Once again the legendary Uriah Heep would be taking over the stage of B.B. King Blues Club and Grill on Times Square and even though I was a latecomer to the bands musical offerings, I have tried to be on point for the shows that hit our region because they are just so damned good in the live sense. I was also enjoying the fact that we had held a contest for tickets to this show that was met with an overwhelming response. The full concert report and all its photos can be enjoyed by clicking the logo below, but then do please come back here to this space because I have a number of side images that I am only presenting to you here.

Artist: Uriah Heep
Venue: B.B. King Blues Club (New York, NY)
Opener: n/a
Date: 11/14/2012
Label: Frontiers Records

Written By: Ken Pierce (copyright 2012) for PiercingMetal.com

It was surely going to be a hot time in New York City once again because the legendary Uriah Heep would be taking over the stage of B.B. King Blues Club and Grill on Times Square and even though I was a latecomer to the bands musical offerings, I have tried to be on point for the shows that hit our region because they are just so damned good in the live sense. Now when I say that I was a latecomer to the bands offerings it’s mostly in the live sense that I mean this. Like many people who listen to Hard Rock and Metal I would have some exposure to their tunes from the radio waves but I hardly called that being a diehard because I didn’t own more than a hits piece and had only first come to see them live a couple of years ago at this very venue. That said I still found myself running with the ball when the chance came to see them and here we were once again at long last. This particular show had actually been rescheduled twice with the first time being back in July which I think was based on artist illness and once more only about ten days ago which I think was due to paperwork to get here without incident. Whew. The life of a working musician eh?

I was happy to find no opening act set for this evening because I had a little bit of a dilemma with the fact that Megadeth was performing around the corner at the Best Buy Theater and I had scheduled myself to attend that event. With Heep hitting the stage early and with Megadeth having two opening acts that I could afford to miss I was only going to miss a few final numbers of the bands set and I was okay with that.

They would open up the set with “Against The Odds” from their 19th and 1995 album “Sea Of Light” and it got the room geared up before they swung us back into the not too distant past of “Wake The Sleeper’s” own “Overload”. The sounds coming off the stage were thunderous as Box’s guitar riffs cut the air while Bernie’s vocals soared high over the thunder of their crushing rhythm section of Bolder and Gilbrook. Watching this fantastic symmetry again found me chuckling at the fact that the last time I had seen Heep, I recalled a part of the night where a legacy fan told me that the new lineup didn’t interest him at all. I smiled and cited that “the new guys” had been in place for two decades and that their newest songs had an old school fire to them and he was still in the room with his peers of fans. Ahh the things that people find issue with at shows. It never ceases to amaze me. So yeah back to the show, the new band that Box had assembled was clearly delivering some musical justice and while tunes like “Sunrise”, “Stealin’” and “Gypsy” got the louder responses, I didn’t notice too many bathroom breaks during the later albums output. Now since they had to focus on some tunes from the latest release which was “Into The Wild”, they would give us that releases title number and “Nail On The Head”. This was fine but of course cost the new number “Only Human” which was found on their “Celebration” album and was quite a catchy tune. Bands like Heep do right by their lifelong fans and DO NOT overly emphasize new tunes as much as they would pepper them into a rife with classics repertoire. That said should you ever hear anyone tell you that they play too much new stuff just tell them to shut up and blame me if you must.

Sadly, it was now time for me to slip out just as the beginning melodies of “Lady In Black” was beginning since I had to get over to the BBT for the start of Megadeth but I would have a couple of friends texting me the items that I was now missing. As expected a righteous version of “Free ‘n Easy” was performed and like the last few times they had many members of the audience come up onto the stage to join them in the rocking out. That part of the night is always fun and yes I guess we all do look ridiculous when we get super into a tune. This allows you to see what your friends do. Oh well. As expected the closing number would be the seminal classic of “Easy Livin’” and as usual it left the audience breathless and screaming for more but that would be it. Hopefully some of the fans up close got guitar picks from Box and Bolder since they did have them onstage with them. Box’s looked very colorful from the vantage point that I had earlier in the evening that was for sure.

Closing it all up I had to say that this was yet another fantastic show by the band and I was very happy to have attended and as stressed before only missing a couple of choice numbers based on the timing of my other close by event. I did return to the B.B. King Blues Club afterwards and found all of the members of The Heep refreshed and relaxed and engaging any fans that wanted photographs, signatures or just to tell them how much their music has meant to them over the years while the cleanup was being done around them. The guys are very cordial to say the least. If you have not checked this bands name off of your concert going bucket list then please let me encourage you to do so because it will be something that you end up doing over and over whenever it is possible to join in. I always stress to the younger concert goers that these classic bands are NOT going to be doing this forever and they should not pass up on the chance to see those names that influenced all of the stuff their generation of players followed. Its good education. I’ll be back with more in the Megadeth review.

Set list:
1. Against the Odds
2. Overload
3. Traveler in Time
4. Sunrise
5. All My Life
6. I’m Ready
7. Between Two Worlds
8. Stealin’
9. Nail on the Head
10. Into the Wild
11. Gypsy
12. July Morning
13. Lady in Black
14. Free ‘n’ Easy
15. Easy Livin’

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The mighty marquee shines brightly and draws you passing tourists and Rock and Roll fans inside its walls. I realize that I captioned this one with an entirely different groups phrase but what the hell, give me a little creative license.

Another great show poster.  You know I have heard that there is only one of this particular size that is made for the outside of the venue.  Now that is a collectible.

Of course The Heep always brings a lot of cool merchandise for you to indulge in and here are the shirts, caps and music that you could go home with after this particular visit.

Just a few quick visuals of the musical tech that is involved in letting the Heep bring their sound to all of you lovely people.

Thanks for reading my friends.