, they were the envy of the progressive rock world. They’d done the impossible and made an album that was destined to be a huge mainstream success — no small feat for a band drawn from members of prog stalwarts Yes, King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer.

“When you look at the original members, the other guys had this history of playing arenas in the ’70s, doing those 25-minute pieces,” says Asia’s leader and keyboardist Geoff Downes, who’d previously come into Yes from techno-pop duo the Buggles. “But I was a few years younger and not really part of that. You could say that I was from more of a pop-rock background. And the other guys were looking for some kind of change, because that progressive movement had started to wane. And maybe I brought in a more abbreviated version.

“So those guys really embraced what I brought in. We didn’t know it was going to do as well as it did, but we knew we had made a good album. We had that balance of good musicianship and accessible music, so we hit that nail right on the head.”

Asia brings its “Heat of the Moment” tour (named of course for its greatest hit) to the Chevalier in Medford on Saturday, and the lineup amounts to a vintage prog-fest: They’ve got the Dutch band Focus (famed for the yodel-heavy “Hocus Pocus”), Curved Air (with frontwoman Sonja Kristina), and Martin Turner, original frontman of the band Wishbone Ash. None of these acts have toured America in three or four decades.

Compared to previous all-star lineups, the current Asia is mostly fresher faces, with guitarist John Mitchell, drummer Virgil Donati, and bassist/singer Harry Whitley (the latter recruited via social media). This lineup came together for a UK tribute show to the band’s late co-founder John Wetton. “I couldn’t believe how well we were received, and that made me think it was time to put it back together. Harry may be a young guy but he’s got a mature set of lungs on him; he manages to nail John’s sound but does his own interpretation. The important thing is that the music continues; I always felt that Asia’s music was too good to lock away in the cupboard.”

Downes remains a member of Yes, which he rejoined in 2011, and on some tours he’s played with both bands (Yes are doing a co-headline tour with Deep Purple later this year). “The Yes set is usually in excess of two hours, and that’s mentally demanding because it’s complicated music. Asia is demanding in another way, because it’s very full-on and takes a lot of energy.” Yes is currently working on new music, and Downes hints at a possible return to the days of 20-minute epics. “We’ve been dabbling with that kind of thing in the studio. Sometimes you think an idea is complete and then you add another five minutes and that works, so then another five minutes come along —That’s how it works. It’s important to keep the Yes flag flying and that includes new music. From a live standpoint there’s always milestones you have to understand, but I think our fans have got the albums and they can play those to death whenever they like.”