Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Hauptplatz / Leoben / Austria
Concert date: 13.05.2011
Attendance: 3,000
Ticket price: 36,00€ / 43,00€
Uriah Heep and Nazareth are old friends. Manfred Mann’s Earth Band also have fond memories of past get-togethers with Uriah Heep whenever they had to share a stage. And now it’s even happened that all three bands are on the same stage of the new Uriah Heep tour. In our previous Rockline report on our visit to the Nazareth and Uriah Heep shows in Vienna on 12.05.2011, we already mentioned that both bands have new albums out and are on new European tours. Since the two tours overlap in time and place, Uriah Heep and Nazareth agreed to join forces and share the stage again at some shows. Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, unlike the other two, have been in a creative slump for quite a while and haven’t released a new album in a full five years. And the last one was anything but a worthy successor to the gems defined by albums like “Watch”, “The Roaring Silence”, “Solar Fire” etc…
Anyway, this time Leoben was the lucky destination that brought all three bands together on one stage at a smaller festival called “Rock Classic Festival”. Leoben is a pleasant, classic brick-built Austrian town on the Mur river. On this particular day the town square was carefully fenced off so no riffraff without a ticket could wander in. Around six in the afternoon, a Slovenian CCR tribute band started warming up the crowd. You read that right! Slovenians! These guys had already warmed us up on 05.05.2011 before the Nazareth show in Villach. A very fitting choice that goes great with a lineup of three rock giants. Convincing playing and 40 minutes of evergreen, melodic goodness were followed by a second band, this one of Austrian origin. Sadly, they couldn’t deliver the same. Modern alt rock with male and female vocals! Neither of them has an ounce of charisma. When vocals like that open a show with a Pink Floyd cover, Another Brick In The Wall pt. II, it can lead to only one thing: covering your ears (and eyes). Plain and simple. A waste of time for the next three quarters of an hour. Luckily, during that stretch I ran into a few more brave adventurers and music lovers at the venue who had made their way from Slovenia to Leoben, so we ended up as a merry little band of eight Slovenian musical musketeers.
Just past eight, Nazareth hit the stage. The day before in Vienna, Austria, Nazareth had delivered another excellent show that proved the legends aren’t giving up. The guys served up exactly the same repertoire as the day before in Vienna, but conjured up a completely different concert feel. This time they played in the open air, with the venue set up for about 4,000 heads, stands included. Since it was packed and the square is elongated in shape, the acoustics were excellent. The band is extremely popular in Austria even these days, as proven both by the jam-packed Villach, where Nazareth played a headline show, and a week later by the equally packed Gasometer in Vienna. This time too, the crowd cheered on the legendary foursome in unison and with real focus, and in Leoben Nazareth pulled off a show that topped even the intensity of the feelings they delivered through the unique charisma of the seductive Scottish rock n’ roll the band is known for. McCafferty’s vocals sounded great. Despite the heavy use of echo effects piled on from the mixing desk, his voice could sound destructively roaring as well as sensual and incredibly soft when needed. Of course, Dan is the one who carries Nazareth’s credibility today, some 70% of its image. The thing that tipped the scales in Leoben’s favor compared to the Vienna experience was guitarist Jimi Murrison. He felt more than at home on stage, and his soloing was extremely smooth and fluid this time. That was confirmed above all by the stretched-out solo spot in Changing Times and the closing section of Morning Dew at the end. This time too, the touch of sarcasm from these venerable highlanders worked at full strength, and it gave their show that juicy seasoning and fullness it needed. Fans of classic sounds clearly got their fill with classics like Silver Dollar Forger, This Month’s Messiah, Hair Of The Dog and Changing Times, while the wider audience made no secret of its eruptive enthusiasm for the obligatory evergreens of the iron Naz repertoire: Dream On, This Flight Tonigh, Love Hurts and Razamanaz. The band made excellent use of the huge stage and said goodbye after an hour and 10 minutes to a thoroughly fired-up crowd that kept demanding one more encore. But time, sadly, had run out.
The most interest was generated by Manfred Mann’s Earth Band. Especially after bandleader Manfred Mann officially announced on 13.03.2011 that the band’s new vocalist is Robert Hart. Robert Hart is a seasoned singer. He left his mark on three Bad Company albums and also worked with former members of Coverdale’s Whitesnake in The Company Of Snakes.
With Manfred Mann’s Earth Band there’s no messing around. In their ranks they have two exceptional musical wizards. The first is the band’s head, Manfred Mann, on keyboards and generally spacious moog improvisations, and the second is one of the finest guitarists in the classic business, a true “virtuoso”, Mick Rogers. Manfred Mann’s Earth Band are the oldest band that stood on the stage this evening. That they became famous above all for completely reworking songs by other artists, such as Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan, and giving them an almost progressive face through crafted dialogues of clever improvisational tricks, is an old story. That means the word “jazz” is also very familiar territory for Manfred Mann’s Earth Band.
The band kept the setlist practically unchanged compared with their European shows in autumn 2009, just shuffling the running order of the songs a bit. So at the start, when the guys tackled Captain Bobby Scout, all eyes were on how Robert Hart would sing for us. Apparently the pairing with his predecessor Peter Cox, with whom Manfred Mann’s Earth Band toured Europe in autumn 2009, didn’t work out. Unlike the mostly stationary Cox, Hart is a much more bouncy and mobile stage frontman. His voice is better suited to buddying up with solid blues rock rhetoric, though of course Chris Thompson remains irreplaceable on the team.
The first surprise of the get-together with Manfred Mann’s Earth band came from the boss himself, Manfred Mann, who in the closing section of the superb rendition of Dylan’s Father Of Day, Father Of Night strolled onto the stage with a keyboard strapped over his shoulders and traded a few vivid solo duels with the master Rodgers. The bandleader, otherwise always reserved toward the audience, usually sits safely hidden behind a fortress of keyboards. Preferably turned in profile to the crowd, always wearing a hat and only occasionally fully lit by the spotlights. That was the case during this show too, which is why his walk over to his companion Mick on guitar drew loud ovations from the crowd. Father Of Day, Fathr Of Night once again confirmed Mick Rogers’ exceptional character. Excellent lead vocals from the guitarist and, once again, outstanding control of the tones on the guitar. Out of just a few notes Rodgers wrings a true masterpiece of improvisation, slaloming skillfully and craftily (in line with an exceptional mileage of past experience) between sensual sophistication and more sharply cut passages. Improvisation “par exellence”, with a clearly highlighted touch of sparkling mischief and an element of unpredictability. Everything, in short, that a true Manfred Mann’s Earth Band fan came to the show for this evening.
The band surprised us by adding another Springsteen classic, reworked in a completely idiosyncratic way, which they hadn’t played on the previous European tour. For You! An excellent song that took Manfred Mann’s Earth band into the obligatory encore, followed by a stretched-out Mighty Quinn, where Mick and Manfred once again traded some vivid solo passages that never stopped delighting. Manfred Mann’s Earth Band did their job once again with exceptional distinction. For music gourmets, those of you who like the occasional bit of musical “noodling” combined with the embodiment of melodic accessibility, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band were surely the peak of the evening. The sound? Unique!
Uriah Heep took the stage only a little before eleven at night. The tuning and calibration for Manfred Mann’s Earth Band took much longer than expected. 40 minutes. So the little festival stretched out a bit more. During that time quite a few overheated, alcohol-laden heads were staggering and stumbling around the front of the stage. By that hour there was plenty of drunk folk about, and you really had to watch out that nobody accidentally and unintentionally “trampled” you, knocked you over, or sloshed booze brew on you.
A fired-up Heep, with a freshly released album in their pocket, delivered yet another outstanding show. The band is thriving on the style of its last two albums, and the compactness the lineup achieves on stage, in terms of everyone being in tune with each other, is extraordinary. Great stage mood, stage chemistry at full gallop, the band warmed up to proper working-day temperature. The instantly catchy I’m Ready from the new album “Into The Wild” (2011) confirms their strong character and masterful command of multi-part vocal harmonies, and things pick up intensity when the guys rip into the classic Return To Fantasy and then another one. The flirty Stealin’, which finally wakes up the crowd of more than three and a half thousand and “forces” them to join in.
Given the even bigger turnout and the spacious feel the Leoben square gives, this experience felt even more loaded with rock dynamite and stage explosiveness, which these esteemed gentlemen still possess today. Mick Box in total command, with his signature wah-wah pedal playing, the band’s charismatic frontman and man of eternal cheerfulness Bernie Shaw, the outstanding bassist Trevor Bolder, in the back (in the lineup) the by now thoroughly integrated wild drummer Russell Gillbrook, and the charming silver-haired dandy Phil Lanzon, the tallest Uriah Heep man on keyboards. No hesitation.
The song Nail on the Head, where Bernie had slipped up in the closing section the day before in Vienna, was tuned to perfection this time. An excellent mix of new and classic material once again made the clock hands spin in the blink of an eye. There were the “Demons And Wizards” (1972) classics The Wizard and Rainbow Demon, which again stand out in the repertoire, and the moments when the bond between audience and band grips even more genuinely and intensely (Gypsy, July Morning. Look At Yourself). Solid, loud, yet immensely melodic! At the end, the mandatory communal revelry to the even more mandatory Lady In Black, and the band returns to the stage and invites the most fired-up headbangers up there to help them chop out the only John Lawton-era song in the live repertoire, Free N’ Easy. With Bird Of Prey and Easy Livin’ Uriah Heep drive the show to its end, which is tied together by a rousing exit in classic Heep manner with The Land Of Hope And Glory.
An outstanding evening of live music. Three bands, three completely different concert adventures and experiences. Each has its own charm, each preaches in its own language. A must for all fans of classic sounds, and for anyone who cares that in 2011 you can still watch the bands that got rock back on its feet play right in front of you. Uriah Heep, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band and Nazareth are defying time in full force and holding a constant of exceptional form on stage that looks almost immortal. Of course there’s a pinch of exaggeration here, but it’s truly incredible how much truth there is in this case in the old saying of our forefathers: “Like wine! The older, the better!”
photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Setlist
NAZARETH:
1. Intro
2. Silver Dollar Forger
3. Big Dogz Gonna Howl
4. This Month’s Messiah
5. Dream On
6. This Flight Tonight
7. Radio
8. When Jesus Comes To Save The World Again
9. Changing Times
10. Hair Of The Dog
—encore—
11. Razamanaz
12. Love Hurts
13. Morning Dew
MANFRED MANN’S EARTH BAND:
1. Captain Bobby Scout
2. Martha’s Madman
3. Father Of Day, Father Of Night
4. Dancing in The Dark
5. Shake, Rattle & Roll
6. Blinded By The Light
7. Davy’s On The Road Again
—encore—
8. For You
9. Mighty Quinn
URIAH HEEP:
1. Intro
2. I’m Ready
3. Return To Fantasy
4. Stealin’
5. Rainbow Demon
6. Money Talk
7. Drum solo
8. Nail On The Head
9. The Wizard
10. Into The Wild
11. Gypsy
12. Look At Yourself
13. Kiss Of Freedom
14. July Morning
15. Lady In Black
—encore—
16. Free N’ Easy
17. Bird Of Prey
18. Easy Livin’
Photo Gallery
