Review by Mike Taylor
 

The Heep club was held at The Bush Hall just a short walk away from The Empire and most of the Hotels including The Hilton which is where a good number of Heep and Heepsters were staying. The club was a little disjointed and times were all about the place but Louis did his usual fantastic job of controlling things and it was great to see so many friends again. Denise spent all our money (again) in bidding for and winning another Roger Dean print..where we put it I don't know!!! The evening with Ken Hensley was interesting and it was great to see him, meet him and listen to his songs.  I can't remember the songs played but Rain was there, as was Eyes of a Child and part of The Return. I'm sure someone else will fill us in. Oh...I almost forgot....Dave Ling asked Ken if he would write again for Heep. Ken said that he'd offered but no one had responded. It was great to be back at the Empire as it is such a nice venue... White Noise were excellent with a mixture of Rainbow stuff and at least one Mostly Autumn number. The band are made up of ex Rainbow lead singer Dougie White and the guys from Mostly Autumn. The gals were in the audience and appeared to really enjoy the show as they were dancing most of the time. That Heather Findlay has got to be one of the most beautiful woman I've ever met. Dougie has a superb voice and he worked the sizeable crowd well and the band got a great reaction. Bryan Josh is such a great Rock guitarist.   As the time ticked down for Heep the crowd swelled and as they hit the stage the place was almost full. As I said the setlist was the same as at previous gigs on the tour but tonight they stepped up a couple of gears. Hell..we all thought they'd already been playing in top gear but how they're able to do this I don't know. Just...."Uriahmazing". Bernie was sensational and built the crowd up to a frenzy and...yes...the crowd tonight was very noisy. I had a great view from the left hand corner of the 1st balcony (as you look at the stage) and to watch the crowd from up there was a great sight. The sound quality was the best I've heard at a Heep gig. So great music, great sound and great lighting makes for a ...well....you know. I keep thinking of that setlist and I can't remember the order but I do know they started with Blood Red Roses. If I had the Time was a new one, as well as A Year and a Day. So Tired was another one I'd not heard in a while along with Rainbow Demon. One I'd never heard before this tour was When The War Is Over and Bernie got everyone singing the chorus. Look at Yourself has long been a favourite of mine and it was great to hear it again but this time with the addition of the guys from Osibisa it took it to new level. The 'bongos' were brought out before the start of LAY and just before the finale out game Osibisa dressed colourfully and wearing huge grins. What they did then was to fill the Empire with the sound of their drums along with Lee watched by the rest of Heep. The crowd cheered and clapped along and by the end everyone was on their feet. I don't know who's Idea it was to get Osibisa on stage at the Empire but it was a masterstroke. The crowd loved it. The rest of Heep's performance went to plan but a measure of just how good it was was that the crowd were still shouting for more long after Land Of Hope And Glory had finished.   Along for the gig with me and Denise was our 14 year old foster boy Theo who is into bands like Funeral For A Friend....he was totally blown away and now knows what real music is. Also with us was Denise's daughter Alexa who brought along her ex boyfriend Gustav who is from Sweden. Gustav's exact words to describe the gig were 'absolutely sensational'. After the gig we went back round to The Bush Hall for the party which was just a little hectic. Both bands turned up along with the girls from Mostly Autumn, and Rachel from Karnataka much to Pete's delight. For those of you who know Larisha..she was there as well. Dave Ling and Malcolm Dome from the media were also there. It was almost impossible to talk with the band and so at about 1pm Theo and I went back to the hotel where we found Trevor with his wife and son Ashley. We talked for about 30 mins mainly about Ken and Gerry Bron....check out the Inside Uriah Heep DVD for some of the subject matter. So that's it. A really great weekend....but what did you expect???? Mike IOW