‘Hard lovin’ Man’ is one of Avalon’s best songs, with the beautiful symphonic intro followed by typical Avalon hard rock. The live performance was great too, unfortunately the sound of the guitar was not audible very well during the solo. With ‘Perfect Illusions’ and ‘Necronomicon’ Avalon ended a convincing 45-minutes show.

After a little break the stage was ready for Uriah Heep: five men of respectable age but with a lot of energy. The classical and very bombastic intro was followed by ordinary rock songs like ‘So Tired’, ‘Sweet Freedom’ and ‘Steal It Or It Should Be Mine”; the sound and performance were both great.

With ‘If I Had The Time’ the band slowed down and the combined singing of Bernie Shaw, Mike Box, Trevor Bolder, Phil Lanzon and Lee Kerslake was absolutely superb; Trevor Bolder’s bass playing was equally amazing. The up-tempo ‘Between 2 Ropes’ was performed great with the hammond organ and the singing of Bernie Shaw (he still has a huge power).

After the acoustic part (fortunately a rather short part) the band played their greatest songs ‘Sunrise’, ‘Gipsy Queen’, ‘July Morning’ and ‘Easy living’. Old songs but performed superb; that is the way psychedelic songs should be played. After a presentation with some prizes (result of the fan club competition) the band ended the show with ‘Lady in Black’. The audience screamed for more, but it was definitely the last song. The audience got what they came for: an amazing show.

To all the people who say Uriah Heep is boring I say: “You are wrong; Uriah Heep is alive and kicking”. The performance of the old songs was outstanding. Sometimes the guitar solo wasn’t heard very well, but that is the only minus point. I’ve seen a lot of bands performing a show less great than Uriah Heep did tonight.

(Review & Pics: Ralph Vermeere)