Location: Club Stop / Bled / Slovenia
Concert date: 05.07.2007
Attendance: 160
Ticket price: 9.00€
John Lawton has been showing up in the Slovenian public eye lately almost as often as the meticulously polished hairdo of “our beloved hero” Janez Janša. With one difference, of course – while the sight of the latter’s flabby belly makes a person’s stomach, as per tradition, surrender yet again to the malicious designs of abdominal centrifugal forces, every minute spent in the company of the charismatic English gentleman is an utterly pleasant experience, both musically and socially. Little John proved once more what he’s made of. With his rowdy English charm, laced with a mysterious depth, one of the main ingredients in his colorful “soulful” vocal kitchen, he rode the energy of an always convincing performance by our Postojna friends Mary Rose and delivered yet another vivid demonstration of the power of the steel character of the old school of rock ‘n’ roll. This one, probably thanks in part to the intimacy of Bled’s Stop club, which nevertheless stands miles away from the ideal venue for this kind of musical event, topped its previous Umag adventure in every respect.
With all this praise heaped on John Lawton, we obviously have to say a word or two about the excellent Mary Rose, without whom we’d only be attending this kind of mini musical spectacle in Slovenia in our dreams. The guys are simply great. Their performance combines all the essential elements needed to play music at such a high level. Mr. Lawton is well aware of these qualities too, which, besides the constant playing together, is best noticed right on stage, where this happy combination of youthful drive and experience always makes for an exciting musical journey. If we had to look for any criticism of the evening at all, we’d find it only in the setlist, which once again cautiously steered clear of songs by the popular Primorska collective. Caution, or maybe even shyness, doesn’t do such a well-oiled machine any special favors, and Mary Rose surely is one, but in the end it wasn’t a big problem, since Thursday’s evening in Bled, let’s be honest, was reserved first and foremost for fans of John Lawton’s music. We were quickly reminded of that when he made his elegant leap onto the stage and Davor’s “keyboard” intro to The Hanging Tree kicked in, which by tradition opens Lawton’s musical lectures on the sunny side of the Alps. The man shamelessly poured his great sense of ease in the company of Mary Rose, right from the start, into heartfelt interpretations of old Uriah Heep classics, both from his own era of the band and from the more famous Byron period. This carefully chosen bouquet of legendary rock tunes got an extra spice in the form of a surprise, Free n’ Easy, which, with its near-identical rhythm to the indispensable Easy Livin’, was one of the more exciting moments of the evening. The rest of the night moved around the tried and well-rehearsed formula already seen at the Umag biker festival. Combining songs like Stealin’ with the moodier Free Me gave the evening a strongly noticeable variety factor, right in the middle of which Wise Man settled in comfortably, in the interpretation of the duo Lawton – Davor. The latter pampered us once again in the expected solo spot with imitations of Jon Lord, Dvořák, Mozart and other masters of the black and white keys. Still excellent were Eki, who in his trademark wide-legged stance kept delighting us with brilliant, fiery guitar playing, and the relentless rhythm section of youngsters Jure and Mitja. In the middle of all this racket, Mr. Lawton himself had a blast too, glass in hand, constantly hopping to the right toward his vocal colleague Žak, who, interestingly, seemed by far the liveliest of all the protagonists of the evening.
Despite the brilliant renditions of well-known tunes like Still Paying My Dues To The Blues and Reach Out, which rounded off John Lawton’s musical picture in grand style, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the vast majority still wait most eagerly for songs from the iron, and consequently oldest, Heep repertoire. John Lawton and Mary Rose undoubtedly made these folks happy with the aforementioned jump into Easy Living, Lady In Black and a heavily amplified Gypsy. All three Heep anthems were delivered in more than satisfying packaging, which once again confirmed the excellent credentials of both John Lawton and the phenomenal Mary Rose.
Text: Daniel Pavlica
Setlist
1. The Hanging Tree 2. Take You High 3. Stealin’ 4. Reach Out 5. The Wizard 6. Sympathy 7. I’m Alive 8. Wise Man 9. Still Paying My Dues To The Blues 10. Lady In Black 11. Easy Livin’ 12. Free Me —encore— 13. Free N’Easy 14. Gypsy
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