[Heeplist] Rockin' Christmas with Heep and Yardbirds

Wed Dec 31 21:17:24 EST 2014

You would think that Bernie would insist on that and make it happen.
I'm really bummed out about that. When I saw the schedule and were heading
to the land down under after Vegas, I'm getting drunk and lick my wounds .
Don

On Wednesday, December 31, 2014, Stan From Home <evens78 at chartermi.net>
wrote:

> Seems like Bernie would insist on doing shows in Canada!
>
> Stan
> >
> > On Dec 31, 2014, at 8:39 PM, Don Malecic <docofun at gmail.com
> <javascript:;>> wrote:
> >
> > Hi Tapio,
> > If you have a chance to talk to any of the band members again, could you
> > ask them why not come to Canada for a few shows ?
> > Would like to hear what their thoughts are on
> > That?
> > Are we that not Heep friendly here in Canada ?
> > Anyway, have a Happy New Year everyone !
> > Don
> >
> > On Wednesday, December 31, 2014, Tapio Minkkinen <tapio at uriah-heep.fi
> <javascript:;>>
> > wrote:
> >
> >> Hi Heepsters
> >>
> >> As it seems the list is now working I'll send my review of the Uriah
> Heep
> >> concert in Jyvaskyla 13th December that I tried to send already before
> >> Christmas. As this is the Heepsters mailing list and it's supposed to
> >> concentrate on Uriah Heep I usually do not talk about other bands but
> this
> >> mail exceptionally contains talk about two other bands because they were
> >> both support bands at the show in Jyväskylä a week ago which makes them
> >> Heep related.
> >>
> >> Heep played two shows here in Finland that were the last shows for the
> >> band of year 2014. The first one was in Jyväskylä only 300 kilometers
> away
> >> so that was an easy decision but the other was in Rovaniemi which is in
> >> Lapland near The Arctic Circle and another 600 kilometers North from
> >> Jyvaskyla so driving 1800 kilometers over one weekend at Winter time
> didn’t
> >> seem like a good idea so I decided to go to Jyväskylä only. Also I was
> >> aware that there were some concerts already planned for April next year
> in
> >> Southern Finland.
> >>
> >> The concerts were titled “Rockin' Christmas” and featured also Nazareth
> as
> >> the second band and as third act in Jyväskylä Silvennoinen-Maijanen Band
> >> and in Jyväskylä Melrose, both well known Finnish bands. Unfortunately
> one
> >> week before the shows it was announced that the vocalist of Nazareth had
> >> problems with his voice and they’d had to cancel some shows and probably
> >> wouldn’t be able to come to Finland. On Thursday only one day before
> >> Jyväskylä show this was confirmed and The Yardbirds would play as
> support
> >> band instead. Personally for me it would have been more interesting to
> get
> >> to heard the new Nazareth singer live but hopefully I'll get to see them
> >> later. Of course I know the band and I remember a couple of songs by
> them
> >> but have never actually listened to them. It also seems the line-up
> >> currently has only two members who were in the band in the early days
> and
> >> the rest of the members at least look like they weren’t even born yet in
> >> the 60’s so it didn’t seem that interesting.
> >>
> >> I had taken Friday off from work and Martti Suhonen came in the morning
> to
> >> pick me up. The drive to Jyväskylä went well and after we had checked
> in at
> >> the hotel it was three p.m. and there was three hours before there was a
> >> concert preshow party held at our hotel. This was hosted by Mika
> Järvinen
> >> who has written the Finnish Uriah Heep book which was published last
> year
> >> and Mika has also played with both Heep, Ken Hensley and John Lawton
> over
> >> the years. He had a bass player with him and they played an hour long
> >> acoustic set. It was nice to get to hear some Heep songs as acoustic
> >> versions already before the actual concert. The played at the hotel bar
> and
> >> the audience was almost all members of our Heep fan club. They played
> some
> >> rarer Heep songs like for example The Park that has never been played
> live
> >> by Heep. There was going to be an afterparty as well (and at Rovaniemi
> >> there was an afterparty  as well).
> >>
> >> After Mika's set was over we all headed to the venue Paviljonki that was
> >> on the other side of the city. There we go to meet yet more fanclub
> members
> >> and soon it was time for the first act. Silvennoinen & Maijanen Band
> >> constints of two musicians. Heikki Silvennoinen and Pave Maijanen who
> have
> >> been in the Finnish music scene from the 70’s and have now formed a
> band to
> >> play both their own songs as well as covers of mainly British rock &
> blues
> >> band of 60’s and 70’s. In the set there was for example a couple of
> Cream
> >> songs. This was a nice opener and really a good quality live band. They
> >> don’t play that many shows as they both have their own solo careers but
> I
> >> would go to seem them if they played in Helsinki.
> >>
> >> Then it was time for The Yardbirds. I had not heard anything by this
> >> line-up before but it soon turned out to be a real good live band.
> Drummer
> >> Jim McCarty and guitarist Top Topham - the two original members - seem
> to
> >> be in good shape and the second guitarist and bass player also seemed to
> >> know their business. The vocalist was pretty good and he also played
> some
> >> great harmonica solos at a couple of songs. This was a very enjoyable
> gig
> >> and I would think that for someone who was a fan of the band in the
> early
> >> days would enjoy seeing them now.
> >>
> >> What I remember from the set was For Your Love (this was the only
> >> Yardbirds song that I remembered beforehand), Heart Full Of Soul, Still
> I'm
> >> Sad (familiar to me only from the Rainbow cover on their first album),
> >> Dazed And Confused (known best because of the version by Led Zeppelin)
> and
> >> Shapes Of Things. Nazareth cancellation was announced so late that there
> >> seemed to be a lot of people in audience who were not aware of this as I
> >> heard several wondering why does Nazareth both look and sound so
> different
> >> from before.:-)
> >>
> >> Then it was time to get ready for Heep. After Yardbirds had finished it
> >> took quite a while for the technicians to get everything sorted out and
> a
> >> fellow standing behind me who seemed to be quite drunk became irritated
> >> because of the delay and started shouting loud and cursing. Finally it
> was
> >> enough so I turned out and told him that nothing was keeping him here so
> >> could freely go home if he didn’t want to stay. That calmed him down a
> bit
> >> and also his lady friend told him to shut up.
> >>
> >> Then at 11.30 Heep came onstage and for the next 1 h 40 min. offered -
> as
> >> always - a very energetic, enthusiastic and positive live set.
> Considering
> >> that these were the last shows of the tour and they had already played
> >> around 25 shows in one month it was suprising that they were in such a
> >> great spirit. They had played the last show of the German tour the day
> >> before  in Munich, had travelled for 14 hours to get to Jyväskylä and
> had
> >> had only a few hours rest at the hotel after arriving to the venue.
> >>
> >> I am always impressed with Bernie at live shows when his voice is in
> good
> >> shape and now it really was! The set was the same as was on the first
> date
> >> of the tour in November that I have already posted to the list so I
> won’t
> >> repeat it here in full, you can also see it at the set list page of my
> site
> >> here: http://www.heepfiles.info/sets/
> >>
> >> Earlier in June when they toured here in Finland Outsider was already
> >> released but they played only two new songs: One Minute and Can’t Take
> That
> >> Away. Now they had total of five new songs in the set which was great
> for
> >> me as they’re all my favourite songs on the album except The Law but as
> a
> >> heavier song I thin it suited the live set well and sounded better than
> on
> >> the album. Otherwise the live versions of the new songs did not offer
> >> anything different or new, nowadays they record the albums in the studio
> >> mostly live so it's no wonder they can reproduce the same sound also
> live.
> >>
> >> There were two songs, The Hanging Tree and The Magician's Birthday that
> I
> >> had never heard live by Heep before and they were both highlights of the
> >> set because of that. What Kind Of God was also in good place as a bit
> more
> >> peaceful and melodic song in the middle of the set.
> >>
> >> I would imagine there was at least 1000 people in the audience during
> Heep
> >> set so the concert was a success. I would imagine the tickets had sold
> well
> >> also in Rovaniemi as people up there in the North rarely get to see any
> >> international big rock bands that play as far North.
> >>
> >> After Heep had finished there were a few of us who were there as guests
> of
> >> the band and were invited backstage. I had as usual tried to get a meet
> &
> >> greet with the band organized for the fanclub members but as the
> schedule
> >> of the band was so hectic this time it wasn't possible. They will be
> here
> >> again for three shows in April so I hope we have better luck then. The
> guys
> >> were cheerful and in good mood, you can always clearly see that this is
> a
> >> band where the members are all good friends with each other and enjoy
> earch
> >> others company.
> >>
> >> I asked Bernie how is it possible that at the end of the tour his voice
> in
> >> still in such great condition and he said he can’t explain it either and
> >> this new set is especially demanding vocally as there are a lot of songs
> >> where you have scream really high and loud.
> >>
> >> We stayed there for about an hour until it was time for the band to get
> on
> >> the bus and start driving to the next show. It had been snowing for the
> >> whole day so the conditions were not the best possible for travelling.
> At
> >> moments like this when I myself can go to hotel bed for sleep I don't
> envy
> >> the guys and I understand what a though job it really is for a rock band
> >> like Heep who tours around the world and especially when they tour
> >> countries like Finland where there can be long distances between venues.
> >>
> >> I have heard Rovaniemi show was also a success and the band got to meet
> >> Santa Claus in person and they were even announced on stage by Santa!
> As I
> >> hope everyone on the list knows that Santa Claus naturally lives in
> Lapland
> >> in the North of Finland. I have heard there have been some evil rumours
> >> that say different but at least we Finns know the truth.:-))
> >>
> >> That's it for now. We here in Finland have been very fortunate in recent
> >> years that we have gotten to see Heep frequently and it's less than four
> >> months till the next shows in April!
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> TapioM.
> >> tapio at uriah-heep.fi <javascript:;>
> >>
> >> www.uriah-heep.fi
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
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> >>
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> >> http://www.uriah-heep.com
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> > http://www.uriah-heep.com
>
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