[Heeplist] Heep in Tampere last Saturday

Thu Jul 19 14:46:37 EDT 2018

Fantastic review Tapmeister. Shame I won't be seeing you at the Heepvention by the sounds of it :-( 

Pete

-----Original Message-----
From: Heeplist [mailto:heeplist-bounces at travellersintime.com] On Behalf Of Tapio Minkkinen
Sent: 19 July 2018 13:00
To: Heepsters Mailing List (Travellers in Time) <heeplist at travellersintime.com>
Subject: [Heeplist] Heep in Tampere last Saturday

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

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