LIVE REVIEW: URIAH HEEP With Special Guests APRIL WINE and TYKETTO

Here I am in London, on my birthday, and I am fortunate to have been able to cover this triple-bill of classic rock legends. All three of the bands I have seen before, but none of them in the last 30 years! The venue is the legendary London Palladium, completely sold out and replete with red tail-coated ushers rather than the usual bouncers, with a higher-than-normal proportion of walking sticks in the audience!

I had failed to catch TYKETTO back Down Under 2 weeks ago due to being in the wrong city for work while they were playing each time, despite them being one of my all-time favourites from our time prior to emigrating back in 1996. While the band is a bit different to then, the only difference about frontman Danny Vaughan is the silver sheen to the glossy flowing hair – the voice is still impeccable, and the showmanship all class.

It has always been surprising that the band never really gained a proper foothold in either the UK or USA in their prime, and is so good to see them getting such a positive reception from the plentiful early crowd. Danny has pulled together an experienced line up with Harry Scott Elliott on guitar, Chris Childs on bass, who seems to be enjoying his sabbatical from Thunder, Ged Rylands on keys, and Johnny Dee behind the kit, and they were simply faultless in their delivery of these top-notch melodic rockers, and the still inspiring ballad Standing Alone which never fails to lift the hairs on the back of the neck.

There was limited time to cover the Tyketto back-catalogue in their slot, but we got several of their all-time classics in Wings, Strength in Numbers and Burning Down Inside, before the singalong of Lay Your Body Down which got the crowd involved. After the epic ballad, the band closed the set with a glorious version of Forever Young, and certainly left the Palladium crowd wanting more.

Tyketto Gallery

APRIL WINE hit the stage next, the Canadian rockers who haven’t visited our shores for 40 years. They looked thrilled to be back with their milder laid-back rocking style, and stories of a tourist in London Town with guitarist Brian Greenway holding the team together as an almost original member of the band. It is an interesting point to note that APRIL WINE are now playing as a band with none of their original members in place, but Brian has been there since 1973 and wrote many of the songs along with the late Myles Goodwyn who passed away in 2023.

The band kicks off with I Like to Rock, which is a straight up melodic rocker that sets the rhythm from the get go. The audience is fairly responsive – some of us were there in 1981 at Hammersmith, but much has changed since then. All Over Town has a groovy riff of hard-hitting funky fun. Say Hello lets the twin guitars shine from Greenway and Marc Parent, bringing back memories of the key characteristic of the band. Before the Dawn is a spine-tingling ballad that has lost nothing in 45 years, and from then on the set takes a rockier line, with a bunch of their early 1980’s standards with Crash and Burn, Big City Girls and Just Between You and Me, and then the three-way barrage of Oowatanite, their cover of Sign of the Gypsy Queen (Lorence Hud), and their all-time classic Roller.

The band is made up of 4 quality musicians, all slick and professional, and able to reel off the APRIL WINE set with polish and energy, and the band remain highly popular in Canada as one of the all-time favourites of the 1970s and 1980s – but unless there is some new material to come, they may be limited to just being known as “that Canadian 80s rock band”.

April Wine Gallery

URIAH HEEP hit the elaborate Magicians stage set with the Palladium packed with an audience who have mostly followed the band for over 50 years. The set list often linking back to the early career days in the seventies. When Mick Box casually introduces a track as having been written in 1973, the longevity of the band really hits home.

Vocalist Bernie Shaw may be thought of as a new boy in the band, but he joined in 1986 so is coming up for 40 years, as is Phil Lanzon on keys. Drummer Russell Gilbrook joined in 2007 and Dave Rimmer on bass is the most recent joining in 2013.

The opening track however is the more recent Grazed By Heaven from 2018 and hits with a solid punch. Gilbrook is a beast, and with Rimmer on Bass, they drive the band at a pace we would assume guys of these tender years would wilt under. Bernie Shaw leads with much engaging conversation and the whole band look to be having the time of their lives.

Save Me Tonight sets the tone heavy and loud with solid drums and a pounding beat, while Overload from Wake the Sleeper sees Mick Box the riff master on top form, and Phil Lanzon wields the keyboards in the best Jon Lord style. Shadows of Grief back from the archives provides more gothic keyboards to kick us back in time, until Bernie and Mick light up the Palladium with a raucous version of Stealin’ from all the way back in1973. There is a rare flit back into 2023 with Hurricane from Chaos & Colour written by Gilbrook.

Then it’s back to the 1970s with the acoustic guitar wizardry from Box on The Wizard, seeing Bernie Shaw fold an arm around Box’s shoulders, before Sweet Lorraine and the energetic Free ‘n’ Easy, seeing more of the Mick Box flourishes and hand gestures that keep the audience in raptures.

The Magician’s Birthday – the subject of the anniversary tour, brings back 1972 party time with the Mick Box virtuoso show. This is heavy progressive blues rock at its finest – still feeling contemporary and relevant, and heavier than many of the current generation. The feeling and the power continues with the out and out rocker of Gypsy from that first record, Very ‘Eavy Very ‘Umble back in 1970.

July Morning was an interesting choice to close the main set with, but no doubt that this allows the band to excel, and then take a short break before returning to wrap up a brilliant night with the encore of fan favourites Sunrise and the rampant Easy Livin’ while still leaving the fans wanting more. We all left the Palladium with a wonderful warm feeling from a fantastic night of travel across the musical ages.

Bernie Shaw had hinted that the band are back writing new material for a new album to come out in the future, and clearly there is a decent fanbase still keen for more from the band – and noting that part of the front row included some young boys in black T-shirts, who may have been there with their parents or grandparents, there is hope for the future of Uriah Heep.

Uriah Heep Gallery