Blind Lemon(All pictures courtesy
of Ed Haliburton)
Cleveland
was about a 550-mile drive, so Mac, Ron, and I
got an early start-7:30am. We didn't have to
rush, though, because we left the day before the
gig. The plan was to get a good night's sleep
and be refreshed for the activities on gig day.
Well, so much for the plan. Once we arrived and
checked in at the Travelodge, we walked the two
"short"blocks to the Blind Lemon.
Written on a chalkboard behind the bar were the
upcoming events, including URIAH HEAP.
After
a little education about Heep, the waitress
changed it to URIAH HEEP. We were quite
disappointed in the size and quality of the
venue, and we knew Heep would be, also. After a
while, I left for the hotel to catch up on my
sleep. Ron and Mac decided to stay to see how
much trouble they could get into. I'll leave it
there. On the 21st, we picked Merrick up at the
airport. Mac, Ron, and I were wearing tie dyed
shirts. The three of us really stood out in the
crowd. We had a shirt ready for Madman, but as
we sort-of guessed, he was already wearing one
of his own. Madman changed into the new one. Now
we really stood out like a sore thumb. We
stopped by a pizza place on the way in from the
airport, filled our bellies, and caught up on
things since our last get-together.
After
resting up a little, we drove to the venue for
the sound check. Dave White had picked Bob
Carruthers up from the airport. It was great
meeting and talking to Bob. Bob had brought some
new color photos of Heep and the pages of the
upcoming Sailing The Sea Of Light book for the
band to see. I peeked. It was all very
professional, very high quality, as we have come
to expect. When Heep finally came in, Bob
greeted them with some mean bagpipe. That put a
big smile on their faces. It was obvious that
Heep were disappointed with the venue, but Bob
was there, and a bunch of great Heepsters (Ed
Halliburton got to see Heep after a 29-year dry
spell, thanks to Dave Crookham).
After
the sound check, Mac, Ron, Madman, and I went to
eat at a little restaurant, within walking
distance, where Heep just happened to be. We ate
a good meal and laughed a lot at the expense of
this loud and obnoxious guy behind us (thanks
Madman). After our meal, we walked with Dave
White to our hotel so he could freshen up a
little and we could put on our Heep shirts. On
the way back to the Blind Lemon from the hotel,
it starting raining heavily, and, in spite of
ducking under every available awning, we
got soaking wet. So much for being presentable
for the gig. Mac and Ron actually bought new
Heep shirts to replace their soaked ones. Madman
and I used our wet shirts to keep us cool. They
were dry by the end of the gig. The last warm-up
band dedicated a song to the NC Heepsters. 
I
had met the lead singer, Jamie, at the Flint gig
- great guy, great singer, great Heepster. At
end of their performance, they did this fire
thing on the end of a guitar with kerosene. It
was quite impressive. The problem was that at
the end , the handkerchief that was on fire got
thrown into the rafters and was burning where no
one could reach it. We were thinking, "Oh
no, this place is going to burn down and we are
not going to see Heep". Thankfully, someone
pulled it down with a long stick and put it
out.
When
it was about time for Heep to perform, we
meandered to the front of the stage. Madman
stood directly in front of Mick. I was to the
right of Madman and Ed was to my right. We were
close enough to reach out and touch. This gig
was their full set and they put their hearts
into it in spite of the conditions (no air
conditioning, small stage, small
hole-in-the-wall venue). A young girl behind me
keep yelling and screaming, knocked my glasses
off, and almost knocked me down several times.
Nice to see the younger fans getting involved.
Our position at the stage was a tradeoff. We
were really close to Heep, but we couldn't hear
Bernie. Once again, the show was fantastic. The
venue was not the best, but we had a great time
talking to Heep, and enjoyed another great
performance.
Heep
On, Lannis
What a great, great experience! It's hard to put into words but I'll
try...
The Blind Lemon Club
Cleveland, Ohio - June 21st
Ron, Lannis & I made the 500+ trek to Cleveland on the 20th, so we could
hang out, relax and hopefully have a few beers with the band. We managed
to get lost walking from the Travelodge to Blind Lemon making a 3 block
trip become a 6 blocks trip. Ron pulled up lame half way there but we
decided not to shoot him. He just looked too pitiful limping those last 3
blocks! :-> When we finally found the Blind Lemon,
Ron & I felt it necessary to hang out at the place and have a few. It was our Heepster
duty. 
All I remember about the night is Ron ended up falling through some
shrubs on the way back to the room. He ended up face down in parking lot and that
didn't make his legs feel any better. Despite what Ron says I didn't push
him. That's my story and I'm sticking to it! I woke up during the night
thinking a 747 was crashing on the motel but it just turned out to be Ron
snoring! :-P
The next afternoon we picked up the Mad One from the Cleveland airport
and headed back to the Lemon for the sound check. Lannis had bought us all
tie dyed t-shirts for the occasion but Merrick stepped off the plane
already wearing a tie dyed shirt!
Dave White brought in Bob
Carruthers from the airport and he immediately started buying everyone
beers. That's my kind of guy! :-P All the Heepsters got to go up the street
to an Italian Restaurant and eat supper with the band. Some obnoxious
customer was sitting right behind us, belittling the restaurant staff. The
schmuck was totally oblivious to the fact that Madman was ridiculing him in
the one of a kind Madman tradition. By the time the guy left; Ron,
Lannis, Merrick and I were falling out of our chairs laughing! "Huh?"
"Ayn Ah!" LOL! I think Bob Carruthers & the
ban
d thought we were nuts.
After changing clothes at the motel we headed back to the Lemon for the
concert. We got caught in a rainstorm and finally got to the venue soaking
wet. I ended up buying another Heep shirt from Dave O just to have a dry
shirt! The place was packed with Heepsters... very enthusiastic Heepsters
at that! Many that hadn't seen Heep for 20+ years (Ron & Ed, to name a
couple)! The warm up acts were local metal bands. The last band had some
big Heep fans in it and they dedicated a song to the NC Heepsters. The lead
singer kept introducing all the songs with Heep song titles but they just
played their regular setlist. It was kind of funny when we caught on to what they
were doing. "Hey, that didn't sound like Love Machine!" Other problems were
discovered when Charlie (Heep's sound engineer) arrived. A warm up band's
engineer had screwed with the sound levels and had them completely out of
wack. Charlie did a great job under pressure getting the levels worked out.
Unfortunately Heep wasn't able to play "The Wizard". I'm not sure if it was
due to the sound level problems or an inadequate PA system, but acoustic
was out. 
The good news is Heep did the long set... about an hour and 30
minutes long. Heep's mood brightened considerably when they saw the
enthusiasm of the crowd and how packed the place was. It might have only been a few
hundred but the band knew they were appreciated. I noticed quite a few
teenagers and twenty somethings really getting into the music. Maybe they're some hope for
the music scene yet. The band played an excellent set! Other than the
Wizard being omitted, it was the same as Deerfield and they played their
hearts out for the fans. When Ed asked Charlie about why he couldn't hear
Bernie's vocals on the front row, Charlie explained that Bernie uses an
in-ear monitor instead of an on-stage monitor. So getting really close to the stage means you can
only hear Bernie vocals as an echo since the PA system speakers are aiming
away from you. A couple of rows of Heepsters were practically standing
against the stage.
Anyway a great time was had by all and we were back in the hotel room about
3am. The next day would be a measley 240 mile trip to Springfield,VA. Oh...
BTW, the band thought they were going to Springfield, Ohio until the day
of the Blind Lemon show. Instead of a short drive they found out the next
day's gig was in Springfield, Virginia! :->
More to come!
Mac Steagall
The
Blind Lemon is a smaller then usual venue then
the band is used to, but it by no-means affected
the performance !
3
bands played before Heep, and they started
sometime around midnight.
It was a great performance, really...Mick was particularly oustanding with
his extended solo's and Bernie loved the intimate setting afterall..he was
very pumped and it showed early.
"We've got 31 years of Heep to play for you tonight ! New
Heep...Classic Heep...and Soon to be Classic
Heep" ....ya gotta love that line.
All of them had a great time and inspite of the lack of some of the gear
they usually use, they got the sound down pretty damn good...the
crowd soaked up any echo :-)
Phil was smiling more then normal I thought, and although Trevor didn't get
quite the sound he was looking for, at least his amp stayed in one piece !!
Lee had an absolute ball ...
Heep was easily twice as loud as the previous band, but it wasn't a hurt
your ears kind of loud even tho the venue was so small. I could have stood
it a few notches louder, no problem. They really did sound tight...
The 1st 3-4-5 rows of people were rabid ! Bouncing all over the place,
screaming, trying to get the band to "give'em five"..it was very intense in
those rows !!
The crowd extended out of the room where the band was, and into the bar
where Dave Owen had his Mercho tables set up.
All in all, a very intimate performance for a crowd that truly enjoyed it,
no question about it.
Thanks
very much to the staff at the Lemon !
In the bus later we were talking about the trip back to Germany, and hen
back over, and they all seemed to think that this tour is going pretty
well...it's the beginning of the be
ginning so to speak in the US for
Heep, and they are fully aware of that.
The Cleveland Paper printed an article about the "return of Heep" if you
will, and it was a pretty nice article. I didn't see the writer there, but
I had sent her a FEOTP CD earlier in the week, so at least she knows how
they sound pretty much.
They band signed a bunch of stuff after the show, and people gave them a
bunch of stuff as well.
I got home about 3:30 in the morning...tired, still buzzing Heep in me
ears...a very nice night !!
Fantastic crowd..great performance by the band,
but - sorry..no pictures this time :-( I was too
busy enjoying Uriah Heep 10 feet away !!
Dave
White
Thanks, Dave C and Dave W. for the great reviews. I can't add too much
except to say that after 29 years I didn't care how
small the club was And really, where else could you be five feet from the band, have
a few with the NC contingent and other great Heepsters, get autographs, free
merchandise ( I'm not at liberty to talk about that ;-), all in one place.
A giant arena wouldn't work. I had a blast.
I'm glad I went to Cleveland 'cause the Pittsburgh show is going to be a
little stunted. I called to confirm show times and found out that Heep is to
play from 8:15 to 9:00 PM. Winter is first and Farner is last; he's closing
the show from 9:30 to 10:15, or so. No matter the show times, I still think
it will be a great time and hope to see all of you guys there.
Heep it up,
Ed Halliburton
