Uriah Heep - Birmingham Review

Anniversary tours seem to be a regular feature of my gigging calendar at the moment. Last week I went to Bristol to celebrate Anthrax's 40th anniversary, and yesterday I headed up to Birmingham to spend the evening with Uriah Heep - who are currently celebrating half a century in the music industry. In truth, they were actually 50 two years ago - and this tour was supposed to take place in 2020. Following two postponements, though, it was great to finally head up to Birmingham yesterday to see Uriah Heep again for the seventh time. Despite that, though, it actually was not all that long ago that I last saw the band live. Despite their own tour being postponed a couple of times, the band did a couple of UK shows earlier this year in support of Saxon - who themselves were celebrating their delayed 40th birthday. I caught one of those shows at a sold out Eventim Apollo - and it was a great night of metal. Saxon were the band of the night, of course, but 50 or so minutes of Uriah Heep formed a great part of the evening. Uriah Heep are always worth seeing, even if they only get to a play a short set, but their show at the Apollo back in January certainly whetted my appetite to finally see them on their own terms again yesterday. The last time that I had seen the band headline was in December 2018 - when they were touring the UK supporting that year's release Living the Dream. That show was very much a forward-thinking one, with quite a few of the songs from Living the Dream making the set. Given the celebratory nature of this latest tour, though, I was expecting the setlist to be much more varied - and probably contain a good number of the band's classic tracks alongside some deep cuts. That is essentially what the band ended up doing, in a format that I will get to, but they also decided to forgo having a support act and present the shows in an 'Evening With...' style. This allowed the band to play longer sets, which ensured that a number of different songs could be played. The tour included a healthy number of UK shows but the Birmingham one made the most sense back in 2020. The 2022 Birmingham show ended up on a Monday, which is never ideal - but I was not going to miss this tour for a reason so trivial. The venue was the Symphony Hall, too, which is always a great place for concerts. I was last there in November last year, when I saw Marillion, so it was great to return again. It was not as busy for Uriah Heep as it was for Marillion, but I imagine that the show being on a Monday did not help. Uriah Heep are definitely playing larger venues than usual on this tour, too, but there was still a decent crowd in the Symphony Hall throughout the night despite the handfuls of empty seats around. I ended up with good seats, on one of the slightly raised side sections of the Stalls. The view of the stage from these seats was excellent and, as is typical of the Symphony Hall, the sound was good throughout the night.

As there was no support act, the lights went down at 8pm and Uriah Heep took to the stage in front of a white curtain to treat the crowd to a short opening set of acoustic-based numbers. As an intro to this, though, a video was played that featured a number of prominent rock and metal musicians wishing the band a happy birthday - similar to how Anthrax are currently opening their shows. This set the scene nicely, before 50 or so minutes of acoustic music was played that included a number of lesser-played numbers. Most of the songs in the first set I had not seen the band perform live before, and the gentle nature of the performance eased the crowd into the lengthy show. The delicate Circus and Tales opened the show, and it was great to hear these two deeper cuts live. I am not sure that too many in attendance were that familiar with the songs, though, so the applause was rather polite following them - but the energy levels were kicked up a notch next with a rousing version of Free Me. Frontman Bernie Shaw got up off his stool for this one, and prowled the front of the stage encouraging the crowd to sing along with him during the powerful folk rock chorus. The track certainly woke everyone up somewhat, but the pace was then slowed again for the emotive ballad Come Away Melinda - an old The Weavers cover that Uriah Heep included on their 1970 debut album ...Very 'Eavy ...Very 'Umble. This is another rarely-played track, but it is a bit of a fan favourite - and when guitarist Mick Box announced that they were going to play it there was quite a bit of applause. A couple of medleys then followed, and the first of which left just Shaw and Phil Lanzon (keyboards/vocals) on the stage to play a mash-up of the deep cut Confession and the classic-era cut Rain. I was not familiar with Confession, as 1976's High and Mighty is one of the few Uriah Heep albums that I have not listened to, but it came across really well live in the simple vocal and piano arrangement it was presented in. It gave Shaw nowhere to hide vocally, but he nailed it. He is such a dependable live singer, and I do not think that I have ever seen him deliver a bad performance. He has been the band's longest-serving singer for a reason, and he delivered throughout both the acoustic set and the full-blown electric set that was to come. The second of the two medleys featured three songs from 1972's Demons and Wizards played together - and the highlight of this section for me was hearing the album's opening cut The Wizard played live again. It is a real favourite song of mine, but the band do not play it too often, so this was one of the overall highlights of the set for me. By this point the acoustic set was coming to a close, but there was time for the ever-present classic Lady of Black to round it out. This was another song that encouraged quite a lot of audience participation, with the band slowly stopping playing to allow the wordless vocal refrain of the crowd to mark their exit.

Following a bit of a break during which the stage was cleared of all of the band's acoustic instruments, the lights went down again and the curtain dropped to reveal the band in full-on electric mode. The set that followed was filled with songs which have generally been played on and off in recent years, but there were a handful that I had not seen the band do live before - and the selection of songs played perfectly celebrated the band's 50-plus year history. Given the acoustic set that had already taken place, the band did not really feature any ballads in their electric set. The second half of the show was instead one of all-out hard rock - with the barrelling Against the Odds opening things up. Drummer Russell Gilbrook, who had been uncharacteristically restrained during the acoustic set, was back to his usual hard-hitting self by this point. The pulsing, mid-paced hard rock of The Hanging Tree followed, which saw Lanzon take on a more atmospheric keyboard role away from his Hammond organ, before he then laid into his signature instrument during Traveller in Time. The track has always been one of my favourite songs of the band's to hear live because of how hard rocking and rhythmic it is. Box's guitar riff propelled everything forward, whilst the Hammond of Lanzon added the band's signature growl. The poignant Between Two Worlds was then wheeled out, and dedicated to all of the previous members of the band that have sadly died. Shaw was on fire throughout the show, but this one really showcased him. The song rocks, but it is perhaps not as full-on as some of the others played - and this allowed his voice a bit more room to breathe. The band's trademark vocal harmonies made everything sound bigger, too, and the sound mix allowed these harmonies to have the desired effect throughout the show. The pulsing Stealin' then encouraged some more singing by the crowd, but the next big highlight for me was the AOR-tinged Too Scared to Run - the only song from the 1980s that was played. It has always been a winner live for me, and its anthemic chorus really cut through the venue. The moodier Rainbow Demon, with lashings of Hammond, then lowered the tone somewhat - and the slower vibe was continued with the newer What Kind of God, which featured another soaring Shaw vocal. By this point time was starting to run out, though, and it was left to four classic tracks to round out the main set. The soaring, harmony-heavy Sunrise went down well as always - whilst the bouncy Sweet Lorraine was another personal highlight. I had not seen the band do the song live before, and the party anthem really connected with the crowd. The pseudo-metal of Free 'n' Easy then was wheeled out for a last burst of pace, before the epic July Morning closed everything out. The song showcased Shaw again vocally, but Lazon also impressed on the Hammond - before Box took over to deliver a great guitar solo. It ended the main set on a real high, but there was time for a couple more quick ones. The stabbing Gypsy and the big single Easy Livin' made up a two-song encore and they really geed the crowd up one last time - bringing the house down. The setlist was:

Circus

Tales

Free Me

Come Away Melinda [The Weavers cover]

Confession/Rain

The Wizard/Paradise/Circle of Hands

Lady in Black

-

Against the Odds

The Hanging Tree

Traveller in Time

Between Two Worlds

Stealin'

Too Scared to Run

Rainbow Demon

What Kind of God

Sunrise

Sweet Lorraine

Free 'n' Easy

July Morning

-

Gypsy

Easy Livin'

As I mentioned earlier, this was my seventh time seeing Uriah Heep live. They have always been great, but given the length of the show this was likely the best of the bunch. The breadth of songs played was great, and the clear sound mix allowed the veteran band to shine. They seem to be showing no signs of slowing down, either. It is my understanding that a new album has already been recorded, so I expect that we will be getting some news about that once this tour comes to an end. I am always up to hear more from the band, and a new album likely means more UK shows - which I will definitely be getting a ticket for.