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URIAH HEEP TOURS NORTH AMERICA IN 2001

Finally, after two last second cancellations in recent years, Uriah Heep toured North America in the summer of 2001.  Many  fans who hadn't seen the band for decades were following  the  band across the USA from gig to gig. Some of Heep's gigs were  part of  a  tour  package  with  Mark  Farner and Edgar Winter.  The shows in which Uriah Heep headlined (separate from Farner and Winter tour) allowed a much longer setlist but usually at a much smaller venue.  In  the  middle of  the tour there was a break for Heep to do a TV show in Germany but a few weeks later Heep was back on the N.A.Tour. This was Heep's first tour in North America since the 1994.

BURNING DOWN THE HOUSE

At   the  Blind  Lemon  in Cleveland, all the warm up acts for Heep  were  local metal  bands.   The  final support  band   contained several  big  Uriah   Heep fans.  Their  lead  vocalist introduced each song with     a Heep song title, but each time the band played songs from  their  regular  Metal setlist.  It took a few songs for  the  audience  to catch  on  to  the gag.  "Hey, that doesn't  sound  like  Love Machine!" At the end of their set, the band did some pyrotechnics and  the  bassist  tossed  a  flaming rag into the air.  Unfortunately, the rag got hung in the lighting system!  A  quick-thinking  worker removed the flaming object with a long pole, adverting a potential disaster.

The problems that night were just  beginning.  The  Blind  Lemon was probably the smallest venue Heep played on  the  2001 Tour. Besides the volume difficulties that created,  one of the warm  up bands compounded the problem by changing all the  settings  on the  board  during  their  gig,   thus  nullifying  the  work  of  the afternoon sound check.  Heep's  sound engineer,  Charlie Evans, did an admirable job under pressure getting things back  in order. The only casualty was "The Wizard"  had  to  be  dropped  from the  night's  setlist.

A FINAL CONCERT FOR A LIFE-LONG FAN

A Heep fan brought the ashes of his friend to the Fort Wayne Heep concert in an urn. His friend, also a big Heep fan, had planned to attend the concert but he died of a heart attack the previous week. The band was very moved by the gesture.

TREVOR SETS THE RECORD

Although it's not official, it's possible Trevor Bolder may have set some kind of record for the number of blown bass amp cabinets on the 2001 North American tour. During one show, two cabinets blew out! The situation got so dire that at one point, an emergency email was sent via the internet to arrange for transportation of an amp cabinet for repairs by any Heep fan from the Cleveland area.

WHY CAN'T I HEAR BERNIE?

When asked why Bernie's vocals seem so low in the mix to the front rows, Charlie explained that Bernie uses an in-ear monitor on stage to hear himself while the rest of the band uses floor monitors. The result is the front couple of rows of the audience often have trouble hearing the lead vocals since they aren't amplified on stage. These rows are often standing beyond the P.A. system speakers.

WHO BOOKED THIS GIG??

Heep thought they would be making a short trip after the gig in Cleveland, Ohio to Springfield, Ohio. After the Cleveland gig,  they learned the next show was in Springfield, VIRGINIA...an eight hour drive. The venues for gigs on the first leg of Heep's 2001  North American  Tour  at  times  seemed  to  have  been selected randomly. The tour schedule had the band zig-zagging haphazardly between Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Virginia for a couple of weeks  and  included  a biker bar and a club the size of a two car garage.  Upon  seeing  the Blind Lemon Club  for the first time,  one  Heepster commented  on  the  booking  that  "a trained monkey could have done  a  better  job!"  The  coup de grace  was  the  gig  in  Tulsa, Oklahoma.  The band actually first learned of the gig  at  5 p.m.  on  the  day of  the show.  Fortunately,  a  few  Heep fans  learned  of  the gig  in  time to  attend  by  way  of  the  Internet.

WE'RE NOT WORTHY!

A  member  of   the  Jaxx  support act,  Electric Warrior,  commented  to Trevor that his hairdo was similar to David Bowie's bass player in the Spiders From Mars. When  Trevor pointed out that he indeed was  the bass player from the Spiders From Mars,  the  EW   guitarist   gushed, "We're  not  worthy!   We're   not worthy!"

CAUGHT WITH HER PANTS DOWN

After  the  Louisville  gig,   a  fan  on his way to his motel room, walked by the Heep tour bus and  almost bumped into Bernie in the shadows.  He was with a female fan with  her  pants  around her  ankles  and  the  vocalist  was  taking  great care to sign her panties just  right.  Later,  when  Bernie  was  asked  about  the incident, he quipped "Was she wearing panties? I didn't notice!"

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