North
American Tour Reports
July 28th -Santa Fe, New
Mexico
Camel
Rock Casino
I saw
Heep in Santa Fe NM with a few hundred VERY
appreciative fans. I saw
them
last in 1977 and this show was better in my
opinion.
This
line-up just
has
no weakness, performing both the new and the
old with loving care. After
the
show I met the band, exchanged grettings and
received
autographs...COOL....
Thanks
to all who made this a MAGIC evening for me.
Kurt Wesssendorf, Albuquerque New Mexico.
"There I was on a July
(Evening)..."
What a great show! When the event started
late with Edgar Winter being first, I
was thinking we're only going to get the short
set. So when Bernie came out and said they've
got 31 years of Heep to play over the next
hour and a half, I was elated needless to say.
While some may try to argue that only Mick and
Lee survive as from the CLASSIC Uriah Heep and
that only
makes them 40% UH, no-one could be further
from the truth. This lineup is without
a doubt 100% URIAH HEEP! They have so much fun
playing! Timing, presence, showmanship, and
the music STILL comes at you like a Panzer
doing 80! I only wish they could have done
Lady in Black and Come Away Melinda. If there
is band to see, for the first time or the
100th time, it has got to be URIAH HEEP! No
one else is even close.
After the show, we had to wait some time for
HEEP to come from backstage but
it was worth it. I had brought a 1948 copy of
David Copperfield to get signed, which they
did wholeheartedly. I've got some room on a
dusty shelf.
Had a chance to meet each one individually
and get signatures on a few CD sleeves. I even
received 2 picks from Mick. You just don't
find celebrity that approachable. Very 'Eavy,
Very 'Umble is still the case. It's almost
instant friendship.
If they come your way, DO NOT MISS THEM!
Keep on Heepin'
Harry - Albuquerque, NM
Heep Big Greetings!
I attended last night's show at Camel Rock,
the highlight of which was getting to shake
Mick's hand after the show. He was
standing at the rear as the crowd exited, and
I was surprised to see folks sailing by him
unawares. I simply said, "Thanks
Mick!" upon spotting him and
offered a hand he promptly took. I
thought I was being considerate in easing off
my usual crusher, thinking to myself that
guitarists need all the hardware intact in
order to make a living, but when Mick sent
back a real man's handshake, I was caught off
guard. I recovered a split
second or so later and upped the pressure
before terminating the encounter. I just
hope I got enough footpounds (or handpounds in
this instance!) of in for Mr. Box to avoid
thinking I was two weeks early for The Village
People show! ;-)
It was a watershed event for me having
invested so much of my youthful energy
perusing Uriah Heep's lyrics and album covers,
not to mention filling my aural cavities with
"the sound that comes at you like a
Panzer doing 80." (Never forgot
that critic's tidbit from the inner sleeves of
the UH Live album.) Mick always appeared
so sullen (stoned?) in so many album photos,
but he exuded positive energy and affability
from the moment the lights hit him last night,
and I was all the more impressed afterward
when I sized him up as a regular guy who just
happens to be one of rock and roll's premier
icons.
Now I have a question: Why is it that
Uriah Heep was not the overwhelming crowd
favorite last night?
I tend to think it happened at the sound
board. Mick gestured wildly throughout
the show, and I read it as a plea for more
volume or for some unspecified adjustments to
the mix. Personally, I felt the vocals
should have been accentuated more because it
seemed to me that the sound
was often muddled and muffled, sometimes
drowned out in the bass. (For the
record, I sat in the exact center of the
room.) Don't get me wrong--it was not
unpleasant to listen to per se, but it had the
effect of detaching me and possibly the rest
of the crowd, and I found myself spending more
concentration groping for the problem than on
listening actively to the music. The
bass seemed to dominate, and although nobody
who likes Heep ever wants a subdued bass, the
vocals should have been given more treble and
volume to rise above the inherent technical
problems of the room.
This is the best I can come up with but I
admit the answer remains elusive. The
band played with great verve and energy, and
the all too frequent complaint of numerous
critics that these and other alleged dinosaurs
should be put to rest just doesn't hold water
when they're
obviously still blowing away kids half their
age. There were many sublime moments
where the sound came at me as a whole entity,
and the blend of all the instrumental elements
combined with those deleriously proficient
vocals (when I could hear them) was truly
awe-inspiring. But
there were also moments when the frontman
seemed frustrated with the crowd's reluctance
to embrace new material with which they were
not, and apparently could not be, familiar,
and that may have set the crowd on edge.
Likewise, the attempts to enlist audience
participation may have fallen flat because
Uriah Heep is thinking man's music--not dance
fodder. Can't really pinpoint it and
it's perplexing as hell cuz the guys played
their hearts out.
At any rate, my thanks to Mick were sincere.
As a family man with three boys, concert-going
is a luxury I don't often get to indulge in,
but circumstances conspired favorably enough
to get me in the door. Uriah Heep was
the reason I bought a ticket, and they were
more than just a
nostalgic reminiscence. They reaffirmed
for me that there is no substitute for
experience and that they're still full of good
ol' rock n' roll piss and vinegar. The
playlist included the best of the best, and
the musicianship was top-notch. On top
of it all, I got to meet Mick. I came
away contented but confused about why it
wasn't just a little more earth-shattering.
The band is working so hard, they
deserve their place at the top o' the heep.
I'd like to see 'em get it.
Anything I can do...
Most Sincerely,
Brian K. Mitchell
A
very enjoyable evening. It was the fourth time
I'd seen the band, but first
since 1977, so the first time I'd seen this
lineup. Heep gave me everything I
could ask for -- oh, I guess I'd have liked to
hear "Sweet Lorraine" again.
Oh well. Mick was in great form, especially on
the longer, classic songs at
the end.
The crowd really popped for Sunrise,
which I thought was great. And
it was wonderful that The WIzard was included. I
sat with a Heep zealot who's
seen the band a lot in the post-David Byron days
but never saw Byron. As
Byron and John Lawton were the only singers I'd
seen, we could compare eras.
Bernie is Bernie, he doesn't try to be David
which is great, and he brings
his own interpretations to the classic songs.
But the post-show just made the night for me.
These guys are so friendly!
Chatted with Bernie outside the bus and it was
like he was really interested
in what I was saying, and believe me not all
artists and athletes are like
that. All five signed my CD for me. I wish I'd
bought a picture, it would
have been great to frame, but I chose a T-shirt
instead and had only a couple
of bucks left over.
I figured, the band gave me
one once -- I caught a
T-shirt thrown into the crowd in Central Park in
1974 (Mick I think it was
you!) -- so this time I could buy one. Like the
long-lost first, it's black
and gold! So for a night I was 19 again. Thanks
Heep, you were nothing short
of wonderful.
The setlist: Return To Fantasy, Universal
Wheels, Stealin', Love In Silence,
Between Two Worlds, I Hear Voices, The Wizard,
Sunrise, Gypsy, Look At
Yourself, July Morning, Easy Livin'
John
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