Uriah Heep, Bonnie Tyler and Nazareth – A Nostalgic Night of Rock Classics in Austrian Carinthia (2025)
Acts: Tobbaco Road Blues Band / Nazareth / Bonnie Tyler / Uriah Heep
Date: Friday, 25 July 2025, from 5:00 PM to 11:00 PM
Location: Moosburg (Možberk) / Schlosswiese / Austria
Uriah Heep and Nazareth are old acquaintances. Two legendary bands who helped cement the shape of global rock culture in the seventies, two bands that have seen pretty much everything. Heaven and hell. Both are still standing. Incredible, really. This year Uriah Heep celebrate their 55th anniversary, and Nazareth top them by a full year. Germany and Austria have always been their touring home and we’ve seen them together plenty of times over the years. But paired with one of the most recognizable female voices in ’80s pop rock — Bonnie Tyler? Never. And no, this is no April Fools’ joke — we’re already into early August!
Rain once again had the final say at the idyllic castle meadow of the estate complex in Moosburg, near Klagenfurt. Not the wall-of-water kind that last year essentially washed out the Toto and Uriah Heep sets at this very same venue, but enough to make rain capes more than welcome. A crowd of several thousand poured in from all directions onto the meadow where the massive stage structure stood — and just after five in the afternoon, local lads Tobacco Road Blues Band took to it, scaled down for the occasion to an acoustic duo. We caught them with half an ear while still deep in the queue, working our way toward the site.
At 6:15 PM our old friends Nazareth take the stage. They’ve been given a generous slot. The legendary band performs in a lineup where the only original member still standing — at 79 years old — is bassist Pete Agnew. His longtime companion, the irreplaceable Dan McCafferty, is no longer with us; vocal duties have been handled for some time now by Carl Sentance, known among other things for his work with Krokus. Pete’s son Lee Agnew is on drums, Jimmy Murrison on guitar. The band delivered an hour’s worth of material from their classic era, and it holds up beautifully — timeless, and special in every sense. Much like this band’s place in the rock ‘n’ roll universe. Sentance clearly can’t be McCafferty, but the man does his best to draw parallels with the late legend. Some moments land better than others. If anything, he might be better off just singing it his own way — Sentance is an excellent vocalist in his own right, but McCafferty is too much of a one-of-a-kind for anyone to come close.
That said, the band thundered along impressively — Lee and Pete holding the reins tight, while Jimmy, who shuffled onstage with a wave and a beer in hand, once again served up his fair share of sloppiness. The band also indulged in a few jams that frankly went nowhere and just ate up time. Better to have trimmed the set, or slotted in another track instead — My White Bycicle, for instance, which was conspicuously missing from the setlist this time around. Hair of the Dog is now played without the Scottish bagpipes — that’s been the case since Sentance became their frontman. Everyone was waiting for Love Hurts (originally performed by The Everly Brothers), and they did get it in the second half. The band also delivered a fantastic Dream On, while their taste for cheeky dark humor came through in Holiday and the aforementioned Hair of the Dog near the end. Razamanaz, after all these years of fighting the good fight, remains an absolutely stunning rock ‘n’ roll anthem in 2025. As said, you might expect a bit more kick off the stage, but however you cut it — solid. Legends are legends. If you haven’t seen Nazareth live yet, get yourself to their nearest show. This is a band that will one day, through sheer stubbornness, breathe its last on some stage somewhere on this planet — because live shows are their lifeblood!
Bonnie Tyler was a big unknown quantity going into the show. The lady is 71 and carrying it remarkably well. She’s backed by a tight, well-drilled band of craftsmen who delivered a balanced, genuinely good sound — the sonic landscape was nicely layered throughout. The downside, however, is that the ’80s pop rock icon has lost considerable vocal power with the passing years. She’s adjusted her vocal lines accordingly, and the crowd — whom she handed the verses to on multiple occasions — pitched in enthusiastically. The opening CCR classic Have You Ever Seen the Rain? slotted perfectly into the rainy atmosphere. Then came the phenomenal Hide Your Heart (written by Paul Stanley — you can find the Kiss version on their album “Crazy Nights”), followed by the essentials: the gorgeous It’s a Heartache, Total Eclipse of the Heart (where it was genuinely unclear whether the male backing vocals were pre-recorded or live), and a crushing finale with The Best (Tina Turner also has her own version) and Holding Out for a Hero. Every song confirmed that Bonnie’s voice isn’t what it was — but so what. What an honor to catch a legend like this on stage! Opportunities like this are running out fast, if they haven’t already.
Top billing on the night went to Uriah Heep, and rightly so. This is a band experiencing a genuine renaissance. Mick Box — the central figure, original founding member, and guitarist who’s been keeping this thing alive — turned 78 this year and is an absolute force on stage. And the rest of Uriah Heep match him every step of the way! The band has been running with an unchanged lineup since 2013. Alongside Box stand his inseparable companions: keyboardist Phil Lanzon and vocalist Bernie Shaw, both of whom joined the guitarist in the latter half of the ’80s, backed by a thunderous rhythm section — drummer Russell Gilbrook and bassist Dave Rimmer, who stepped in following the death of the unforgettable Trevor Bolder!
The sheer mileage Uriah Heep have clocked is impossible to miss! Over the years they’ve become such a well-oiled machine that things rarely go sideways. Simple as that — routine and experience. They adapt fast to anything. To sudden, unexpected changes. Even to moody weather. The rain was still coming down relentlessly during their set, but the band delivered the goods, no holds barred. Full throttle from the off. The sound was excellent, guitar lines backed by those thick Hammond organs absolutely leveling the place, and Bernie — his voice having dropped a notch or two over the years — working the crowd in his signature fired-up way, sovereign and commanding! With Russell Gilbrook on drums, some of those ’70s classics genuinely gained in intensity — or rather, took on a downright destructive quality.
Uriah Heep kicked off with two new tracks — both singles from the current album “Colour & Chaos” (2024), Grazed by Heaven and Save Me To Night — and immediately built their own unmistakable sonic landscape. The thunder from the stage only grew louder once the band launched into the “Look At Yourself” gem Shadows of Grief, which holds a truly special place on that 1971 album thanks to its progressive nature. For the connoisseurs in the crowd, this was the first of two peak moments in the Uriah Heep set. After the timeless classic The Wizard, the band pivoted to “The Magician’s Birthday” (1972), igniting things with the driving single Sweet Loraine before unleashing the epochal title track of that album — the second peak of the night. We were locked in on the centrepiece, which went on and on seemingly without end; Mick Box was in a phenomenally creative zone, completely in his element. He was coiled and soloing like there was no tomorrow, with no letup in sight to his guitar mayhem. Exceptional support came from the mighty Russell Gilbrook — an absolute beast behind the kit! The nearly twenty-minute progressive rock suite genuinely stands apart in the current setlist, which — except for Shadows of Grief — is built entirely from cast-iron classics and cuts from the new album!
When they close out the main set with three tracks that rank among the strongest moments of their career — opening with Gypsy, followed by the fantastic July Morning where the band once again proves just how tight and dialed-in they are, and then topped off with a blazing Easy Livin’ that Heep play like they could do it in their sleep — you know you’ve found yourself in the right place at the right time, in the company of genuine rock legends and icons. Wrapped in the pure vibration of classic rock ‘n’ roll! It simply doesn’t get any deeper or more honest than this. That kind of magic can only be conjured by the generation of musicians who broke the ground of true pioneering! That vibration only appears when these guys are on stage. And the Uriah Heep concert confirmed that, once again, exactly.
The hour-and-a-half ride was brought to a close in the encore by the gorgeous Sunrise, followed by the collective singalong and all-round joy of the inevitable Lady in Black — a song built on just two chords, and still the band’s most famous hit even 55 years into their unstoppable run. The entire crowd bellowed it out, and the atmosphere at that point was something else entirely! The rain didn’t bother a single soul!
This year’s evening of rock classics on the castle meadow in Moosburg was an unqualified success. The rain couldn’t stop what for many was a sacred rock ritual they simply couldn’t miss. Everyone who made the trip got exactly what they came for. Austria is a second home to both Uriah Heep and Nazareth, and this mini-festival gathering — enriched by the addition of Bonnie Tyler — only confirmed the deep respect these rock legends command just across our northern border. Which is why we’re already looking ahead with anticipation to next year and our next visit to this wonderfully welcoming venue nestled in the heart of Austrian Carinthia!
Author: Edita Klemen & Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Nazareth – setlist:
1. Miss Misery
2. Razamanaz
3. Shanghai’d in Shanghai
4. Dream On
5. This Flight Tonight
6. Holiday
7, Beggars Day
8. Love Hurts
9. Hair of the Dog
10. Morning Dew
Bonnie Tyler – setlist:
1. Have You Ever Seen the Rain? (orig. Creedence Clearwater Revival)
2. To Love Somebody (orig. Bee Gees)
3. Hide Your Heart
4. It’s a Heartache
5. Straight From the Heart (orig. Bryan Adams)
6. Yes I Can
7. Total Eclipse of the Heart
8. Faster Than the Speed of Night
9. The Best
10. Holding Out for a Hero
Uriah Heep – setlist:
1. Grazed by Heaven
2. Save Me Tonight
3. Shadows of Grief
4. Stealin’
5. Hurricane
6. The Wizard
7. Sweet Lorraine
8. The Magician’s Birthday
9. Gypsy
10. July Morning
11. Easy Livin’
—encore—
12. Sunrise
13. Lady in Black
