Uriah Heep - London Review

Very few hard rock band define the sound of the early 1970s like Uriah Heep. While bands like Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Deep Purple are seen as the true rock royalty of the era, in my opinion Uriah Heep deserve to be mentioned in the same breath. I am not sure why Uriah Heep are not seen as being as important as the aforementioned three bands, but they are probably just as important to the development of the rock and metal music we know today. Unlike those other bands, Uriah Heep have remained creative throughout their career. With the exception of a break of releasing new material during the late 1990s and early 2000s, Uriah Heep have been putting out new albums on a regular basis without ever really compromising on the quality. The latest of these albums, Living the Dream, was released earlier this year to rave reviews. While not exactly doing a lot to change the band's established sound, it was a good representation of the band in the modern day and saw them sounding vibrant and fresh. It was the second studio outing for the band's current incarnation, and it certainly saw all five band members firing on all cylinders again following on from 2014's enjoyable but relatively lacklustre Outsider. With a new album out, of course this meant that the band were going to tour again and this led to Uriah Heep announcing their first run of UK shows for a few years. I missed the band's last UK tour, so it had been four years since I had last seen the band. The venue that night was The Robin 2 in Bilston, but recent years have seen the band once again return to playing slightly bigger venues. A handful of UK dates were announced, with the most convenient for me being at the O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire in London. The Empire has always been a great place to watch bands, and it seemed that many Heep fans agreed with me as the place was packed. It is great to see Uriah Heep playing somewhat bigger venues again now, as places like The Robin 2 seem too small for a band with the stature and influence of Uriah Heep!

Before Uriah Heep took to the stage the growing crowd was treated to a couple of support acts. First up were the Finnish progressive rockers the Von Hertzen Brothers - a band who have been going for some time but have always eluded me. While not exactly desperate to check the band out, I was interested to finally get a chance to see what they were like. The five-piece were quite a bit rockier than I expected, with a guitar-driven hard rock sound that was different from the more spacey progressive rock I had expected. Despite this, the set was still pretty varied, with more upbeat songs mixed in with some slower moments. There was a lengthy song played towards the end of their set which certainly fit in with the 'progressive' tag, with plenty of keyboard and guitar solos for the crowd to enjoy. There were clearly a few of the band's fans already in the crowd by the time they started their set, as overall they were well received. Their last song in particular went down really well and brought a fair amount of clapping and singing from certain portions of the crowd. While I was certainly not blown away by the band, I did enjoy their time on stage and I will probably get around to checking out one of their albums in the future when I can find some time to do so.

The main support act were the Scottish hard rockers Gun who are a band I have run into previously at other shows I have been at. While I would only consider myself a casual fan of theirs, I have grown to enjoy some of their work over the past couple of years so did not mind having to see them again. The band only had around 40 minutes to play with, but they made their time on stage count with an upbeat set packed with a good mix of old and new material. She Knows from their latest album got the evening underway, and the band were rocking from the off. Frontman Dante Gizzi was in fine form and interacted with the crowd well throughout, and sung the numbers old and new well alike. While Gun never truly whipped the crowd up, they still managed to elicit a decent reaction throughout, with the old single Better Days getting more than a few cheers and their famous cover of Word Up! seeing a fair bit of movement down at the front. The great thing about Gun however is the fact that they always look like that they are having a great time. Founding guitarist Jools Gizzi had a smile on his face throughout the set, and new guitarist Tommy Gentry covered most of the stage during the evening peeling off solo after solo with glee. The spiky new number Favourite Pleasures was a late highlight, before the semi-anthemic Shame On You brought their short set to a close. While Gun may be also-rans in the British rock scene, they are certainly a fun band and I enjoyed having another opportunity to catch them live. The setlist was:

She Knows
Don't Say it's Over
Better Days
Take Me Down
Word Up! [Cameo cover]
Favourite Pleasures
Steal Your Fire
Shame On You

There was about half an hour after Gun finished their set before Uriah Heep started, but at around 9:15pm the lights went down the crowd let out a large cheer. What followed was just over an hour and a half of great British classic rock, played by one of the bands who defined the sound - and everyone in attendance seemed to really lap it up! The band stormed onto the stage, brimming with energy, and immediately launched into Grazed by Heaven - the opening number from their new album. The band's new album really dominated the set, with half of it featuring throughout the evening, and what was immediately clear was how powerful these new songs really were. Frontman Bernie Shaw really belted out the song's big chorus, and Phil Lanzon's (keyboards/vocals) Hammond organ really filled the venue with its rumbling power. There was a quick detour to their more AOR-centric 1980s period, with the stadium-worthy Too Scared to Run getting a welcome airing, but most of the show's first half was taken up with the Living the Dream material. The catchy single Take Away My Soul was a real winner, with the while band harmonising well throughout the whole song, and frantic drummer Russell Gilbrook keeping time perfectly while hitting the drums extremely hard! Even the band's first foray into their 1970s classic era material was for the relatively rarely-played Rainbow Demon, a slower moodier piece filled with glorious Hammond organ and a chorus that sounds like Queen before Queen even existed. A couple of newer numbers followed, culminating in the epic Rocks in the Road which is certainly the centrepiece of the new album. The piece is around eight minutes long, and ends with a lengthy and bombastic instrumental section. Both Lanzon and founding member Mick Box (guitar/vocals) both had the chance to solo here, with the two often operating in tandem for a powerful sound. The rest of the set was made up of classic material from their 1970s catalogue, with the stabbing hard rock of Gypsy and an extended version of Look at Yourself sounding as fresh as they did when they were written. Box in particular shone during the latter, which featured a long closing solo from him. This allowed him to really showcase his wah-drenched style perfectly, and the crowd rightly sounded their appreciation. The genuine epic July Morning and the acoustic-based sing-a-long Lady in Black brought the main set to a close, with the latter seeing the band's terminally ill former drummer Lee Kerslake take to the stage to sing the song with Shaw and add some additional percussion throughout. This was a great gesture from the band, and it was great to see Kerslake back up on a stage where he belongs. The band left the stage afterwards to big cheers, and of course this brought them back out for a couple more. The shimmering Sunrise was the first of two more songs played, but it was the fast-paced early single Easy Livin' that really got everyone moving once more. It was a perfect song to end the set on and it ensured that the evening really finished on a high! The setlist was:

Grazed by Heaven
Too Scared to Run
Living the Dream
Take Away My Soul
Rainbow Demon
Waters Flowin'
Rocks in the Road
Gypsy
Look at Yourself
July Morning
Lady in Black [w/ Lee Kerslake]
-
Sunrise
Easy Livin'

Overall, this was a really powerful set from a veteran band who have nothing left to prove. Uriah Heep maintain a busy touring schedule throughout the world, and keep doing it because they truly love it. They are showing no signs of slowing down yet, and I am already looking forward to their next batch of UK shows.