Uriah Heep - Official Web Site

After a hectic 4 hour ride(which should have been 2 hours!) we finally found our destination.....HEEP! Everyone has already said about all that

can be said .....We would just like to add THANKS GUYS!!! From ' Return To Fantasy' to 'Easy Livin', Heep is the best! p.s....thank-you tour guide :}

Julie, Patti & Kathie

First off I want to IMMENSLEY thank Dave Crookham for e-mailing me out of nowhere to let me know Heep was coming to Pittsburgh. ( I live approximately 45 miles north of Pittsburgh). I had been slacking in checking the Heep website and had no idea.

So, with about 2-3 months warning I made plans to go, at first my work schedule didn't suit (I usually work 1 of 4 week-ends, of course the Heep show was on my scheduled week-end, but alas I pulled some strings and got it off...I even talked my wife Sally into getting the day off also, she usually word ALL week-ends).

The day of the show, we still almost didn't make it due to a slight family crisis, however my wife, youngest and oldest daughter and HER daughter (my 20 month granddaughter) headed for the show at 5:30 pm.

I originally got to Pittsburgh and crossed the Fort Pitt tunnel bridge and started heading the wrong direction. Not knowing what I was doing, I turned around on the road anyway and a few blocks later, my oldest, Colleen says "Hey! There's the Ampitheatre!" I parked ASAP and started strolling in, family in tow.

In the main parking lot, we heard the distant melody of "Return To Fantasy", I knew we were late, but had heard previously that this was the opening number, so I wasn't REAL concerned, BUT we did pick up the step a bit!

We paid our $5 and got in as "Universal Wheels" was playing, from there my wife and I stood and watched the remainder of the show bit to the right side of the band. The view was terrific, pretty much anywhere you were at.

ALL the songs were terrific....Bernie was strong,entertaining, and energetic, fine work on all the tunes, like others have expressed it's too bad the set was too short to include more of the recent Heep recordings, but understandably Heep wanted to perform the most popular HEEP songs in as Bernie said "45 minutes to cover 30 years"! Bernie vocally covers all Heep tunes quite well.

I was SUPREMELY inpressed with Trevor's bass...he was going nuts during "July Morning". When I saw Heep before, Wetton was on bass ( I recall virtually nothing about him at that show).

After the show I floated over to the Heep concession area, bought a tour shirt. And chatted with and introduced my wife to a few of the Heepsters..(Bob & Sue,Madman,Dave,Lannis and others-sorry if I left out any names). Waved at Mac from a distance, not sure if he even saw me.

Unfortunately, due to the family crisis (which eventually did work out) I had to leave as Edgar Winter was starting "Tobacco Road", so I missed meeting the band and seeing Mark Farner.

Pittsburgh, PA - Iron City Light Amphitheater - June 23, 2001

We finally found our way to the ICLA and the traffic was very heavy. This was obviously going to be Heep's biggest audience on this leg of the tour. We ended walking about a mile from the parking lot. When we arrived we discovered that not only was Mark Farner going to play despite

rumors he had been injured but Heep was once again going to be the lead-off band. Bob W. had called the venue the day before and was informed that Heep would be the headliner on this gig! Oh well... That meant that it wouldn't be very long before before Heep would be playing. It also meant it would be a short set once again. :-<

The venue was a large open air arena with fixed seating. There was an enormous tent over head and bunches and bunches of tables behind the fixed seats. All the tickets were general admission so we could sit anywhere we found an open seat. There was a pretty large area between the front row and the stage and the front row was pretty much full. All the guys headed down to the stage. Only a few minutes before Heep was to come out there was only one row
standing in front of the stage. At this point some drunken guy standing up front (Nope, it wasn't Madman, Ron or me) turned toward the seats and started yelling "We want Heep! We want Heep!" A guy on the front row hollered back, "We want Heep...and more beer!" The front couple of rows got a bit of a chuckle out of that.

As soon as Heep started their set more and more people started coming down to the stage. Soon the front row of seats couldn't see for all the standing people. I think it was the opening number, Return to Fantasy, when Mick's amp blew. Quickly the crew had another amp hooked up and Mick was cranking away without missing a beat. I decided to back up 2 or 3 rows so I could hear Bernie's vocals better. Lannis had turned me on to wearing earplugs at the gigs and it really was better. Not only could I hear the music better but my ears didn't ring all night after the gigs! Heep's set was in a little different order than the long set and I think only nine songs including the encore were played. The set lasted about 45 minutes with Easy Livin' as the encore. Bird of Prey, which was usually one of the encores, was played pretty early in the set. Also almost no new songs were played. I think Universal Wheels was the only one. The Heepsters were having a ball right down front. Bob's girlfriend, Susan was having a great time, dancing with several people. One of the girls dancing spilled some of her beer on my shoe and within a couple of minutes had spilled the rest of it on someone else. :-> I looked around and virtually all the open space between the stage and the front row had become filled with standing fans.

All too soon Heep's set was over. A lot of us went to Heep merchandise booth to see the band and get stuff signed. After a few minutes of waiting I decided to go back to the seats to watch Edgar Winter a bit. I found out later that Heep was also watching Edgar and that was the reason they hadn't come out to sign autographs yet. After Edgar was finished the band began to come out to talk to people and sign stuff.

Some people (particularly blitzed people) thought some of the Heepsters were in the band. Some girl about 4 sheets to the wind asked Madman for his autograph and he wrote "Uriah Heep forever! Madman" I laughed my ass off and then the girl walked up to me to sign her paper. I kind of laughed and pointed her in the direction of Lee. A little while later she came

stumbling by and I asked her if she had gotten all the band's signatures yet. She said "I haven't gotten you yet." LOL! I told Lee that he better watch Madman because he was gunning for his job. :-> A little way into Mark Farner's set we decided to leave but not before Lannis made arrangements to keep some of the merchandise for DaveO until Heep returns in a couple of months. Once again we got lost trying to find out way but we eventually arrived at the mini-Heepvention at the Pizza Pub. A few pizza and pitchers of beer later and we headed back to the room. It's amazing that just a few weeks ago it was hard to believe we could ever see Uriah Heep again and now the first leg of the US tour is over. Damn, it was fun! Let's do it again!
HH!
Mac

My new husband and I went to the ribfest show on our honeymoon, And the
show was great!!!

Wish they could have played a longer set. The Crowed
was big and really Hyped up For Uriah. Met Up afterwords with the guys.
and the were really friendly, We cant wait to see them again in Scranton.
Crystal Leaming

What a show, Me and my wife Crystal were on our honeymoon, so we were in Penn the whole week, because UH was playing, we live in Mass.
And for years I wanted to meet the band, it was a dreem of mine, and it
came true.

After years of wanting to meet Mick, and have a beer backstage with him, I
did indeed finally meet him, what a good person he seems to be, although w

e
did not have that beer, my wife and I had a very good time, and meeting Mick was just fantastic, looking forward to the scranton show july 24th show Mick if you see this, you owe me a beer (ha ha) you guys were greatest and David Owens was a very nice too!

It is amazing how the road can drain your energy, yet when it came time to hit the road to the next venue our small, but dedicated traveling contingent dug deep inside for that extra burst of energy that drives you to get into the car. Once in t

he car it was Lannis that did the driving. The shotgun seat was occupied by Merrick (AKA: Madman), not that we were nice to let him ride up front, Mac and I were greedy to get into the back where we could cat nap on and off. Boy, does Mac know how to nap.

It took us just over five hours to get to Pittsburgh, PA for the site of the next show. We were pumped thinking we were going to see Heep headline to the biggest crowd of the tour. The last show of our trip, it had to be the best.

Once in the steel city we followed the plans that were laid out for our trip by Bobbie, Lannis's wife. What a wife to plan all this for us. I don't have to write to much about them, any of you that has met either one of them know what class these folks have. I'm just proud to know them and be a part of this whole thing.

Anyway, let's get back to the story. We had trouble finding our hotel at first. Once there the first person we saw, per normal, was Bob Winward and his traveling companion Sharon. We checked in, went to our rooms. This was the best room we had yet. We rested a bit, or some of us did. I was in no mood to rest, I wanted to do something. I guess it's all that reserve built up I had with all these years of waiting to see a live US show again.

We left around 5 PM to stop and pick up a few necessities before heading to the show. Once on the way to the show, Mr. New Jersey Leadfoot left us behind. Several calls on the cell phone later, we decided to just find it on our own. Not hard to do with all the traffic heading to the same place. This sort of reminded me of the 70's when going to concerts. Parking was hard to get and when we did park it was about a mile walk. Certainly within walking distance by this bunchs standards. Disclaimer: I don't care to walk as much as those guys, but that is another story.

We picked up our tickets at the window and went through the gates. Once inside we picked up an Iron City beer or two (not a highlight of the trip). A nice crowd compared to the first two shows I'd seen, close to 10,000 people in striking distance of an ear full of magic. We made our way to the stage area and met up with the other Heepsters there, Bob, Muzzy, Ed, Randy, Dave C. and a few more who I know their faces but don't remember their names. We found out at this point that Heep was first on stage, less than an hour away. All the front row seats were taken, but they allowed standing in front of the stage. So much for seats, those misguided individuals can have them, Heep is no sitting event. I staked out a claim to my spot in front of the stage and didn't plan to budge. Per usual I was left of stage, in between Mick and Bernie.

Upon introduction at around 7 PM, Uriah Heep hit the stage. I was able to slap hands with Mick as he passed by and then Bernie as he came out. Halfway into the opening song, Return To Fantasy, Mick blew his amp and the crew scrambled to restore his sound. This set was cut shorter than the others and most of the new material was cut out. Bird Of Prey was moved up to the third song or so in the set versus the opening encore. By the halfway point of the set I started looking back over the audience, watching the reaction of the crowd. The sight of US fans mind you, chanting, yelling, experiencing what we privileged few already knew existed makes me warm inside. I think they won over a few new fans and reclaimed some old during this brief, but electric span of less than an hour. I personally don't time the shows, time just seemed to stand still when they played.

Mick's guitar is better by far of what I remembered from the past. Bernie is as good as any frontman Heep ever had (I said as good, not better but I'm beginning to wonder). Trevor was great, he banged out notes on his bass that would make seasoned musicians envious. Phil always has that professional approach going for him, this guy is well schooled. Last and not in any way, shape or form is Lee. He pounds his drums as hard as any drummer I'e ever seen. You would think these guys were in their twenties.

During Stealin' I noticed how many of the crowd were singing along. Somebody out there remembers or has a good idea of what real music sounds like. I wished at this point they would pull Lady In Black out of the mothballs, it would have been icing on the cake. Then again how do you improve upon the best. It just gets better, no matter what the next song is.

When they finished with Easy Livin' I knew it was over. Mick was tossing out guitar picks during the show per usual and I wanted one in the worst way (no not up my butt if that is what your thinking, and you know who you are). The band came out and waved to the crowd, who by this point was hungry for more. Mick tossed out more picks, but as he passed by he handed me one personally. My trip was complete, almost.

I had pictures of me with all the band members except Bernie. I had to complete the set if you know what I mean. We went to the area the band would reappear from later. Dave Owen finally showed his face after Edgar Winter began his set. He told me Bernie's ear monitor went out on stage and he was still deft at this point and everyone would be out after the Winter show. So this meant we had to watch Edgar's set, no problem. The first two rock concerts I had ever seen had him as headliner so no problem. Thanks to him for playing a shorter set than Heep, only five songs in forty minutes.

Bernie was first out (usually it would have been Lee), I not only got a picture with him, but had two taken. He replied to me, "One more in case the first one didn't take". When I got home my wife was pulling out my pictures after getting them developed, she glanced at the first shot she pulled out and thought that Bernie was a woman! I laughed hard and she was embarrassed at her remark when I told her who it was. I made her put on her glasses to look at the rest of the photos.

We chatted with the others and left the venue during Mark Farner's show. We knew that this show would produce others wanting to meet the band (including Madman) besides us. Besides, I had seen the best, what else matters at this point. A good portion of us Heepster's met at a local pizza place to eat, drink and basically stay till closing. This little mini-Heepvention was a real highlight of the trip. Don't understand? Sit down at a group meeting with the Madman someday, he has a great deal to say (other than HaHAHahAHaHA!).

After setting a wakeup call we all lay down for a brief bit of sleep before heading out for home the next day. It is over........no it is never over. The second leg is coming and hopefully this is just the beginning.

Well Pittsburgh is anything but the Pits!! It is a beautiful city nestled
along rivers in the mountains. One thing though, you can't drive the roads
if you shomk or drink. The patterns were very confusing and I don't think
there was more than 50 feet of straight roadway. It sort of reminded me of
driving the path of a roller coaster. Most of us stayed at a beautiful
Hampton Inn in the suburbs and it was a short distance to the venue (as the
crow flies).

Susan and I arrived at the waterfront around 6, with the NC contingent
formerly in tow. I guess I lost them somewhere along the line. Anyhow, the
road by the waterfront was packed with traffic trying to get into parking
lots. I thought, wow this is a bigger crowd than Jaxx. I finally got into
the parking lot and we took the long walk to the entrance. Once inside, we
found a huge tent hanging over a stage and lots of chairs and tables. The
whole thing sort of reminded me of a flea market. There was beer and food
for sale everywhere. However, I quickly made my way to the fr

ont row, and
over the next 45 minutes met many heepsters. Some new, and many old. I sawMuzzy, Darrel Sensing, Dave Crookham, the NC Contingent (with Madman) and
talked with many others.

Heep came on about 8:15 and played to around 8:55, and did 8 songs. They skimped on the setlist, but the songs they played they played to the utmost.
There were alot of us right by the stage, so close I was able to shake handswith Mick and Trevor, and slap hands with

Phil and Bernie after the show.
Getting back to the performance, it was tight, solid and perfect (for the amount of time they had). I am starting to prefer the outdoor gigs, as you don't have the echos and muffled sounds that indoor clubs experience. Susan
enjoyed herself also, being new in my life over the last year, she had never heard any Uriah Heep til meeting me. She danced with a bunch of folk, and her eyes always light up, when Bernie does I hear Voices, specifically the lyric "release the Man from the Boy". Hmm, I wonder....

After the short show, we that knew each other, migrated towards the back of
the tent where the t shirts and cds were sold, anxiously awaiting the band
to come out. They came out after Edgar Winter played his 5 songs, and we
had a blast talking with them, taking pictures, etc. After leaving the
fairgrounds, I saw a hill, and mentioned to Susan, we could climb the hill
and get to my car faster. Well I was sort of kidding, next thing I know we
were climbing the hill, but the dirt was soft and we kept sliding downward.
I thought we were going to fall back into the highway. I dragged Susan the
last 20 feet up the hill, and lo and behold, I guessed right, by car was
right there. I saved about 15 minutes of walking, almost got us killed
though!! :-)

We left the fest and went to a pizza place near the hotel. There, 8 of us
downed 4 large Pizzas and several hundred pitchers of beer. We must have
talked for 2-3 hours, it was wonderful.!! Life does not get any better than
friends and Heep!!!!!!!!!

Bob Winward

North American Tour Reports