Reviews
London England
 

 

   
 

 May 6th &  7th 2000

  

Report by Dale & Helen Fredericks

 

What else can be said? I won't try and repeat what everyone else has
said concerning the event of a lifetime. Something like this comes along
only a few times in a lifetime and because of that, is something to be
cherished. Helen and I will remember HV2K for many years to come!

From the moment we had dinner with Pete and Janine on the 29th to the
final get-together on the 10th, we knew we had "Returned To Fantasy".
This was certainly different than our first time in England in
1990.....so many new friends have been made since then. Our thanks go
out to Mike and Denise Taylor for sharing their home with us when we
visited them on the Isle of Wight that first weekend. They are such a
joy to be with and the perfect hosts. Pete and Janine Wharton are to be
thanked also for their continued friendship and getting us started on
the right foot on the Saturday we arrived. I realized that Pete is the
champion Guiness drinker right from the start !  ;-)>

We knew that this trip was going to be a little different than we
expected on Monday night. We returned to London after visiting with the
Taylors and went to get a cab to take us to our hotel. The driver asked
where we were going and we said "to the Ruddimans in Sussex Gardens". He
said " Oh no, this is going to take awhile" and then proceeded to turn a
corner and come face to face with about 15-20 police in riot gear!!  We
had been not-so-lucky participants in the after math of the
demonstrations in downtown London. Now I know what Seattle went through
a few months ago! Well anyway, we finally got back to our hotel and
settled in for the evening with great anticipation of the week that was
to follow.

Tuesday we met up with Madman and Cathy and Gina. It was great to have
some other Heepsters from the States there. Wednesday I had to meet up
with the guy from one of the meet & greet companies at 5:00A.M. !  We
proceeded to Gatwick to pick up Muzzy and I was a big help to the driver
because I knew what Muzzy looked like and it kept the driver from
wearing out his arm holding a sign up for about 30 minutes waiting for
Muzzy to go through customs!!  So to make a long story short, it
appeared that people were starting to arrive on a daily basis and that
HV2K was actually starting to materialize right before our eyes!!  We
finally met Graham on Thursday after he came into town to pick up Dave
White at the train station, and we proceeded up to Abbey Road ( along
with Roger, the keyboardist from Gunhill) for a chance to take " The
Picture"....you know, where all the Beatles are walking across the
street by the studios. Tension mounted as we decided who was going to be
the lucky one to take off their shoes and walk barefooted across the
street. Alas !!!  Mr. White volunteered and the scene was complete. So
picture this: Me, Dave, Graham and Filip from Sweden, crossing Abbey
Road while Helen is standing in the middle of the road taking pictures
and Roger is holding up traffic while we carry out this insanity!!!

Friday came and the talk all day was about the long awaited meeting in
the Prince Alfred Pub that night. I have never been so taken back by the
enourmous turn out of Heep fans in my whole life. We were all there for
one purpose, and that was to meet each other, listen to Heep over the
speakers in the Pub and share stories and experiences of being long time
Heep fans. Although there were many languages and cultures represented,
the language of music transcended all communication barriers. We all
talked and laughed like we had known each other for many years, not just
for a few minutes or hours. I wanted this night to go on forever, but
before you knew it, it was time to close up and we did have the
knowledge that the best was yet to come!

The afternoon that we arrived at the Corrib Rest did not start off real
well, but got better in just a few minutes. It seems when Helen and
Muzzy and I got out of the cab that took us to the venue, we left our
camera gear in the cab ! I walked into the restuarant and Helen said "
Do you have the cameras?"  I said "No, I thought you had them". Oh shit,
we BOTH said.
All I can say is thank goodness Muzzy gave the cab driver a good tip,
because about 5 minutes later the cab comes up the street and the driver
signals to me to come to the curb and he proceeds to unlock the back
door and there is our camera bag with about $2500.00 worth of cameras in
it!!!  He wouldn't even take an extra 20 pounds or so from us in
gratitude for his honesty. Helen said to him " I love you and this will
come back to you 20 fold!!". this must have been an omen of how the rest
of the weekend was to go.

I think enough has been said about the Jam and the Hensley/Lawton Band
and Gunhill's performance on Sunday, but I do want to say that I haven't
seen Ken that 'child-like' in over 22 years !  Just watching him behind
the Hammond and wailing away on the slide guitar, brought chills to me
like I haven't had since I saw Heep in '78. If nothing else comes out of
this whole gig, the one thing that was accomplished was the coming to
terms of two very talented musicians and the burying of the hatchet
between them. Hopefully this is not the last time we see these two
working together!

I felt very honored being able to sing with John and even more honored
to have performed with so many very talented musicians from around the
world. My sincerest congratulations go out to everyone that stepped up
on that stage and gave back just a little to Heep in return for what
Heep has given to us through the years. It was great seeing Paul Newton
and Ian Clarke, among others, as I realized that they were there from
the beginning and laid down the groundwork that made Uriah Heep what
they were to eventually become. Thanks for the memories guys!

Well, I have rambled on for far too long. It summary though, I want to
thank EVERYONE that worked so hard in getting this together and tell you
all that there will never be another moment quite as special as the ones
we all shared this past week or so. I look forward to hopefully seeing
some of the many friends that we met this time, next time at the next
Heepvention. It looks like this whole HV thing is going to be with us
for a long time to come!!!

Take care everyone and thanks for your patience!

Dale & Helen