Reviews
London England
 

 

   
 

 May 6th &  7th 2000

  

 


HV2000 experience ...by Reuben Kane (GunHill)

I have been asked by John and Iris if I could write some kind of review
about the Heep Vention. Justin and I have a particularly unique insight to the whole
experience, so we thought that for many people, this may turn out to be quite an interesting read.
Justin and I talked about our experience in great depth so I hope he doesn't mind if I speak
occasionally on his behalf.
          As you can imagine, it is hard to find words to describe an
experience like this. Since I  have been back, people have asked me how it went. I tried to explain it
as best as I could but I found however that I could only portray the bare facts.The only people
who will ever know what it was like were the ones that were there and this is because they were
the only people that felt the elevated experience of some three hundred people from all over the
world gathered together for one mutual reason.
          I am going to be brave at this point and say that the only
Uriah Heep songs that I had  heared before I learnt the set were the ones that we play in Gunhill.
Also, I had only even heared of Uriah Heep upon meeting John some three years ago. (I have to
say that I  catagorically blame this on my age.) Consequently the Names Paul Newton
and Ken Hensley  meant nothing to me (sorry guys). When John gave me the cassette with
the songs that I had to
learn, I found that they were well written in all aspects and were very
interesting pieces.
Consequently it made it more easy to learn them. July morning on first
hearing however
sounded very complex and showed epic like proportions. I got used to it
though and I spent a
few days learning the set as best as I could without the band and I
began to get some Idea of
the musical ability which I would have to attain.
          For Justin and I, the experience really started at rehearsals.
We rehearsed at a major
studio in London known as John Henry's and this was a strange experience
because there
were other big bands rehearsing in the building at the same time.
Namely; Aswad, Shirley
Bassey, Utah saints etc, which for a mere mortal like me is a bit weird.
Upon meeting Paul, I
found that he was a nice down to earth northern lad and as time grew on
realised that he had a
very dry sense of humour. Before ken arrived, his equipment arrived
which was for the most
part, promptly set up by roadies. At this point I thought there was only
one kind of person which
could have his gear arrive in flight cases with a crew of roadies to set
it up - that would be a
rock star! So, a rock star is what I was expecting. Eventually, a tall
dark man with shades, long
hair, snakeskin boots, a ferrari jacket, a golden tan and shiny teeth
entered the room complete
with entourage.(forgive me Ken). No introduction was needed! It turned
out that the entourage
was actually his close family who came to watch the rehearsal.
          As time went on I found ken to be very approachable, a good
laugh and down to earth.
His family including Monica were lovely people. I was somewhat
apprehensious about the
rehearsal and hoped that my homework had paid off. We started off by
playing "stealing" and
disaster struck. It seems I had forgotten all the chords. As I tried to
find what was wrong, I
quickly found out that Ken had changed the key and so quickly adjusted.
He also did this
on another song but I was ready for him this time. As it turned out, the
rehearsals went well
and Justin and I Knew that we were playing with a very high standard of
musicianship all round
and knew that we would have to "pull out all the stops".
          When Saturday the 6th of May came we got to the gig and found
a huge amount of
equipment being installed. There was so much equipment that John had to
phone for another
crew as he and Graham had almost killed themselves trying to Haul it
around in the heat. It did
however all come together, and in retrospect I think we are all glad we
had the gear.
          As people started to turn up this was the point at which I
realised what was happening.
Graham's emotional Speech summed up what this all meant to everyone and
with that, I
suddenly saw That Uriah Heep was more than just a band to everyone and
this was exactly
why people from no less than eleven countries had attended.
          Suprisingly I was not nervous when we went on stage at all. I
think it was because I
Knew we were all among friends and I could not help but be caught in the
tide of good feeling
in the whole place. I was however hyped up for the performance and I
wanted to do my best. I
seem to recall justin saying he was nervous but as usual he played
brilliantly. As for the big
guys I could not begin to think how they may have felt.
          It was definately the first time I have experienced such
feedback from an audience. Every
song we started and finished was met with such thanks from the audience.
Justin commented
to me that you could actually feel the vibe from the audience which is
something that is new to
both of us. I have to say that although I received much commendation for
the performance, I
was not personally happy with the way I played. I made some ridiculous
mistakes and I actually
thought I would receive some kind of reprimand from one or two people.
All I can say is that I'm
glad that John and Ken were understanding towards me and they put me
completely at ease.
          As for the Gunhill gig, we are all pleased with how it went
and are thankful to everyone
for sticking around to see us.
          I have not been able to get the whole weekend out of my head.
Going back to college
and back to the normal stuff is all a bit of a downer. I am eternally
thankful to my friend John for
asking me to do this and I hope something can come from it all. So many
good things
unfortunately come to an abrupt end. Whatever happens, It will remain in
my mind as one of the
best moments in my life and on behalf of Justin and myself I would like
to thank all the Uriah
Heep fans for making it so.
            
                                    REUB.