Saxon and Uriah Heep Take Care Of Business At Keswick Theater
by Alex Lloyd Gross
Whoever put Saxon and Uriah Heep together on tour deserves a raise. Two heavy bands that share a mutual fan base played a blistering show last night in Glenside Pa. This review could have one word, “WOW” and be done with it. We won’t do that, we;ll get into it a bit.
Alex Lloyd Gross-Photo-Delaware Valley News.com Adam Wakeman, plays keyboards on this tour, only.
First up were veteran rockers Uriah Heep. They brought Adam Wakeman with them on keyboards, for this tour, as Phil Lanzon had a personal emergency to take care of. They have 25 studio records to choose material from. Lots of strong material sort through an decide what to play live. some songs had to get left out. Prior to the show, founder and guitarist Mick Box said “We have a good idea for what people want to hear”. “Sweet Lorraine”, “Sunrise”, “July Morning” were played, as was “Stealin” and”Easy Livin”, which was the encore.
The bands switch out who goes on first. People who have never seen Uriah Heep before were amazed,with one fan calling the “Deep Purple on steroids”. Mick Box founded this band 54 years ago and they are still going strong and making records. Their newest one is Chaos and Color. From it they played such rockers like Hurricane”, which went over really well.
Alex Lloyd Gross Photo-Delaware Valley News.com Uriah Heep live
After a short break to recover ( and for the bands to change their sets) Saxon were up next. A brutal assault on your senses. They were loud. Their new record is out as well, called Hell Fire and Damnation. Saxon are a bit different,they may make a set list but midway into the show it gets tossed. Lead Singer Biff Bryford will give the crowd a choice of what they play next. Loudest applause decides the song..
They played the iconic “747” which could be their finest song ever. But wait, there’s more, “Dallas 1:00 PM” about the Kennedy Assassination, “Wheels Of Steel”, “And the Band Played On” . All were played. They closed with “Princess Of The Night”.
Alex Lloyd Gross Photo-Delaware Valley News.com Biff Bryford, Saxon takes control of the crowd.
Prior to the show, band members could be seen walking through Keswick Village, and when approached, they were more than accommodating for photos and autographs, just what rock and roll is all about. Those that attended the show were exhausted at the end and rightly so. Saxon’s Biff Bryford knows this and told those that wanted to, to take the day off work, It’s okay, he authorized it.