Uriah Heep Get Set For Another Odd German Show

The group will perform for inmates at Rottenburg prison outside Stuttgart as part of a show funded by local government cash.

But group founder Mick Box insists the band's first prison show won't be his strangest concert in Germany - Uriah Heep once played an acoustic show in a salt mine in Merker, East Germany.

He recalls, "That was December, 2006, and it was just amazing.

"We had to go down in these mine lifts that these guys go down in every day and the lights go out and you just drop - it's the best fairground ride.

"There were a couple of thousand people there and it took four hours to ferry the audience in and out.

"It was incredible. When we first started off, everyone's got a hard hat, so it looked like we were playing to 2,000 boiled eggs.

"They had a bar running down there and everything. It was thrilling. We had a great time."

As he prepares to jet out to Germany for the prison performance, Box admits he hopes the jailbirds have a sense of humour.

He explains, "We've got songs like Free Me, which was a big hit in Germany, Cry Freedom and Stealin' and I'm gonna do them. It'll be a big thrill to get 500 prisoners all shouting 'free me' together.

"I don't know what sort of prisoners are in there, but I know they have a big psychiatric ward."