Uriah Heep’s guitarist, Mick Box, has revealed that the band will continue to tour after their 2025 UK farewell dates.
In September, the London rock band, who formed in 1969, announced the UK leg of their final tour. Set to kick off in February, the string of shows will see them play headline gigs in Birmingham, Bristol, Gateshead, Glasgow, Manchester, London and Bexhill.
Support will come from “very special guests” April Wine and Tyketto, and you can find any remaining tickets here.
In a statement at the time, Box said: “Who can believe next year is 55 years since the band started? And I know many of you have been with us since the beginning. Well, none of us are getting younger so unfortunately we have made the decision to wind down touring the world starting next year.”
Now, he’s revealed the UK shows will be part of multiple years of touring. Speaking to Planet Rock, he said: “Well, it’ll take two to three years to go around, and then once we’ve done that, we’ll still be doing festivals and weekend work and stuff like that, but the long arduous tours we’re not gonna do anymore.
“And I don’t think it’s logistically possible now with the way things are with carnets for equipment to get through territories. Bus prices tripled. And we did 11 flights the other month and five of them were cancelled, so it’s getting really hard to make those things work.”
Box then went on to discuss his plans for life post-Uriah Heep. “I guess we’ll do [some] writing and go in the recording studio and do other aspects of the of the game,” he said. “But as I say, we’re still gonna be touring, still gonna be playing. It’s just that we’re not doing the really long stuff. We’ll do it in sections rather than a whole long splurge.”
Uriah Heep’s 2025 UK tour dates are:
FEBRUARY
19 – Symphony Hall, Birmingham
20 – Beacon, Bristol
22 – Glasshouse, Gateshead
23 – King’s Theatre, Glasgow
25 – Bridgewater Hall, Manchester
26 – Palladium, London
27 – De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill
In a statement at the time of the tour’s announcement, Box said: “Under the very apt title of ‘The Magician’s Farewell’ we will start our final journey on the road. This isn’t going to be one of those long, dragged out goodbyes but we do intend over the next 2-3 years to play as many places possible and see you all for one last time. I want to reiterate that the band will continue to play shows as long as we can after we are done touring but these will be limited to one off festival type events and the like.”
Box added: “On behalf of the band and myself I want to thank you all for the continued support you have always given us and it means so much to us. Look forward to seeing you all again very soon … ‘Appy Days!”
Uriah Heep released their debut album ‘Very ‘Eavy… Very ‘Umble’ back in 1970. Their 25th and most recent full-length record, ‘Chaos & Colour’, came out in early 2023.
The band’s current line-up consists of Box alongside Phil Lanzon, Bernie Shaw, Russell Gilbrook and Dave Rimmer.
