Uriah Heep (Photo: Ryan Evans)
Walking through the doors of the O2 Academy I was pleasantly surprised to see a busy venue, with so many bands and tours happening nowadays, it is very hard to fund every likeable gig!
There seemed a bit of ‘excitement’ about Heep’s club gig tonight I thought, as I ‘excuse me please’ my way through the mixed crowd of old rockers – plenty of ladies included, metal heads, and younger gig goers (it’s great to see different generations attending gigs and shows).
Set opener ‘I’m Ready’ bought many smiles on the faces of band members and crowd alike, and a fantastic front of house sound enriched things along the way. Bustin’ through a set of classics (which included) ‘Return To Fantasy’ ‘Rainbow Demon’ ‘ Gypsy’ and the 1971 classic sing-a-long ‘Lady In Black’ during which the house crowd participated finely with very little persuasion (actually needed!) from excellent front man Bernie Shaw.
Uriah Heep (Photo: Ryan Evans)
Bernie’s vocals definitely do classic Heep tracks justice! It was nice to see the centre part of the set with a bit of a focus on current ‘Into the Wild’ CD… ‘Money Talk’ ‘Nail on the Head’ ‘Wizard’ and album title track ‘Into The Wild’ all showing that there is plenty of life and potential in Uriah Heep yet!
Encores included the 1977 classic ‘Free & Easy’ to which guitarist (+ original member) Mick Box invited fans up on stage to rock out to what many rated as the 1st Heavy Metal Rock Song’!!!! Of course the crowd favorite ‘Easy Livin’ was set closer today and provoked the thunderous crowd participated sing-a-long to end a top evening of classic rock. My only complaint; well, nothing off ‘Wake The sleeper’ chaps…..!
Mark Freebase
Uriah Heep (Photo: Ryan Evans)
