Artist:  Uriah Heep & Virgil And The Accelerators

Venue: 02 Academy, Newcastle 

Date: 12 December 2011   

In the music business these days bands come and go like the seasons, some not even lasting from one summer to the next, but when it comes to longevity, there are only a handful of bands who have been going for over 4 decades and only a small fraction of those are still producing new albums and still touring hard.

One of those band in that minority are the mighty Uriah Heep who are not only in their 42nd year as a band, but also have a new album to boot in 'Into The Wild', and to celebrate the new album, the band have taken to the road.  Tonight we caught them on the last but one date of their mammoth European tour, that has seen the band on the road for the best part of two thirds of the year.

But before the main event tonight we are treated to the fantastic blues guitar orientated rock of Virgil and the Accelerators.  I only managed to catch the back half of their set, but this is band that are going to the "A Roads" on the blues rock scene if any of tonight's set is anything to go by.  If you could put the best technical guitar players in the world together, then this is what you’d get as main man Virgil whips up a storm mixing influences like Hendrix, Santana, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Nugent, and Gary Moore into a blues masterclass.  I just wished we’d caught more of their set, but maybe next time.

Now on to the main event rock legends Uriah Heep with Mick Box, Bernie Shaw, Trevor Bolder, Phil Lanzon and Russell Gilbrook, showing that there may be a little snow on the roof, but there is still plenty of fire in the bellies.  Box may look like Gandolf in shades with a Les Paul instead of a staff, but he also shows he is "Lord Of The Strings" as the band kicked off their set with ‘I’m Ready’.  The first of many from the bands excellent new album, before launching into the fantastic ‘Return To Fantasy’.

Before turning back the years to 1979 to the 'Sweet Fantasy' album for ‘Stealin’, with Box throwing out shapes and plucking chords out of the air like a six string wizard, blending them a towering sound-scape in perfect harmony with the Hammond organ of Phil Lanzon, delivering pure old school Hard Rock that today might be construed by some as Prog Rock, but back in the seventies, Rock was just Rock, nothing more nothing less.

The set continued with the mighty vocals of Shaw delivering the perfect harmonies to ‘Rainbow Demon’, by this time the crowd was in total raptures, as young and old (mostly old, hell they made me feel young!) just watched in awe as these guys delivered power-driven ageless rock.

It was over to the new album 'Into The Wild' for the hard hitting ‘Money Talk’ and the stomping ‘Nail On The Head’, the latter starting off with an old school drum solo from Gilbrook, before rolling back the years once more for the rockin’ 'Overload'.

Now it was time for Box to pick up the acoustic guitar for a quick solo, before leading the band into the apt ‘Wizard’, with Box conjuring up some stirring stuff on the old six string.

It was back to the new album once more for the title track ‘Into The Wild’ and the band rocked it up big style with this one, with Shaw leading the pack on this song.  A quick swig of Newcastle Brown and it was back to the classics with one of my and many favourite Uriah Heep songs, the stunning ‘Gypsy’, which was started off as always by the soaring keys of Lanzon.  The powerful back-beat of Gilbrook joined by the thumping bass lines of Bolder and the stirring licks of Box, meant the crowd were now at fever pitch, with every man, woman and child singing along with Shaw on this majestic overture.  A song that may be over 40 years old, but still stands the test of time and ranks as one the bands finest.

There was no time to get our breath back as the band ripped straight into ‘Look At Yourself’, before bringing it down a touch with ‘July Morning’, with Shaw taking a seat on the bass monitor of Bolder, as he brought the gentle refrain to the masses.  This was ten minutes of pure ear candy.

Then it was time for another fan favourite ‘Lady In Black’, as the band brought a little Folk Rock into the mix and which also had the Newcastle choir in full voice as they raised the roof with a little "Ahhh Ahhh Ahhhh AHHHHH AHHHHH AHHHhhh Ahhh Ahhh Ahhhh", which rounded off the set nicely.  The band left the stage to deafening applause and chants of ... “Heep! Heep! Heep!”. 

 It wasn’t long before the guys were back on stage, this time inviting some female members of the audience join them on stage, which actually turned out to be men, women and children as everyone wanted a piece of the action with their heroes, for a little head-bang jam as they ripped through ‘Free And Easy’, and then ‘Bird Of Prey’, before putting the icing on the cake with what else but ‘Easy Livin’, which just capped off a great set.  
It may have been many years since the band have donned the stages of Newcastle, but it sure as hell was sure worth the wait.

 

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