Blue Oyster Cult & Uriah Heep Rock Beverly Hills

Review by Andrew Bansal, live photos & video by Matt Nielson

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March 14th 2015, Saban Theatre, Beverly Hills CA: Blue Oyster Cult and Uriah Heep are names that need no introduction to those that are adept in their knowledge of the roots of all things heavy in the world of hard rock and heavy metal. Whenever such bands come to town, it’s time for the kids of the 60s, 70s and 80s to relive their childhood and youth, reminiscing about the bands’ early years, whereas for younger rock fans it’s a chance to see a band they’ve probably never seen before, bands that started much before they were even born. Bringing an end to the US tour they embarked upon recently, hard rock veterans Blue Oyster Cult and Uriah Heep arrived at the best theatre venue in all of Los Angeles, the Saban, for a well-attended event, and both proceeded to put forth exemplary performances that justifiably captured their respective careers.

Doors opened at 7:30 PM, attendees had plenty of time to find their seats, and there were no opening acts here as Uriah Heep themselves went on stage at 8:45 for an immensely rich and powerful 75-minute set. A seminal group in the British progressive rock movement of the late 60s, Uriah Heep presented a fair share from their array of classics including, the band doing full justice to the glorious epic that is the title track of The Magician’s Birthday album. The set also featured the track ‘Sunrise’ off of that record along with selections from some of their other early material, but this performance was laregly focussed on Uriah Heep’s 24th studio album, the 2014 Frontiers Records release ‘Outsider’. They played as many as four songs from it, and in all honesty these tunes were just as brilliantly composed and performed as any of the older, better-known material, with ‘The Law’ perhaps standing out as the best of the lot.

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Uriah Heep

Longstanding members singer Bernie Shaw, guitarist/vocalist Mick Box and keyboardist Phil Lanzon were at the peak of their powers, still rocking the audience’s socks off even at their age, as drummer Russell Gilbrook and bassist Dave Rimmer held down the rhythm section strong. The five musicians combined to delivered an incredibly clean and heavy sound, amplified to perfection by the Saban’s state-of-the-art acoustics. As Bernie Shaw rightly said, this set was a representation of what Uriah Heep is all about in the year 2015, and judging by the response they got for the new material, they are clearly no nostalgia act and still bear the progressive hard rock flag as well as anyone going around at present.

Set List:
01. Speed Of Sound
02. The Hanging Tree
03. The Law
04. The Outsider
05. Sunrise
06. Stealin’
07. The Magician’s Birthday
08. One Minute
09. July Morning
10. Gypsy
11. Easy Livin’

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Blue Oyster Cult

At 10:30, headliners Blue Oyster Cult took the stage for a full 90-minute set. Having been slightly underwhelmed by their performance for last year’s Orange County Fair where they opened for Deep Purple at the Pacific Amphitheater in Costa Mesa, I was hoping for and expecting better things this time around, and I am extremely pleased to report that this was indeed an infinitely stronger set from Blue Oyster Cult, and a much more accurate representation of their musical repertoire. All the hits were included as expected, but they also went into deeper cuts like ‘Career Of Evil’ which was commendable, because there are plenty of bands at this stage of their career that simply make no effort beyond playing the same set on every tour.

Check out a video of Blue Oyster Cult playing ‘Career Of Evil’ at this show:

Blue Oyster Cult laid down a solid rendition of ‘(Don’t Fear) The Reaper’ and an extended jam-oriented version of ‘Godzilla’ which featured a hilarious introduction of bassist Kasim Sulton along with cover teasers of songs from the various high-profile bands he has been in. But, ‘Shooting Shark’ was truly the highlight of the set, with ‘Then Came The Last Days Of May’ not far behind. Central protagonists Buck Dharma and Eric Bloom were fantastic in their roles, well backed up by a great support cast, and this performance of theirs instilled in me a far greater sense of appreciation and respect for Blue Oyster Cult, than I’ve ever had. Unlike Uriah Heep, Blue Oyster Cult haven’t released new material in quite a long time, but as long as they continue to vary the set list and delve into their catalog, with shows as good as this they’ll continue to be a band worth witnessing live.

While new and young bands are crucial to the progress and sustainment of the hard rock/heavy metal world, sometimes it’s rewarding and eye-opening to revisit the roots and catch up with what the originators and veterans have to offer. The Saban certainly felt like a place of worship last Saturday night, as seeing Blue Oyster Cult and Uriah Heep was nothing short of a religious experience.

Check out more photos from the show (Uriah Heep 1-4, Blue Oyster Cult 5-9)

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Blue Oyster Cult Set List:
01. OD’d On Life Itself
02. Burnin’ For You
03. Career Of Evil
04. Shooting Shark
05. Harvester Of Eyes
06. Buck’s Boogie
07. ME 262
08. Then Came The Last Days of May
09. Godzilla
10. (Don’t Fear) The Reaper
Encore:
11. Hot Rails To Hell
12. Cities On Flame With Rock And Roll

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