|
 Uriah
sHeep Market june 18 2005
Langbroek The Netherlands
Featuring
: Ken Hensley | Circle of Hands | The Bullfrog Taste
Express & The Heepsters
A review by Louis Rentrop
The 2004 edition of The USM was a huge succes. John Lawton & Steve Dunning
showed Langbroek what rock music is about. We as promoters were happy to
present the fans a ‘real’
Uriah Heep celebrity. The event was located in a tent that we shared with
the yearly local ‘schapenmarkt ‘ event .
We noticed that the Dutch and Belgian heepsters like to get together every
now and then, do some heep n beer , heepchat and enjoying, if possible,
the real thing.
Pretty soon
after the 2004 edition we knew that we would have a hard time to get a
‘real heepy’ programme together for the 2005 celebration.
We btw is Jan Hoogland living in Langbroek. Evert Achterberg living
close to Langbroek and maintainer of www.uriahheep-discography.com
and Louis Rentrop.
 Ok,
we came together in my apartment, got very drunk and found ourselves
under the kitchen table the other day. Did this solve our problem? Not
really..
Jan Hoogland though just got slightly more drunk then Evert and me…what
turned out in this idea…
Lets celebrate the San Diego 1974 gig. The live CD, released many years
later, shows Uriah Heep in full glory and a David Byron in optima forma.
Not many people know that Rory Gallagher did the support slot as special
guest.
So Jan booked THE BULLFROG TASTE EXPRESS. An
exellent Rory Gallagher tribute band. We already had our contacts with
Germany based Uriah Heep tribute band CIRCLE OF
HANDS. As serious scouts we had checked out the band in Achen late
2004, yes we were convinced. An exellent band for the USM2005
In the meantime I had the band booked for an acoustic performance at the
Heepfestival club in London as part of the MAGICIANS BIRTHDAY PARTY 2004.
For any band that plays heavy rock it isn’t easy to pull the plugs out of
the amps. COH though did a great job in London. The global heepsters
appreciated the band a lot.
We had our programme fixed. The website was updated…..but….with all
respect to both booked bands we missed the real heep content. What to do?
We had a few ideas. Ken Hensley solo…..Mick & Bernie together ……?
Great options.
But would either one of them accept our invitation?
For Mick and Bernie is was to early to call as there’s always an option
for Uriah Heep to have a gig on the date. I asked Ken if he was up for it.
And, guess what…he was!!
You should have seen me jumping around my pc when this email came in:
Louis,
Thanks much for inviting me. Before we go into details, I am free and I
would be happy to help you celebrate! The only com plication
is that there is the US grand prix that weekend and I canīt miss that! :)-
So...let me know what youīd like to do and letīs do it!!
CheerZ
your fellow outlaw!
Ken
<><
Our
Sheepmarket again became a real heepy event. I was sure that we could
arrange a tv for the US GP. No problem. When it came that far I made a
terrible mistake by telling Ken the wrong channel to watch…but that’s a
later story…
Ken was going to do a set solo and also agreed to play Hammond with
COH. A very exciting idea!
The heepsters started ordering for tickets as soon as we announced the
news on the website and the mailinglist . The 100 tickets for the Heepy
dinner prior to the gig were sold out in no time. And to our big surprise
the other 200 gig tickets as well.
 Heepster
Henrik Rantala approached us. He is going to leave Holland after 10 years
for his homeland Finland. His family and friends would like to celebrate
his farewell party with us. Henrik learned to know the dutch heepsters
very well, as he uses to attend all dutch and Belgian heepgigs and joined
us on the Luxemberg heep camp last year.
Of course we jumped in. Henrik told us he planned to come over with 50
people, family and friends. And so it happened..
This edition was the first one indoors and 100 % our event. Every promoter
knows what it takes to get everything sorted. Venue, PA, promotion, bands,
security, tickets, website, press, catering, merchandise…you name it. Jan
& Evert both handled a big part of all this. They live in the area, they
know who to talk to, and have many helping friends. We had 5 press adds in
local and regional newspapers. Not bad at all.
The Friday before I went from Bergen op Zoom to Langbroek to help Jan out
getting things fixed in the venue. And much more important to congratulate
him and his wife Margriet with their new born son. That june morning
Wessel Hoogland saw the light of day for the first time . Jan had fooled
us a few months earlier by stating that Margriet should give birth on the
18th…..The USM day!
A few weeks later Margriet said that Jan was joking, the exact date was
the 8th..
I don’t think that Jan had even thought of the idea that it could turned
out to be the 17th or the 18th~!
As said most of it was done long before. And Venue keeper Ko did a
fantastic job for us. So Jan and me went for dinner when the mobile rang.
It was Ken.
He missed his connecting flight from Barcelona to Amsterdam. He had to
sort out what to do..
It took a few hours when Ken called back . They stayed in Barcelona for
the night and arrived in Amsterdam the other day at noon. Pfffffffff…..That
message was a big relief for us…
Finally the big day was here.
Jan went to the hospital to bring Margriet and Wessel home. Evert together
with his son Matthijs placed route markers in the area, and was the man in
charge at the venue. At 10 the PA system arrived, soon followed by Circle
of Hands to do an early sound check.
I went to Schiphol airport for Ken and Monica. The weather was perfect.
Just sunshine all day long.
Right in time Ken ands Monica appeared at gate 1. It was very good to see
them looking so well. We went to the car for a 1 hour ride to Langbroek. A
phone call with Evert learned that everything went smoothly.
Ken decided to go straight to the venue for a quick sound check and tea.
There he and Monica were welcomed by Evert and the COH crew. All of us
were pretty excited that it all was going to happen.
The sound check took more time then scheduled due to a mixing table
replacement.
While Ken was sound checking the first heepsters arrived. All familiar
faces!
At 4.15 the concert hall opened up.
Evert drove Ken and Monica to their hotel for a siesta and the US GP
qualifying. I shouted to check channel 5. Thumbs went up….
In the venue the heepsters met up with each other like one big family. The
Heepy dinner actually was a grand buffet. So inside and outside heepsters
enjoyed the sate and their cold beers.
From 6 on all other guests were allowed to come in. Jan’s friend Sjaak
helped us out on the door. The website list and email confirmations had
worked perfectly.
The gig started with THE BULLFROGG TASTE EXPRESS. This Rory Gallagher
tribute band surprised us all by a magnificent set. The lead guitarist and
singer brought Rory back to life, really! The set list contained all Rory
hits, as also my favourite A MILLION MILES AWAY. Heepsters like Gallaghers
music that’s for sure…
After one our BFTE we were ready for some Heep music. After the Heep
festival club it now was a full blast for CIRCLE OF HANDS. On the website
heepsters had voted for the songs they wanted to hear. COME AWAY MELINDA,
RETURN TO FANTASY,TALES and THE MAGICIANS BIRTHDAY were top ranked.
The outstanding band played these songs in a stunning way.. The Park
was a personal highlight for me as that one is never played live by Heep,
as far as I remember that is....
Singer Torsten is blessed with a great voice. Close your eyes and you can
hear David Byron, that’s what I experienced and many heepsters told me…
The band presented their new CD LEGACY OF FANTASY. It contains two songs
with John Lawton on leadvocals: The Wizard & I’m a live.
After almost two hours of Heep music we were up to the heepy raffle
and auction.
Thanks to our sponsors we had many heepy prices like live ‘73 coasters.
CD’s featuring Bernie Shaw. Mostly Autumn T-shirts. Raging Silence
buttons…etc etc….
It was warm and sweaty in the venue….time for more beer and more
heep. Time for Mr. Hensley. Just before he went up he told me how lucky I
was, as he found out that the US GP was at channel 6 instead of 5…oooooooooppppsssss…
Nevertheless he went op the stage with a grin.. I was lucky
You could see in some heepsters eyes that this was their moment. Is this
really my hero..is this really Ken Hensley….YES!!!
Ken acted very gentle. He sang a few songs from his solo albums, told us
the little stories to them, and did a song called TELL ME WHEN. Before Ken
said that this song was not even
finished…and he might even change it right there on stage..
Another new song is called ROMANCE. Both songs will appear on a future
album..
Especially
for me Ken did HOUSE ON THE HILL. As I reckon it as one of his best solo
songs. Thanks Ken!
Ken did an Q & A session for a few minutes. He told us about the way he
sees the difference between Proud words and Eager to please.
For him Proud words was and is a very honest album. Eager to please had
the wrong intentions. He wanted to proof that he didn’t need the band. You
can hear that he stated
Ken told us about his projects like the Wizards Diary. Russian musicians
are very good musicians but a little bit to much in a box…
Btw Ken had loads ( as much as is possible by plane ) of mercho with him,
needless to say it all sold out.
You know the ice on the cake was Ken & COH . They started of with
THE WIZARD..
The moment of ultimate Heep of course is JULY MORNING with Ken on the
Hammond.
So exciting to see him playing that song again…..the expression…the great
sound, the happy faces…all around.. Many heepsters relived their finest
heep moments…
During a short break we invited Henrik and his Family to the stage
.Standing next to Ken and COH they got a special Beermat presented,
arranged and designed by Ab van Mourik. Overwhelmed by all this they
got even more surprised by our request to help Ken and COH out with LADY
IN BLACK.
Did they sing or what! Despite the heat…everyone was in to lalala with
them…
A marvellous end to the musical part of USM2005.
 Ken
had a quick tea before the signing session : books, cd’s dvd’s ,bellies….everything.
Ken took the time, talked to everyone, patiently listend to everyones
stories. Sometimes very personal. Heepmusic means a lot to us Heepsters.
Ken’s appearance was the best we could have this year.
The bar stayed open, the dvd player showed Ken’s new song Romance…Fans
chatted and reviewed a great heepy event…
Thanks to Ken Hensley & Monica, Karola & Circle of Hands, The Bullfrog
Taste Express, The PA guys, Ko & crew of the Toekomst. Sjaak for checking
the door for quite a long time. Hanneke & Diana for taking care of the
merch. Matthijs for selling the ballots. Our sponsors for doing what they
did..
Last but not least all the Heepsters being there….
CU next year.
Louis
Rentrop
|