Since H.E.A.T’s London show was first announced in early 2020 a lot has happened. The show was postponed twice, the venue switched and Vega dropped off the bill after refusing to play second fiddle to the fast rising Mason Hill. As for the headliners, they have released two albums in that time but singer Erik Gronwall who had taken their popularity to a fresh dimension left, and equally unexpectedly, original singer Kenny Leckremo returned after over a decade’s absence.

There was a very healthy crowd present- certainly far greater than their last London headline in 2017 – for this, my first gig ever at the Electric, formerly the famous Fridge and reminding me in layout of the long lamented Astoria. Unfortunately its main role as a night club did manifest itself in an ear splitting loud sound, the bass in particular.

Opening the bill were Collateral, the second of three such opening slots for them this autumn for the Kent melodic rockers. They opened with two of their more hard hitting numbers in ‘Lullaby’ and ‘Mr Big Shot’ with the unexpected guest appearance of H.E.A.T’s drummer Crash while ‘Midnight Queen’ made a welcome return to the set though the aforementioned sound rather drowned out the subtleties. They threw in a couple.of new songs, ‘No Time for Love’ reminding me of the likes of Firehouse and Dokken with a fine vocal melody and ‘Sin in the City’ a little more sleazy, before set closer ‘Merry Go Round’ was as heavy as I’ve yet seen them, the expansion to a two guitar line up really making a difference.

Mason Hill faced something of an ‘away gig’ challenge. For starters their sound is significantly heavier than the two bands either side. Moreover as I looked around there were pockets of fans joining in, but significantly less than on the previous support slot with Stone Broken , implying there were large numbers unfamiliar with them.

It was a challenge the young Glaswegians rose to with flying colours as both ‘Hold On’ and ‘DNA’ showed their mix of uncompromisingly heavy riffs with melodic chorus hooks. On both the angsty ‘Out of Reach’ and ‘Find My Way’ the emphasis was more on the former and yet the guitar solos of James Bird stood out.

That though was just the aperitif for the brooding epic ‘Where I Belong’ where his studied solo was little short of spine tingling. After another heavy number in ‘We Pray’ it occurred to me during the massively anthemic ‘Broken Son’ that in their infancy the band have already written two songs that will be regarded as classics in years to come. Scott Taylor led the crowd through the chorus of the title track of their debut album ‘Against the Wall’, ending a lean 40 minute set devoid of padding which hopefully would have made some fresh converts to one of the very best of the young bands.

After their usual ‘The Heat is On’ intro tape-and a brief technical hitch- H.E.A.T opened with ‘Back to the Rhythm’, a perfect opener just as it is on the new ‘Force Majeure’, and with a huge sound fuller than I remember them ever having, and a guitar solo from Dave Dalone that reminded me of that on Europe’s ‘Superstitious’.

For most people this will also have been their first chance to see how Kenny Leckremo could fill Erik Gronwall’s substantial shoes. I’d thought he had been trying too hard to outdo his predecessor for energy at Stonedead in the summer, but am pleased to report he had calmed down a little, more focused yet utterly dominating the stage. Better still he sang many the of the bangers from 2020’s ‘H.E.A.T II’ that I feared would never be played live with both ‘Dangerous Ground’ and ‘Rock Your Body’ significantly heavier live and generating an enthusiastic crowd response, followed by ‘Come Clean’ with Jona Tee’s keyboards more prominent.

‘Redefined’ from the controversial ‘Into the Great Unknown’ album has been exactly that, stripped of the modern studio trickery, and was a welcome change of pace, Moving into the present, ‘Hollywood’s earworm chorus got people bouncing, while the main lyric of ‘Tainted Blood’, ‘got a force inside of me’ was appropriate as I have never heard H.E.A.T with quite such a lean, focused heaviness, Dave showing he is more than just a widdly-widdly merchant.

I was drawing comparisons, and not only in the singer’s looks, to the first couple of pre-fame Europe albums. They were sandwiched by a first dip into Kenny’s first stint with the band in ‘Straight for Your Heart’ with another great crowd response though it distinctly benefited from the backing vocals of Jona and bassist Jimmy Jay.

It would have been hard to maintain the momentum and indeed things got rather disjointed with an early drum solo from Crash, brandishing a family sword, then the whole band left the stage for what was probably only a few seconds but seemed considerably longer as a taped techno-like intro played before Kenny roared back on stage wrapped in a giant union flag for ‘One by One’.

But things were then broken up again with a Dave Dalone guitar showcase and the Van Halen-esque ‘Beg Beg Beg’, though fun for audience participation, seemed to go on for ever. Fortunately the gig was soon back on track with a return to the first album for ballad ‘Cry’ which I suspect many people never expected to hear again, and his rich delivery confirmed that of the two singers, Kenny has the edge technically on his predecessor.

‘1000 Miles’ saw a favour repaid as Collateral’s Angelo Tristan came on to complete perhaps the longest haired musical duet in history, before many at the front, your reviewer included were bouncing around to a pair of anthems from ‘Address the Nation’ in ‘Breaking the Silence’ and ‘Living On the Run’, the latter perhaps the only song where he didn’t quite match up to Erik.

The first encore brought things right up to date with ‘Nationwide’, another example of their new found sharp heaviness, before a little surprise as another anthem in ‘A Shot at Redemption’ was given a bit of a makeover, with a new opening arrangement, slow and bluesy and showcasing Kenny’s voice.

As if the atmosphere wasn’t already good enough, the closing strains of ‘Sister Christian’ and all three bands coming on for an end of tour selfie added to the feeling of joy and warmth in the air. After all that period of change both in the wider world and the H.E.A.T camp, the standard bearers for the new age of melodic rock have come back with possibly the best show of theirs I have seen, and one with the big sound and gestures and set pieces that can and should translate to larger venues. A triumphant return indeed.

Review by Andy Nathan
Photos by Darren Griffiths

Album review (Force Majeure, 2022)

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