Thursday night’s performance by Saxon and Uriah Heep at the Tobin Center served as testament to the enduring power of heavy rock acts who can back up bombast and power chords with timeless songcraft.
The long-running British bands’ Hell, Fire & Chaos tour has them crisscrossing the country decades after their initial heydays.
Heep is a proto-metal trailblazer best known for its ’70s output, while Saxon was a key figure in the very early ’80s New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) that included Iron Maiden, Def Leppard and others.
Neither band had smash hits in the United States, and neither proved particularly MTV friendly. By the virtue of their vintage and industry track record, both could well be working the state fair circuit right now.
Instead, the nearly full Tobin Center and the night’s multi-generational audience — not just parents and kids, but in some cases grandparents, parents and kids — showed that the two acts have carved out an envious niche thanks to their musicianship, their continued energy and music that stands the test of time.
Although founder and guitarist Mick Box is now the only original member of Uriah Heep, the band ripped through its career-spanning set with an astounding tightness.
Helping matters, no doubt, is the fact that its current lineup — save guest organist Adam Wakeman, the son of Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman — has been together for the past 15 years.
While Heep delivered the expected radio favorites (“Easy Livin'” and “Stealin'”) along with three surprisingly contemporary-sounding cuts from its latest album, Chaos & Color, the true magic came during early-’70s deep cuts including the organ-fueled rocker “Gypsy” and the expansive “July Morning,” perhaps the band’s “Stairway to Heaven.”
Those more dynamic tracks put the virtuosity of Box and Wakeman front and center, aided by the soaring vocals of long-serving frontman Bernie Shaw and the drumming of Russell Gilbrook, whose mix of precision and power may well be this lineup’s secret weapon.
Saxon never became huge like NWOBHM compatriots Iron Maiden and Def Leppard. Just the same, the group has long enjoyed a hefty San Antonio following thanks to early — and plentiful — radio airplay by taste-making KISS-FM DJ Joe Anthony. Towering, silver-haired singer Biff Byford acknowledged that special relationship multiple times during Saxon’s set.
“San Antonio, you know you’ve always been our favorites!” he told the crowd three songs in, drawing whoops of approval and a sea of fists and devil horns thrust to the sky.
Appropriately, Saxon backed up the sentiment by ripping into a ferocious rendition of “This Town Rocks.” The frantic double-bass drumming laid a solid foundation for rapid-fire riffing by guitarists Doug Scarratt and Brian Tatler.
Tatler — a member of foundational NWOBHM group Diamond Head — is Saxon’s newest member, having replaced recently retired axeman Paul Quinn. Quinn’s departure means that Saxon, like Uriah Heep is also helmed by a single original member: Byford, in this case.
Saxon’s set was long on classic material, including the headbanging cult hits “Denim and Leather,” “Wheels of Steel” and “747 (Strangers in the Night).
” Still, there were a few surprises, such as the dreamy and atmospheric “The Eagle Has Landed,” which showed the quintet’s ability to drift into proggier territory.
Drummer Nigel Gockler and live-wire bassist Nibs Carter locked into an ominous chug for the dark and hypnotic “Dallas 1 PM,” a song about the John F. Kennedy assassination that provided another set highlight.
While dipping into tracks from a new album frequently falls flat for legacy touring acts, Saxon trotted out no fewer than four — and with nary a misstep.
Helping matters, every one of the tunes rocked like a schooner, especially the silly but fun “There’s Something in Roswell” and the cheeky history lesson of “Madame Guillotine” (“She’ll be pleased to meet you, but please don’t lose your head”).
Beyond the new songs’ energy, it was apparent just how goddamned catchy they are. By the time the crowd heard the first chorus of “There’s Something in Roswell,” they’d learned enough to sing along to the second and third — something no small number did while pumping fists in the air.
And that may well be Saxon’s secret weapon: for all the band’s volume, energy and frenetic guitar work, it delivers memorable hooks.
Biff and company were never as musically ambitious as Maiden, never as radio friendly as Def Lep, but like contemporaries Motörhead and AC/DC, they know how to thread the needle by infusing power and grit with catchiness.
For all the prancing, preening and posturing musical acts rely on in their hit-making prime, those who age most gracefully are the ones whose tunes continues to speak for themselves. On Thursday night in San Antonio, Saxon and Uriah Heep proved that their music still does just that.
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