The Zaandam gig was even better then at
Rijssen the day before. The venue was smaller but packed. Like last year the atmosphere in
the venue was like you expect at a rock concert: a bit hazy because of the fog
machines, great seventies rock music was played before Heep came on stage, and a lot of
real Heep fans were there. The band surprised us all with a changing set, three different
songs according to the set the day before.
 
Rijssen
Zaandam
This time it all went well. The first
try the lead vocal was done by Lee, and he should do that some more. Great voice!
The second one was with Bernie. And he sings it so well...I'm not going to compare his
singing with any former singer...but..he did a great job. Like he did with Rain. I heard
him doing it back in 1994 in Belgium. This time just he and Phil did the song with Lee
doing the backing vocals in the end. I got chickenskin and everyone was
telling Bernie afterwards how good he was at this one.
Lee thinks over 30 years of Heep
The band looked so relaxed and having fun all the
time. The feel and the mood were there this night. Richard and many other diehards told me
this was the best gig for ten years...and I like to say this with them.
Zaandam
Afterwards Trevor never stopped thanking all
the heepsters for doing this.During the after party we all, I think about 25 heepsters,
including Egil Bokn form Norway, Brian and Lorraine from England, two Americans visiting
Holland ( they read in the papers Heep was in town), Richard Wagner from Germany, and
all the Dutch were welcomed by the band.
A bunch of Dutch Heepsters:
Willy, Sandra and their sister..and ofcourse Rinus were there!
They talked with everybody, signed whatever
you wanted to be signed, and the jokes flew around all the time. Mick said about
the bikersfestival this Saturday that they would bring July Morning back into the
set. It's not Survivor but Saxon they are playing with. The program is Saxon,
Strippers:-)) , Uriah Heep.
In the end of August there's a good chance
Heep will come back to Holland to do a few festivals with Saxon and other bands maybe.
I would like to Thank all the heepsters I've met at
both gigs. There were so many I talked to by email...it was great to meet you all in
person. When Your name is missing here I do apologize........
Louis Rentrop
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During the soundcheck the band
rehearsed Sweet Freedom twice. They did it the day before at the soundcheck but Phil and
Trevor both didn't remembered how to play it. So they left it out at Rijssen.
The Rijssen Venue
The big surprise! Evert Achterberg came up
with the idea of a 30 anniversary cake a few weeks ago. So we talked about it with
the Dutch heepsters and there we were with the cake. Richard and I talked with John, the
stagemanager, and he thought we could surprise the band right after Easy Livin. So when
they started it, Evert and I ran too the freezer of the venue to get the cake out.
Then we had to run through the crowd to the stage
doors. Richard was waiting there, we tried to manage the 30 candles on it, but the song
ended so fast! So Richard took the candles of and hold the cake and I followed him on
stage were the band was thanking the crowd for the first time. I used Mick's microphone
and shouted in Dutch and English that Uriah Heep had it's 30 anniversary and asked the
crowd to sing Happy birthday. It was the loudest happy birthday I've ever heard in my
life. In the meantime Richard was posing with the band and the cake. I thanked the
band for 30 years of wonderful music from all the Heepsters of the world. When we left the
stage we were happy the cake didn't end up in somebody's face ..;-))
Gerard Rentrop, Diana &
Louis Rentrop , Marcel Wigmans.
Italian Heepsters Dinner at
Zaandam. L to R : Richard Wagner, Diana Rentrop, Gerard Rentrop, Erik and Petrula van
Loenhout, Brian and Lorraine Jones & Marcel Wigmans. Not Pictured but at the restaurant the same time: Egil Bokn, Henk van der Vis, Wout Visbach, Harry
Otten, Monique en Leo Spruit, Rinus & Willy, Evert Achterberg, Bertus Bakker and a
friend.
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