Asia - Asia in Asia: Live at The Budokan, Tokyo, 1983 (Deluxe Edition, 2022)

THE YEAR was 1982. Geoff Downes, Steve Howe, Carl Palmer and John Wetton were on top of the world, with millions in sales of the celebrated debut album, Asia. Forged from the fires of the top progressive rock bands of their generation, Asia were a force of nature that took the music charts and concert venues by storm. The Asia album would reach #1 on the Billboard 100 chart, with ‘Heat Of The Moment’ climbing to #4 on the Hot 100 singles. Over the initial six-month tour, their box office draw grew exponentially - from small theatres in April to arenas by tour’s end, culminating with two stellar performances at London’s Wembley Arena in October 1982. In a single year the band would solidify its rightful place in the annals of rock history.
Following the massive success of the debut album and tour, the four band members relocated to Canada through the winter of 1983 to record their sophomore effort. Alpha would come to life with the guidance once more of producer Mike Stone at the renowned Le Studio in Morin Heights, Quebec. While the new album failed to match the sales numbers of the band’s eponymous debut (a tall order indeed), Alpha would reach an enviable peak position of #6 on the US album charts, with ‘Don’t Cry’ hitting #10 on the singles charts - no mean feat in a year in which Synchronicity by The Police and Michael Jackson’s Thriller dominated the charts for months on end.
The North American tour in support of the new album began within days of the album’s release on July 26,1983. The 30-date excursion reached Detroit in early September for an impressive four-night stand at Pine Knob Theater (now the DTE Energy Music Theater). With the success of the Alpha album and tour, high-stakes negotiations had begun to bring the band halfway around the globe for a series of shows and a live concert to be broadcast to America.
The band’s first tour of Japan in December would feature four dates in total: one in Osaka at the Castle Flail and three in Tokyo at the historic Budokan arena. Billed as Asia In Asia, the landmark string of dates would include a live satellite telecast of Asia’s 2nd performance from the Budokan to America. This show would be broadcast live on MTV and the Westwood One radio network, an amazing achievement for its time, bringing Asia to their fans around the world. With the dates and satellite telecast quickly approaching (in parallel with an unprecedented advertising push from MTV), unforeseen circumstances led to John Wetton’s sudden departure from the band, with former Emerson, Lake & Palmer front-man Greg Lake stepping in. Despite the upheaval, Carl Palmer indicates that they were prepared for anything. “The band was ready to play in such a situation, even if we had to change a member at the last minute.”
Given the tight timeline of mere weeks to prepare, Lake hesitated initially but explained in his autobiography, Lucky Man, why he accepted the invitation. “The phone calls began to come in from Asia’s label, Geffen Records. John Kalodner, Brian Lane and finally David Geffen himself pleaded with me to at least give it a try... I agreed to help Carl out. He was my close friend, after all.” Rehearsals began at E-zee Hire Studios in North London in late October of 1983, where Downes describes the environment surrounding their initial days together as amicable but focused. “Our main job was to get [Greg] familiar with the songs and integrate that into a live performance. We had just come off the back of the US tour so Steve, Carl and myself were pretty much ‘match fit’ in that respect.”