[Heeplist] Heep in Tampere last Saturday

[Tapio Minkkinen]

I don't know if the list is still alive as I haven't seen any mails 
after my mail last Saturday. I got an e-mail from Bob Winward saying he 
had replied to my mail but I never saw that or any other mails. I hope 
this comes throug.


URIAH HEEP
SAUNA CLASSIC HEAVY METAL GARDEN PARTY (www.saunaclassic.com)
13TH JULY TAMPERE FINLAND

I had been looking forward to this concert a long time as it had been 
over two years since Heep had played in Finland. That was the last time 
I had seen them live and this was  as support for Deep Purple. They only 
had one hour playing time then and the last time Heep had played a full 
set in Finland was April 2015.

Year 2018 really compensates for the long wait as Heep will be playing 
four shows here in the Summertime mostly at festivals and there’s 
already four shows confirmed in November/December when they will be 
touring on the new album. Eight Heep shows in one year in a small 
counrty like ours really great.

I was excited when I heard about this concert in Tampere as this would 
be as headliner at a heavy metal festival. It’s a sort of mini festival 
that was held last year for the first time and there would be perhaps 
only 1 - 2.000 people in the audience but the concert place is very 
nice. It’s neart the center of Tampere at a park by the lakeside and 
I’ve been to lots of festivals there before.

Lately we have been blessed with some very warm weathers that we don’t 
get that often, the temperature last Saturday in Tampere was around +30 
Celsius (ca. 85 Fahrenheit). In the morning I took a bus from Helsinki 
and arrived there early. I was going to meet some friends that I hadn’t 
seen in a long time so there was something to do before festival doors 
opened. Heep was the last band on the bill and their showtime wasn’t 
until 9.30 p.m.

It was a nice coincidence that football Word Cup bronze medal game 
between Belgium and England was on at 5 p.m. I knew they had already 
arrived last night and surely wouldn’t miss the game. I went to the 
hotel where Heep were staying a little earlier hoping to get to meet 
them and I ended up watching the game with the band (minus Bernie) and 
some road crew members. Unfortunately Belgium won 2 - 0 but fourth place 
was still a good achievement. The last time England has made it as far 
in the tournament was in 1990 and their victory in 1966 is their only 
medal so far.

After the game ended I headed to the festival site. I had missed the 
first couple of bans because of staying with the Heep guys but there 
were still some pretty good bands for example Beast In Black – a very 
good new band - and Peer Günt that was founded in late 70’s so it’s over 
40 years old. Also met some more friends and what a better way to spend 
Saturday night than hanging out with friends, listening to good music, 
enjoying the sun etc. As the festival site is a park it felt more like a 
picnic than rock concert and the athmosphere was very relaxed. It is 
called "heavy metal garden party" and that sums it up quite well.

Heep hit the stage in time at 10.30 and the band was excactly as good as 
always before. It’s great that they always give the same 100% 
performance whether it’s a small club gig or big festival. This was not 
that big event and the stage was pretty small but the band gave the same 
kind of positive and professional performance as ever.

The set:
GYPSY
LOOK AT YOURSELF
SHADOWS OF GRIEF
STEALIN’
SUNRISE
ONE MINUTE
BETWEEN TWO WORLDS
JULY MORNING
LADY IN BLACK
EASY LIVIN’

There was nothing special in the set itself. There were no surprises but 
I didn’t expect there would have been. Heep has never changed sets 
during tours and they’ve been using practically the same set since March 
2016 with only minor changes. My only criticism to the concert is the 
setlist. It would be nice if they changed the set at least once a year. 
Only one song (Between Two Worlds) was added to the set last Summer, all 
the other songs have been played everytime when they’ve played the full 
set for almost two and a half years.

The set also could have been longer. They only played for ca. 70 minutes 
even though they would have had time for 90 minutes. I don’t know why 
that was, I forgot to ask the band about that.

I went backstage after the show to meet the band again, thanked for the 
show and wished them a good trip home. I told Dave I like the new single 
Grazed By Heaven very much. I told that I think it’s nice that he as the 
newest member is also contributing to the songwriting. I like the fact 
that partly it sounds the same and is in the vein as a lot of the songs 
the band has recorded in the last couple of albums but there are also 
some new elements in the song. Dave was very pleased to hear this and he 
told they’re planning to include it the set at the Summer shows but so 
far they haven’t had time to rehearse it for live performance. I really 
hope they will do it at the next shows in Finland in August.

My bus home was leaving at 2.20 so it was about time to leave and head 
to the bus station. I had some sleep in the bus and was back at home at 
5.30.

The next time I'll see Heep will be then in Hango 10th August and Lahti 
11th August. There should be longer sets at these shows and hopefully 
also get to hear the new song live.

---
TapioM.
tapio at heepfiles.net
www.heepfiles.net



Tapio Minkkinen kirjoitti 14.7.2018 10:49:
> Hi Heepsters
> 
> I haven't been active on the list lately because there's been some
> "domestic problems" I've had to deal with but I'm still here.
> 
> It's been over two years since the last time Heep has played in
> Finland but tonight I will see them in Tampere, only 200 kilometers
> from where I live. Heep will be headlining a small heavy metal
> festival, it's going to great. Review and pictures of course coming.
> 
> 
> ---
> TapioM.
> tapio at heepfiles.net
> www.heepfiles.net