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Mr Blue Sky
United Kingdom
195 Posts |
 Posted - 02 Dec 2002 : 13:15:20
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Uriah Heep took on the supporting role and chose acoustic mode, although only guitarist Mick Box was unplugged and acoustic! I have never heard them acoustically before and what hits you straight away is the power of Bernie Shaw’s vocals. He has a great range from belting out ‘The Other Side of Midnight’ (strange to hear that acoustic!) or mellower songs such as ‘The Wizard’ (great version tonight), ‘I’ll Keep On Trying’ and ‘Tales’.
A great set and the crowd were thoroughly enjoying it all! More please next year.
Asia were here to celebrate their twentieth anniversary and its was billed as featuring special guests (rumoured to include John Wetton and/or Steve Howe). Their set started with ‘Don’t Cry’ and ‘Days Like These’ – a great song live and it always puts a smile on your face. Newer material included ‘Arena’ and ‘Free’, which really rocks out when played live. Guitarist Guthrie Govan is a real find and he even airs his own instrumental ‘Bad Asteroid’. Other classics rolled out included ‘Sole Survivor’, ‘Sad Situation’ and ‘Who Will Stop the Rain?’. The band are spot on with drummer Chris Slade power drumming a highlight (including a snippet of AC/DC’s ‘Thunderstruck’, one of his previous bands) and Geoff Downes keyboards a highlight as well, including his instrumental version of the Buggles’ hit ‘Video Killed the Radio Star’. John Payne has a fine voice but sadly is no frontman and fails to get the majority of the crowd going. As this was billed as a special gig he seemed not to know it!
Encores saw ‘Go’ and Guthrie strapping on a Flying V guitar for ‘Heat of the Moment’, for a rollicking run through that classic. Sadly no special guests appeared and no mention was made of the band’s anniversary, so a slight feeling of disappointment for me and many of the fans I talked to after the show (including two Polish fans who had travelled over specially!).
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Asia/Uriah Heep (acoustic)
