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Artist : [urlb=http://www.myspace.com/blueoystercult]Blue Öyster Cult[/urlb] – [urlb=http://www.myspace.com/uheep]Uriah Heep[/urlb]
Place : Paris
Venue : L’Olympia
Date : 06-09-2009
Crowd : Around 1 600 people
It’s always strange to walk into a seated room for a metal gig. This is the case tonight. On this sunny Sunday, although not yet packed full, the Olympia is getting crowded. The crowd appears to be quite mature, including your average Joe, diehard fans and a few metallers. Even a few jet set celebrities such as Philippe Manoeuvre and Jean-Pierre Kalfon are among the audience.
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An event you don’t want to miss…
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Uriah Heep calmly make their way onto the stage. Mick Box and his long grey hair get a well deserved applause. Before going into detail about the gig, it is interesting to note that the band have been regularly releasing albums since they first started. The only exception for this was the year 2000 when their work grew rarer. This tour is to promote their latest album Wake The Sleeper, yet as we await Celebration, Forty Years of Rock (on sale since yesterday), the band start off with their set with a soft yet dull track in a refrain of “ah ah ahs” in the background. During the second track, amazing vocalist Bernie Shaw, asks the crowd to stand up. Their a US radio rock type atmosphere as the lively track “Tears In The World” manages to keep up a linear sound overall. Nonetheless, the crowd seem to be enjoying it and the next track increases the energy thanks to the receptive audience. A mid-tempo that gets your head swaying because of its maleficent guitar riffs. Bernie demonstrates his singing talents. Impressive.
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Uriah Heep as supporting act ![/center]
The crowd are invited to sing along. They seem to be settling in gently as the concert follows on into a brief drum solo to introduce Russell Gilbrook from behind his kit. As for the musicians, there’s quite a lot of people gathered on stage with Trevor Bolder on bass. This guy was once bassist in the Spiders From Mars with Ziggy/Bowie. The younger crowd members could learn a thing or two from the elders! Meanwhile, the singer teases the crowd about the fact that some people aren’t singing. The next song is a ballad demonstrating Bernie’s extended talent. He is honestly a great vocalist, worthy of being placed on the same level as other hard rock singers… Oh sorry, metal singers. The song “book Of Lies” is followed by “Look At Yourself” which give way to some instrumental parts much enjoyed by the band. These parts are full of 70s keyboard playing, heavy bass and some intense guitar solos. As the crowd awakes, unfortunately, the band decide to calm the atmosphere by playing two tracks from their latest album; “What Kind Of God Are You” and “Angels Walk With You”, both tracks are much too dull.
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Bernie, a singer in great shape.[/center]
Uriah Heep seem to put too much emphasis on the instrumental parts, along with way too much keyboard usage, which tends to overshadow the percussions. This is surprising because the English band have some amazing heavy metal tracks like “Easy Livin” and their last track before the encore “Lady In Black”. It is a great and beautiful country ballad straight from the 70s which offers a great finale. It is the end. Mick announces the latest Celebration album with two new tracks from the band as a result of stagnant evening overall.
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Yes, BÖC are here[/center]
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Close your eyes and imagine “The Red & The Black” followed by “Before The Kiss”, then “Burnin For You” and finally “Cities On Flame”. Can you see it? Blue Öyster Cult have taken over the place after a medley house intro of a few tracks including “The Veteran of Psychic War”. A song which was cruelly missing from their set (which was huge in fact). From the very first track, the tone is set: the emphasis is on the guitars. In fact, the three guitarists join the stage together, started up a riff. The crowd are a lot more involved than for Uriah Heap and so the night takes a new turn. First of all, these four first songs impose a sense of respect. They are only classics. The musicians, such as Buck and Eric Bloom are also a lot more present. Richie Castellano makes them feel young again. Rudy Sarzo on bass is not here tonight as it is the bassist from the latest Queen formation, not John Deacon but Danny Miranda, playing bass. The drummer Jules Radino is introduced during “Cities On Flame”, while Eric Bloom plays around with his cymbals. It’s also a good time for Buck to start on one of the gig’s first solos. Whenever the Cult are involved, you know that you are going to get a whole load of solos. There are lots and they are good.
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Three amazing guitarists![/center]
We skip through to the more recent times with “Harvest Moon” from the album Heaven Forbid. Eric starts on the keyboards and a guitar duel begins. Woohoo! There is some crazy six string action going on on stage. The next track has an alien vibe to it with heavier rhythmic and the crowd love the long solo. Although, Uriah Heep and Blue Öyster Cult were meant to be co-headlining, it is clear that Blue Öyster Cult have the upper hand here.
The classic tunes return with the instrumental rock song “Buck’s Boogie” which gets the bassist and Eric dancing together. Then comes “ME 262” with its boogying piano playing, much to the audience’s delight. The next track is somewhat rarer, “Stone Of Love” from their new album Curse Of The Hidden Mirror. Without an ounce of humour, Eric Bloom asks the crowd who are the five retards who bought the album! Meanwhile, the song sounds excellent live.
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Great performance from Blue Oyster Cult![/center]
Eric introduces the band and the two vocalists, three guitars, a keyboard, a bassist and another drum kit. It’s fair to say that the band come prepared. Their music is varied and good as we are shown with “The Black Blade” and its dark atmosphere through numerous guitar riffs. Just enough time for Eric to crack a few jokes at Buck while he tunes his guitar and the band move on to “Then Came The Last Days Of May” for their first album. This is when Richie Castellano shows us the extent of his solo talents praised by the audience of the Olympia. Killer track. On a lighter note, Buck also drags in a solo which leads them into hyper speed deluge.
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Blue Öyster Cult : awesome.[/center]
Eric introduces “Godzilla” in French by describing something big and green. The crowd enjoy this and the song. Then it is time to see where the Queen fans were at as Danny on bass plays a few notes from “Another One Bites The Dust” and “We Will Rock You”. Nice touch. What is less of a good touch are the bass and drum solos. We might have preferred “Career of Evil” for example. It seems that nowadays the 70s tracks got it harder than before. The last track “Don’t Fear The Reaper” ends the excellent show on a zen note.
Blue Öyster Cult is nonetheless a band of bikers and the show couldn’t end without Eric jumping onto his motorbike. This is intentional as the band’s encore is Steppenwolf’s “Born To Be Wild” and the crowd are left screaming “Booorn To Be Wiiiiild”.
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Great concert ![/center]
The room is already emptying itself as the band return for their last encore “Hot Rails To Hell” sung by Richie who’s energy levels clearly haven’t been affected by the two hour show. After a greatest hits album, a live album and a compilation album recently out, we didn’t know what to expect from this show. All we needed was a little faith because this gig will be forever in our minds.
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