Shake the cobwebs: Uriah Heep in Kyiv
Last Sunday, on April 17, there was the concert of the legendary British rockers Uriah Heep in the Kyiv's Sentrum club. That was the second of five planned gigs in Ukraine. On Saturday, the musicians played in Chernihiv, and in the next few days, the band is being waited in Odesa, Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk.
In December, the band is to celebrate its 47th anniversary. Their songs have been listened to by our parents who could tell many stories about how they used to get the banned records, including Uriah Heep's LPs. And someone will remember the first issued in the USSR record "Ансамбль "Урия Хип", which is today gathering dust on the shelf of their youth recollections. It's interesting to note that many longtime fans of the British musicians gathered near the stage that evening. For the next hour and a half, without any embarrassment, they were back in the years when the guitar riffs made them jump and childishly headbanging.
Uriah Heep have collected a full house, which was divided in halves: the right side filled with so-called old guard, and left — with the younger viewers. With a slight delay, the rockers confidently and quite cheerfully began the show with their classic hits. The vocalist Bernie Shaw greeted the audience: having just inspiring energy, the musician struck up the crowd with jokes and short comments on just every upcoming track. Kyiv's show was dedicated to the band's new album, so during the evening the musicians performed a few compositions of their twenty fourth record "Outsider", which "The Law" and the lyrical "One Minute" got the most warm welcoming. Between the songs, the group's frontman returned the fans into the 70's, recalled some years, albums and joked about the young boys and girls, who also came to the concert.
Many played songs ended with a small shows which were or short percussion solos by Russell Gilbrook, or virtuoso tricks by Uriah Heep's guitarist and founder Mick Box. During the ballad's "Rain" performing, there was silence and the bright lights were turned off in the hall, but with the song's chorus it seemed like everyone in the crowd sang along to Bernie Shaw. It was hard to calm down the excited audience and, like adding fuel to the fire, the rockers performed hits "July Morning", which was followed by "everyone's expected Lady". "Lady In Black", which has become the band's landmark, no doubt was the most waited one and caused a real emotional outburst in the crowd for a long time: the musicians played quieter, but the legendary chorus sounded from the crowd louder and louder.
After "Lady In Black" performing, the frontman thanked the Ukrainian fans for such warm welcome and wished them a good night. Of course, it was worth waiting the show's follow up. The band returned to the stage after a few minutes of people's frantic demands "Uriah Heep" and "We want more" and performed known and catchy "Easy Livin'". Before the leaving, the musicians took the flowers, hastily signed CDs and photos, as well as pleased some lucky fans by giving the drumsticks.
Setlist:
- Gypsy
- Look at Yourself
- Shadows of Grief
- Stealin'
- The Law
- The Outsider
- Sunrise
- The Magician's Birthday
- Rain
- The Wizard
- One Minute
- Can't Take That Away
- July Morning
- Lady in Black
Encore:
- Easy Livin'
By Yuri Somov and Anastezia
Noizr Zine thanks the concert agency HMG for the accreditation