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The Ken Hensley Band
at SRF 2001
The first report in English
was made by Esbern Johnsen.
The following text was written by him to the
international UH mailing list in
at the 10th of June p.m. 21:36.
Surviving Swedish beer!
Tally ho! me jolly Heepsters, heres a tale of great rock and Europe's worst beers. To us Scandinavians it is a well-known fact that Sweden is a place of personal restriction and the lousiest beer imaginable, and so my companion "Morfar" and I had brought a decent supply of shomking material with us, as we drove from rainy Denmark to just-as-rainy Sweden. We spend the evening before the concert at a very expensive salmon-fishing river not catching anything but runny noses, but we could hear the music from the festival even though we were 15 kilometers (10 u.s.miles) away and so spirits remained high. When we woke up friday we were greeted by sunshine and when I spoke with Ken on the phone he sounded relaxed and ready, so Morfar and I went to the festival with the greatest of expectations.
The festival is a rather small venue, with the two main stages fronting eachother so that one band can set up while another is playing... Great idea! There was longhaired Swedish youngsters everywhere all sporting band/tour t-shirts from various metal groups, the beers were really shitty and extremely expensive and the stage/festival crews all seemed utterly amateurish so Morfar and I had a good laugh at the scene as we found ourselves an unnoticeable spot to shomk before the concert. Time flies and suddenly we heard sounds comming from one of the mainstages... We rushed to the stage and went frontrow just as Ken Hensley and band appeared. At this point there were maybe 500-1000 people gathering around the stage but Ken and the band was greeted most enthusiastically.
I am an idiot in remembering setlists so I cant recall the exact chronological order of numbers, but it was something like Easy Living, The Return, a number from the upcomming album named ?, Stealin', July Morning, Lady in Black and the encore was Gypsy with the Hammondextravaganza at the start like at the Vention. First I have to say that I never saw a place get packed that fast! Within the first two numbers the crowd had escalated from about 500 peeps to well over four thousand! (I checked with ticket sales). Ken was his usual smiling, concentrated self, eager to make things run successfully with the new band and all, but he soon found out he needed not worry. The crowd went crazy!
People were singing along, clapping and whistling all through the concert, many of them younger than my 28 years! Before I comment on the band I have to drop a line on the new number, the teaser for the Running Blind CD. I didnt catch the title of the track, but it was a supergreat number in line with the old "heavy" numbers, from before Heavy meant Metal. Slow and heavy, lots of nerve... Ken made a few comments on moving to England, getting back on stage where he belonged, doing what he loves.. Making music! And even though the new CD is running more late than blind I promise you all that if the whole CD is of the same standard as this one number is, it is well worth waiting for! Wow!
Obviously the crowd loved it! The old classics were of course what made people go bananas and Ken moved along with the enthusiasm playing wildly on the Hammond, making trippy sounds on it (like really trippy, industrial, oldschool freakout-Heepy-Hammond-tilt!), jumping up to grap the guitars, singing with the audience and generally doing the "frontman" thing to the full extend!
In all this I had a hard time shouting, singing, clapping, jumping, headbanging, drinking, photographing and singing some more, all at the same time but I managed!
Now I should comment on the new band. Its a drummer, a guitar, a bass and backing vocals. The backing vocals first. Ian "Moon" Gould and a woman whom I think is Pip's daughter(?) were placed on the left side of the stage (from the audience's p.o.w.) and were, as the rest of the band, smiling and relaxed. I had expected them to play a much larger part in the soundpicture but they were very laid back. This might have been due to the short rehearsal-time, but it left Ken with most of the vocal work which of course was no disappointment. What they did, however, was VERY pro-sounding and tight, just like a Heepchorus is supposed to be, working in perfect unison with the leadvocal. Great combo of voices and with a great understanding of Heep-vocals. Excellente!
Now to the guitarist, Dave Kilminster. Placed midstage, next to and in front of the backingsingers, Dave Kilminster did a fine job at both lead and rythmsections. It was obvious that he wasnt allowed to show off as much of his skills as he wanted to, finishing most numbers with a few wild riffs on his axe, and albeit he is not Mick Box he played his part smoothly and skillfully and with an individual touch. The couple of solos that were granted to him were delivered hard, wild and no-nonsence style! Dave Kilminster seems to be the youngster of the pack, and a very promising one too. Next comes the bassplayer, Andy Pyle, placed right on stage, almost behind Ken's organ. Andy has the veteran-musician look. Totally calm at all times, stepping a bit back out of the spotlights, and with a rare but flashy smile. Andys bassplaying was supersteady and tight, though he was less playfull than the Heep-bassists were used to. I kept giving him the "thumping thumb" sign, but I guess he didnt see it.
Nothing lacked in his department, however, and Andy Pyle might very well be the biggest asset to Ken in forming the new band. It was great to see and hear such professionalism.
Lastly the drummer, Dave Wagstaffe. I saved him for the end because Dave was the surprise of the bunch. I had of course expected Ken Hensley to hire people who knew what they were doing, and so he had, but Dave wagstaffe did a bit more than that. Heep's drumparts seem easy but theyre not, and Dave Wagstaffe had it down like had he been schooled by Lee himself. Tight and upbeat, always at the egde of a swirl while sticking to the number thorough, almost like hes playing a whole-number solo without ever stepping out of his place, this guy got a lot of positive comments from the crowd after the show. Great performance from Dave Wagstaffe, I hope everybody gets a chance to hear him do his thing!
Reviewing my comments on the musicians I must point out that I have extensive experience in listening to music and musicians and so many other less "spoiled" listeners would probably praise these guys much more than I have, and they surely deserve it.
Long after the encore was over one could still hear the crowd singing the refrain from Lady In Black and there was no doubt that the Ken Hensley Band had rocked the crowd beyond my wildest expectations! After the gig I talked to a few fans at the backstage entrance, and when Ken came around he was all smiles and looking great as we went off to the merchostand where a good crowd waited to get an autograph and a handshake from the Maestro himself. We were supposed to go dine with Ken and the lovely Monika, but in all the commotion we got away from him and decided that it was time to really get into our investigation of the low standards of beer in Sweden.
We checked out Glenn Hughes, who still can sing like a mofo, drank and shomked and enjoyed the sun, and by the time we got drunk enough to get lost from eachother and stumbled into each our cab (at the same time) we both had had an unforgettable time. When I woke up the next morning, sick to the stomach from drinking Swedish sewerwater (beer), I remembered gambling on some CD roulette at the festival, actually winning a CD despite my altered state of mind, and as I looked through my pockets to see what I had won I saw it was incidently "Lady In Black"- A Heep compilation from 1994. I had never seen before!! In conclusion, the concert was fantastic, the new band played freaking great and with the high standard of the new number I have no hesitation in proclaiming..THE WIZARD IS BACK! You better believe it!
In true Heepsterity...
Esbern "Rainbow Demon" Johnsen, Copenhagen.
Here is Esberns own photos from SRF: http://home.worldonline.dk/~iq214/SRF.htm
We also got some reports in Scandianavian languages: Se här.
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