Location: Lignano Sabbiadoro / Arena Alpe Adria / Italy
Date: Friday, July 31, 2015
This year’s edition of the Folkest festival, which traditionally takes place right next door to us in Friuli and Venezia Giulia, hit its peak with the announced appearance of British rock legends Uriah Heep, warmed up by the Italian acoustic duo Harduo.
Just a day before the famous Ferragosto and under a full moon, the second one of July, the venue drew a modest 2,000 people, if not fewer. After a slight delay, the Italians Harduo took the stage first, two acoustic guitar wizards by the names of Andrea Varnier and Raffaello Indri. Both come from the little town of Cerclaria near Udine. They released their debut “Ovest Hardita Est” in 2008, and in mid-January this year their new studio effort “Adamantis Haurora” came out on Folkest Dischi, which they presented at length to the crowd. Well, as much as the slightly under 30 minutes allowed. We got a heartfelt performance of acoustic melodiousness, with the guitars flowing delicately and in perfect unison, full of playful Mediterranean curiosity and rich improvisation, where you could pick out elements of world music, folk and rock, country, and even neo-classical figures. A lovely opener, then.
Uriah Heep, in the lineup of Bernie Shaw (vocals), Mick Box (guitar, backing vocals), Phil Lanzon (keyboards, backing vocals), Dave Rimmer (bass guitar, backing vocals) and Russell Gilbrook (drums, backing vocals), are still touring this summer in support of their latest studio album »Outsider«, released last June. The band hit the stage at exactly 10 p.m. and, in keeping with the new record, opened the show with the new track Speed of Sound, kicked off by a drum intro from the “raging” Russell Gilbrook. The sound limped a bit at first, with Dave Rimmer’s bass sticking out of the mix in particular, but the sound crew quickly balanced things out to an ear-friendly level.
These long-lived rock legends, still led in their 45th year by the one original founding member, the charismatic and one-of-a-kind guitarist Mick Box, are keeping up the momentum set off by the renaissance-style awakening of 2008, when the band finally released a new studio album, »Wake the Sleeper«, after a ten-year break. Interestingly, the vast majority of the audience found their spot in the stands and watched the show from there. The front rows of the floor, no more than ten of them, were taken by the hottest-blooded fans and connoisseurs of the band, eager for a more intense connection with the show.
The band showed a good dose of healthy routine. They played a ton, maybe even “too much” up to that day, and there are no hiding games among the members. Bassist Dave Rimmer has also fit into the quintet brilliantly by now. Next to Shaw, he brought by far the most action to the stage, constantly strolling over to Gilbrook in the middle, then in the next moment to Lanzon behind him on the right, and, like the rest of the crew, taking care of the backing vocal harmonies. Whenever Shaw left the stage for a moment, Box and Rimmer moved closer together during the song intros, using the middle of the stage and keeping the dynamic of the show going.
For all the general fact that rock’s elder statesmen are holding up wonderfully and defying their years, the one thing that slightly dented the positive impression was Shaw’s banter between songs, which revealed that the guy is totally at odds with numbers and probably flunked history in grade school. His first blunder came when he wrongly announced Stealin’ instead of Sunrise, and as a track from 1974, which it isn’t. The album »Sweet Freedom«, which Stealin’ is on, came out in 1973. He made his second slip before announcing one of the most gripping compositions of Uriah Heep’s career, The Hanging Tree, and then the second gem of tonight’s setlist, The Magician’s Birthday, when he again declared 1973 as the year it was made. The album »The Magician’s Birthday« actually came out in 1972. While rambling on about release years, Shaw got even sloppier by declaring 1973 the year progressive rock was invented, missing by at least six years if we count The Bealtes’ landmark album »Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band« (1967) as the starting point for the development of prog rock. Before announcing the “Wake the Sleeper” track What Kind Of God, Bernie did soften his mistakes by admitting he’s always been bad with numbers, since he wasn’t even sure when »Wake the Sleeper« came out. He guessed 2009. “Wake the Sleeper” actually came out in 2008. In short, Bernie could stand to read the Uriah Heep band bio now and then before opening his mouth so confidently in front of a crowd.
What interests us more is his vocal performance. Over the years his voice has dropped lower, that’s a fact, and it doesn’t pack the same power as it once did. Still, the tougher parts, especially the lines in the closing stretch of the demanding The Magician’s Birthday, proved that Bernie still holds an admirable high range and can still confidently match even the more demanding Hensley melodies. Gilbrook played the drums during The Magician’s Birthday without the kazoo, which was a signature element of his predecessor, the legendary Lee Kerslake.
With The Hanging Tree and The Magician’s Birthday, the setlist did offer a fair bit of consolation to spoiled connoisseurs, but it still featured decidedly too many new songs and predictable standards, which, combined with predictable delivery and stage routine, can start to induce indifference or even mid-gig boredom. Whether you’ve seen Uriah Heep twenty-five times, three times or never, that makes a real difference and evokes completely different feelings. The crowd was visibly having a great time, it’s just a shame the floor wasn’t fuller, as the energy exchange between audience and band would have been far more effective and noticeable.
So Uriah Heep are holding up. Going forward, it would be good for the band to shake up the setlist a bit, or record and release a new album with a softer shift in style and production (maybe closer to »Sea of Light« and/or »Sonic Origami«), because the modern formula of the »Wake The Sleeper« album is slowly getting dry and way too predictable. If you haven’t seen the legends live yet, Uriah Heep should be an absolute must on your future gig list. Given how long they’ve been at it, every show they play these days could well be their last.
author: Aleš Podbrežnik
photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Setlist:
1. Speed of Sound
2. The Hanging Tree
3. The Law
4. The Outsider
5. Sunrise
6. Stealin’
7. The Magician’s Birthday
8. What Kind of God
9. One Minute
10. Can’t Take That Away
11. July Morning
12. Lady in Black
—encore—
13. Gypsy
14. Easy Livin’
