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Review
by Mike Taylor
The
Heep club was held at The Bush Hall just a short
walk away from The Empire and most of the Hotels
including The Hilton which is where a good number of
Heep and Heepsters were staying. The club was a
little disjointed and times were all about the place
but Louis did his usual fantastic job of controlling
things and it was great to see so many friends
again. Denise spent all our money (again) in bidding
for and winning another Roger Dean print..where we
put it I don't know!!!
The evening with
Ken Hensley was interesting and it
was great to see him, meet him and listen to his
songs. I can't
remember the songs played but Rain was there, as was
Eyes of a Child and part of The Return. I'm sure
someone else will fill us in. Oh...I almost
forgot....Dave Ling asked Ken if he would write
again for Heep. Ken said that he'd offered but no
one had responded.
It was great to be back at the Empire as it is such
a nice venue...
White Noise were
excellent with a mixture of Rainbow stuff and at
least one
Mostly Autumn number. The band are made up
of ex Rainbow lead singer Dougie White and the guys
from Mostly Autumn. The gals were in the audience
and appeared to really enjoy the show as they were
dancing most of the time. That
Heather Findlay has
got to be one of the most beautiful woman I've ever
met. Dougie has a superb voice and he worked the
sizeable crowd well and the band got a great
reaction. Bryan Josh is such a great Rock guitarist.
As the time ticked down for Heep the crowd swelled
and as they hit the stage the place was almost full.
As I said the setlist was the same as at previous
gigs on the tour but tonight they stepped up a
couple of gears. Hell..we all thought they'd already
been playing in top gear but how they're able to do
this I don't know. Just...."Uriahmazing". Bernie was
sensational and built the crowd up to a frenzy
and...yes...the crowd tonight was very noisy. I had
a great view from the left hand corner of the 1st
balcony (as you look at the stage) and to watch the
crowd from up there was a great sight. The sound
quality was the best I've heard at a Heep gig.
So
great music, great sound and great lighting makes
for a ...well....you know. I keep thinking of that setlist and I can't remember the order but I do know
they started with Blood Red Roses. If I had the Time
was a new one, as well as A Year and a Day. So Tired
was another one I'd not heard in a while along with
Rainbow Demon. One I'd never heard before this tour
was When The War Is Over and Bernie got everyone
singing the chorus.
Look at Yourself has long been a favourite of mine and it was great to hear it again
but this time with the addition of the guys from
Osibisa it took it to new level. The 'bongos' were
brought out before the start of LAY and just before
the finale out game Osibisa dressed colourfully and
wearing huge grins. What they did then was to fill
the Empire with the sound of their drums along with
Lee watched by the rest of Heep. The crowd cheered
and clapped along and by the end everyone was on
their feet. I don't know who's Idea it was to get
Osibisa on stage at the Empire but it was a
masterstroke. The crowd loved it. The rest of Heep's
performance went to plan but a measure of just how
good it was was that the crowd were still shouting
for more long after Land Of Hope And Glory had
finished.
Along for the gig with me and Denise was our 14 year
old foster boy Theo who is into bands like Funeral
For A Friend....he was totally blown away and now
knows what real music is. Also with us was Denise's
daughter Alexa who brought along her ex boyfriend
Gustav who is from Sweden. Gustav's exact words to
describe the gig were 'absolutely sensational'.
After the gig we went back round to The Bush Hall
for the party which was just a little hectic. Both
bands turned up along with the girls from Mostly
Autumn, and Rachel from Karnataka much to Pete's
delight. For those of you who know Larisha..she was
there as well. Dave Ling and Malcolm Dome from the
media were also there. It was almost impossible to
talk with the band and so at about 1pm Theo and I
went back to the hotel where we found Trevor with
his wife and son Ashley. We talked for about 30 mins
mainly about Ken and Gerry Bron....check out the
Inside Uriah Heep DVD for some of the subject
matter.
So that's it. A really great weekend....but what did
you expect????
Mike
IOW |
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