Wizard Ken Hensley and His Apprentices Conjure Up Some Heep Magic in the Heart of Trieste, With Pretty Mixed Results (2012)

Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik

Venue: Castello Di San Giusto / Trieste / Italy
Concert date: July 27, 2012
Attendance: 400
Ticket price: €16.00

After the unforgettable evening with Three Friends, who brought the legendary Gentle Giant back to life for a little while, the second day of the Summer Rock festival, held in Trieste every year, served up a visit from yet another legend of progressive rock’s golden age. Ken Hensley is best known among rock fans as the unforgettable Uriah Heep keyboardist who, in that cult band’s best days, was also the main lyricist and wrote most of the music, and now and then sang and played backing guitar as well.

Hensley, who kicked off his solo career while still a member of Uriah Heep with the albums »Proud Words On a Dusty Shelf« from 1973 and »Eager To Please« from 1975, is known not only as a first-rate musician but also as a man with a hefty ego. In 1980, somewhat offended that the rest of the band didn’t simply take his role as the most important creator of the music for granted, and unhappy with the group’s further sonic direction, he left his longtime comrades and went his own way. Since then he’s put out a handful of more or less solid albums, briefly worked with the Florida band Blackfoot, moved to Spain for good and successfully kicked his cocaine addiction, which he made up for with a sudden burst of religious fervor, one that, luckily, only rarely rattles his concert audiences. Ken, who released a new album titled »Love & Other Mysteries« this May, doesn’t usually play many shows outside the UK, so his visit, especially after the news of his imminent retirement, was a really nice surprise.

Warming things up as the support act were Italy’s Garden Wall, whose brand of dark, technical prog metal, noticeably influenced by Dream Theater and Opeth, was a rather unusual but definitely solid choice. This prog metal collective with jazzy tendencies, active since the late eighties and with eight records under its belt, thrilled plenty of fans of fast, noisy guitars with the virtuosity of lead guitarist Raffaella Indri, who you could tell grew up listening to Joe Satriani. Vocalist/rhythm guitarist and bandleader Alessandre Seravalle goes for a relatively brutal singing approach, which fit nicely with the mostly satirical, socially critical lyrics, full of playful, black-humored metaphors and witty improvisations on the side. Definitely a band that deserves the attention of all fans of technically polished prog metal. By the way, the name Garden Wall isn’t exactly the most original, but it belongs to a famous legacy: it’s what the first band of Peter Gabriel and Tony Banks was called back in the mid-sixties, before they joined forces with Mike Rutherford and Anthony Phillips, members of the band The Anon, and everybody renamed themselves Genesis.

After Garden Wall said their goodbyes, five unfamiliar faces walked onto the stage together with two middle-aged backing vocalists. This was, of course, Ken’s backing band, Forever Free. Then, after they arrived, we finally got the well-known figure in washed-out jeans, who looks more and more like an aging Native American chief or, even more fittingly, a wizard, even though he tries to win back a bit of a youthful image by dyeing his hair. To the delight of most people present that night, Ken played nothing but Uriah Heep classics and steered clear of his solo stuff. Many were hoping for a surprise or two, some ‘forgotten’ standards that Heep haven’t played in ages, but with the exception of the pretty poorly sung gem »Sweet Freedom«, Ken didn’t surprise us with anything special. To open, he picked the eternal cowboy chestnut »Stealin’«, which not even a long organ intro, into which he threw the main theme of the »Demons And Wizards« (1972) classic »Rainbow Demon«, managed to freshen up. That night Ken played a Hammond organ lent to him by the renowned Trieste keyboardist Alex Falcone, a member of the Uriah Heep tribute band Sweet Lorraine.

»Circle Of Hands« was one of the few Heep classics that Ken and his backing crew pulled off pretty well as a whole, even stirring up some of the magic of Hensley’s former band. The hastily recruited Italian backing lineup didn’t live up to expectations, though, as it was often not up to the challenge, which goes especially for the singer, who had to keep looking at his lyric sheets and at times was flat-out struggling with failed vocal interpretations. Luckily, two Italian backing vocalists came to his aid and did their job very well. Credit is also due to the lead guitarist, who convincingly nailed all the demanding solos in Mick Box’s original versions, while the bassist got ‘eaten alive’ by Trevor Bolder as a ‘light snack’. Ken’s own vocal form isn’t what it once was either, and he hasn’t been able to reach the high notes for a long time, which disappointed quite a few people who weren’t expecting that. »Sunrise« was, surprisingly, one of the few Heep classics where the lead vocalist, who was still peeking at his lyric scrolls, came off confidently even on the high notes.

During »July Morning« they even botched the closing section, and thanks to the confused lead singer, at whom Hensley shot a slightly bewildered look, they repeated a verse we’d already heard, which clearly shows how well-rehearsed this hastily thrown-together band of Ken’s really was. Midway through the show Ken ‘chased’ his comrades off the stage and, with an electric piano in front of him, tackled two evergreen Heep ballads on his own, »Wise Man« and »Rain«, trying at least to soften the blow of his backing band’s lackluster performance. Instrumentally, there was nothing to fault in either of these beloved ballads, but Ken’s still-melodic voice has lost its former emotional power and depth over the years, even though some of the old fervor remains. The years, sadly, have taken their toll.

Like it or not, Kenny couldn’t get out of playing one of the best-known Heep evergreens, »Easy Livin’«, which can’t be missing from any Heep classics setlist, live or in the studio, even though plenty of the people gathered in front of the stage wouldn’t have missed it one bit. Of the acoustic-flavored Heep classics, the beloved »The Wizard«, where the crowd helped with the singing as usual all the way through, was the best of the night and came off confident enough. The close of the main set with Ken’s best-known Heep classic, »Lady In Black«, which he used for a big sing-along with the crowd, was more than expected and held no surprises. The biggest diehards in the front rows almost drowned out Kenny with deliberately thunderous singing of the chorus, which he noticed right away and acknowledged with a smile. That was followed by the obligatory first encore, a vocally all-over-the-place version of »Gypsy«, though the lead guitarist again proved himself with his take on Box’s solos, while Hensley, as usual, shone on the Hammond. At barely an hour and a half, plus a pretty predictable second encore in the form of »Look At Yourself«, the show was way too short, but Ken was unyielding in his decision to briskly take his leave.

Catching Ken Hensley live is a real rarity, and in that sense an evening with the ‘wizard’, whose vocals have sadly not been spared by the years, was a genuinely lovely gig experience with an unavoidable aura of nostalgia. In the future, though, it wouldn’t hurt him to think hard about who he picks for his live backing band, especially when it comes to the lead singer, and maybe lure the legendary John Lawton back into the fold.

Setlist

1. Intro
2. Stealin’
3. Circle Of Hands
4. Sweet Freedom
5. Sunrise
6. July Morning
7. Wise Man
8. Rain
9. Easy Livin’
10. The Wizard
11. Lady In Black
—encore I—
12. Gypsy
—encore II—
13. Look At Yourself

Photo Gallery