See the gig report from
Classic Rock Revisited here
!
Where do I begin? Their sound
was tight. They definitely had their shit
together.
I remember hearing
"Sunrise/July Morning/Gypsy/Easy
living/Look at Yourself". I heard some
new stuff I am not familiar with that just
smoked. Anyone who is afraid these five guys
won't harmonize, forget it.
Every member had his own
microphone for background vocal and they
definitely used them. The lead singer
remarkably sounds an awful lot like David
Byron, bless his heart, rest his soul. I am
going again tonight to see them in Fort Smith
and Sunday night in OKC. My hat goes off to
Mick Box and Lee Kerslake and the rest for a
magical night in Tulsa
(Name not submitted, but
THANKS !)
I will dispense with all the
preliminary happenings before Heep came on,
other than to say that Dave Owens was showing
off his sunburned tummy at the merch table!
For the record, Dave Owens is one of the
nicest guys I have ever met anywhere in the
world.
Uriah Heep promptly came on stage at 10:30,
walking out one at a time under a dim light.
Our table was smack-dab up left-front, a mere
ten feet from Mick (I wish to thank Randy,
Stuart, Garret & Carmen for providing me
with a cherry spot to view this performance).
With such a tight crowd, there really
wasn't much room to get much picture variance.
And, with the "stage"
actually being floor level, it was as if we
were looking him straight in the face. As
each member appeared on stage, cheers roared
from different spots of the overflow crowd
(350+), but when Mick came out last, the whole
room went wild. You could tell Mick loved
every bit of it, too! I knew, then, that
this was going to be a kick-ass show because
Mick was all smiles.
It was… and more!
I think this show had a combination of
everything I have been reading about in the
other gig reviews, including Mick's hand
gestures, as well as throwing
"unseen" objects at Lee and Phil 
and
even Bernie. I do not remember Trevor
participating in this fare. Once, Mick
threw an invisible something at Lee, Lee
tossed it on the fly at Phil and Phil bounced
it off his head into the crowd! 
Like I
said, we were sitting so close to Mick that he
was doing his hand gestures at us and we would
mimic them back at him, which seemed to make
him do more and kept him smiling all through
the show. This stuff went on during
every song. Several times in between
songs, Mick would just walk up to the mike and
shout, "HEY!" and the crowd would
react outrageously and Mick would be laughing
his arse off - Mick was definitely being
"fed" by this
very, very appreciative and reactive crowd.
A couple of times Mick walked up to our
table, rolled his guitar and lifted it up to
the ceiling, then rolled it down and kissed
it.
This was a night of solos. Everybody
performed at least two solos apiece somewhere
in the show! And EVERYBODY (except
Bernie) had one during Gypsy, Mick had two.
While Mick was entertaining the crowd
with his, Lee and Phil were goofing off while
keeping the beat… Lee was acting like he was
drumming on his 
own head, making facial
expressions as if he were about to knock
himself out. Trevor had one hellacious,
fantastic solo, I think during
either Gypsy or Look At Yourself. I was
so absorbed in the music I can't remember when
and where! He really cut loose!
You know, of all the members
of Heep, I could not keep my eyes off Trevor
for a very long period of time. There is
something about his stage presence that sends
me into a pseudo-hypnotic state. Maybe it is
his "mysterious" look with all that
hair covering his face in combination with his
movements and the Heep music. Whatever,
it is a wonderful feeling!
The crowd was overjoyed when Mick came out
with his acoustic guitar and began the Wizard,
and, as in Tulsa, really got loud when Sunrise
and Traveller In Time played - three classics
that should be in some kind of Hall of Fame.
This place was packed, and
people were dancing in any space they could
find. The house security would try to
stop them but they put the Heep experience
above the "law" and ignored
the muscle. "AWWWW, the power of
HEEP!"
The band seemed very appreciative of the warm,
loud and responsive audience this night.
When they left the stage, they came back
out and joined arm in arm and took two group
bows (just as they did at the October 1975 RTF
show in Tulsa! - WOW, I was ) Talking
with Trevor after the show, he said this was
one of the best crowds they have played to.
Oh, yeah, the audience gave them two
standing O's! Of course, the music was
flawless, and Bird of Prey was a
real treat, I could not get over how great the
Ah-Ah's were!
I got Mick's set list off the floor (and had
it autographed, of course).
This set was comprised of 13 (!) tunes with
two encores:
1. Return To Fantasy
2. Universal Wheels
3. Only The Young
4. Stealin'
5. Love In Silence
6. Between 2 Worlds
7. I Hear Voices
8. Wizard
9. Sunrise
10. Traveller In Time
11. Gypsy
12. Look At Yourself
13. July Morning
Encore
14. Bird Of Prey
15. Easy Livin
When the show as over at 12:10, there was a
huge crowd waiting to see the band and get
stuff autographed. Who do you think was
the first one out? BERNIE!! This
guy loves people! He signed and signed until
all were through, and no other member of Heep
had yet come out to join him, so he went out 
to the bus to see what the hold up was. Very
shortly he came back dragging Lee (in shorts
and t-shirt) with him. Lee began to talk
and sign (and give kisses to the lady folk).
I asked Bernie, "Is it your job to
drag each of them out here?" He
cocked his head as he so often does and
said,"Hell, no, they're just sitting out
there drinking beers!" Soon all
members were out mingling with the crowd.
They are wonderful guys!!
July has truly been a magical month for me.
Thank you Mick, Trevor, Lee, Bernie and Phil
(and the road crew, too!)
I'll have some pictures up soon.
Best,
Roland Austin
