Note the scored out original date with the new date hand written above it.  The ticket was a week  before the show - and was the first I knew of the cancellation. Note also that the band member names are on the ticket (or the original band members names), Kieron Twist being replaced by John Young. All photos used on this page are taken by myself at the shows and copyright Doug Anderson 2000.

QANGO London Astoria 2 4 February 2000 Setlist: Introductory Fanfare Time Again Sole Survivor Bitches Crystal Danve Kilminster's Guitar solo The Smile Has Left Your Eyes All Along the Watchtower Battle Lines Walking on Air Paddydog (John Young  keyboard solo) Only Time Will Tell Hoedown Last One Home Fanfare for the Common Man - Carl Palmer drum solo Fanfare ... reprise (with Keith Emerson) Heat of the Moment Encore: Don't Cry

On Friday evening after work, Doug and I took the train from Reading to London Paddington station. When we arrived in London, instead of going for dinner, which I had hoped, Doug took me to the ever familiar Tower Records. 
After about half an hour of reading magazines while Doug scoured the shelves for any bargains, I approached him and asked when we would be going to dinner.  After a while Doug succumbed to my feline staring tactics, and we left the premises.
While walking to the restaurant that we normally go to whenever we are in London, Doug spotted a Virgin Records nearby.  As if uncontrollably drawn to the venue, Doug asked me if I would like to go into Virgin Records.  I stood firm in my resolve.  I told Doug that he could go to Virgin Records and shop to his heart's content, but I was going to have my dinner.
For once, Doug acceded to me, and we continued along our journey to our favourite restaurant.  It is a Chinese buffet where you can eat all you want for £4.50.  To be honest, however, I had become a little annoyed with the establishment because without fail, they would always overcharge me by a pound.  Therefore, when Doug suggested that we go to another Chinese restaurant that had a 17 course buffet for £4.90, just to see if it was any better, I happily agreed.
 When we arrived at the restaurant we were greeted by a waiter who showed us to a table and gave us a menu.  As we were ravenous, we wasted no time in ordering the special and making our way to the buffet.  While Doug and I were enjoying our meal, I commented to him that the atmosphere was much nicer, as it was not so crowded.  Doug agreed, telling me that the restaurant was a bit more up-market.  It must have been the extra 40 pence that put people off coming.  One of the many pleasant things that transpired that evening was that Doug and I found another restaurant to go to whenever we come to London.
When Doug and I finished our meal, we decided to walk to the Astoria.  On our way we passed a... you guessed it..... a Virgin Record store.  I suppose that Doug thought that since I had the meal that I had been looking forward to, that he was entitled to go into Virgin Records.  I had to chuckle to myself because I should have known that I would not able to get off that easily.

The set of the evening is as follows:
• After an introductory brief Fanfare (….. from The Common Man)  the band launched straight into a double whammy of two classic Asia tracks; Time Again and Soul Survivor.
• Bitch's Crystal.  This is the first full ELP track played, and an extremely complex keyboard piece. The Qango tour was the first time that the song had been played in the UK.  John Young handled the keyboards extremely well in this piece.
• Dave Kilminster's Guitar Solo.  He started off with the introduction to Pictures at an Exhibition and moved on to some amazing acoustic playing.
• The Smile Has Left Your Eyes.  An acoustic performed with just Dave Kilminster and John Wetton.
• All Along the Watch Tower.  A Jimmi Hendrix song, which is the only song that the members of the band did not write.
• Battle Lines.  The only track off of John Wetton's solo album that they played.
• Walking on Air.  This song was originally written when John Young was in Asia in 1989/1990.
• Paddydog.  This was John Young's keyboard solo, which was a compilation of many of several of the songs that appear in his album, 'Life Underground'.
•  Only Time Will Tell, an Asia song.  Carl Palmer introduced this song, thinking that it was a different track, and called it an oldie but goldie.  John Young on the keyboards started playing the right track on the set list, and Carl look at him quizzically before he realised that he was playing the wrong song.  The band did, however, get the song sorted out before they proceeded any further.  At the end, Carl commented with a rather embarrassed expression, ‘It is an oldie but goldie, but a different oldie but goldie.’
• Hoe-down.  John Wetton post-introduced the song as being about inbreeding.  It was speedy instrumental number.  I was not particularly impressed with this piece, as it reminded me of the back-wood countryside of Arkansas, which I have tried hard to get away from.
• Last One Home.  This is an Asia track that was written when John was in the band in 1989.  This song is the only song of the set that appears in John Young's album, 'Life Underground'.
• Fanfare of the Common Man, an ELP song.
• Carl Palmer's drum solo.  While virtually everyone in the hall enjoyed the piece, I personally found it to be a bit basal for my liking, as it was a touch too reminiscent of our ancestral memories when the first humanoids walked the earth, and had not yet developed the ability to synthesise their musical abilities.  When I expressed my views to Doug, however, he informed me that Carl Palmer is famous for his interesting drum playing, so I guess that I am the odd one out on this issue.
• The reprise of Fanfare for the Common Man.  Keith Emerson, formerly of ELP, walked on stage and performed a keyboard duet with John Young, where they alternated keyboard parts to play in synchrony with each other. Keith Emerson tried to quiet Carl Palmer down on the drums, but was unsuccessful.  He therefore had to go and speak to him about it.  It later transpired that Keith had played so hard on John's keyboard that three keys were broken.  This, unfortunately, had a knock-on effect because the keyboard was totally unusable the following evening when Qango played in Southampton.  John had to borrow a midi Yamaha keyboard from Martin Orford of John Wetton’s band, and he was very nervous about the quality of the show, as it was a different keyboard that he had to programme and use.  This also meant that there was not keyboard available for use in the Milton Keynes gig on the following Sunday, but John said that he was going to try to borrow one from a studio in the Milton Keynes area.
• Once the cheers to Keith Emerson's impromptu appearance had subsided, Heat of the Moment was played to round off the main set.
• The band went off stage and then came back on to a rousing encore of Don't Cry.
 When the gig was over, we made our way to the rock club that was opened later in the evening, and socialised with the bad and supporters.  I was introduced to John Shipman who maintains one of John Young's websites. 
 During our extensive conversation, John informed me that according to the theories of an American psychologist, men are target driven while women just want to enjoy the ride.  I don't know if that is necessarily true because I know a lot of women who are target driven.  I must say, however, that I enjoyed the ride when I went to the gig.