On stage: Uhriah Heep

 
- Masters Of Rock
 
- July 2007
 
- Vizovice (CZ) -


 
- Uriah Heep
 
- Dec. 2009
 
- Bochum (D) -


 
- Uriah Heep
 
- Feb. 2010
 
- Moscow (RUS) -

- Uriah Heep - February 13th 2010 - Moscow (RUS), Glav Club -





 

  


  

Few words about recent Uriah Heep gig. Seeing them in St.Petersburg about 1,5 years ago I was sure it'll be good gig but doesn't expected them being THAT good. The band is incredibly tight and powerful. Some people said a bit of criticism about Russell, for him lacking subtlety of Lee Kerslake playing, I agree, but at least he provides very solid ground for a band and there is a lot of things to listen in Trevor's playing so it's okay for drums to be... just what they are. However, Russell would sound fantastic in something like Dragonforce or Ensiferum :)))

Mick was his charming self as usual. The band, supposedly, was late because their flight was delayed, so they were extremely tired, but played great gig. Maybe a bit short - just 1 h 30 min.

 A pleasant surprise was peoples' reaction - they applauded both old and new songs. So the band was able to win the crowd not with old but with the new 'weapons'. Corridors... works very well live; so is Angels Walk With You, but Book Of Lies is typically 80's screaming / clapping number, okay, but nothing really special and Only Human sounds just boring... From older repertoire, I don't think Free Me suits well to Bernie's voice, and Free'n'Easy is also strange choice, but everything else was superb, Bernie sounded great on almost every song; great version of Rain, Bird Of Prey, Love In Silence... One encore, of course it was Lady In Black, but in current 'electrified' version which is much more interesting and gives Trevor a chance to play really cool bass lines. Every concert I think just how underrated musician he is...
  
  






Vladimir

(editor InRock.ru)

photos: © Claudia Ehrhardt



up 















- Uriah Heep - December 10th 2009 - Bochum (D), Zeche -






 

  


  














  
  

Almost everybody knows Lady In Black, but not every music lover knows Uriah Heep - still. The British who are named after a character of Charles Dickens' David Copperfield are now rock the stages for 40 years! Their 40th anniversary tour brought them to Germany and tonight it was time to stop in Bochum.

In Bochum Uriah Heep had no support and so it should be a night full of their songs. The venue was full of long-time fans and so the average age was surely 35+, even if I spotted a few younger fans.

Mick Box and his pals are touring a lot and in between tours they record new songs, at their Celebration best-of album they had 2 brand-new songs and re-recordings of their hits. But they kicked off with the title track of their last studio album Wake The Sleeper, a kind of wake-up call for the audience. And it was obvious that the band enjoyed being on stage, they love to play live and so they had the audience right from the start. After a brief return to the past - Return To Fantasy - they presented Only Human off Celebration. It seems that adding Russ to the ranks was a rejuvenating cure for Uriah Heep - and his powerful drumming give the songs a heavy edge. After the second new song off Celebration - Corridors Of Madness - singer Bernie Shaw gave a first hint about his skills of speaking German and said "Bitte ein Bit!", but that was just the beginning... Switching back to English he asked the audience after the song "You like the new ones? But we'll do a classic now... Recorded 1986 in Hamburg!" and they headed into Love In Silence with Mick Box playing acoustic guitar. At the slower songs with acoustic guitar Bernie Shaw's vocals were more up-front. Anyway, the fans loved it from the first moment and were singing along - especially the classics. The show was mainly carried by Mr. Shaw, but the others were just focused on their playing. "Thank you very much, we'll slow a bit down. Please put your hands up for the guy at the piano... Mr. Phil Lanzon!" Kinda caged behind his keyboards he joined Bernie Shaw only vocally, filling in backings. And so Phil and Bernie presented Rain. Then the charismatic singer asked the fans to put their hands together for Mick Box on acoustic guitar. And the guitar wiz enchanted everybody with The Wizard. "How many people were singing?" Bernie Shaw asked and seemed to count all - in German. The response wasn't as good as he expected and so he announced "I'll ask you again in 3:18 minutes! And I expect a different answer!" Playing their classic Free Me made more people sing along and made Bernie and his mates smile. Some more classics followed before the returned to Wake The Sleeper with Angels Walk With You. At July Morning Mick Box imitated the birds twittering with his guitar and Easy Livin' marked the end of the set. While Bernie Shaw thanked the people for coming and having a great night, guitarist Mick Box signed some album covers for someone first row - and then they were gone. The fans loudly demanded more and so the oldsters returned for Lady In Black! "We want to thank everybody who bought a ticket and came out. Hope to see you next year!" As usual Lady In Black was the highlight of the show. The band proofed that they still rock and have plans to tour the world in 2010! Keep your eyes and ears open, don't miss them next time around!
  
  







Claudia Ehrhardt


up 






           ©2008-2010 by Claudia Ehrhardt • E-Mail: contact@ice-vajal.com