By Bob Meader:

2001 THE ASTORIA, LONDON 23.3.2001 STRAY with NAZARETH and URIAH HEEP 

The Astoria London 23.3.2001 Another concert that I have been looking forward to, I would have liked to seen every show on this tour but as you know these things aren't possible. Before I review Stray's set, let's talk about Nazareth and Uriah Heep. 

Nazareth are superb, Dan McCafferty's voice is as good as ever and they put on a wonderful set, the only song I would have liked to have seen was Telegram but other than that brilliant, Pete Agnew is superb. 

Uriah Heep have a great front man, reminds me of David Byron in some ways, Mick Box entertaining and seemingly to love every minute of it, from the sound check (which I was privileged to see and hear) to the last number. 

A great set and as with Nazareth, I would have loved to have seen Circle Of Hands performed but time being limited, I'll wait for another day. It was nice to see and hear Stray's sound check and boy did they sound good, The Astoria always did have great acoustics. Jay, Paul's drum roadie asked me to Video Strays set so I had a great view next to the mixing desks. At 7.10pm Del, John and Paul walk onto the stage to rapturous applause from the almost packed audience and getting larger by the minute. 

After The Storm is the opener and the sound is 100% better than in Bristol, clear sharp and every note ringing round the hall. Time Machine with plenty of foot stomping from Del and John loving every minute of it. I Believe It is the third song and again it is a Del showcase, a wondrous guitar solo before the final ending of the catchy chorus. Paul and John making an all in one rhythm section. 

Again Home from the brilliant new CD 10 is the only song that there is time to perform, you will have to catch them doing a full set to hear any other tracks. I see the heads moving to this song and as I said before it's going to be a live favourite. Time for the last song, the legendry All In Your Mind, which just happens to be on nearly every rock compilation out at the moment! Half way through All In Your Mind Del changes guitar to his Fender and it's 'Hendrix time' again. 

Because of John and Paul's superb work, you don't really notice Del changing his guitar, they are such brilliant musicians. Well it all comes to a climax and the boys take a bow to shout of an encore but as Dan McCafferty will say later, 'There is one word on this tour that I hate, it's Curfew', well that says it all. Another superb set from Stray, Nazareth and Uriah Heep, what a great idea this package was, great value, the only negative thing is the length of the sets. But it was always going to be worth it and boy was it worth it. Bob Meader 2001 Bob Meader e-mail: robert.meader@ntlworld.com website: http://www.delbromhamstray.co.uk

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