1977 should have been a year of consolidation for BOC but they couldn't rest on their laurels - the success of "Reaper" generated it's own set of pressures. The heat was on for BOC to pen another "hit".
Consequently, they took an age to come up with their next LP, "Spectres", released in November of 1977, which contained what was, I suppose, a hit of sorts, "Godzilla".
On the live front, they played gigs with as diverse a bunch of bands as The Ramones, Rush, REO, Skynyrd, Utopia, Nils Lofgren, The Dictators and Cheap Trick. The last three months of the year was spent touring heavily with Black Oak to promote "Spectres".
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Andy Tanas (and Joel Williams) of Black Oak for their collective help in sorting out the details of the BOC/Black Oak tour dates listed on this page.
A massive thank you must also go to BOC pyrotechnician, Ken Welch, who has kindly sent along various hall reports and gig itineraries for the latter part of this year, which was much appreciated.
Have you got anything to contribute to this page? Reviews, missing info, ticket stubs, posters etc etc - if so, let me .
Here's a listing for this gig from the 31st Dec 1976 edition of the The Courier-Journal:
Blue Oyster Cult to be in Lexington tomorrow
The Blue Oyster Cult and Uriah Heep will make a joint appearance tomorrow evening at 7:30 in the Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky.
Tickets to this rock fest are $5.75 and $6.75, available through the arena box office.
I want to give you an update on the 1/1/77 show. I was there.
The original schedule/lineup was Blue Oyster Cult, Uriah Heep, Rex. BOC cancelled. Their name is of course on the ticket and the original concert ads. I have both.
Anyway after BOC cancelled, Uriah Heep was still popular enough that they moved into the headlining spot and Head East was added to the bill.
So, the running order was Uriah Heep, Head East and Rex. No BOC! I had floor seats and was there for all 3 bands.
On 31st Dec 1976, despite some local papers - such as the Courier-Journal above - still advertising BOC on this bill, the Lexington Leader gave the following news:
Blue Oyster Cult Cancels Concert Here
By David Fried
Special Writer
Blue Oyster Cult the rock band which was to appear at Rupp Arena Saturday, has canceled its Lexington concert appearance. The announcement was made Wednesday via the radio advertising of Sunshine Promotions of Indianapolis, the group sponsoring the event.
The concert itself will go on as scheduled, 8 p.m., but second billed Uriah Hepp (sic) will replace the Cult as top act. Rex will play as previously announced and a band called Head East has been added as a last minute replacement.
Although details on why the Cult canceled are not clear, Sunshine spokesman Dave Lucas said that the cancellation agreement was finalized only hours before radio announcements were aired in Lexington. He would not elaborate on the reasons why the Cult is not coming to Lexington.
The Cult's booking agent at American Talent International in New York could not be reached for comment.
Lucas, in a telephone interview, assured that refunds are available to any ticket holder. "We'll have signs at all the exits that Blue Oyster Cult will not appear."
Of the 5,500 advance tickets sold, he said only 24 had been refunded as of yesterday afternoon. "At this point, it is hard to estimate how many people will want refunds." He said he had no idea how many will attend the concert.
This is Sunshine's first event in Lexington. Lucas indicated that Sunshine plans to bring Kiss here in March.
So... a very late cancellation, and no reason given that I've ever seen for that cancellation.
BTW: The gig is listed on the Rupp Arena website's gig timeline and still has BOC down as the headliner:
Throughout January 1977, a number of box ads for a gig in Guelph, Ontario appeared in the likes of The Hamilton Spectator, The Guelph Daily Mercury and the Waterloo Region Record, as well as The Cord Weekly, a local University student paper and the Guelph University News Bulletin:
U.G.C.S.A. PRESENTS
IN CONCERT
BLUE OYSTER CULT
Featuring the most elaborate laser & light show in Rock
Also Appearing: The Dictators
TUES., FEB. 1
GUELPH MEMORIAL GARDENS
At 8:00 P.M.
Tickets Available U. of G. Box Office, Shoppers Records, Records On Wheels.
U. OF GUELPH STUDENTS $5.50
NON U. OF GUELPH STUDENTS $6.60
Here's a preview piece that appeared in the Monday, January 31, 1977 edition of the Waterloo Region Record (Kitchener, Ontario):
Blue Oyster now becoming a Cult
By Liane Heller
For a cult figure, Buck Dharma (real name: Don Rosser) is quite mild mannered.
Lead guitarist with Blue Oyster Cult (appearing at the University of Guelph Feb 1), a New York-based hard rock band developed the kind of following that proves its name, Buck is soft-spoken and expressive.
He's not at all the wacky wild-sounding character you might expect.
Although the two bands are different musically, listening to Buck on the telephone is like watching Pink Floyd play. The musicians themselves are stoic, still.
But the music; that's another matter entirely, in both cases. Floyd, with unearthly lighting, complex synthesizers and disciplined musicianship, belies its untroubled (outwardly at least) musicians.
Buck's ferocious, yet icily precise (on tape; I've never seen the group live) guitar work and romantic lyrics are equally distant from his peaceable quiet conversation.
Although the Cult has been around for awhile, with a loyal concentrated public, it was with the group's fifth album, Agents of Fortune, that success was ensured.
The Cult's cult is widening.
"I wouldn't really call it (Agents of Fortune) a mellowing," Buck said. "It just reflects more personalism, less abstraction, than the previous albums."
Getting the four-channel recorders the band didn't have two years ago, when the previous album was released, allowed each member to put his ideas across more.
In the past, Blue Oyster Cult was "odd for odd's sake. That may have changed but the music hasn't. It's still a show that's not for everyone."
Although he's enjoying the tangible success the group has had, he calls it "a reward for what we always felt right about."
Even in the days when the band, as opening act for better-known groups, was limited to half-hour sets, "the reality was that if you couldn't do it (excite the audience) in that amount of time, you couldn't do it at all."
"Besides, it makes sense that, on a three act show, not every group can play for an hour and a half."
What Buck likes best about being the headliner, not the opening act, is the control it gives the band.
There's one technique in the present stage act that the Cult couldn't have experimented with a few years ago.
That's a laser light show "which we use in the four or five numbers; it fits in with the music."
Developed with the help of an optical physics lab, the light show is "something we've wanted to do for a long time" he said. "But we had to be doing well enough to start developing it."
Yes, laser light is potentially dangerous, in a concentrated beam, but no, no danger from this system, because the light is diffused.
While the group's style has always been - and probably always will be - different from many of its contemporaries, Buck's impression is that, today, musicians are professionally superior, "in the quality of sound, in ability."
"Everyone's better today."
As for disco, "well, it's putting a lot of club musicians out of work. But some of it's okay."
However, the Wednesday, February 02, 1977 edition brought the following news:
Guelph having concert problems
GUELPH - Bad weather is only one of the reasons for cancellations of three concerts at the University of Guelph this season.
Blue Oyster Cult, the New York based rock group scheduled to play on Tuesday night at the university, could have reached Guelph, but without their equipment. Police were turning people back at the Thousand Islands border crossing and the group only reached Albany.
"They could have come, but not their equipment," Central Students Association entertainment co-ordinator Wayne Hepburn said.
The university doesn't plan to reschedule the performance, "although we might ask them to come next fall," Hepburn said.
BTW: the bad weather that put the kibosh on the Guelph gig wasn't finished messing up BOC's schedule, however - see the next entry...
I only initially knew of the date of this proposed gig courtesy of a ticket stub posted by Buck Dharma - quite why he needed a ticket to get in to the gig, he didn't say...
Anyway, it's clear the bad weather, which had caused the cancellation of the previous day's gig in Canada, took its toll on this gig also - here's the 3 Feb 1977 issue of "The Racquette" (Potsdam, NY):
Blue Oyster Cult Concert Has Been Re-Scheduled because of weather to TUES. FEB. 8 - 8 PM CLARKSON ALUMNI GYM with special guests the Dictators.
With the help of one of the country's most advanced optical physics laboratories, the Blue Oyster Cult have developed the most sophisticated laser light shows ever created for their new national concert tour. Costing well over $100,000, the laser system is capable of producing effects far more dramatic than any ever incorporated into a rock 'n' roll show.
The laser system will be augmented by a myriad of theatrical effects designed by a Broadway effects house. Conventional lighting will come from a 120-instrument, double truss theatrical lighting system (gargantuan by rock standards) which powers, among other thnngs, ten of the most powerful laboratory strobe lights ever man- ufactured. Custom-designed, ultra-powerful flashpots, which Pearlman describes as "semi-nuclear" punctuate the guitar-wrenching climax.
A full complement of technicians travel with the vast array of sound, light and theatrical equipment. The laser system (which in itself carries a $10,000 insurance premium) is specifically attended to by an optical physicist retained by the Cult for the duration of the tour. A specially designed digital computer system is used to handle the pre-programming of many laser effects. Tickets purchased for Wed Feb. 2 are still good!
Tickets still available at Lewis House, Price: $4.00 If anyone wishes a refund they will be given 2p.m. - 5p.m. Fri. Feb. 4 at Lewis House
THERE WILL BE NO MORE CONCERTS AT CLARKSON IF THERE IS ANY SMOKING AT THIS CONCERT - PLEASE DON'T SMOKE!!!!!
It seems to me to be a little odd that the gig was cancelled due to bad weather as it was clearly indoors in the gym - maybe the Carnival itself was cancelled, and hence all the celebrations surrounding it?
I was at this concert. The first in my life. I was 15. I haven't been the same since...
The Astor Theatre is no longer on Penn St in Reading, sadly. What a great place to see a concert. It is now the Sovereign Center, which still holds concerts, but will never match the character of the Astor.
Anyway, I do have a little helpful info: The Dictators [with Handsome Dick Manitoba] were the opening band.
Some dudes we were with were so stoned, they started running out after The Dictators finished their set, thinking that was B.O.C that just performed.
Everyone would get high in between sets/acts downstairs and then someone looking out would flick the lights on and off when the show was about to start.
We were about 6 rows back this night. Some guy in front kept yelling for "Don't Fear the Reefer"... What a show.
Thanks for the great site.
Thanks to the 27 January 1977 issue of the Reading Eagle, I found the date for this show: "Gavin Productions also has signed Blue Oyster Cult for a show Thursday Feb 3rd at the Astor".
In the 3 March 1977 edition of the Reading Eagle, in an article criticising the effectiveness of the promoters, Gavin Productions, it said: "Blue Oyster Cult played before 1800 last month - the smallest audience to see them perform in a year and a half."
What I remember was waiting for hours until the warm up band played, and when they were finished and walked off stage, a girl in front of me asked her friend, "Was that Blue Oyster Cult?"
This was the first BOC concert for me and my friends. BOC opened up with "Stairway to the Stars."
I wish I could got back in time and see it again. Like everything else in life, you don't appreciate the special moments when they happen.
Now I am middle-aged and bald, and my children cringe every time we go into Reading because I start waxing poetic about that night.
The Astor theatre in Reading PA... it was Agents of Fortune tour.
Incredible show incredible lasers, and pyrotechnics... sat front row center in small 2000 seat old theatre... feet on the orchestra pit. Hair got singed... caught a stick after Bouchards drum solo.
One of the best shows I've ever seen. And I was at the Wall in Nassau Colosseum.
I saw them a few times after... good but no comparison...
I don't remember The Dictators at all... I must have not been impressed. I was there to see the Cult... I was 17...
I saw a 100 concerts there when i was a teenager... awesome venue...
Patti Smith cancelled after being injured in a gig at Tampa's Curtis Hixon Hall on 23 January 1977 supporting Bob Seger - she had tripped over a monitor and plunged 8 feet off the stage onto a concrete floor, breaking several neck vertebrae...
Here's a preview for this gig which appeared in the Friday, February 04, 1977 edition of Newsday: (Suffolk Edition) - Melville, New York - - Page 108
A Pearl in the Heavy Metal
The Blue Oyster Cult: Among the Triumphant Survivors
By Wayne Robins
Last year was the year of the triumph of the survivors. A number of major artists - Peter Frampton, Fleetwood Mac, the Electric Light Orchestra, Ted Nugent, and George Benson all became multimillion selling stars after years of struggle.
The Blue Oyster Cult, which headlines Nassau Coliseum tonight, is no exception. The Cult, which formed around Stony Brook almost 10 years ago (using names like Soft White Underbelly and Stalk-Forrest Group) had released four albums since 1971. The band had become a favorite of critics, who recognized that songs as early as "She's As Beautiful As a Foot" (with lyrics by rock critic, Richard Meltzer) and "Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll" (with lyrics by co-producer and former critic Sandy Pearlman) had an ironic intelligence leagues beyond that of most other full throttle hard rock bands.
But the Cult's swearing, melodic heavy metal albums never sold more than 350,000 copies. In today's rock market, that is just enough to keep you in live bookings on the road, but not enough to get you off the road for any length of time. But with "Agents of Fortune," the Cults 1976 release, the complexion changed. The album has sold more than 800,000 copies, and has spawned the Cult's first-ever hit single, the ominous but summery "(Don't Fear) the Reaper. Such was the appeal of the song that the readers of Rolling Stone and Creem, the magazines representing the two extremes of the rock audience, both chose the song as Best Single of the Year. (Newsday readers named "Agents of Fortune" one of the Top 20 albums of the year. Poll results in Sunday's paper.)
"We realized all along we had one problem, Alan Lanier, BOC rhythm guitarist, said. "Nobody would play us on the radio. The new album wasn't a song or guitar-melodic departure, but a sound departure. Everybody was mixing, thinking, and involved with it from beginning to end. With the other albums, we'd be on the road, phoning in from Des Moines to find out now it turned out."
There have been other problems in the band's slow, steady surge to stardom. The primary one was an early image with black leather, paramilitary gear, and, some thought, neo-Nazi image references.
"It was never Nazi stuff," Alan Shapiro, contributing editor writer for Long Island's Good Times and a former road manager for the group, said. "Pearlman, a student of military theory, was into the philosophy of the swastika as an image of power that could be used to influence people."
The Blue Oyster Cult symbol was a four-pronged ankh that the band says is the Greek alchemical symbol for Saturn, the planet of heavy metal. The Blue Oyster Cult flag just happened to have had the same color scheme as the Third Reich flag. That, combined with album titles like "Tyranny and Mutation," "On Your Feet or On Your Knees," and "Secret Treaties" (a German World War II bomber on the cover) and song titles like "Dominance and Submission" and "Career of Evil" occasionally gave the band troubles with radio play, foreign distribution, and coverage in influential teen magazines like Circus.
"Regrettably, some people born after the war find some heroic impetus in the Nazi image," Gerald Rothberg, editor and publisher of Circus, said. "Not that they are in any way associated with Nazism. We just felt that at some point, we had to take a strong stance against use of that image." Rothberg acknowledged that the Blue Oyster Cult has long since shed that image, and is now covered by Circus.
"You want the success, and at the same time, you want to amuse yourself," Lanier said about the controversy. "We always had mixed feelings about it. I mean Murray Krugman [the band's co-producer] and Eric Bloom [lead singer] are both Jewish."
The Blue Oyster Cult hadn't always been a hellfire heavy metal band. As the Soft White Underbelly, it was influenced by the Byrds, the Doors, and the Airplane, and recorded two albums for Elektra, neither of which ever released. The first remained in the can because the lead singer, who looked and sounded like Jim Morrison, leader of the Doors who also recorded for Elektra, left the band.
"Record companies don't understand they've found a unique thing," Lanier said. "They always think they've found a formula."
While the group, scratched from Elektra, lived in a house in Great Neck "starving to death," Lanier credits Pearlman with helping focus the image and sound of the band. "Sandy did provide a guiding light. We were stumbling musicians who didn't want to get day jobs. Sandy was able to formulate ideas better than any of us could."
It has frequently been suggested that all of the members of the band - especially Lanier - were not happy with the heavy metal direction. "One of the biggest dilemmas in the band is that each of us is violently individualistic," Lanier said. "This band is not a unified idea by any means. There're a lot of different points of view represented in these songs. The band isn't pretty as Frampton, or sex stars, or dynamic and intellectual as Lou Reed. There's always been something a little askew."
But whatever the flaws, the Blue Oyster Cult finally has its imprint on the popular pulse. "Rock and roll is a generational phenomenon," Lanier said. "Because you're a great musician means nothing in rock and roll. Rock and roll deals in imaginative, mythological phenomena which is transmusical."
This concert was recorded by a local Long Island radio station called WLIR, and it was replayed on the radio a short time afterwards. It would be awesome to locate the recording of this concert and get it released!
The big Long Island homecoming for it's hometown heroes. Actually Albert and Joe were from upstate Watertown. In any event, it was a windy snowy night and the Nassau Coliseum was maybe 3/4 full. Bloom pointed that out later in the show.
But what the two previous fans didn't mention was the opening act who may have been out of their element this early in the careers. The RAMONES! They were welcomed politely enough-but then after 5 songs, every one of them sounded the same. Dee Dee going "1-2-3-4!" during every break. It WAS tiresome and after 25 minutes the boys were booed off the stage. They tried.
I was sitting in the 4th row on the right side-ear damage from the PA! I can't remember their set compared to the Oct 76 show at Commack but Eric wore a white karate suit instead of leather, and Buck donned his usual white jumpsuit. Stairway opened the show with the flashpots going off.
Highlights were Albert's drum solo and then dancing like a ragdoll up front after it with someone else on the drums (go figure), Joe's bass solo (I heard myself screaming "Go Joe!" on the WLIR broadcast the following week), Flaming Telepaths with the strobes freaking everyone out, and Reaper at the end.
Dharma, of course, was tremendous. It was generally OK but not as solid the Commack show. THAT was terrific. I didn't know about Patti Smith's accident. Too bad. She would have probably come out to do Vera Gemini from Agents with Albert.
Noticed your Feb 4,1977 Nassau set list - they started with Stairway (mostly instrumental as the mikes were dead) and Sinful Love before ME 262.
Blue Oyster Cult's Night
by JOHN ROCKWELL
UNIONDALE, L.I., Feb. 4 - When the injured Patti Smith pulled out as middle act in tonight's show at the Nassau Coliseum, the good citizens of Nassau County found themselves surrounded by their Long Island neighbors. In other words, tonight's rock show here opened with the Ramones, who come from Queens, and closed with the Blue Oyster Cult, which came out of Stony Brook in Suffolk County a few years ago and which has gone on to become about the best and most popular progressive heavy-metaltand In the country.
One doesn't mean to slight the Ramones if one concentrates this report on the Cult. The Ramones came out and delivered a typical 33; minute set of their tight, driving songlets. The act works just fine in a large arena like the coliseum - if anything this was about the best Ramones performance this observer has seen.
But tonight was the Cult's night, no doubt about it. Blue Oyster Cult grew out of earlier incarnations that had borne such names as Soft White Underbelly and the Stalk-Forrest Group. From the outset (the first Cult album appeared in 1972) the band was driven by a most interesting - even dialectically propulsive - tension. On the one hand this was a heavy-metal band, appealing to teen-agers accustomed to the crunching extravagances of Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, and flaunting sado-masochistic regalia into the bargain.
On the other hand the band was fired by the fantastical imaginations of rock critics and other low-life collegiate intellectuals. Chief among them was R. Meltzer, who was honored tonight by having his "Stairway to the Stars" (he wrote the words to it) open the show. This subcurrent of brain didn't undercut the impetus of the Cult's rockandroll so much as invest it with tensile strength and textural complexity.
All of this was very much in evidence tonight. The Cult never quits, in the sense that the tension and the drive never let up; in that respect, is curiously like the Ramones, if many degrees cleverer. But propelling the intensity forward is a density of musical thought quite beyond any other heavymetal band around. Instead of the leaden, grinding ostinatos of a Black Sabbath, the Cult's repetitive bass lines are full of syncopation and overlapping accents.
The only complaint one might make is that the band is a little shy on sentiment and contrast. But, you might counter, its whole coldly ironic stance would be subverted by the overt intimation of emotion. And, you could also assert, the spectacular laser effects that recur in the course of the 100-minute show provide a contrast lacking in the music itself.
In fact the Cult has indeed begun, on its most recent album, to come to terms with the varied melodic and harmonic niceties hitherto lacking in its music. Its only big single success so far, and the song that closed the show, is called "(Don't Fear) The Reaper." It has everything nearly all previous Cult songs have lacked: a tune, affecting harmonies, even flowing, Byrdesque guitar lines.
"(Don't Fear) The Reaper's" success hardly invalidates the Cult's achievements so far, however, or hardly lessened the impact of the bulk of the show tonight. It simply points the band in a promising evolutionary direction. And with the kind of talent the five members have shown so far, evolution should be easy.
FEB. 6, 1977
The New York Times
There's a gig missing... they played West Point military college on 5 Feb 1977...
I was actually AT the Feb 4 show and spent the night in one of BOC's unused hotel rooms as they pressed on right after the show to get upstate in the massive snowstorm that was moving in...
It was not open to the public - cadets and their dates only (this was well before there were ANY women at West Point)...
I saw Blue Oyster Cult at West Point as well, but not sure of the exact date. I believe that The Ramones opened up for them...
Regarding the post about this being a cadet-only show - I was not a cadet, just yer average concert going teenager...
Various Ramones listings sites have them playing CBGBs on this date, for example:
But as they list the 11 Feb 1977 gig as 10 Feb 1977, they clearly cannot be considered to be the ultimate arbiters of accuracy, so can anyone else shed any light on this possibility that The Ramones opened this show...?
My first concert was BOC at Eisenhower Hall USMA West Point NY, Agents Tour and Ace (Paul Carrack) opened...
I attended a BOC concert in 1977 in Bangor, Maine, at the Bangor Auditorium. Don't know the date, but I noted that this concert isn't on your list. Styx was the opening act. It must have been in the spring, since I was still in high school.
The gear arrived late, and the roadies were still setting up when we arrived. Styx went on without a sound check, and there were audio problems galore; they almost left the stage it was so bad. Guess they served as BOC's sound check! I'll see if I still have the ticket stub to determine a date for the gig.
This show was during the spring or summer of 1977 at the Bangor Auditorium, in Bangor, Maine. They were backed up by Styx. I remember that Styx had significant sound system problems, the vocals kept dropping out.
The band got really upset and almost walked off the stage, but instead credited the "great crowd" as being worthy of pushing through all the problems.
The sound problems were all fixed by the time BOC took the stage. I don't remember the set list, but it did include the highlight of the laser show with "Astronomy" which was very impressive within the smaller confines of the Bangor Auditorium.
Thanks to the 22 February 1976 issue of the Bangor Daily News, I found the date for this show. Here's the text of a letter to the editor:
"Sunday night, Feb 6, as spectators of the Blue Oyster Cult concert at the Bangor Auditorium, we were among the many victims of a violent gathering of thoughtless and immature people. There appeared to be no organisation of the crowd waiting to enter the building, so we waited at its edge.
Even before the doors were opened, people began shoving and pushing. As the crowd grew in numbers, we found ourselves literally being engulfed by the mass of rocking, squeezing and chanting people. Our group had to link arms to avoid being separated by the strength of the crowd.
As it was, one girl in our group fainted from the exhaustion of trying to maintain her footing. With great difficulty, against many unyielding people, we struggled to an open area and waited there until the doors were opened, at which time the police had to pull many in from the crowd, too lightly packed to enter on their own.
We found the random frisking of people to be useless after witnessing alcohol and marijuana free and openly used by a strong majority, with verbal encouragement from both of the bands.
In summary, our experience was one which will deter us from ever attending such events again.
Steve Bost & Scott Barrows.".
This gig was originally scheduled for 2 Feb 1977 as part of the Ice Carnival festivities, but apparently - according to the advert sent to me by Bart van Alphen - it was rescheduled for the 8th "because of weather".
Here's a review of this show from the February 16, 1977, issue of The Racquette newspaper, which seems to discuss more about the "ignorant" audience than the show itself:
Blue Oyster Cult concert - it was only good
by Martin Slavin
Last Tuesday night Potsdam was treated to one of the finest hard rock concerts that the North Country has seen for quite some time. The only problem was that you would never have known it, had you observed the audience. Blue Oyster Cult, the featured band, put on one of the most intelligent shows that has blessed the rock world over the last several years. Still, with all this going for the concert, the show itself was only good. That is the problem with most concerts in Potsdam, they barely go over the level of mediocrity.
My second point for this argument is the Hot Tuna debacle of two years ago. My friend and I had a running argument as to the quality of this band. Having only seen them once, here in Potsdam, I thought they were overly loud and extremely obnoxious. My friend disagreed with me. He had seen them about two weeks later at a midnight show at the Paladium (then it was the Academy of Music) in New York and said that they were great. He said it was like shades of the original Air Plane. This debate raged between the two of us for most of the summer. Eventually he convinced me to give the band another chance and to go see them again. I went and Hot Tuna was truly in magnificent form.
The whole thing became painfully clear later that fall. Over the summer, I had the pleasure of seeing Dave Mason in a concert. Needless to say, it was arr enjoyable show that I readily got into. When I got back to schoof in the fall, I had heard that Dave Mason was scheduled to perform here in Potsdam. I was looking forward to this concert with great anticipation.
This concert turned out to be the most disappointing concert that I went to in my four years in this arctic tundra. Not only was the band half as good as they were in New York over the summer, you could tell from the performance that the band was only going through the motions to fill an open date and to collect a quick paycheck. The ignorant Potsdam audience which does not know any better, thought that the concert was great. The problem is compounded by a vain booking chairman who hates to read in print an honest review of a half-hearted concert.
And that folks is the crux of the problem, the Potsdam audience. This leads me to wonder if it is a problem of ignorance where they don't know any better, or it is a problem of stupidity, where because of hang-ups they are too inhibited to do something about it.
Now what do I mean by being inhibited? Let me give you several examples of uninhibited behavior at concerts. In the summer of 1975, the Beach Boys played at Madison Square Garden in New York, the audience was dancing so much that the New York Times reported the next day that the mezzanine at the Garden was shaking up to three inches in either direction. I went to see the Grateful Dead in Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City. The Dead played for over six hours and the audience boogied with the band for the whole time.
You see concerts are a participation sport. The bands really enjoy playing for a crowd that moves to every note and jumps at every beat. Gary Duncan who is the lead guitarist in Quicksilver, remarked after last years concert that this was the worst audience that he has ever played for. It was, by no surprise a poor concert. Several weeks later I was glancing through Walrus, a publication for progressive rock radio that contains short reviews of concerts as well as albums, I saw a review of Quicksilver at a club on Long Island where the band put on an excellent show. The reviewer was the Music Director at WLIR-FM so I imagine he knows something about good shows and bad shows. The thing about the review was the spot where the reviewer is asked to rate the audiences reaction. This was simply listed as ecstatic.
A lively audience makes for a better show. In almost every case, when I viewed a concert in any other area than Potsdam, I almost always saw a better show. The notes were the same, the bands had the same personnel. Many were even in college towns similar to Potsdam. The big difference was the level of audience participation. In Potsdam you are lucky to even get the crowd to clap along with the band when they ask for you to do so.
The Blue Oyster Cult concert was the epitome of my frustration with the concert audiences in this town. You had all the elements for a great show, one that would have rated up there at least in my mind with some of the great concerts that I have seen. The band was cooking, they had a great light show, but something was still missing, an active audience. They didn't even bother to stand up til the last song in the set. And when they did get up they looked bored and people just stood there with their hands on their putzes.
Imagine if you were in the position of a band and you saw the audience just sitting there, you'd be fairly frustrated. Instead of yelling to the person in front of you who is dancing for him to sit down, why not stand up and join him. You might even enjoy it. Who knows the band may even put on a better show. ----
Photo Caption: Blue Oyster Cult who played in Potsdam - "The ignorant Potsdam audience which does not know any better better, thought the conceit was great" --------------
This prompted responses from members of the "ignorant" audience in the March 3 issue:
Responses from the 'ignorant' Potsdam audience
To the Editor:
This letter is written in response to the recent interview of the Blue Oyster Cult concert. I would like to give a differing point of view. As compared to the three previous concerts this year, the Blue Oyster Cult concert was somewhat of a disaster. There were good parts, but only the ignorant could have considered it "great" as the review pointed out. Where I disagree with the review is, why it wasn't.
First of all, there was the waiting. A long wait before a concert is one thing, but lateness is quite another. At this concert we had to wait 35 to 45 minutes just for the warm-up band, and once they started, you just wished they would go away. I have heard some awful warm-up bands, but the Dictators really took the cake.
We were next treated to an even longer wait, this one being for over an hour. The long waits were made more enjoyable by the fact that most of us were either sitting or standing very close to one another. Entertainment during the breaks was provided, in part, by the numerous CUB security people milling about in their yellow T-shirts, pretending that there was no smoking, but nevertheless trying to look like they were doing something important. They did get their big chance, but flubbed it when a small group of spectators tried to sit on top of the folded bleachers where they weren't supposed to. When four "burly" CUB security agents were unable to remove even one spectator from his position, reinforcements were called from another direction. A brief scuffle broke out on top of the bleechers and eventually one person was thrown "bodily" off. It was rather a spectacle I must say and, as it turned out, the highlight of the evening. Things got so boring after a while, that there was nothing better to do than watch a frisbee being tossed around for what seemed like forever.
Finally the lights went out, there was a brilliant flash of light on stage, a roar from the crowd, and then, nothing. The concert was not to begin for another 5 to 10 grueling and embarassing minutes for both the band and the audience. Blue Oyster Cult had about three times the equipment necessary and were apparently having trouble getting enough power to drive their amps.
An entry like that on top of what we had already put up with, did not leave the crowd in the best of moods. The band limped along for another 20 minutes or so, trying to put their act together and get some kind of response from a disgruntled audience. Things did pick up when the light show began. Oscilating green lazer beams, flashing across the smoke-filled gymnasium was somewhat impressive to those who had never seen anything like it before, but disappointing to those who had. There were some excellent solo performances by various band members but by this time the volume of sound was so great that one's head was throbbing in pain. Rather than damage my senses any further, I escaped before the encore.
It was suggested that the Potsdam audience might have been either stupid or inhibited for not jumping to their feet and clapping along with every song. Considering the situation, this was obviously not the case. I too, have been to Madison Square Garden and fail to see how a concert there can be compared to one in the Clarkson Alumni Gym. There was hardly room to boogie to one's heart's content. Clapping and yelling along with a song is something a group like The Bay City Rollers have teenie-boppers do to cover-up a lack of talent. As Billy Joel pointed out, a crowd of clapping or singing non-musicians does not keep very good rhythm. I think everyone would have been happier had the bleechers been used. Those who simply wanted to watch could have sat down. Those who wanted to get more involved could have stood on the floor.
The Potsdam audience was easily captivated by Billy Joel who even turned some heckling to his own advantage. Harry Chapin was warmly and enthusiastically received; having started on time and having performed almost non-stop for three hours. J. Geils didn't do badly either, but then, nearly everyone was stoned. It is the band's job to adapt itself to a particular audience and get them involved, not the other way around.
Robert Kaulfuss
3-8 Main Street Apartments
'Big Brother' at Cult Concert
To the Editor:
In defense of the ignorant Potsdam audience at the Blue Oyster Cult concert. I agree, we had all the elements for a great show. I for one would truely have been able to enjoy it had it not been for the atmosphere at the CCT gymnasium.
How can one enjoy a concert with "big brother" prowling the high walls around you with spotlights? Any sign of a lit match and suddenly you and those all around you are bathed in a stabbing beam. Granted, rules are rules, but can't there be a less obnoxious way to enforce them? Not only the criminal with the match is interupted from enjoying the concert, everybody in the vicinity is also.
Why were some rules so rigidly enforced and others not? I refer to those concert guards slurping Molson's Beer from glass containers. What an oppressed atmosphere - that's the last time I bother to go to a CCT concert.
T. Baxter
I originally had this gig down as on the 10th Feb - but the stub I've been sent (thanks to Chuck Evans) is clearly dated Feb 11.
Went to this show, have a ticket stub 1/2 like from the other side of the 1/2 pictured, so no date but mine says 8:00PM Fri and PRES.BY SP, then its ripped. So unknown promoter might be SPARROW, as it matches up with your pictured stub.
We had section 102, row 2, seats 1-5, I was in seat #2, remember it was far left on floor, pretty decent seats. Tickets Through Ticketron, I went to many shows at the Civic Center, from 1977-1980, mostly the arena rock touring acts of this era, so familiar with it's layout, I think.
This concert was the first ever for myself and 4 school/neighborhood friends, I was 12 & 1/2 years old,rode with my older brother (17yrs) and his friends in our family Chevy Bel-Air station wagon to the show, smoking 'Lumbo' and Lebanese 'Blond' hash the whole way and later inside the arena.
Ramones opened up the show and a near riot broke out in our section as a guy tried to advance towards the stage with and throw a chair he had separated from the row. He was stopped but nearly everyone was shouting/cussing and giving the Ramones the middle finger, it was a crazy atmosphere during their set.
The Ramones played music that none of us had listened to before, it was fast, loud and really short songs but the sound was really crappy and garbled. A guy in our row later told me it was 'that fucking punk rock'.
My friends and I wanted to buy their record as fast as we could, that shit was dynamite and we really had no idea what the songs were about and didn't catch most of the lyrics from the audience screaming bad stuff at them, but we loved it.
Blue Oyster Cult came out and just blew us away with the live LOUD sound that we had never experienced in person, really a feeling down your spine/body that unless you have been to a show, is kinda hard to explain correctly. You ROCK all through your body.
Sorry, cannot give you a set list of songs performed that night, as I had only listened to the 'Agents of Fortune' album and had not explored the earlier BOC records yet. They played almost all of the songs off of 'Agents' it seemed to us, E.T.I., easily being my favorite.
At one point in the show Eric and Buck did this clash of guitars thing, that had them rubbing guitar necks together for a ferocious sound. Eric Bloom then shot these laser beam lights out of some wrist band type things and the beams hit these mirror balls suspended from the ceiling and exploded light on all the audience members, just awesome.
The drum solo also featured a strobe light effect that was mesmerizing to our stoned out minds and not sure if it featured an early version of 'Godzilla', as we all saw BOC on a later tour that featured just that drum solo/zilla strobe light combo. Remember the band doing the 4 guitar and bass attack towards the end of the show and just thinking how 'cool' that was.
This show sent me on the now, life long road to experiencing live music with well over a thousand bands of all genres of music viewed and listened too in the 39 going on 40 years since this show, thanks boys in Blue Oyster Cult.
When I was stationed in Norfolk, Virginia in 1977, I saw Blue Oyster Cult play at the Hampton Coliseum in either Feb., or Mar., and Atlanta Rhythm Section opened up.
I've enclosed my stub for the Hampton concert. It looks like the date is February 13, 1977...
Well, I suppose it does look like it could actually say "February 3" - but BOC played a gig in Reading PA on that date, so it can't have been that.. It could be a "1" in front of the "3" or else a dividing line - the stub isn't very clear... Anybody got any info on this one?
I just stumbled onto your site. Quite an amazing resource. Thanks.
Here's some additional info for the set list. The 2/13/77 show in Hampton Roads, VA opened with Mayson, then Atlanta Rythmn Section...
No debate about the date as far as I'm concerned. The date was Sunday 2/13/77.
I was at the B.O.C. show February 13 1977 at the Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, VA (which is right next door to Norfolk). The band was thunderous and the laser show was quite the spectacle. I was thrilled to hear some of the early songs like Astronomy and Dominance. Secret Treaties is my first and favorite studio LP. I do love all the live albums.
Mayson was the opening band. They were probably our best known local band back then. They got a contract with Bearsville and I believe they had to change their name. Todd Rundgren was to produce the LP but the project was abandoned because of production issues as I recall.
The Atlanta Rhythm Section always put on a rocking show. Their bass player in particular was impressive.
I see that Bob's ticket stub is in better shape than mine. Unfortunately the Coliseum ticket takers always tore off most of the ticket and left us with a small nameless scrap piece.
Both ticket stubs I've seen for this show appear to be unused - this has resulted in sowing small seeds of doubt in my mind that the gig took place?
Here's the deal. Prior to this show, I went to BeBop Records here in Jackson and purchased my ticket. When I got home that day, I noticed that the ticket was perforated (never seen tickets like that before) and much to my surprise, there were two more tickets attached to it. However, they were folded under each other. The person who sold it to me just did not realize there were two other tickets attached. Isn't that funny.
The reason my tickets are unused is because a few days before the concert my right eardrum bursted. This is even more funny but this was a direct result of a previously attended TED NUGENT concert here in Jackson in Jan. of '77. I was upfront against the stage and Teddy Boy had those Marshalls cranked up that night. Unfortunately, the Doctor would not let me attend the Blue Oyster Concert as my ear had not healed.
More than likely, the unused ticket you saw on Ebay was probably one of my three tickets - I have listed the tickets for this concert on Ebay a time or two but they did not sell. I still have two of the three unused tickets. If anybody else has a ticket to this show, it would surprise me. Hattiesburg is a small town and the only reason they got this concert on the Southern Miss. College campus is because of a pro active student activity council.
Here's something else I remember about the Reed Green Coliseum in Hattiesburg. I had attended a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert there in'75. The ticket takers at the door took our entire tickets. I've never had anybody do that before and it made me mad. So, who knows...for those that attended the BOC concert, they might not have gotten a stub back!
I can't say for a fact that this concert took place as I did not know of anybody else from Jackson that was going. However, I feel relatively certain that if it had canceled, I would have heard about it on the radio. I have a fantastic poster of this show that I have framed at the house along with one of those unused tickets framed on the poster as well. I got the poster from Bebop records late one night as it was posted on their front window. Gee, do you think they missed it! I will send you a scan soon.
It took place and I was there, but about all I recall of the concert is that they put on the most intense strobe light show I think I've ever seen - gave the whole domed building life, and lots of blue stage lighting.
Saw lots of high caliber bands at the Reed Green Coliseum on the campus of the University of Southern Mississippi back in the day: Black Oak Arkansas, Edgar Winter Group ("people keep asking me, where's your brother" yep, Johnny came out as a surprise, guitar gunning us into submission), Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Mother's Finest, Bob Seger, Cheap Trick, Lynyrd Skynyrd, ZZ Top a couple of times, Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Review with Joan Baez, Mick Ronson, Roger McGuinn, et al. (one of the best shows I've ever seen).
Hattiesburg was a convenient stopover between/around Memphis and New Orleans concerts and we had an unlame University Activities Council reeling them in.
I was at this show. Just writing to confirm it happened.
I remember a really intense light show/laser show and the stage was lit up in blue.
Great concert, this is where I really discovered BOC.
I was there with 5 Navy pals and 3 friends that were students there. We traveled 100 miles from NAS Meridian, Mississippi to meet up with them.
I was in Cincinnati, Ohio that weekend, drove back to Meridian and worked that Monday. Left early for the show getting pull over 5 minutes from the base drinking Wild Turkey and smoking. Then you could hop out without getting shot. He let us go without checking car.
Blackfoot was great, we were about 30 ft from stage front on the floor. BOC came out and rocked!
The light show was great, but the laser was fantastic! Being so close to the stage we had to take our eyes off the band to watch the laser projections off the disco ball and the designs running across the crowds in the seats!
Like Buck says, it was freaking amazing! I will never forget the experience or the fact when the 9 of us tried to smoke a joint when they first came on we found ourselves surrounded by state boys, sheriff's and plain clothesman. We dropped the goods and after about 10 minutes they moved on thank God!
What a night, what a fantastic show! Saw them again 3/7/2020 before the virus shut things down! Good show!
I'm indebted to both John Patuto of Cygnus-x1 and Eric Hansen of Power Windows for sending me this stub (courtesy of John Williamson).
When another stub for this gig attached to a scrapbook page went up on eBay [July 2012], it was noted in the page margin that the band line-up went "Piper, Rush, Blue Oyster Cult"...
All I remember is how intense the laser show was. I'm sure it was before OSHA caught wind of what/how the Cult were using the laser beams.
Never again will any rock concert fan be able to experience what we experienced back then. Bouncing high-intensity laser beams off mirrored-balls into an audience???
Like I said, never again...
I was at the Don't Fear The Reaper Tour concert in little Rock when I was in High School. The Line up was Piper, Rush and Blue Oyster Cult. I remember Piper well because of what happened during their set.
Barton Coliseum had seating around the arena and standing only on the floor in front of the stage. I was probably 18 rows deep on the floor. The were a lot of people drinking smuggled in hard liquor as I do not remember liquor sales during the concert.
Piper came out to play and I was very surprised by their solid sound as I had not heard them before. Despite how good they were, you could tell a lot of people were only there for BOC so there was a lot of crowd noise during their set.
At some point early in their set some idiot a few rows in front of me threw a glass pint bottle from the crowd and it hit the lead singer in the head. The crowd got very quiet and to the singer's credit, he stepped back, shook it off and came back to the song mid verse and finished the song. They band walked off right after the song and everyone understood their decision to leave.
It was only years later I learned Billy Squire was the front man for Piper. When the police arrived the crowd actually parted and led the police straight to the idiot responsible, who was arrested.
There was a large break as the stage was reset and we waited on Rush's scheduled start time. Rush was fantastic and sounded just like I was listening to extended plays of their albums. I became a fan of theirs that night.
BOC came out and the place went wild. The energy of the show was constant until they slowed down to get serious. The fog machines were turned on and the floor filled with fog and in the anonymity provided the lighters could be seen lighting hand rolled smokes.
The speech by the band on writing your congressman about the legalization of marijuana was not lost on the crowd. The fog machines ran non-stop as the lasers dip in and out of the smoke. All continued even through the encores and it took more than one to hear the song everyone had waited to hear. A great concert despite my ears ringing for the rest of the night.
I attended the new orleans show on 19 feb 77 at the warehouse new orleans. boc put on the best laser show i have seen and i have seen quite a few. Also, they had a strobe light - it looked like a hand held rifle and it was pointed at a band member and put him in slow motion - cool!
Rush did open and they were awesome - this is one of my top ten concerts of all time and i have seen some of the best - well over 400 concerts in my 45 years...
The only evidence of the existance of a gig here on this date comes from the - somewhat blurry - eBay ticket stub above.
A point to note is the slight difference in the venue name given on this stub as compared to the one from the 19th. I checked up, and the Warehouse was called "A Warehouse" at some point, though this stub just says "Warehouse"
Anyway, if this show was played - and here it's worth mentioning that the ticket is, in fact, a used one - then it's likely that Rush were again the support act...
Does anybody know for sure?
Here's a listing for this gig from the Tuesday, February 22, 1977 edition of the The Columbus Ledger:
The Blue Oyster Cult is a pearl among hard rock groups and it'll be at the Municipal Auditorium tonight at 8.
The Cult's attraction is a $100,000 laser system capable of producing dramatic effects; for example lead singer Eric Bloom's bracelet, actually a small prism assembly, projects a swirling cone of laser light whenever he points his hand.
Prior to the show, I do recall a local contingent of concerned parents/zealots protesting the appearance of a band with Cult in its name, given the attendant diabolical implications, as well as the supposition of a pro-suicide message in the BOC song then receiving the most airplay ("Don't Fear the Reaper", of course). This is, after all, Columbus, Georgia - the buckle, as it were, of the Bible Belt.
Of course, the really big deal about the concert was the use of laser effects - BOC's light show was touted in radio-spots for weeks and weeks before the show, and our little, drafty 4,000-seat auditorium was sold out and packed to the rafters for the performance. My ticket was "General Admission", which meant that I was standing on a folding chair on the floor of the auditorium, forty feet or so from the stage... at least initially. In addition to the booze that almost everyone sneaked in (sloshing in past the very apathetic gate-attendants), certain very generous individuals were freely distributing other enhancements... these were lovely times, since even the cops, far from hassling anyone, were vigorously partaking as well. I can offer little in the way of recollection about the opening act, which was Rush. I wasn't a huge fan, and I suppose in 1977, the bulk of Rush's fame still lay ahead.
BOC's light show really was magnificent... none of us had ever seen any crazy shit like that. Eric Bloom, I think, had some kind of ring or something on his hand, and would zap a big, spinning disco-ball that had been suspended over the audience, so that laser beams were bouncing everywhere. I think there were other mirrors, disco-balls, whatever, situated at various positions, so that there would be a geometric blossoming of light all over the place. Just awesome, again, especially for the time that I'm referring to. I think there were other gags used, like a laser rifle or the appearance of beams coming from the instruments... unfortunately, the overall effect rather compounded some other effects that I was then experiencing - not altogether external, and on the final song, the opening guitar arpeggio of DFTR rather sounded as if it was coming from a very great distance... like maybe the other side of the planet.
I'm sorry that I cannot recall anything of particular note to highlight that performance. I know that it was just splendid though... a great lot of good will and friendliness in the crowd, nothing ugly, and aside from some lingering tinnitus, I was no worse for wear. I'm pretty sure this was my first, genuine rock-concert, and like all things recalled from our bright, healthy youth, it was just great. Apologies for rattling on so, and saying, in essence, nothing. Thanks for the chance to wax nostalgic though.
In the 1978 Euro tour programmes, there's a montage of stage passes and one appears to be from this gig which indicates that Rush and Piper were the support acts.
Does anyone know if Piper were actually on the bill that night?
Yep, Piper was on the bill of that show. I remember Billy Squier traipsing around, but not drawing much of a stir.
Rush, on the other hand, blew doors. From the very beginning of their set, possibly "Overture" from 2112, everyone looked around & said, "Who are these guys?" It was one of those shows where half the audience ran out & bought 2112 the very next day - probably on 8-track.
FWIW, as a young teen, I saw BOC 4 times in Georgia between 1976-79: Once at the baseball stadium in Atlanta (8/29/76), three times at the Municipal Auditorium in Columbus, Ga.
Best BOC show was easily that 4/22/77 gig. The lasers & lighting effects were off the chain, especially for an audience that was mostly accustomed to Confederate flags as the main stage props. (Every Southern rock band-from Skynyrd to ARS, from Wet Willie to Molly Hatchet-came through Columbus at some point. I think it was the law.)
The energy was great in that old barn that night, lotsa anticipation, and let's face it: BOC was pretty big at that point. Everyone seemed to have Agents of Fortune, if not yet Spectres. It wasn't my first rock show, but I was pretty young (13, in the 8th grade) & I had a blast.
I saw REO and BOC at WCU Cullowhee, NC. - could have been '77.
I also recall an incredible set of lucite drums with individual strobes in each one and a killer synthesizer/keyboard solo. My first BOC show and it was a clincher.
I was able to pin a date to this thanks to a full page ad for the gig in the Thu 17 Feb 1977 issue of "The Western Carolinian":
SGP Presents
Blue Oyster Cult
With Special Guest REO Speedwagon
Thursday, Feb. 24 - Reid Gym 9:00 p.m.
Admission
Student - $2.00 Non-Student - $5.00
ID Required
I saw the following intriguing mention in the 22 Jan 1977 issue of the "News Record" (North Hills, Pennsylvania):
Feb. 25 - (tentative) Blue Oyster Cult, Civic Arena
Seeing the word "tentative" is a bit weird - what are you supposed to make of that?
However, four days later in the 26 Jan 1977 edition of the same newspaper, we then got this:
Cancelled: America, March 31.
Uncertain: Blue Oyster Cult, Feb. 25.
"Uncertain"...? Thanks for that info - really helpful, guys...
Anyway, we know BOC played Charlotte on 25 Feb, so that would seem to put the kibosh on this particular mystery...
This is off the concert listings page of "The Charlotte Observer" on 18 Feb 1977:
BLUE OYSTER CULT: with RE0 Speedwagon and Rush, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb 26, Charlotte Coliseum. Advance tickets $6, day of show $7 at the coliseum, 2700 E. Independence Blvd., 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday - Saturday; reservations at area Sears stores. 372-3600.
Saturday 26 Feb, eh...? Good to know...
Here's that same newspaper on Friday 25 Feb 1977:
Blue Oyster Cult with R.E.O. Speedwagon and Rush, performs 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Charlotte Coliseum. Advance tickets $6, day of show $7 at the coliseum. 2700 E. Independence Blvd., 10 a.m.-6 .pm. Monday - Saturday; reservations at area Sears stores. 372-3600
Good. Nothing's changed. I'm really looking forward to the gig tomorrow!!
Then... this appeared in the Observer the following day on Saturday 26 Feb:
We Were Wrong
Because of erroneous information, Observer stories about the Blue Oyster Cult concert incorrectly said the concert will be tonight. The concert was 8 p.m. Friday.
F******!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Because of erroneous information"...? They weren't kidding - all the erroneous information was coming from the ironically-named "Charlotte Observer"... I bet there were many Charlotte BOC fans who missed out because of this fiasco, and who would have liked to have given them something baseball bat-shaped to "observe" from a very close and personal viewpoint...
My first BOC show (also my first Rush show) is missing from the tour index at BlueOysterCult.com.
Rush opened for BOC at the Charlotte Coliseum in North Carolina on February 25th, 1977.
It was love at first sight for both bands!
Regarding the date - I definitely remembered the show, and I knew it was in '77 or '78.
I found a reference on setlistFm when I looked after seeing no Charlotte shows on the BOC website in those years.
Considering that date is one day before a confirmed show in Fayetteville, it seems pretty solid to me, especially since Rush was the opener at the time.
I was there. The main thing I remember was that this was the first concert with lasers that any of us had ever seen.
Rush opened, then REO. REO warmed up the laser system with their last tune, "Riding the Storm Out".
BOC hit the stage and there were lasers the rest of the night. THE most stunning, awe-inspiring concert I've ever seen. Wrist lasers, mirror balls, audience scanning. Amazing.
Oh - the music was fantastic too!!
I don't currently have a date for this show but maybe someone out there can help me. Here's what Helen Wheels aficianado BOC lyricist Ronald Binder says:
CBGB's management signed The Dead Boys to a recording contract. I introduced the band at many of their gigs around NYC and on the night they recorded their LP, "Young, Loud and Snotty" in Electric Lady Studios on W. 8th St. in NYC, I flew in from Atlanta, GA where I saw BOC at the Omni.
BOC headlined over Rush and Reo Speedwagon that night. We flew back to NYC and I went to The Dead Boys' recording session where at 3am, I did the scream over for "Down in Flames".
So - does anyone know when The Dead Boys recorded "Down in Flames"? That would give the date of BOC's Omni gig...
I was at this show but there's nothing out of the ordinary to my memory, wich is odd cause it always seemed like really strange stuff seemed to be a part of the package whenever I went to a BOC show. Not bad stuff mind you but things that make you turn to your buddy and ask... did I just see that???
I remember boc living up to the standard they always had, I wasnt really all that big a fan of reo at the time but i do remember them getting my attention when they played Riding the storm out.
I was just starting to get into Rush at the time and if my memory isnt to off it seems this was the 2112 tour they were on. I just remember that i was astonished the just 3 guys could make that much noise and for the life of me could not figure out where that skinny little dude playing the base {Geddy Lee} that was nearly as big as he was could have that amazing singing voice.
Great show, but i cant give you a definate date though, but i dont remember this being on a school night so I would venture to guess Fri or most likely Sat night cause where i worked i could work out fri or sat off but never both at the same time unless somebody died lol.
I have confirmation for the date of this show:
Date: Sunday, February 27, 1977
Venue: Omni
Attendance: 5,372
Gross: $38,259
Bands on the bill:
Source: Billboard Magazine from March 12, 1977, page 88 - Boxoffice
Note: For Rush was it the "All The World's A Stage" Tour
BOC did in fact play a show in Atlanta, GA USA at the Omni in 77. I went to it and I do believe it was in February but don't know the date. It was a three band bill with REO Speedwagon opening for Rush who opened for BOC. Eric Bloom was vocal (no pun intended) about this gig being a "make up" for their waterlogged performance at Atlanta Stadium in August of the previous year that was plagued by heavy rains and delays.
However this Omni show was "on" and everything worked exceptionally well from the songs, musicianship, and the laser show. Highlights at this show were Astronomy and Then Came the Last Days of May both of which were played extremely well. While the accompanying laser antics to these songs were great, the musicianship stood on its own. Great BOC gig.
I'm pretty sure that there is YouTube footage of this leg of the tour (I don't know from what city) where Eric uses his laser ring during Astronomy.
As for the openers - REO was mediocre and I remember the house lights coming on during their set, which triggered a round of applause as we thought that meant that their set was over. No such luck. Rush came on next and turned in a solid set which was dominated by songs from 2112. It was clear they were on a path to success but, certainly in this case, they were no match for BOC.
I would think that I would know the exact date for this show.
It was my first encounter with BOC and you might say it was my audition with them for the pyro that was to come later. I set off a concussion explosion in an empty hall (The Omni) that literally opened all the outside doors briefly from the pressure wave. The office people there at the Omni totally freaked out without any prior warning.
Rick Downey the lighting director at the time and the See Factor crew were not pleased when the light gels from the lights began raining down on the stage. Sandy Pearlman the manager, and the band loved it.
I started full time after the end of that tour, went into the rehearsal hall with the show and came out with what soon became the largest indoor pyro show in the world. Not even Kiss could top our pyro.
It was the start of the modern world of pyro as we know it today.
Yes the Atlanta show in the Omni changed my world and the world of pyro forever.
I stumbled upon a March 3rd 1977 Savannah ticket just last week!! I noticed that you don't even have that gig listed on the site.
ARS and Derringer were the opening acts.
3-4-77: BOC appeared with Atlanta Rhythm Section - Rick Derringer opened (Rick's band was actually called "Derringer" back then). It was my first BOC concert.
I believe they opened with Stairway to the Stars and I remember that they played Sinful Love. Eric also road the motorcycle out when they played Born to be Wild. I think they had the lasers that year and of course all the other pyrotechnics. Great show!
I saw this show when I was a sophomore at University of Tampa.
They played E.T.I. and Astronomy. I will never forget Buck's white suit and the incredible guitar attack!!!
Easily one of the best shows of the hundreds I have seen. Thank you for such great memories.
The above ticket appeared on eBay (March 2012) with a number of other tickets (not BOC) and all were said to be from Jacksonville FL venues. As the markings on the ticket matched others from the Veterans Memorial Coliseum, I have designated it as such.
Does anybody know if Rick Derringer and Atlanta Rhythm Section were also on this bill also?
I was at the Jacksonville gig with my brother just before I shipped out for Germany.
Rick Derringer and Atlanta Rhythm Section definitely played. I remember Rick saying he had a cold and the ARS did not impress. I think they had a hit then with "So Into You."
If memory serves, BOC was heavy with the Zilla strobe, laser and mirror ball that night.
There would seem to have been no gigs from 8 March to 31 May due to the above ad - presumably from a trade publication - which has BOC trying to rent out their lighting rig during the downtime...
I can only presume the band were involved in Spectres-related pre-production work during this almost three month break, with selecting and recording of home-demos and the like.
BOC had April off - presumably for Spectres-related pre-production work.
May was presumably taken up with further Spectres-related preparatory work...
Again, I know there were no gigs during this month thanks to the above ad, but I did previously have word of a phantom BOC gig in St Paul, but see below for why that has been discounted.
I'm not sure BOC played this show... I have a poster and ticketstub, showing Rush headlining, with openers Styx, Starcastle and Max Webster...
Thanks Eric - Did anyone go to this gig who might be able to shed some light on who actually played? My previous info was that it was BOC headlining with Rush in support, but Eric's evidence indicates otherwise...
I had the following confirmation from the Billboard Magazine, May 21, 1977 (Box office section) and Performance Newspaper (Rush special):
Attendance: 9,000 (BB) - 9,293 (PN)
Gross: $45,000 (BB) - $44,234 (PN)
BÖC did not play on May 6, 1977 in St. Paul, MN!
Blue Oyster Cult played in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, June 14, 1977
Backup bands were Uriah Heap and the Dictators.
I was only in 6th grade, but I remember the band saying they were playing a song in concert for the first time, and that it would be on their upcoming album. The song was Godzilla.
The official site had this gig listed as "Wendler Arena, Lansing MI" - and that's how I listed it also, lacking any evidence to the contrary.
One thing: I've noticed bootlegs available on the interweb for this date which are labelled "Lansing Civic Center", so I've always been a little confused over this one...
Wendler Arena is in Saginaw, not Lansing, it was also known as the Saginaw Civic Center. It is now called the Dow Event Center.
I was at this gig, I'm pretty sure Nazareth was with BOC.
The Godzilla stage prop was awesome, I remember smoke shooting out its mouth, I was amazed for I was only 14 years old back then.
I have seen BOC many times since then. Most recently in 08 at the speedie fest in Aug in Binghamton, NY. It was a great show, it was my son Collins first concert, he was 6 years old.
I live in Florida, but as we travel around in the summer time we find ourselves at a BOC concert somewhere, which is fine by us. BOC rules, you guys always have!
Some time after Bigcahuna72's post, I saw an ebay listing featuring a bunch of stubs and adverts etc - I cut them out of the larger photo - so the ticket especially is pretty small - the stub just has the date and no venue details, but the ad clearly says the gig was in "Metro Stadium, Lansing". The support acts were listed on the envelope that came with the stub.
So that's how I'm listing it now, and I can only conclude that Bigcahuna72's gig mentioned above must be from a different show - but which one?
I believe I was at this show, - well I know I was at the concert - just not sure of the date. Starz was the opening band followed by The Dictators and then BOC.
The concert didn't end until about 3am. There were long breaks between each band and the rumor was one of the bands was late to the arena.
The concert took place at Metro Ice Arena in Lansing Michigan. I went to 20 plus concerts at this venue in 76, 77 and 78. It closed up sometime in the 80's and was converted into retail space. It is now an MC Sporting Goods, a Chinese restaurant and a craft store.
This gig was my first date with my wife of 36 years (next month).
Keith Johnson is incorrect about the location. Metro Stadium was just north of the short strip mall that still houses MC Sporting Goods, a buffet restaurant and one more retail store. That building could not possibly house an ice arena and concerts. It was an ice skating rink, among other things and probably closed in the early to mid-80s.
And also... it wasn't the Civic Center either. That was in downtown Lansing kitty-corner to the Capitol building, was demolished some 10 years ago for a modern gov building.
Starz is the only other band I remember being in that concert...would have remembered the Dictators but I'm not sure.
I was at this gig. This was my first BOC concert and it was awesome.
This was one of the very few laser shows that BOC did.
The giant Godzilla was a great gag. Eric rode a Harley (?) onto the stage and the set finished with the 5 guitars wall.
I remember at least 2 encores and the Boys covered the Doors Roadhouse to my great delight. I had the Specters album for a couple months before his gig and I was pleased that the band did most of these songs. I was attending MSU at the time and went with several of my friends from the dorms and my lady.
The show ran into the wee hours of the night and I finished the event by creamin my lady several times. She started calling me her BEAST after that night and pretty soon my friends began tagging me with the nickname Godzilla.
I carried that tag for several years while going to as many BOC shows as I could. I eventually had the BOC umulet tattooed on my body. That tattoo became the anchor for other tats as time rolled on.
I was done with my first and only year of college around this date and an ad appeared in a local newspaper looking for crew for shows around Michigan, including this upcoming concert at the ice arena.
I'd seen Blue Oyster Cult at Metro Ice Arena in 1975, as well as an Aerosmith/Rush/Nugent bill and Kiss around the same time. Working load-in for this BOC show sounded great: Paid to hang out and see the show for free. Plus: Dictators were on the bill. So I reported at noon to the arena and joined about six other guys around my age, 18 or so.
My account of this is faded by time, but there are moments I recall fairly clearly. I'll do my best.
The trucks got in a little later than they were supposed to and the traveling BOC crew was stressed, but they were cool with us. The venue had rear access to the backstage and it was a smooth load. There was no sound check because of the late arrival.
I can't recall whether Starz played first or second; I want to say Starz first, cruising on some well-deserved FM play from their single "Cherry Baby."
The Dictators were as killer as I imagined they'd be. They started with "Science Gone Too Far" and moved through their two lps, heavy on the newly-released Manifest Destiny.
One of the perks of working local crew was a coveted all-access pass, which I used to stand on the sound board platform to watch the Dictators. Over the years, through the kindness of friends and folks in the biz, I've had similar passes and that's my favorite spot.
After the Dictator's set, I had to grab some stuff out of their dressing room, which was basic a hockey locker room with some beer and ice in some huge buckets. Handsome Dick was talking to the other guys, rapping a mile a minute in the thickest NY accent I'd ever heard.
There was some kind of problem with the guy who ran the lasers for BOC - recalling the lasers were supposedly new technology and BOC was ahead of the curve in using them for stage effect. Pink Floyd was doing the same thing around the same time.
Apparently, the laser tech - did they call him Larry Laser? That's in the memory here - had a conflict with some of the other production guys and walked off. Someone asked me if I had any idea where he might have stormed off to. I suggest maybe the mall, which was about a 10 minute walk away.
There was a long wait for the guys from BOC to arrive at the venue, but there were limos involved when they finally did, which looked odd outside a battered hockey barn in a blue collar town. I saw one of the BOC guys - can't recall who any more - duck into the dressing room. The whole backstage hallway quickly smelled of weed.
BOC was the usual great, although I can't recall the specifics, they were still touring Agents of Fortune and "Summer of Love" was in the mix, a favorite of mine from that lp. I'd seen the five-guitar jam in 74 and 75, and they got that going again. Oddly, I don't recall "Godzilla" but everyone posting these earlier 77 shows recalls them doing it pre-Spectres, so that's the faded memory at work.
After the crowd cleared, the BOC roadies and production guys were looking for the local crew members for load out. But all of them left, and there I was, ready to go. These guys treated me like a Viking for sticking it out, even though I'm not a big dude and did jack shit compared to them, I loved lifting, pushing and pulling the stuff onto the trucks. For my trouble, after we wrapped around 6 a.m. and the sun was coming up on a bright Midwest day, one of the BOC crew guys gave me a little bag of black beauties and let me know that it was "Foghat speed," whatever that is. I also got a bonus from the cash man who paid the locals.
It was a great way to spend 18 or so hours and to bathe in the greatness of BOC.
Here's a ticket stub from Jun 16, 1977. BOC, with Utopia opening, played the Kitchener (Ontario, Canada) Memorial Auditorium.
I can't tell you that I remember a lot of details about the gig. I had been a casual fan since a friend introduced me to "On Your Feet.." album a couple of years earlier, but "Agents of Fortune" and "Reaper" was a monster.
I was a student at the University of Waterloo (Ontario) that summer. The school pub and the campus record shop sponsored a pinball contest. First prize was a copy of "Agents" and a commemorative t-shirt. I won the contest. Somewhere, I have still have the t-shirt. I'll take a scan for you when I get a chance to look for it. I already had the record, so I traded it for something else.
I came across your site while searching for scans of Van Halen tickets. My Van Halen stub site can be found here:
Please keep me in mind if you trip across any Van Halen items that I may be interested in.
I had been a huge fan since my older brother got turned on to Secret Treaties (I was 12 and just loved "Bombers at 12 O'Clock High") I played them for a ton of people but it took "The Reaper" to turn them on.
This was our first chance to see them and 100's from Brockville went. They were AWESOME.
A show like many had never seen: Godzilla, The Harley, Buck playing guitar with an electric razor and That Awesome Laser Show.
They won many fans that night. I was like a proud parent. So many said "He can play guitar" but I loved them all the same!
They did the 5 Guitars and blew us out the doors !!! I think everyone went home and bought SPECTRES. BOC Rocks !!
I noticed an interesting sequence from The Ottawa Journal. First of all, there was this preview in the Fri 17 Jun 1977 edition:
Fairy-tale start for Cult
By Christopher Cobb
Journal Reporter
For Blue Oyster Cult, it was a gig like any other - or maybe even a little worse than most.
The band had been invited to play at a private New York swingers' party where, according to lead singer Eric Bloom, "30 or 40 couples came to swap around a little." BOC, an unknown group from the bar circuit, was offered $75 for the night and snapped it up.
"It was one of those weekends when we didn't have anything to do," explained Bloom from New York City last week. "And believe me, there used to be plenty of those. The party was a nothing-gig but we decided to take it because there was nothing else."
Wise decision
It was a wise decision.
In the true fairy-tale tradition of show business, there just happened to be a studio mogul in the audience who thought the band was "fantastic" and immediately offered his recording facilities to them. BOC made a few demos and with help from the mogul's music contacts were catapulted into fame and fortune.
(Bloom points out that the band's discoverer and now co-producer David Lucas was at the party with his family and merely, observing the "swingers' activities").
"It was all just a happy coincidence," remarked the lead singer. "But we're really glad we took the gig."
That chance meeting has brought the Blue Oyster Cult an ever growing (cult?) following both here and in the United States, five album releases along with numerous successful concert tours.
As Bloom talked from a New York recording studio last week, the sounds of album number six wailed in the background. Lead guitarist Don Roser, considered by many to be the backbone of the band, was adding a few finishing touches.
'It's different'
"We hope it's going to be better than anything we've ever done before," said Bloom. "But we always hope that. We think it's a little different anyway and we'll be playing a lot from it during our Canadian tour."
Besides the music. Blue Oyster Cult has a laser light show which is, according to the reams of publicity hype that has preceded the band's Ottawa visit, "semi nuclear." Utter nonsense of course.
The light show is a complex computerized system that is looked after on tour by an optical physicist. The system is programmed to synchronize with the music or with certain segments of the band's more visual stage work.
"We use the visuals to give the people something good to look at," said Bloom. "It's as simple as that really. We try not to overdo it though because then the novelty would wear off. More than anything, it's a punctuation to the music."
Idea from Cooper
The band got their initial visual ideas from Alice Cooper with whom they toured a few years back.
Bloom remembers one particular conversation that inspired band members.
We were sat around a hotel room one night and Alice made the point that the days have gone when a band can perform onstage without some kind of visual surround. That's what audiences want now, and that's what we try to give them."
BOC has been touring steadily for the past couple of years and will be on the road for eight months of 1977. This is the first cross-Canada tour although BOC has played occasional concerts in western cities before.
"We spent the early part of our career getting fired from bars," recalled Bloom, "because we wanted to play original material and they wanted us to play the top ten. It was a real drag and hard to get ahead." But that was before the swingers' party.
Then, the next day, they printed this review:
Heavy Metal Going Nowhere
By Christopher Cobb
Journal Reviewer
Heavy metal is eroding.
The post-Beatle music style popularized and still dominated by Led Zeppelin just isn't getting anywhere. Lots of bands are trying hard to find some new direction, but succeeding only in creating more and more gimmickery.
And maybe music fans are wising up too.
Last night at Ottawa Civic Centre, there was a double bill of the heavy stuff, but only a handful of people showed-up to listen. Those who stayed away made the right decision.
Blue Oyster Cult, introduced as the "eighth wonder of the world", came up from New York City and brought Todd Rundgren's Utopia along for openers. The evening promised more than it delivered.
For starters, both bands were far too loud even for a hockey arena. The excessive volume produced rushes of frenzied distortion in both sets and rarely was there a well balanced tune played. Words, although admittedly not the most vital ingredient of this music, were constantly inaudible.
Musically, Rundgren's outfit had the edge over Blue Oyster Cult. They started pretty badly but managed to gather momentum as the set went on. Unfortunately, because Utopia was opening, it wasn't allowed the privilege of bringing along its visual garnishings and one suspects this had an adverse affect.
Judging by the Utopian histrionics there was a certain amount of frustration present. Still, they overcame the bare stage and gave the better performance. Better, but not good enough.
Blue Oyster Cult, a band with five relatively successful albums behind it, have got some fairly good visuals and don't make the mistake of overdoing it. But no band can disguise a lacking in sound presentation, no matter how many distractions surround it.
The problem at Ottawa Civic Centre last night was neither new nor unique. Heavy metal music as it is so called, is playing out its last chords as a viable live form of entertainment and no amount of exploding smoke, bombs, strobe lights, synchronized laser systems or fire eating is going to halt that decline.
Maybe there is a future for the music on record where a certain level of balanced perfection can be reached and the listener has control of the volume knob.
A few days later, on Fri 24 Jun 1977, they published the following letter on their letters page:
Talented musicians
Sirs: I object to the inadequate job of reviewing the Blue Oyster Cult concert that was done by Christopher Cobb (Journal, June 18).
Mr. Cobb has totally ignored the following points: the audience's reception of Blue Oyster Cult was far better than that of Todd Rundgren. Not that Todd and Utopia didn't play well, they just couldn't generate the same excitement and sheer musical energy as Blue Oyster Cult. They seemed more distant.
Mr. Cobb does not seem to know the difference between talented musicians and just any old hard rocker. Blue Oyster Cult and Utopia are far from the mainstream of two-chord BTO. Ask any knowledgeable musician about lead guitarist Buck Dharma's or Todd Rundgren's outstanding abilities.
Mr. Cobb is wrong about the purpose of light shows. Blue Oyster Cult's sensational laser show must be regarded as a visual extension of a musical presentation. It is meant to complement their music and intensify its impact. It is not "gimmickery."
Anyway, the audience's reaction to the show totally refutes Mr. Cobb's criticism of the bands.
Jamie Midwinter, Ottawa.
Amen...
The official BOC site has two shows at Rich Stadium on Sunday 19th and Monday 20th June, yet all indications I have seen would seem to suggest that it was only a one-day event.
If it was just the one day, then the question remains - on which day of the two alternatives did the gig take place?
If anybody knows for sure, please let me know.
I accompanied BOC to a huge outdoor show in Buffalo, NY. At this stadium, BOC headlined over Lynyrd Skynard, Starz, and Ted Nugent. During the set, I helped with the special effects laser coming through the 30 ft. high GODZILLA head as the crowd went nuts.
Forget James Brown. The BOC road crew was the hardest working guys in show business. Sam Judd, Rick Downey, Ricky Reyer, Eric "E" Factor, The Geranios brothers, George and Tony did a fantastic job at the shows and were always fun to be around.
This gig took place in a small town outside of Buffalo, NY in front of about 30,000 fans. After the show, Eric and I went for pizza in the limo and Eric was still in his stage gear. We stopped at a pizza shop full of fans coming from the BOC show. When Eric and I entered, the noisy fans suddenly saw their jaws dropping as the lead singer of the band they rocked out to less than an hour ago was ordering pizzas with extra cheese before their eyes. The place fell dead silent in awe.
I don't know if it was a 2-day event, but I highly doubt it. Rich Stadium looked too good when we showed up for there to have been a show the day before, and too trashed after the show for another performance the next day. And who would have followed that lineup anyway?
Only way it was a multiple day show would have been if there were some 'smaller' acts the day before. I'm virtually certain it was just the one day, but the show started in the early afternoon, and continued well into the night...
And, Rich Stadium isn't the kind of venue that would lend itself to this kind of gig. I'm assuming you're thinking it was some kind of 'overnight' show where one entered the grounds and camped out? If that's the case then it's absolutely certain to have been one day. The only way they'd have done a multiple day show would have been for everyone to leave the grounds and come back the next day--a logistic nightmare...
Rich Stadium used to stage mammoth shows like this in the 70s, maybe 3 or 4 huge shows every summer, depending upon who was available to play. There hasn't been such a there in many years [as far as I know] Too bad because my wife has relatives about 2 miles from the place...
As to which day it was - definitely a Sunday. No way would they schedule a concert of that magnitude on a work day, and the traffic tie-ups would have been impossible...
I was there, and have part of my ticket stub - just like the one shown above. On the stub it says "Rain Date - June 20, 1977."
So I'm pretty sure it did not rain and the concert was actually on Sunday the 19th of June. So I'm guessing the BOC site also lists the rain date because obviously that date was reserved in case. Definitely was not a 2 day event.
I was there, with about 10 friends from work. We were all around 18 years old, and it was definitely one day only. Sunday, June 19, 1977.
Those in attendance will never forget the day, especially crazy Ted Nugent jumping from the top of his speaker array, playing all the way down, and never missing a note.
I don't remember Ted being number 2, though - I think he was third in front of BOC...
I was at this show. I was 16 years old and it was my first major stadium show. I was a rock-n-roll novice, but wanted to take in as much as possible. The weather was a beautiful sunny day. We made our way to about the 30 yard line which was the appoximate distance to the center of the stage.
I remember a huge guy walking around with a jug in his hand yelling out, "Acid for Sale". I had barely started drinking and had smoked some weed to that point, so the mention of something harder made me nervous.
The following is the line-up as I recall it. Lynyrd Skynyrd started the show and we decided to see how close we could get to the stage. We made it all the way to the bouncer's barrier. I remember people being thrown over the barrier and back by the bouncers.
Skynyrd was the highlight of an amazing day with Sweet Home Alabama and Free Bird. I remember looking at Ronnie Van Zant and thinking "that guy means every word he sings".
Then Ted came on. He was a maniac and we kept our spots by the stage and kept on screaming.
Starz was next. They were okay, nothing memorable but good enough to make me check out an album later on.
A good break before BOC came out in the evening. They had their laser show going full force and it bounced off the entire open stadium seats. By that point half of the 30,000 were near passed out. It had been about 7 hours of solid partying.
It was the first of probaly half a dozen BOC shows I saw over the next 4-5 years. I later attended Oswego State which is about an 1.5 hour car drive from Watertown, NY where the band started. 2 of my buddies from freshman year knew the Bouchards and had attended the same high school.
Highlight of every show was always GODZILLA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
David gives a pretty different line-up from all previous indications I've had for this gig. Also, if you check out the ticket above, you'll see Skynyrd and BOC as the only named bands on the bill, so for Skynyrd to open - in front of Starz! - would seem to be pretty unusual.
Can anyone else who went confirm or deny that the order was in fact: Skynyrd/Ted Nugent/Starz/BOC?
I attended this show and can tell you with the most certain of clarity that some of the personal user accounts of what transpired at this concert are partially accurate, and some are (sadly) dead wrong.
The following account that I have provided for you is almost 100% accurate from multiple verifiable sources.
There was only one show, and that occurred on Sunday, the 19th of June, 1977. Any mention of a second date was purely and only for 'rain-date' type contingencies.
The day's lineup went as follows:
Concert notes:
Weather: Sunny and warm
Attendance: >30,000
Unique or notable occurrences:
During Ted Nugent's set, an acrobatically-inclined 'prankster' climbed upon the cable that holds a large net (used to keep football's from entering the seating area's of Buffalo Bills NFL football games) that stretches the width of the stadiums 'end zone' and traversed from one side of the stadium's width to the other, until security personnel were able to coax him down and take him into custody.
One of the last concerts that Lynyrd Skynyrd lead vocalist and founding member Ronnie Van Zant performed at, as he and other band personnel would meet an untimely death from a plane crash later that year on the 20th of October, 1977.
Blue Oyster Cult's laser and accompanying fireworks display for this particular show were touted as the 'worlds largest' over the amount of time that it transpired in.
Was the first year that this summer, outdoor concert series at Rich Stadium (in Buffalo, N.Y. suburb 'Orchard Park') was named 'Superfest', as the original name 'Summerfest' received copyright contention from a concurring concert series in Wisconsin.
My brother and I were talking last night about concerts we've seen, I mentioned a great concert I attended in Buffalo, NY in the late '70s, he said "Why don't you look it up?".
So this morning I did some research, and after establishing the date and venue (June 19,1977, Rich Stadium, Orchard Park,NY), I ended up on your web site in the history section. After reading all the accounts of that day, I came to Duke's (above).
Duke's memory is very good, and recalled to my memory some of the details that were hazy. I was 19 years old, drinking heavily and smoking a lot of pot, so the details tend to fade after 34 years... I do remember that it was originally called "Summerfest" and then changed to "Superfest", it may have shown on the ticket as "Summerfest".
I went with 8 or 10 friends from work. I recall that you were allowed to bring in coolers as long as nothing was in glass bottles, so we lugged in a huge cooler full of beer, liquor, and even a watermelon filled with grain alcohol.
I was remembering it as a 2 day event for some reason, like some of the others, maybe because it was supposed to rain that day, or maybe just because we got there on Saturday. The lineup sounds right.
The part I remember best was during Ted Nugent's set when the crazy acrobat got on the wire going across the stadium. The guy went back and forth for what seemed like at least an hour while the cops at both ends tried to coax him down.
Ted was very pissed off, at one point stopping in mid-song to yell at the guy (something like "Hey, why don't you take over the show since everyone is watching you instead of me!"). He was right to be pissed, because all eyes were on the idiot about to fall to his death (he eventually gave up and was arrested).
I remember very little about B.O.C.'s set other than it was fantastic (we were all trashed by then) but I do remember the awesome fireworks display at the end. This was the best concert I ever attended, the last one I remember going to where you could drink and smoke and nobody messed with you or strip-searched you like they do now.
The Rich Stadium gig was an extravaganza with 4 bands... Besides the laser effects, there was a complete fireworks display as the show ended, I'm pretty sure it was at the end of BOC's closing set. Airplanes flew overhead trailing banner signs and maybe skydivers landed nearby?
The other memorable thing was that during Nugent's set some idiot climbed up a pole and shimmied onto a cable running from stage to soundboard. People were paying more attention to him than Nugent and he got real pissed about it. I kept wondering of he was gonna pull out his bow and pick him off.
I was 17 and there. We stayed on the floor in front.
One day gig. Line up:
Some info not previously covered:
Before Starz went on the roadie dropped one of Dube's drumstick over the barrier. I snatched it up and still have it. We then backed up about 20'.
Starz was a good band. Seen them already at a previous free concert. Very good first album, cool riffs, good singing. I really liked that band.
The wind really picked up before Nugent came on. They had to climb and cut off the tarp covering the stage because the wind was picking the stage up and moving it back. Also, the wind blew down some of Derrick St. Holmes amps. Yep, the heads and the top cabs went down. Ouch.
Saw a clog fly past us like a fast ball at full speed into the crowd. Man, I didn't want to make eye contact near that way because someone got really hammered with that...
When Nugent came on the place went wild. There was this plexi glass that for some reason, was fitted into the stage barrier top, front and center, maybe 2' and 8'. (So people in front could see better?) The people ripped it out, real acid energized happening . This is while Ted was playing. It was almost out of control. The people were responding to Ted like animals. This was right in front of us. We were youngin's compared to most people there so we were preparing for defensive action.
Skynrd was excellent. I remember the drummer was pissed and announced over the mike that "Some asshole just threw beer on my brand new drumset." Their plane crashed a few months later.
Right after Skynyrd this great looking chick is stumbling past us and she falls into my arms totally wasted. I didn't want her so I helped her up and around me. She made it a couple steps and puked. I remember the people yelling about that one. Don't know what happened to her...
BOC came on and it was a terrific show. Fantastic stereo sound, just great. The lasers was a whole new thing. Buck had one strapped to his arm.
I am not sure of the songlist here though. I swear they played Hot Rails to Hell. I remember being disappointed they didn't play some fav's. Red and Black and Dizbusters it may have been.
We never left our spot, never drank any liquids nor pissed the whole day, probably 10 or more hours in the beating sun. We stayed right there. Can't believe we did that. It was all non liquid party and an absolute great show. Still have my stub.
Miss the Summerfests...
The lineup was 1) Starz 2)Ted Nugent 3) Lynyrd Skynyrd 4) Blue Oyster Cult...
As I recall, Starz got a very Luke warm reaction, the lead singer was trying to do some Mick Jagger impression with a purple jumpsuit and a red sash around his waist and jerking off over the crowd with a champagne bottle.
Ted was great and if I remember right he had a show scheduled in Syracuse about a month before this with him as the headliner that had to be cancelled due to low ticket sales and he came out here screaming that "Syracuse sucked!"... can anyone confirm?
I do remember that when Lynyrd finished their set and we were waiting for the "Freebird" encore and the stage was empty someone threw a gallon jug of beer on the stage/drum kit and Artimus Pyle come out on the stage bitching out the crowd about it was a brand new drum kit... and everyone got quiet thinking "oh shit... their not gonna do "Freebird"... but they did!
And then BOC... great show... I remember during Buck's big solo him throwing his guitar in and out of tune to achieve the sound of a motorcycle revving and changing gears...
Huge fireworks display and yes it was a Sunday, me and my buds were from Upstate about 4-5 hours away and I had to drive straight back from the show because they all had HS finals that Mon... I didn't so I skipped, got home and passed out... woke up to the Mom giving me the drill of "just what drugs are you on anyways"... as she was an alcoholic, kind of hypocritical...
But than and again, I think I did a tab of acid, smoked a bunch of hash/weed, drank a ton of beer/whiskey and drove everyone home... ohhhh to be 17 again... LOL!
The 24 June 1977 issue of The Spectrum featured the following review of this gig:
Superfest - part 11 : Hot time summer in the city
by Joe Fernbacher
Spectrum Music Staff
Starz, who wants to see stars when it's the middle of the afternoon and your tongue is swelled from the heat and bourbon you can't even ask the lady next to you if she's a cherry baby or Cheri baby or even if she reads High Society. Drifting in and scanning the mass of flesh that calls itself humanity, you wonder just what made you wanna get outta bod on a Sunday afternoon and see a rock 'n roll festival. Whatta you, a DNA Cow-person in search of a humanity /fix or an electron in search of a plus or minus.
As day reaches middle age, all you remember is the voice of Zan Zandt and Lynard Skynard breathing heavily with caked whiskey and the singular howl of "Freebird" which you always thought was "Freiberg" and much more acceptable in terms of social derigeur, you think is this all worth while!
As the day attains a mature old age and Ted Nugent rambles onstage asking you if you're a motherfucker and wanna get down and tear your neighbor apart in a semi-religious ritual of rock anger you say yeah and reach out your elongated fingernails to the fleshoid closest to you in an obvious display of cannibalistic joy. ted furthers the mood by insisting upon playing a guitar that's so nasty and low down destructive you cringe in decibel horror. "Cat Scratch Fever" says it all as far as Ted, or the Nug as those not so close to him call him, goes.
Agents of fortune
A brief respite. The day has reached the senility of the evening and you're all miscast agents of fortune awaiting the arrival, in leatherized regallia, of Blue Oyster Cult. These gnomes of mnemonic guitar assimilation and energy squash are the only reason you're here. When the mutant strains of "Godzilla" (which is from the new album currently being mixed, and available around October) bounce off the Stadium walls in a piercing wail of concrete demise you head is turned. When they sally forth into a spine numbing edition of Helen Wheels' (the essential poetess of the seventies, this girl ain't no beatnik jive like Patti Smith she's the real thing and lives next door to the Hell Angels in the city of Neu Yawk) "Tatoo Vampire" everyone goes crazy with sonic lust.
The days getting beyond senility and into total collapse. Strange aerial displays of pyrotechnic madness sink info the horizon (somebody keeps yelling the H-Bomb didn't work, the H-Bomb didn't work and you wonder if he's talking about the real thing or some special effect that never hit the light of night) and just as things are getting a shade too weird for comfort you hear "Born Too Be Wild" wafting across the drug filled aerosphere and you flashback to the old days and a show called Upbeat with this skinny cat named Don Webster introducing John Kay and Steppenwolf. The only thing is, this "Born Too Be Wild" is better, more violent, more flesh eating, the sky's bursting into flames and you don't know why. The noise of a thousand claps buzzes through your head and people keep yelling, "Is It Over, man, Is It Over man" and you keep mumbling "No, hun, no, hunh..." Just then the Cult hit the stage and do "Don't Fear the Reaper" a hush quiets the night and everyone sits back thinking about Romeo and Juliet. The next thing you remember you're home, excited and afriad to watch television. Such is a hot time summer in the city.
The official BOC site had this gig down as the 23rd June - the stub evidence above says the 21st.
Also - here's an online blog by Paul Dorsey that also has this gig down as the 21st June:
It says: "With '(Don't Fear) The Reaper', the Cult seemed pretty cocky having someone like Todd Rundgren and Utopia open the show. Great double-bill."
He also has a master list of gigs he's seen which contains a stub from this show (also dated 21 June) here:
Obviously, until I know any better, I'm going to go with the visual evidence and the blog entry.
If you know any better, please get in touch...
Regarding the date - I can't offer any more corroboration than my ticket stub, unfortunately (and you already have one of those) - other than recalling only two or three shows I ever saw that were postponed, and BOC wasn't one of them..
I was surprised from your tour itinerary that BOC were taking days off between shows; otherwise it would have been a simple matter of jumping from Buffalo to Toronto, schedule-proof-wise. Obviously they found other stuff to do between gigs. Must have been costly in terms of hotel bills!
Memory of the gig: I was shaking when Buck started the riff on "Reaper". I'd been listening to that tune almost daily for months.
Or more likely, I only have a partial picture of that tour and I'm missing dates...
:-(
Hard to believe BOC found somewhere else to play between Buffalo and Toronto on that tour, unless they had a gig in Hamilton, Ontario, or Niagara Falls!
Lots of bands just rolled from Maple Leaf Gardens straight to Rich Stadium or vice versa.
I had seen the show in Ottawa and my Aunt offered to take me and my brother to TO for a few days. She was a perfect hostess and offered us a something special, I found out about BOC about 15 mins later. She said Why Not ? (she was a little concerned about the name)
We saw them twice in a week and if anything they were better. They talked about something happening in Buffalo and played extra songs for any Buffalo fans in attendance. I didn't complain!
I was a huge fan and may have been star struck but they were right on.
I wonder what happened in Buffalo that would make them play extra songs for people who'd travelled up from there?
Godzilla was also in the setlist. I remember it quite well, the lasers started scanning at about 9 feet and higher up towards the walls and the laser display gave the impression that the walls were melting.
The real trip however was when Bloom came out in Astronomy. There were three large mirror balls hanging from the roof, the two outside were slightly smaller and I think were motorized. When bloom hit them with the lasers it looked like molecular rain.
It was one of the best concerts/shows I have seen.
The original setlist provided on the official site was this:
An obvious problem with the above setlist is the omission of the 5 guitars medley, Born to be Wild and Godzilla (as mentioned by Dave in the previous post).
Additionally, Gerald Leblanc got in touch to let me know there's a tape of the show on youtube, and apparently, the 4th track was Maserati GT, and not Buck's Boogie after all:
I wanted to find out if there were any obvious audible "breaks" in the tape that might explain the absence of the Five Guitars, so I've played the show back, and it seems clear that the taper was having some issues with the sound. Maybe the batteries were going or the tape was going funny, I dunno, but you can hear a cut at the end of LDOM and then you get the last, stretched out final notes of "Born to be Wild" amongst the tape's wow and flutter...
Therefore, my revised setlist for this gig is now:
As I can't testify that the above is the Gospel truth, I've annotated it as "possibly incomplete"...
The only evidence I have for the existance of this show is the following blog post:
In case the above link dies at some future date, here's the relevant text:
From archival materials in my basement, I believe that BOC played at Treasure Island Gardens on Wednesday, June 22nd, 1977. The opening act was Todd Rundgren's Utopia.
A special feature of the show was the Cult's laser light show. Soon after it was banned during the U.S. tour for emitting excess radiation.
The encore was a great moment in pre-Spinal-Tap self-mockery. All five members were playing guitars and challenging each other, even the drummer. Someone likened it to a basketball game.
Last I heard, Eric Bloom is involved in some sort of car show.
I've since been contacted by Cameron Paton, whose recollection it was which which triggered the above blog post, and he confirms the above information and tells me that "the venue then known as Treasure Island Gardens is now known as the Forest City Velodrome, I believe".
Gig review from the June 25, 1977, issue of the Winnipeg Free Press:
Smoke Bombs, Acid Rock And Lasers
By Lee Schacter
The sweet scent of grass hovered in the air while Blue Oyster Cult and Todd Rundgren and Utopia played Friday night at the Winnipeg Convention Centre.
To dispose of Utopia first. This four-man group has been more commercially successful than Blue Oyster, which makes it odd that it would open the show. They did a tight hour's turn, no stopping, and outside of choreographed jump, there was little theatrics. The showmanship was subdued, but so was the audience.
At one point, someone yelled, and Rundgren exploded a smoke bomb. The music was loud and when that happens there is no way to get any distinctiveness, or judge the musicianship. It was deafening. However, "Love in Action" was a catchy number taken from a new album, "Oops, Wrong Planet". "The Last Mile" featured a screeching vocal and a bit of show biz histrionics. There was some small play with lights. The group received a standing ovation after its last song, "The Death of Rock'n'Roll".
This was very strange, because the audience had sat on its hands through most of the hour or wandered about.
Blue Oyster Cult depended on even more ear-shattering volume and a light show for impact. Unless one knows the music it played beforehand, one is lost, as the group did not condescend to announce any titles and at the level of sound, it was impossible to make out any of the words.
This is a heavy acid group, pretentious and cold. It opened with two smoke bombs, and turned on its much-vaunted laser beams about halfway through the performance. To thicken the atmosphere, it had a smoke generator on stage.
A five-man group, playing guitar, drums and electric organ and piano, it was heavy on drums, especially in "Rock'n'Roll", and it featured a guitar soloist who imitiated a motorcycle, followed by a snatch of "How We Danced".
"Down Suspicion" was a violent number, "Godzilla" a loud roar of rage. There was the odd ballad sound and a touch of western in the background of some of the songs.
A curious interlude, the first words spoken in 40 minutes, was a political harangue against President Jimmy Carter. Carter, said the speaker, had promised the young people he'd listen to them, but had forgotten his promise. "We want to get high once in a while, we don't want to go to jail for it" said Blue Oyster.
Blue Oyster was an act of agression against the audience. The blasting noise, the bombs exploding, the singer aiming a gun at the listeners, the harsh rays of the lights, all negated any warmth from this group. And laser beams have no personality.
I found a stub for this gig on pinterest which also lists the running order timings for this show:
8:13 - 9:07 p.m. : Todd Rundgren & Utopia
9:44 - 11:23 p.m. : Blue Oyster Cult
I initially only knew of this gig's existance thanks to Richard Kolke's Saskatoon post below.
The best I can pass along about this show is that it did indeed happen. I was 18 at the time and working in an all night diner across the street from the hotel they stayed in.
As I was living in a bubble and out of touch with almost everything, I wasn't aware of the show until the band came in for a bite, post concert. They came in with Utopia, of whom I recognized Kasim Sulton almost immediately and then Todd Rundgren sitting next to him. The Bouchard brothers and Eric Bloom were with them. I don't remember if Buck was with them or not, it was the 70's.
The best I can tell you about the gig itself came second hand. The report that I most recall was that Eric Bloom said unnice things about the promoter. The upshot of what I remember is that the venue sucked, to the effect that they would never play there again.
It was a new building at the time but as I well know, it was built for hockey and not concerts. I have never actually been to a concert at the 'Dome' that had better than fair sound quality.
I hope this helps.
I was at that show. Utopia opened - they were wearing white t shirts, black, skinny legged jeans and sneakers - they looked like the Ramones. Had never really heard of them, but liked their set anyway.
BOC came on. Sound quality in the Agridome was the usual level of mediocre, but the band was good and played well. I was standing maybe 20 feet from the stage, and noticed throughout the evening there was some kind of commotion right at the front of the stage.
I think Eric Bloom made a comment about "some people acting like assholes" but it was hard to hear it due to the poor sound quality.
At the end of the set, the band left the stage and all the lights shut off completely. It was quite dark in there. Suddenly, somebody ran into me, and then somebody else came up and grabbed him and started a scuffle.
Then the stage lights came up and in the middle of the crowd there was a bit of a clearing where a roadie was beating on this guy. "I didn't do it, man!" the guy said, so the roadie gave him a couple more shots and went back to the stage.
There was a continued confrontation with a group down in front and the road crew - at one point the roadie just about launched himself back into the crowd was caught mid leap by another member of the crew. The house lights came up - no encore.
A guy I met a couple of months later told me he had a friend who was the limo driver who picked the band up after the show. His third hand report was that in the car after the show, the band called Regina "the asshole of the universe!" and they "would never play here again!"
All of which seems to fit the previous info. I know this doesn't say a lot about the band's performance, but I hope this helps.
Jeff's account of the trouble was confirmed in a piece that appeared in the Friday 08 July 1977 issue of the Saskatoon paper, "Star-Phoenix":
"This country's been really up and down as far as responses go. It's hard to tell if people don't know the material. And it isn't being Canadians that makes the difference! Buck said, "Saskatoon was very sedate... but Regina was a riot. Literally. We couldn't come back for an encore because they had to clear the people out."
"Everybody in the crew got a couple of lumps, not to mention the audience and the cops," Joe added. "There were only about 10 kids really cutting up - usually the cops throw them out, and that's it. But in Regina, the kids didn't want to leave. They didn't want to listen. They wanted to stay and fight."
"We've had enough of it just now. Too much," the Cult's lead singer said. "We cancelled Calgary and the West Coast. We'll probably go back out touring in the fall, but right now, everybody's ready to go home. Besides, we've got a record to work on, which should be out by mid-July."
I can only assume that Utopia were also the support on this gig as the T-Shirt included with the above gigs refers to a "Canadian Tour". Therefore I'm assuming this show was a part of that tour, and I'm willing to bet there is at least one more gig to be uncovered - if not more...
NB:
Check out the stub for 15 July 1977 Lebanon Valley below. It's actually dated 28th June 1977 yet for the reasons stated below, I've attributed Lebanon Valley to 15 July.
I was at the show in Saskatoon on June 28, 1977. Utopia was indeed the backing band and the venue was the (now demolished) Saskatoon Arena.
If memory serves, this was the setlist:
I was 16 years old and tickets were $6.50, General Admission. I camped out on the front steps of the Arena a few hours early and rushed to the stage as soon as the doors opened. I was front row center with my elbows on the stage for both Utopia and BOC.
To date, one of the best shows I have ever attended, although I remember being a bit disappointed that they didn't play Hot Rails to Hell.
I know that they also played a show at the Agridome in Regina, Saskatchewan the night before. Both Todd Rundgren and Eric Bloom mentioned it during the Saskatoon show.
Again - I can only assume that Utopia were also the support on this gig...
We had acquired killer floor seats for that one, row 3, dead center...
Yes, Utopia opened the show...I recall being disappointed, since Todd Rundgren didn't play any guitar, the entire show. The guys had their lasers and fog machines... They were awe inspiring! It was to be my first, of an easy dozen BOC shows, over the years.
Last night, on Rockline's Halloween Special [ 31 Oct 2012 ], I got to ask Buck and Eric about the inspiration behind, "She's as Beautiful as a Foot". Buck's reply was, "Richard Meltzer wanted to hear Les Braunstein sing those words..." That's mock'n'roll for you.
About a year ago, I contacted Joe Bouchard about purchasing his old, red, Guild Starfire bass... He was gracious enough to answer my email...
Thanks for asking about that bass. It sure was pretty. It was the first bass I owned, bought it at Manny's in 1968. My guitar teacher lent me the money to buy it. He wrote out a personal check to Manny himself. Didn't need to show id since his father was a long time Manny's customer.
When I joined the band to become BOC, the guys did not like the sound of the Guild bass (I think it still had flat wound strings on it) and they bought me the black P-bass I still have.
By the way, that beach was where I got the idea for the melody for Astronomy. I was a nice short walk from our rented house. The beach is now closed to the public.
I got an email from a writer a few years ago who was writing a book on famous beaches of LI and wanted to include stories from that beach.
Thanks for asking.
Joe
My reply:
Joe,
First of all, I really appreciate your time and consideration...
Great story about Manny's and your teacher's input! It didn't escape my geek-eyes, that your 1st bass had a Lesh/Casady/psychedelic factor! BOC's brilliant, self titled debut, is loaded with that very influence... I own a Darkstar loaded, Dearmond Starfire Bass, in the exact color...
Have you seen the recent movie Roadie, about a former BOC roadie... I really enjoyed its attention to detail, it's especially loaded with essential, Black & White era material...
I can understand their concern about substituting one of Leo's wound-up, solid bodies, though I prefer the earthy, woodiness of semis...
Those had to be precious times! Astronomy, (The Imaginos Tour, summer of '89...), ranks in my top 5, all-time BOC compositions... It's your first 4 albums that are my very favorites!
June '77, with Utopia and your fog and laser show... Floor seats, Row 3, Dead Center, was the first time... I've never been the same... I've always felt both Albert and yourself were one of the great unheralded, singer/composer/rhythm sections in rock history... CONGRATULATIONS!
I'll remember this and cherish it forever...
Regarding that "She's as Beautiful as a Foot" story, Les himself says:
Meltzer is reputed to have written the BOC tune - "She's as Beautiful as a Foot" for me to sing and make a fool of myself, but I never heard the song while I was singing.
Now, the lines from Bark in the Sun - "You vomit slime, my armpits rhyme," that sounds like he was trying to make me sound stupid, but I loved singing the words.
When I was singing them I wasn't me, I was someone like a Blue Meany in Yellow Submarine singing to one of his Blue colleagues '"You vomit slime" (you're always spewing bullshit) "my armpits rhyme" (well, for my armpits to rhyme I must be some piece of mechanized artificial bullshit myself). That's fun. Thanks Richard.
By the way, I would have enjoyed singing She's as Beautiful as a Foot. Listen to this.....
"She's as beautiful as a foot. She's as beautiful as a foot. She heard someone say, the other day."
OK, that's got humor and pathos too. I think I'm as beautiful as a foot, because I heard someone say it the other day. So that's where I get my information, I overhear it. Kind of like Shakespeare when he says " the world is too much with us." So there I am in my head actually comparing Meltzer to Shakespeare. And the 'She' part is kind of lovely. I could choose to see it as a hidden sign of affection. Think how annoyed Meltzer would be by that.
But I think most of his lyrics were just about life in general and he wrote them about the world he was seeing, gave them to Albert and Donald and forgot about them till they re-appeared as a song.
I first knew there was a gig planned here courtesy of the following mention in the 20 May 1977 edition of the "Nanaimo Daily News"
Who's coming to Vancouver in the near future... Try... Styx... Todd Rundgren and Utopia... Kiss... Blue Oyster Cult. June is going to be a Heavy Metal month at the Coliseum.
But it didn't say when. Then I saw the following mention on the trconnection Todd site:
Sat Jul 2 1977: Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver, BC*
* Research done by Karl Speck.
So it doesn't cite the source of Karl's info for the cancellation, and I haven't been able to find any references to the cancellation yet myself, but for now, I'll go with this gig as being originally scheduled for 2nd July but was subsequently cancelled.
Throughout June, the Calgary Herald featured this as an upcoming gig at the Foothills Arena with box ads and gig listings etc, and it looked like it was definitely "on". The last box ad appeared in the 30 June 1977 edition, just 5 days before the scheduled show date.
However, all evidence now points to this gig being cancelled. I already have the Vancouver gig on the 2nd July down as cancelled, plus I strongly think the Montreal date on the 8th was likewise binned.
I think the absence of any further ads for this Calgary gig in any of the July editions of the paper is significant, but I'd like it better if there was a notice announcing the cancellation, which, if the gig was cancelled, there should have been...
When you have a gig on a section of a tour that is book-ended by cancellations, you do start to entertain doubts about its authenticity.
Now check this out: on the J&A BOC forum, under a thread discussing why wasn't "Nosferatu" played more regularly, and did Joe have problems playing the bass and singing that particular song, Joe himself chipped in with the following info:
Hey Gang, Thanks for all the interest in Nosferatu. Yeah, that was a good one. Perfect for its time. The western Canada leg of the tour with Utopia was canceled so we flew home. I holed up in my garage studio for a day or two and wrote Nosferatu and Celestial. Helen wrote a great lyric and writing the music was easy.
I never felt that great about playing bass and singing lead vocals at live shows. Bass requires intense concentration on the groove. When I was singing, I'd think the bass/drum groove wasn't tight enough. Maybe I was a little too uptight about it.
Playing guitar and singing is a whole different story. It's not a problem at all for me. Hence a pretty good vocal at the Le Royal show and the other times I've played it in recent years. That's the story.
So Joe confirms that there was indeed a section of that Canadian tour that was cancelled. And geographically, it sort of makes sense, the shows were gradually creeping westward, although you'd have expected Calgary to come before Vancouver in an ideal touring scenario.
But of course, touring logistics are never "ideal", and more often look like the person planning the tour simply threw darts at a map of the country in an effort to arrive at the most bizarre itinerary you could imagine...
NB: Joe's comments also confirm that "Nosferatu" and "Celestial" were written around the start of July 1977, so it was pretty good going to get them written, rehearsed, accepted and recorded for a November LP release...
Stop Press: I've just seen a piece in the Friday 08 July 1977 issue of the Saskatoon paper, "Star-Phoenix", which said:
They're also not afraid of being up-staged by their warm-up act, Todd Rundgren's Utopia. "You put together a good package today, you have to. People want to go and see a couple of good acts for 7 or 8 dollars. The better tour you can set up, the better for everybody," Albert said.
"It's worked out well for everyone concerned," said Buck. "We wanted to play Canada, and we couldn't do it by ourselves. Todd wanted to do Canada, too, so we decided to do it together. It's an easy deal because we have some of the crew working on both.
"This country's been really up and down as far as responses go. It's hard to tell if people don't know the material. And it isn't being Canadians that makes the difference! Buck said, "Saskatoon was very sedate... but Regina was a riot. Literally. We couldn't come back for an encore because they had to clear the people out."
"Everybody in the crew got a couple of lumps, not to mention the audience and the cops," Joe added. "There were only about 10 kids really cutting up - usually the cops throw them out, and that's it. But in Regina, the kids didn't want to leave. They didn't want to listen. They wanted to stay and fight."
"We've had enough of it just now. Too much," the Cult's lead singer said. "We cancelled Calgary and the West Coast. We'll probably go back out touring in the fall, but right now, everybody's ready to go home. Besides, we've got a record to work on, which should be out by mid-July."
So that specifically confirms that Calgary was cancelled and indeed all the West Coast dates - and also that there was trouble in Regina.
I first saw a mention of this proposed gig in the 15 Jun 1977 edition of Montreal's "The Gazette":
Place des Nations will be the scene of another summer series, beginning July 8 with Blue Oyster Cult and Todd Rundgren's Utopia. Other attractions include Ritchie Blackmore, April Wine, Leo Sayer and other top names. Nothing official yet, but look for an announcement next week.
Then, three days later in the 18th June edition, there was a box ad for the same gig. And then... nothing more...
Now, if you read the Joe Bouchard comments in the gig entry above, you'll see that he said the "western Canada leg of the tour with Utopia was canceled so we flew home"... presumably, that would suggest that after the Edmonton gig on the 30th June, BOC left the country...
Obviously, Montreal is by no means anywhere near "western Canada". In fact, you'd have thought if they wanted to gradually head west on that run of dates, it'd have made sense to start off in Montreal, and then the Ontario dates and so on...
But would they have returned to play just this one-off Montreal date? Would they have dragged all the gear and lasers back over the border for one more date in Canada?
It's not impossible of course, and it was clearly scheduled - hence the ad - but if anyone can help with any personal testimony on this one, I'd be grateful to see it...
Gerald Leblanc has told me that when BOC played Montreal in 1982, Eric Bloom can clearly be heard saying - at around the 16:20 mark on the youtube link below - "you know, this is the first time we've been here in 11 years"...
If Eric's right in that, then that, together with the fact that Gerald says he's lived in Montreal since the late 70s and has never heard of this gig, would tend to suggest that this 1977 gig didn't take place:
But, on top of that, if Eric is right in what he said, then I get a slight ambiguity there - does he mean that this was the first time since they last played there 11 years ago, or that's it's the first time in 11 years of gigging as BOC that they'd played there?
Put it this way - if BOC played Montreal in 1971, then all I can say is that I've heard nothing about it...
Stop Press: See the end of the Calgary gig entry above to see why I now classify this gig as definitely "Cancelled"....
July 14 1977 Bridgeport with UFO: This is one of my all-time favorites. Had the full laser show, testing it out before world tour. played Godzilla before Spectres was released.
I've sent you a copy of my stub from the July 14, 1977 show at the Bridgeport CT Jai-Ali fronton (possibly the weirdest place ever to have a rock concert) which also featured UFO (without Michael Schenker) as the opening act.
The weird thing about the Jai Lai fronton gig was that they were set up basically on the jai alai court, which, if you know about those courts, they are made of solid granite, including a huge granite wall at the back. I don't know how they ever managed to dampen the echo from it.
This was the first show where I heard them play Godzilla. In fact, I think they announced it as a brand new song before they played it.
This was the first BOC show that I went to and the first thing I remember about this show was that the Hells Angels were BOC's security that day guarding the line with motorcycles as the people went in!!! No one dared get near the bikes!!
The show started out with the same voice as the first live album saying to the packed house, "On your Feet or on your Knees", here they are from NYC, the Amazing Blue Oyster Cult!!!! The lazer show was awesome and I also remember Eric saying that they had a new album coming out and then they ripped into Godzilla!! I KNEW that song was gonna be a big hit.
I also remember hearing them playing lots of stuff off the first 3 albums and most of songs off of Agents which was just released.
Songs I remember hearing were: Morning Final, Tenderloin, Cities, Hot Rails to Hell, Mazerati GT, Before the Kiss, Reaper, and they rocked on 5 guitars.I think Allen even sang True Confessions during this show.
All of the seats in the house were good and the show was one of the best I have ever seen in my life!!!
I even bought my two 4 inch diameter black Kronos pins during this show which I still have! This show still ranks as one of my top 3 shows.
I was also at this show. I had seats left of center on the aisle in row 3.
I was taking pictures when I felt a very large hand on my shoulder. Just as I thought my Minolta was going to get shoved where the sun doesn't shine, the Angel asked if I wanted to go right up front! Naturally I said yes and he took me right up to the rail and let me shoot almost a full roll.
I couldn't believe it! Absolutely one of the best shows I have ever seen!!!
i was at this concert my 19th birthday our seats were right up front... BOC - what a show!
i thought the HUNS MC was the security... whoever they were, there was no trouble... Great show!
I was at this show. UFO opened and I remember Phil Moog their lead singer taking his microphone, opening the zipper of his jeans and placing it in there for about 5 seconds.
We got there early and was able to hear the soundcheck because they left the loading area door to the outside was open. Allen was playing the song "The Entertainer" which was featured in the movie "The Sting".
BOC was escorted into the area by The Huns MC of Conn... Not The Angels as noted by someone else. There was a moment during Buck's solo when he had an E-Bow. To by homage to the bikers he began to make his axe wail and cry. His feedback sounded like when you shift gears. Incredible display of mastery of the guitar.
Yes, they played Godzilla and I believe Golden Age of Leather as well... Great Show
I realise the ticket stub above on the left - kindly sent to me by John Berry - would seem to be dated 28 June but Black Oak's Andy Tanas sent me a detailed list of every show they did with BOC on this tour and his information has proven to be so reliable that I'm willing to disbelieve the evidence of a printed stub date in favour of his notes.
Also - I now think that the 06/28 is the purchase date!! On this stub layout, the actual show date would follow the time (well, it would if it wasn't ripped off...)
Stop Press: Jim Donaldson has now sent me a ticket (see above) dated 15 July 1977 plus Brendan Flynn has sent a poster also with that date on - so that would seem to sort that one out. See - I knew I was right to trust Andy Tanas's dates...
NB:Incidentally, Andy Tanas tells me that the Black Oak/BOC tour was billed as the "Black & Blue" Tour, so think again if you thought that this was an 1980s idea.
Also - one thing that puzzled me was when did "Black Oak Arkansas" become simply "Black Oak"? Andy explains: "The "Arkansas" was dropped from the name when "Race With the Devil" came out in September of 77. Management did this because they wanted a fresh start for Jim Dandy and the new band."
In reviewing your show list, I realized you don't have Lebanon Valley Speedway in Lebanon Valley NY from summer of 77, I was at this show and I know the Dictators played also, the reason I remember it is because they played a new song for us and shot the lazers off a huge mirror ball in the middle of the crowd. The song was Godzilla, Spectres wasn't released yet.
J. Giels also played at Lebanon Valley that night in 77, I knew there was four bands so it was Dictators, Black Oak Arkansas, J .Geils and BOC.
7-15-77: BOC, J.Geils, Black Oak Arkansas...
Some fat chick squatted down in front of me and whizzed on my foot, which I then placed at the base of her spine and helped her become prostrated in the pee-pee mud. Blue blotter...
I have a ticket stub dated July 15, 1977. I was 15, down from Canada visiting my cousin in Boston.
Bad sound, Great time.
Hey there, great site. My name is Brendan Flynn from Massachusetts, US. I'm 29 years old and have been listening to BOC since I was 12 or so.
I have always heard stories about the 'Black And Blue' tour coming to Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, NY (outside of Albany). The speedway is a pretty grim looking dirt track in the middle of nowhere, which hosts stock car racing every Saturday night in the summer.
I have often questioned older guys about that night with BOC and Sabbath. I have always been told there was lots of LSD use, Hell's Angels, and even 2 or 3 deaths.
I am a demoliton derby driver at Lebanon Valley Speedway. Last night, a friend and I went to the race track to watch and drink some beer. I had to talk to the owner of the speedway to ask him a question about an upcoming event. I talked to some girl who works there, and she took me back into the office area, where I had never been.
She told me to wait as she went into the other room. On the wall were numerous racing pictures, posters, old schedules. As I'm looking around, I see this poster (attached) on the floor under a desk. I asked the girl if I could have it and she said "yes". After some research on your site, I have determined that it is from July 15, 1977. I hope that this is of any value to your cause.
Me and Blair hitchhiked from New Britain Conn. that summer to visit my parents in Montreal and we stopped to see the BOC on the way.
I don't recall witnessing any violence but I remember being amazed that they would haul the laser light show out in to the middle of nowhere.
We camped in a field next to the speedway and next morning we went scavenging on the site.
I'll never forget the sight of all those empty beer cans, as far as the eye could see. Too bad there weren't any deposit laws back then.
Was at this show with a group of former high school classmates. We had graduated that June 1978.
Saw maybe a few hundred concerts in the northeast in the mid to late 70's including boc and j geils several times each independently.
What was unusual about this show was the venue and crowd. Lebanon valley is a speed raceway on the edge of the Berkshire mountains. Crowd was fairly large at least 20, or 25,000 in attendance. July 15th was a sunny blistering hot day. Traffic and parking was brutal.
Gates opened way too early - maybe 3 pm. We arrived then and crowd was already building. Admission was GA. Many attendees just parked their car on the side of the state route leading to the track. Coolers with beer we're allowed in.
People relatively well behaved. Lot of booze and weed use by crowd. Bands didn't come on till around 6 or 630. Dictators opened and sound was atrocious. One of the bottom two or three performances I ever saw. Handsome Dick Manitoba wasn't impressive. Audience was booing. Black oak was next - Jim dandy and crew were entertaining.
J geils and boc came on after dark. By the time boc took the stage (they were last) it had been a long day. Don't remember song set. My recollection is it was typical boc show. That's not a slight.
Boc was great live band. Most of their shows I saw from late 70' s we're pretty similar. On your feet or on your knees type shows with a few new songs mixed in. Recall Godzilla being played and standards like stairways to the stars etc. Fun time.
7-16-77: BOC, REO Speedwagon, Argent...
My pal, also my lawyer's dad, Ernie the attorney, came along and began to act oddly after inhaling some ignited herbal substance from Acapulco, standing on his seat yahooing during 'Hold Your Head Up'. Heh, heh, heh.
Just stumbled upon your great gig and set list site.
FYI 7/16/77 - I attended this show at the Cape Cod Coliseum. Argent definitely did not play. Starz, then REO opened.
Can anyone else confirm that it was indeed Starz who opened?
Absolutely was Starz. General Admission show. Huge floor crowd. My first BOC show. I slithered my way right to the front. Awesome.
Starz i remember, Argent i do not.
Reo is right and BOC was on fire, though 10-16-76 at the music hall w/Boston opening was better, imho
Argent did not play the show that Starz opened...
What happened in August? If you know, please let me ...
August was spent in the rehearsal hall (an old off line water treatment plant) in Brookhaven, NY.
We were getting ready to take the all new show on the road.
Any gigs in September? If you know, please let me ...
I've had to revise the date on this show (above) due to the stub sent by Joe Schmidt - I originally had this show dated as around mid March 1978 - my best guess - then - being 16 March 1978.
Here's the story: I first heard of a Utica show with Be Bop Deluxe when I saw the following text on a 'memorabilia for sale' site: "Ticket Stub: 3/17/78, Utica, NY with BeBop Deluxe Rare! VG+ $8".
Unfortunately, there was no jpeg with the advert - just that line of text. Anyway, I had a date - or so I thought - but no venue name, so that's how I posted it. Then I got an email from David Tyler (see below) which confirmed the Utica gig took place, but didn't explicitly confirm the date as the 17th March - just that he thought it was 15 or 16 March.
BTW: I subsequently received a confirmed ticket stub for 17 March 1978 for a show in Syracuse, which definitely ruled THAT date out for a Utica gig but didn't help me narrow down the ACTUAL date.
Here's David's email which I originally had attached to a March 1978 gig entry:
I helped set up for this gig. It was at the Utica Memorial Auditorium - March 15 or 16, 1978.
A little known fact was that Be Bop Deluxe did not play that night as they didn't have their instruments due to a trucking accident - it overturned and they couldn't play the show. I believe they were coming from Michigan.
They had the album Life in the Air Age and it was big on FM. The leader of the band, Bill Nelson, got up in front of approximately 7,000 people to explain his dilemma. He said something I will never forget! I paraphrase;
"We had this truck accident earlier today and our instruments were destroyed in the process. BOC was kind enough to offer a spot in their set; however we would need to teach them more than three chords to play with us!"
Yikes, I about fell over! BOC has written some fairly complex songs and the comment didn't seem appropriate. I am not sure if BOC ever heard what was said.
This gig was at the height of BOC's career here in Central New York. They played here many times, but this was a packed house.
If my recollection is correct, they sold out the venue, approximately 7,700 seats. It was General Admission and the front of the stage area was like a mosh pit.
I think they had crude lasers for that show which was a BIG deal at that time. I never saw as many Marshall Amps as I did that night, until the metal bands of later years. Buck played his faithful white SG for most of the gig.
The Bouchard bros were in the band at that time and the overall performance was very good. They did some great songs, I can't remember them all, but they did Born to be wild, ME 262, Then came the last days of May (my favorite that night), Don't Fear the Reaper, etc.
Eric was fantastic and Alan was his usual eclectic self.
Lots of drinkin' and smokin'. One fun night for a kid who loved BOC. I set up for them about 10 or 11 times via Cedric Kushner concert promotions. I have a set of autographs from them as well.
October 7, 1977, Utica Memorial Auditorium. Be Bop Deluxe did not play that date; their equipment never got arrived. I have the ticket stub and t-shirt from the gig.
Now this sounds like the gig David was describing, but clearly there's a date discrepancy so I followed it up with Joe...
There was no gig in Utica in March 1978. Like I said, I have the the ticket stub from the Oct 7, 1977 gig. I would not have missed any show that took place at that time.
The recollections above were from the Oct. 7 1977 gig. I remember clearly that when Be Bop Deluxe made that wise crack, a rather large man in front of me raised his middle finger in response to the band. My friend got a Buck Dharma guitar pick at that show.
The gig was definitely Fall 1977, I was a junior in high school. It was my first concert. They were still using the lasers and during the opening number, "Stairway to the Stars," Eric Bloom, resplendent in leather jacket, slowly raised his arm and fired a laser at a mirror ball.
During the solo to "Don't fear the Reaper" the white-suited Buck Dharma stood as the fog grew around him and lasers shot through the fog.
I remember the 10/7/77 show in Utica pretty well. We arrived early, general admission, but there was a lot of pushing and shoving when the doors opened, and we didn't want to get trampled in the rush so seats weren't that good. The Aud was packed - really hot and smokey.
After 90 minutes, Be Bop Deluxe announced they had cancelled, and the crowd was really agitated. The Aud "security" had pretty much vanished. The overhead lights kept going off and on. As somone else mentioned, there was alot of smoking and drinking. It looked like some sort of melee down on the floor, a brawl or something.
Then the show started - sudden burst of silver white light, opened with Stairway to the Stars. I had seen BOC before, but not with the lasers. They did a few new songs off Spectres, Godzilla for certain, possibly Goin thru the Motions. They did Cities on Flame, also I am positive they did The last Days of May. It seemed like they did an extra long set. Encore was Reaper.
I bought the Spectres album when it came out, like a month later. About 5-6 years after that, I was looking at the back of the album cover one day and noticed a little comment - said if you would like the lyrics, send 50 cents with your info, and it gave an address. So I put a half dollar coin in an envelope along with my info and mailed it out. And about 3 months later, the lyrics arrived! I still have them some place, probably tucked inside the album. Spectres is still one of my favorites, listen to it all the time (but on CD these days).
Here's the review of this show from the Sat 8 Oct 1977 edition of the "Daily Press":
'Blue Oyster Cult Concert: Pagan Ritual'
By Jonas Rover
A cleansing pagan ritual full of fury and dreams came to the Utica Memorial Auditorium last night in the form of the Blue Oyster Cult, a five man group, that takes the audience to the verge of madness, then releases it beautifully into the pure, sane world.
The audience consisted of about 6,000 teenagers completely enthralled by the hypnotic combination of music and laser beam lights, jumping to the loud rhythms, appreciating the solos and going into a dreamlike state when the lasers bounced off the walls in amazing geometric patterns.
The concert was supposed to be a dual performance with Bebop Deluxe playing first.
However, there was some bad news.
After almost an hour wait while the technicians were adjusting the sound zones, members of Be Bop Deluxe came on stage and said they could not perform.
The truck carrying their equipment was in an accident and with no equipment, they could not play, one of the group said.
The boos turned to cheers when the audience was promised that Blue Oyster Cult would present an extra-long show. However, for those still not satisfied, refunds were promised.
If it wasn't for a small part of the audience that left at that time, the dual concert would have been one of the largest in the auditorium's history. There were teens wall to wall, crowded in the seats and standing on the arena floor.
The Cult appeared in a burst of flame and a puff of smoke beginning with Stairway to the Stars but it wasn't until about two songs later, when the lasers were introduced during a ballad, that the group really sky-rocketed.
Introduced with a good riff by the lead guitarist, thin lines of lasers hit mirrored balls and shields on the arena ceiling, sending out waves of lights and speckling the auditorium walls in twirling red and green stars.
Combined with the music, it was like an enjoyable dream-daze with the audience reaching out to touch the beams like they were part of an Aztec sun ceremony.
When all ended, the Cult blasted back to reality with loud rhymatic "I'm Ready to Rock," reawakening all to the joy of clapping and dancing.
The group has a sweet raucous sound which is not without its humor. They skillfully joke with the instruments, extracting wild sounds, loosening strings, shaking all up in a frenzied bombardment.
A bit of good news, according to the producers after the announcement of Bebop Deluxe's disability, was that the next concert at the auditorium, on Nov 13. would consist of Todd Rundgren's Utopia and Star Castle.
Well thanks to that dated newspaper review, I can now officially cross out that "March 15 or 16, 1978" Utica gig - it's obvious that the gig in question did in fact take place on 7 Oct 1977.
However, the comments made by Bill Nelson when he addressed the crowd have gone down in BOC folklore, and here's his particular perspective on what he said that night:
Oh, I got myself in trouble with them! I think I've told this story before but here it is again:
On one of the shows we did with them, our equipment hadn't arrived due to our truck coming off the road somewhere on route, so we couldn't play. It was at a big stadium type venue and the promoter said to me that there were lots of Be Bop Deluxe fans in the audience and would I go out on stage and explain the situation to the vast crowd.
So I walked to the centre of the huge stage in my street clothes and explained that we couldn't perform due to an accident with our truck. (I actually have a photo' of me doing this.) I was so nervous and to try and make light of the situation I said to the audience that our only alternative would be to teach the Cult how to play a couple of our songs, but jokingly adding that I hadn't got six months of my time to spare!
Of course, the Cult's crew heard my comment and ran backstage to tell their masters of this young English upstart's insinuation that Be Bop's music might prove more than a little difficult for them to play. Apparently, they were less than pleased.
The result was that for the rest of the tour we were cold-shouldered, given short-shrift at soundchecks, half-power on the PA system, poor monitoring, etc. My wrists were well and truly slapped...
Of course, nowadays I wouldn't be so ungracious but I was less mature back then and musically quite 'cocky'... I suppose this, combined with the stress/nervousness of the situation, brought out the more wicked side of my sense of humour. Unfortunately BOC didn't seem to have much humour to spare.
I've seen BeBop live and have a lot of respect for them as a band, but that was a ridiculous comment to make in the circumstances... the young Bill Nelson seems to have been rather a bit of a dick...
The other day, while dusting off the cobwebs on some memories of life in the 1970's (the ZZ Top post), I got to thinking about my first time.
My first 'real' rock concert experience, that is.
Mine was back sometime in the winter of 1977. The place was the Augusta Civic Center, Augusta, Maine. The band was Blue Oyster Cult. Looking back on it, the experience was both funny and surreal.
Funny because I couldn't drive yet. So my parents had to drop me and my friend Cindy off in front of the place (I think they spent the next four hours hanging out at a Howard Johnsons).
Surreal because, for some insane reason, the Civic Center staff opened only one set of doors off to the left of the main entrance. The result was predictable: a huge crowd smoooshing up against the wall near those doors.
Surreal because me & Cindy got pinned between the crowd and that wall. I got a little freaked out. Cindy got a sprained arm.
Funny because I had never seen so many freaks assembled in one location. Gees, it was like a circus.
Funny and surreal because I'd never seen guys peeing in bathroom sinks before.
Surreal because this was the first time I'd experienced rock music at that volume. The first time you hear a kick drum through a big PA like that the resultant 'slam' is a little bit nauseating.
Funny because, when they announced the warmpup band (Be Bop Deluxe), I thought that Blue Oyster Cult wasn't able to make it and this was our substitute. Hey, nobody ever told me about this warmpup act stuff!
Surreal because this was the first time I'd ever smelled pot smoke...and let me tell you, back in the 70's they used to spark up a whole lotta the demon weed at concerts!
Surreal because Blue Oyster Cult was touring on the Spectres album. This meant that they had an enourmous light show with wrist-mounted lazers, lazers shooting up from the stage and, coolest of all, a lazer show (during "Godzilla") that literally filled the volume of the arena with white lazer beams. I remember having to look straight down with my eyes protected by both of my arms. (It wasn't too long after that that they had to tone down the show for safety reasons).
Funny because me and Cindy got up to leave when the band left the stage for the first time. We actually did leave...and never heard them play "Don't Fear The Reaper". Hey, nobody ever told me about this 'encore' stuff!
So that's it. Mom and dad were waiting outside. They drove us home while we marvelled at the ringing in our ears, that amazing (and somewhat painful) light show and just how bad our clothes reeked of pot smoke.
I only found out about this gig due to listings and adverts in "Central Michigan Life" - the magazine of Central Michigan University. This from the Wed 28 Sep 1977 edition:
The 'Cult' to appear at Finch
Program Board has booked the rock group Blue Oyster Cult to perform in Finch Fieldhouse Oct. 12 at 8 p.m.
"It should sell really well; in fact, it should sell out." Mary Cashen, PB vice chairperson, said.
To supplement the concert, PB booked another rock group, The Dictators, as a front act.
According to Cashen, the concert will be in Finch Fieldhouse instead of Rose Arena because "we haven't had a concert there in a long time." The Fieldhouse seats 4,000 people.
Times and locations for ticket sales will be announced later by PB. Seating will be general admission and tickets will cost $6.50 and $7. However, $7 ticketholders will be admitted earlier so they can obtain preferred seating.
This from the Fri 30 Sep 1977 issue:
Cult tickets on sale today
Tickets for the Oct. 12 Blue Oyster Cult concert will go on Sale today, according to a Program Board (PB) spokesperson.
Admission for the concert, slated for 8 p.m. in Finch Fieldhouse, will be $6.50 and $7.
Seating will be general admission, but $7 ticketholders will be admitted early.
Tickets will be sold at the University Center ticket office; Record Hut, 2139 S. Mission St. and Boogie Records, 1016 S. Mission St.
However, 5 days later, there came this news:
Pregnancy causes concert cancellation
The Blue Oyster Cult concert slated for Oct. 12 has been cancelled and ticket refunds are available, a Program Board (PB) spokesperson said.
Mary Cashen, PB vice chairperson, said the concert has been canceled because the wife of one group member is pregnant and complications may be developing in her pregnancy.
According to estimates by personnel at the three ticket sale outlets, nearly 350 tickets were sold. Refunds may be obtained by presenting tickets at the University Center Ticket Office Thursday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Cashen, Roseville junior said every PB contact has an "act of God" clause permitting performers to cancel dates for unpredictable reasons.
Cashen said although PB had not received a signed contract, it had received a confirming telegram and began promoting the concert.
The 12 Oct 1977 issue gave a bit more information and brought news of a possible reschedule:
Cult concert possible later
Blue Oyster Cult will perform at the Flint IMA Auditorium Thursday night, even though the group canceled today's scheduled performance in Rose Arena.
A recent fire at the IMA Auditorium annex, which caused an estimated $500,000 in damage also will not the hamper the group's Flint date. The auditorium remains functional, IMA administrators said.
The CMU performance was canceled because a group member's wife was having complications with her pregnancy, according to Chet Janik, Program Board (PB) concert coordinator.
Eric Gardner, Blue Oyster Cult tour coordinator, said the Central concert date was canceled because the drummer's wife delivered her baby late and was scheduled to leave the hospital the night of the performance at CMU.
"Albert Bouchard's wife Karen was two weeks late in having her first child," he explained. Gardner added Blue Oyster Cult canceled the performance so Bouchard could be with his wife when she came home from the hospital and would not worry about leaving her the next night.
Cedric Kushner, a promoter for the group, said he would like to reschedule a concert at Central. Kushner said the group and the University may find a common open date for a January appearance.
Janik said he heard Blue Oyster Cult is appearing in Flint but said once a group cancels with a legitimate reason there is nothing PB can do about it.
Finding a used Illinois ticket on eBay for this date was initially a confusing development, as there's now pretty good evidence that BOC played Hammond Civic Center on this date.
However, the first sentence of a piece from The Chicago Tribune (28 Sept 1977) - courtesy of Paul 5 - threw a thin shaft of light on this murky matter:
The October 4th Blue Oyster Cult concert has been moved from Oak Brook to Hammond, Ind.
So it looks like the gig was packed off lock, stock and barrel out of the state and down the road to Hammond, Indiana.
Two things of note - first: the Tribune says "October 4th", which made me wonder if the original gig had been scheduled for earlier in the month, but after coming across the above ticket, clearly dated the 14th, that would seem to be a simple misprint.
Secondly, it wasn't a late venue switch, and there was time to print tickets for the Hammond show - see below - but the fact that the above ticket has been ripped indicates that they were honouring Oak Brook tickets at the Hammond gig...
BTW: the ticket indicates the venue was "Terrace Music Center", but after some research, I think the actual name was the Oak Brook Terrace Entertainment Center... if you know better, please let me know...
My initial source for this date is the WLS Musicradio playlist (dated Oct 15 1977):
Concerts in the Weeks Ahead
Blood, Sweat & Tears - Ivanhoe - October 7-8
Robin Trower - Amphitheatre - October 11
Lettermen - Mill Run - October 11-16
Blue Oyster Cult - Hammond Civic Center - October 14
Geils - Aragon - October 14
Digging through my archives of Dictators shows, I came across one labeled October 12, 1977 at the Hammond Civic Center. The date may be off by a couple of days, but I'm sure the Dics, touring on their second album, "Manifest Destiny", opened for BOC.
No mention of the headliners in the 37 minute set, though.
There was a useful Dictators giglist, now offline unfortunately, which had the Dictators down as playing Hammond on the 12th, so that's another thing to consider...
BTW: the regionrockmemories.com site has a page of photos from this show, and that has the show down as Oct 14th:
Can anyone shed any light on this - did they play on the 12th or the 14th?
I saw Blue Oyster Cult at the Civic Center, Hammond, Indiana with the Dictators on 10/14/77.
Dictators opened
Ram Jam cancelled
B.O.C. anniliated
I was second row general admission.
OK - I now have stubs for this show - you can't see the actual date on the first, just "Fri O", but the second clearly shows that it was the "14th".
One further confusing aspect to this show is that it appears to have been moved from Oak Brook near Chicago - see the previous entry.
As Ram Jam cancelled the night before, does anybody know if they played this gig?...
You asked whether anyone knows if Ram Jam played this gig, as they had apparently cancelled the night before.
I was there. Ram Jam definitely played.
Cheap Trick went on first and did a very short set, followed by Ram Jam, then BOC.
Great show all around.
Nice job on the site. Found it while I was searching for Cheap Trick info. This was my first of about 25-30 Cheap Trick shows. Couldn't remember the date - turns out it was 2 days after my 17th birthday.
The Billboard info above reckons "Prism" opened, and not Lake, as I currently have it. Does anyone know for sure?
Spectres Tour in La Crosse, WI on Oct. 20, 1977 - (the day of the Lynyrd Skynrd plane crash), I can confirm the openers were Black Oak and Cheap Trick...
21 Oct 1977 Brown County Coliseum Green Bay Wisconsin: the opening act was Lake, 2nd group was Cheap Trick! Cheap Trick was touring on their "In Color" album
BOC's laser show was SPECTACULAR!
It was my first ever concert... and you never forget your first.
Ken Welch's Hall Report for this gig has Black Oak down as the scheduled second band but Animaux's account - as well as the Billboard info - above seems pretty certain that is was Cheap Trick.
I noticed for the Friday October 21, 1977 show in Green Bay Wisconsin you list the venue as Brown County "Coliseum". To the best of my knowledge it was never called a coliseum, at least not since the mid to late '70s on. It was and still is today called the "Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena".
As for the Cheap Trick/Black Oak controversy, I really can't help you here as both bands were commonly touring as back-up bands in our area around this time.
I saw a gig not on your list. The date was Saturday, October 22, 1977. The concert was at the Riverside Ice Arena in Austin, MN (thats where they make Spam). The opening groups were Lake and Black Oak. This was my first BOC concert and was on the Spectres tour. This was also during the laser days.
I have the concert ad and review of them when I saw them two months later at the Civic Center in St. Paul, MN. It's a very good review of the concert.
I don't remember a lot about the concert except for the laser show. I had been a fan since OYFOOYK came out and BOC was one of my top 5 favorite bands at the time. All I remember about the laser show was seeing 3 dimensional squares and rectangles being rotated off the far wall. You could see all the lines of the box and watch it rotate.
The best part of the show was when shined one of the lasers on the prom ball. I had been to many concerts where they would shine a light at the prom ball and you would see all the reflecting lights rotate around the concert hall. This was different.
I don't know if this is because of the condition I was in but when the laser hit the prom ball you could actually see the reflecting light coming at you. It's hard to describe but it's like driving in a heavy snowstorm and you turn your bright lights on. You could actually see the ray of light coming at you before it hit you. I remember ducking out of the way a few times.
I attended this concert as a college student at UWS. My most vivid memory was that after Black Oak finished BOC was delayed because Buck Dharma was ill.
The rumor circulating thru crowd was that he had overdosed on some illicit substance. The crowd was starting to get quite restless when they finally took stage.
I remember that Buck seemed to play ok but just stood in one spot the whole concert. Was wondering what anyone else may remember about this concert.
I had 4th or 5th row seats for this show.
First band up was Prism. I believe these guys were touring on the album "See Forever Eyes". Not a bad opening act that sounded pretty much like Styx. Not bad musicians, but nothing great either. Lead Singer, Ron Talbek, was dressed in black leather and looked pretty cool and delivered some decent vocals.
Then Black Oak hit the stage. These guys were touring on the "Race with the Devil" album. Jim Dandy Magnum IS Black Oak. Despite his great stage presence and great looks, Black Oak's musical delivery was somewhat disappointing. To make matters worse, Tommy Aldridge was no longer drumming for them.
Finally, BOC came out and played. They were riding high the success of "Agents of Fortune" and were touring on the musically strong "Spectres" Album. Excellent laser light show that must have cost them a fortune to take on the road!!
Their musicianship and songwriting capabilities were in fine form at that time. In fact, my opinion is that they never reached this performing and songwriting height again.
Unfortunately, I saw BOC several times after that and they just were never as good as when I saw them on both the "Agents of Fortune" and "Spectres" tour. I believe that this is due to the fact that both Albert and Joe Bouchard left the band and Donald (Buck Dharma) Roeser never really improved as a musician. After hearing people like Tony MacAlpine, Yngwie Malmsteen, etc, I basically thought Buck Dharma lacked serious technical abilities on the guitar.
Ken Welch's Hall Report for this gig has Lake down as the opening band but Rob's account above seems pretty definite that is was Prism.
Stop Press: I've since read a review of this show in the 25 October 1977 edition of the Milwaukee Sentinel which confirmed that Prism did in fact open this show.
The date you have is correct with Black Oak and Prism. I know we were in third row and Black Oak being very good.
BOC played:
Gig was rescheduled for 8 Jan 1978 - all tickets for this 27 Oct show were honoured at the 1978 show...
The ticket I have for this gig has 6 Jan 1978 written on it, indicating that tickets for this gig were honoured at the rescheduled 1978 show
This makes the second "Contemporary Productions" Missouri gig that was cancelled in as many days. However, I have seen no reasons given for these cancellations.
The Oct 28, 1977, Bowling Green show was held on the campus of Western Kentucky University, as verified in the 1978 issue of the WKU yearbook, The Talisman.
However, only Black Oak Arkansas and the Charlie Daniels Band played WKU on that date. Blue Oyster Cult, for whatever reason, did not appear.
Thanks for that info, Bert. I found a review of the gig in Vol. 53, No. 20 of the "College Heights Herald" School magazine, which made no mention of any BOC involvement at any stage in this gig.
The yearbook Bert referred to above gave some further info - this gig was originally supposed to feature Atlanta Rhythm Section, but they cancelled in order to go on a tour with Kansas, so Black Oak and CDB were late replacements.
As I can find no evidence for BOC ever having been a part of this event, I've now subsequently re-classified this gig as "Phantom" so far as Blue Oyster Cult is concerned.
Besides - I've now come across a ticket for a Kansas City gig on this date, that was cancelled and rescheduled for 6 Jan 1978 (see previous entry).
OK - this is weird - it looks as if BOC pulled out of two gigs actual booked for the same day - plus one "phantom".... his is from the Thu 27 Oct 1977 (p12) edition of the "Ohio State Lantern":
Blue Oyster Cult Canceled
Due to circumstances involving a previous booking in Oklahoma heavy metalist Blue Oyster Cult will not appear for the homecoming concert Friday at St. John Arena.
The Cult was booked to replace Lynyrd Skynryd who, due to tragic plane crash, were forced to cancel.
There will be no homecoming concert this year.
So as that issue came out on the Thursday, logic would suggest that the "Friday" gig had been scheduled for the next day (28 Oct 1977).
That would make two gigs booked for that date. And why does this article say the Ohio one was cancelled? Because there was already a gig booked in Oklahoma!
Oklahoma? If true, that would have made it three gigs booked for 28 Oct!!
Very odd. Incidentally, the "OSU Alumni Magazine" did also refer to this (non) show in its Thursday 01 December 1977 edition:
NO SHOW
The tragedy-ridden Homecoming concert was canceled when a booking conflict kept heavy metal rock group Blue Oyster Cult (BOC) from appearing.
BOC had been booked to replace the southern rock group Lynyrd Skynyrd, after Skynyrd was involved in a plane crash Oct. 20 that killed three group members.
Well, that's it for Fri 28 Oct - three gig entries, but, apparently, not a single note played: one cancelled, one postponed and one seemingly non-existent...
Well, the poster above says "Axis" opened, but Ken Welch's Hall Report for this gig has "Bliss" down as the opening band...
Bliss was a Tulsa band, Larry Shaeffer/Little Wing would sometimes have them open for some of the larger shows, they also did some of the Rainbow dates in Okla and Shreveport as well as the Sex Pistols when they played Cains Ballroom in tulsa.
Here's a link to a photo of Bliss, which it says is from their opening slot in Tulsa 77 to "for Blue Oyster Cult, Black Oak Arkansas, REO Speedwagon":
REO Speedwagon??!!
Here's a review, courtesy of Paul 5, of this gig which appeared in the Tue 1 Nov 1977 edition of "The Corpus Christi Times":
Blue Oyster, Black Oak definitely improved
by Johnny Holmes
The Blue Oyster Cult and Black Oak invaded Memorial Coliseum last night in the second sold out concert in a week and proved why they're touted as two of America's most improved bands.
Black Oak, with four new members but led by the inimitable Jim 'Dandy' Mangrum, took the stage first and motored through an impressive 10-song set which displayed the best of both its worlds. Previously regarded as the worlds foremost 'raunch and roll' band, Black Oak is now a tight, straight forward band with as much or more finesse as any other high-energy act around. Mangrum and guitarist Jimmy Henderson have surrounded themselves with four of Memphis better musicians and the rise in musical quality is almost amazing.
New guitarists Jack Holder and Greg Reding blend right in with Henderson, swapping leads and fighting guitar duels, while the new rhythm section of bassist Andy Tanas and drummer Joel Williams build a rock-steady platform on which the music is built. During the set, Black Oak proved they could still rock with anyone, especially on some of its older songs like 'Great Balls of Fire' and 'Hot And Nasty,' which is exactly as its title suggests.
But the truly impressive part of Black Oak's snow is the brand new material found on its latest album, 'Race With The Devil.' Throughout the evening, Black Oak played five of the eight songs on the album, all with a mixture of flair and Southern-fried energy. The new, improved Black Oak sounds lean mean and hungry. All the fat has been trimmed away leaving a tight, heady outfit with a new direction and some straightforward ideas on how to get there. Basically, the reason the old band was dissolved in favor of this new one is that its members were getting complacent about putting their hearts into the music and Mangrum just couldn't live with that. So it was onward and upward and if last night's show was any indication of what Black Oak is now capable of, the sky's the limit.
The Blue Oyster Cult hit town with a brand new album and one of rock's finest light shows, both of which were fairly impressive last night. The Cult has also undergone some musical direction changes recently. Though the music was softened up a bit for 'Agents Of Fortune - the new material is a cross between this softness and the old blitz-rock of earlier days.
But strangely enough, the highlights of BOC's set were the old standards. The group played three songs from its very first album, including the opener, 'stairway To The Stars' and the murderous 'Cities On Flame,' which featured some lightning from lead guitarist Donald 'Buck Dharma' Roeser. The third oldie, 'Then Came The Last Days May,' featuring an extended guitar solo, revealed the first major operation of the Cult's infamous laser light show. As the sharp green laser beams reflected off strategically located mirror balls, the Cult got hotter and hotter, culminating in three monster songs which made a good show almost great. The thumping 'Godzilla' featured more extended guitar work and long drum solo by Albert Bouchard made worthwhile by the lasers and strobes. Albert teamed with brother Joe Bouchard on bass to power the group through 'summer Of Love' into a searing, lasered, strobed firebombed climax of 'Born To Be Wild.'
BOC returned for an encore of 'Dominance And Submission' but didn't totally satisfy until playing 'Don't Fear The Reaper', it's number one single of 1976. The Cult's light show was impressive and the music itself isn't bad, but the major complaints against the band remained valid last night. They can get a littler boring by extending things too long at times, and they have no stage show at all. There really isn't even much energy flowing up there. They were good no doubt about that, but with a little work this show could be one of the best.
OK, all the official sites say this album was released sometime in November 1977, but I beg to differ. Contemporaneous newspaper reports suggest it was on sale as early as the second week of October 1977.
The 9 Oct 1977 edition of "The Los Angeles Times" said the following:
Blue Oyster Cult's "Spectres" will be in the stores this week. The group will do a local concert in early December, probably at the Long Beach Arena.
To back this up, adverts for the LP appeared in The Daily Press, The Baltimore Sun etc on the 16th October, indicating department stores like Korvettes had it in stock by that date.
What's more - the earliest reviews I can find were published on 27 and 30 October 1977, so all in all, I think this whole album being released in November idea is what's technically known as a load of old bollocks...
Carvin Boy off the BDTE went to this gig and says "Nosferatu" was played.
I mentioned to him that this was remarkable because - according to Bolle Gregmar - BOC only EVER played Nosferatu live at a handful of gigs in 1978 (eg Johnstown) and never in 1977. I asked him was he sure it was played at THIS gig?
He said he was.
So - anybody else go to this show?
Check out the two different ticket layouts above - can anyone explain why they're so different?
Here's a relevant article from the 10 Nov 1977 edition of "The Rice Thresher":
Blue Oyster Cult on the long road to success
by Mark Fowler
"Some people think we are demons. We even get mail referring to us as freaks, but really, we couldn't be any further from being 'demons'," Blue Oyster Cult member Eric Bloom chuckled.
Bloom and his fellow Cultists certainly didn't appear to be even remotely demonic, despite their eerie stage antics during their concert Saturday night. In fact, the guitarist and lead vocalist was a serious but friendly person, once you got beyond the black leather and chrome.
According to Bloom, the mystique surrounding the Cult is primarily the doing of their manager, Sandy Pearlman. From the Greek chaos trademark to some of their earliest lyrics, Pearlman has directed the Cult through the treacherous turns of the rock 'n roll business.
"People try to read things into most of what we do. For instance, there is really no significance to the black and white costumes Don (Roeser) and I wear. Though one night I wore white, and afterwards had a bit of grief from the fans."
Minor displeasure from the fans is always an expected part of the feedback when a group or performer undergoes changes. Since their third studio release, Secret Treaties, the Cult has been undergoing many planned changes.
Their music has traded some of the raucous edginess of power rock for a more sophisticated and diverse sound. Don't mistake the music as being elitist however. The menacing undertones alone carry more impact than the two or three screaming banshee guitars employed by other groups.
"I really don't know yet if our next record is going to be along the same lines we have been following," Bloom said. "We need to gather some financial security to try some freaky changes. It's hard though to go out on the limb with changes."
What kind of freaky changes did Bloom have in mind?
"We've been toying with the idea of having a riff where smoke will completely cover the stage, and under the cover Don and I will suddenly change costumes. Don will be in black, and I'll be in white."
Done effectively, this feat could effectively add yet another dramatic touch to the growing Cult armada of special effects. The BOC arsenal already includes a quarter-million dollar laser system, fireworks, and even a strobed drum kit. Despite these dynamic illusions, coupled with their superb musicianship, Blue Oyster Cult has yet to attain the superstardom they desire and deserve.
"We've always tried to gather a large following, but we've been happy with our underdog image and cult following. We've tried to get across the fact that we think we're one of the best, but the only way to get people into our music and shows is to have singles and exposure."
Exposure is precisely what Blue Oyster Cult has been getting lately. "Don't Fear The Reaper" was voted the top single of 1976 by Rolling Stone, and according to Bloom, in two weeks "Going Through the Motions," from their latest album, Spectres, will be yet another single.
During the Cult's Houston stay, a new means of exposure was applied. A brief discussion with Bloom was taped at Channel 26 for the Disco Tex show.
"You know, this is only the second time I've had to wear make-up," Bloom said while he was being prepared. "It's also my first time on TV," he added with growing enthusiasm.
Although Bloom was unable to perform any of his music on the show, his imposing stage personality and leathered personage commanded the attention of the entire studio. It should do no less for the viewers of this week's program.
It seems inevitable that Eric Bloom and Blue Oyster Cult will attain that elusive superstardom. Until then, open up your eyes and ears to the Cult before the collective hordes of rock listeners discover what they have been missing.
An unused ticket stub for this gig appeared on ebay a while back [2017] which had the venue as the SMU Moody Coliseum. However, all subsequent (used) stubs that have appeared all have the venue as "The Convention Center", so I'm happy to stay with that.
Hey - went to this show when I was a 16 year old kid. My brother and two other friends piled into my old '59 Hillman (how many guys in Texas drove a Hillman, by the way?). The way I remember it was there were actually 4 bands on the show. Three bands were announced as the lineup but when we arrived there was a fourth band that no one had ever heard of blowing away the crowd. They were called Cheap Trick. I don't remember who was the supposed #3 on the bill, it might've been Ram Jam. But #2 was Black Oak Arkansas and then BOC was headlining.
Because of the extra act and laser show BOC did not exit the stage until about 1:30am. I thought we were going to be in deep trouble as we didn't get home until about 2am and it was a school day the next morning.
Fun times...
Here's a not very good review of this show from the November 10, 1977, issue of the University Daily newspaper of Texas Tech University:
Blue Oyster Cult Cold as Wind
By Doug Pullen
UD Entertainment Editor
Lubbock's cold winds should have been ominous to the few locals who attended Blue Oyster Cult's Tuesday night show in the Municipal Coliseum. The Cult's show was as uninviting and unenjoyable as those cold winds.
Numerous factors lead to the Cult's poor showing.
Most important among these factors was the groups' lackluster performance. Only guitarist Buck Dharma Roeser played with any life or feeling. The rest of the group, especially singer-guitarist Eric Bloom, seemed to be happy simply going through the motions.
The Cult's seeming complacency hampered much of its material. Popular songs like "Harvester of Eyes" and "Dominance, Submission," one of the encore songs, were noticeably dull.
"Celestial Queen," from the new album "Spectres," was average. "Godzilla," also from the new album, was plain ridiculous. The inclusion of a drum solo and unimaginative (in most places) laser lighting made for "Godzilla" a laughable and forgettable experience.
"Born to Be Wild," the Steppenwolf hit, and "Don't Fear the Reaper" were impressive. Roeser's leads and Bloom's rhythm guitar work were above average on these songs.
Drummer Al Bouchard provided some levity to break the monotony. Bouchard would clown and prance about the stage, with a guitar, while guitarists Roeser, Al Lanies and Joe Bouchard tried to be serious.
A light show, particularly laser . beams, was used extensively. What is wrong with using these lights the way the Cult did is that the lights served as distractions, not as supplements to the music. Even the lasers malfunctioned, as was evident when singer Bloom pointed a hand laser toward the audience. Bloom's portable laser wouldn't fire. Bloom was obviously perturbed as a result (he kicked a Coke can across the stage).
A muddled sound system also hurt Blue Oyster Cult's performance. Much of the bass was lost in the confusion and keyboards were extremely hard to hear. The guitars came through perfectly, but dominated the sound.
The size of the crowd (under 3,000) probably contributed to the Cult's poor showing. The attendance, or lack of it, was surprising in view of the fact that Blue Oyster Cult is a usually reliable draw, much like Electric Light Orchestra or the Doobie Brothers.
Black Oak opened the show, but wasn't much better than Blue Oyster Cult. "Jim Dandy" Mangrum's voice was stronger than ever. The versatility of the group's new musicians allowed Mangrum to sing with more range.
Guitarists Jimmy Henderson, Greg Reding and Jack Holder proved assets for Mangrum. Black Oak isn't Mangrum's band, but he is the individual with which most of the public identifies the group.
Material from the group's latest album, "Race With the Devil," worked well. "Rainbow," the title song and the up-dated version of the Buddy Holly hit, "Not Fade Away," were the best of the new songs.
Black Oak was able to give a decent show. The group didn't need lasers or as many gimmicks as Blue Oyster Cult to enchant the crowd. What Black Oak does need is more rehearsal. Sound problems which rendered Joel Williamson's drums inaudible) had nothing to do with the group's looseness on stage.
Black Oak will be a group to be reckoned with again as soon as the guitar players begin to play in better synchronization with one another.
Blue Oyster Cult probably will not set foot in Lubbock again. And if the group expects to return here, it had better learn to go back to playing music (which was forgotten too often Tuesday) and not depending on lights and gimmickry.
Who knows, those cold winds might crop up again.
This was quickly followed up by a rebuttal from concertgoers in a letter to the newspaper, published in the November 16 issue:
Misguided Review
Dear Mr. Rosser:
This letter is in comment to your Entertainment Editor, Doug Pullen, and his misguided review of the Nov. 8 Blue Oyster Cult concert. We were there (which I wonder if Mr. Pullen can say) and thought it was one of the best we've seen. With reviews as critical as Mr. Pullen's there may come a time when Lubbock will stop having top rock groups play here.
We find it very irritating that a great group was invited to perform here and was criticized in this way. Pullen called their laser light show unimaginative and distracting, we saw "under 3,000" fans who were enthralled by it. We have talked to others who, like ourselves, enjoyed the show.
In conclusion, if the standing ovation encore is any indication of the appreciation of a good show, Blue Oyster Cult will be back, cold wind or not.
Dan Heinchon
305 Coleman
Bill Thornton
303 Coleman
Editors note: This letter was signed by six other Coleman residents. JR
In 1972, as a 12 year old, I got a copy of BOCs wonderful first LP, on 8-track tape. I wore it out. I was mesmerized.
I've bought every subsequent release (on vinyl) since. I don't rightly remember why, but I saw them live for the first time in 1977 (they played El Paso a few times previously).
Black Oak Arkansas opened, and I recall nothing, and didn't intend to. I came to see the greatest American hard-rock band, then and now. I couldn't wait for the show to start.
Intermission lights drop, the band darklit and in place, and Buck struts up front and center in his trademark white suit, to open with 'Stairway to the Stars'. I momentarily lost reality. I zeroed in on the sonic and visual euphoria I was now experiencing. Standing right there, 15 feet from the stage, I don't think I moved an inch for the next hour-and-a-half to come. Fantastic, the whole show. Since then, I've seen them, with the core lineup, at least 6 times, the last probably in the early-mid 80s.
Notable detail: This show was played at the ELP county coliseum, pretty much a shithole, even then. Acoustics be damned. I was close enough to the stage that I primarily heard the bands amps, avoiding most of the PA jet-blast bouncing back off the rear wall. Acceptable enough, with personal bias, of course.
I'm in my 60s now, cracks starting to show. I am prompted to submit this entry all these years later, as I just acquired a DVD copy of a live show they did at the O2 in London, 17 June 2017. I read that they played the entire first album, back-to-back, so I had to hear and see for myself. I hit the PLAY button and all kinds of memories came swirling back, almost to a fault. Forget about Eric's vocals; it's almost as if he's reinvented them. That they had the grace, and the audacity, to pull this off is commendable to say the least, especially for the two guys now in their 70s. I love it.
FF to 2020 and my favorite BOC releases for years now are Tyranny and Mutation, and Secret Treaties, no order, and the first LP right behind. I mentioned previously that I went to my first show to see 'The greatest American hard-rock band, then and now'. I say that based largely on the strength of the first three LPs, the 'Black and White' trio. They've since released some great songs, peppered throughout the years, but the first three are timeless in my mind... I listen to every song, never skipping to the next, and they always have that quality that you already know... at the Four Winds Bar.
The mystique never fades.
They have stood the test of time, no doubt.
Looking at the first of the handbills above (the red one), it seems Wishbone Ash were originally scheduled to be the support for this gig.
The best time I think I had at a BOC gig was at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas '77. When you are 17 and in Las Vegas for the 1st time, it's quite a thrill. There was Pot, Girls, Booze, Mushrooms and prolly coke. Hell I can't remember. LASERS!! One thing I will always remember is Eric introducing a song. He said "The next song is about a desert" and I thought for sure Death Valley Nights was coming but instead it was Golden Age. Love them both so no matter.
The official site has this gig down as "Tucson Arena" yet the stub says "Community Center"...
The name of the arena was called the Tucson Community Center. I was 14, and there, and it rocked!!!
For two years in a row Blue Oyster Cult put on two of the best shows I have ever seen in my life. In 1976 they were playing in the Seattle Center Arena, with Bob Seger and Commander Cody. This show featured more songs off of the on your feet on your knees album. I thought that Donald Buck Darma was the best guitar player on the planet at the time.
I was looking for them the next time around the following year and they came with black oak, and rail for the spectres concert.
The part I will never forget was when Bloom kept pointing into the crowd during Harvester of Eyes, and hitting people with this laser light while the whole place had these dots on the wall spinning around. during Godzilla there was a Hologram of this big godzilla head and a red tongue.
During Born to be wild they crossed guitars. Golden age of leather was awesome and has since become my second favorite behind I aint got you, mazerati gt.
I will always remember having to go to the bathroom but I was afraid I was going to miss something, and it seemed as if they were never going to stop playing.
I waited until the encore was over before I finally went.
To this day those two shows rank as the best all time shows I have ever seen.
The following year they came with Pat Travers (at the Coliseum) and I was not as satisfied without the spinning dots and laser show.
I have never seen a better rock and roll show than the two I saw blue oyster cult perform in 1976 and 1977 in the Seattle Center arena.
The thing I remember about both shows was not being able to look away for a whole show.
The agents of fortune show was some of the best guitar work I have ever seen. The Spectres show was that same guitar work with an incredible laser light show with laser projections on smoke.
Rail opened - Rail does a good sweet madam blue Styx cover, and some Nugent covers. The Spectres show had a lot more life to it from begining to end.
Black oak was a lot more rowdy with Jim Dandy displaying more character than musical talent. he was weak on the washbord, and they played everything in abreviated medleys...
Halls of carmen was diluted into a medley as was his washboard songs. Blue oyster always had something to look for. from crossing guitars to the whole band playing guitars to spots all around and on everyone you looked at.
I have always felt any other show I went to was sub par after that. I think I was treated to a motivated buck, for those two years. He seeemed endless and effortless.
After that he just seemed to fall off every year after those two. The guy was the best guitar player I have ever had the pleasure of watching, particularly those two shows.
BOC taught me a valuble lesson. Go to the bathroom before they start playing at all cost, even if you have to pee in a cup if the cans are full. The Godzilla cartoon projection on smoke was amazing
I wrote to David Infante, the laser guy to ask if what I'd seen was a Godzilla hologram and he responded: "No it was a scanner cartoon projection on smoke! Thanks for the compliment! Yeah, laser shows haven't been the same - Maybe I will do one more before I pass on! lolol..."
John says he thinks this gig took place at the Seattle Center Arena, and not the Coliseum. Given that BOC were at the top of their drawing power and that the Arena - apparently - has only half the capacity of the Coliseum, this would seem odd.
Does anybody else have any feedback on this?
The gig was in the Arena - I do remember the show and did some checking. The Seattle Supersonics had a home game that night, hence The Arena.
The description of the concert is good though - and I have to agree that BOC was at the top of their game at that time...
This is the Confirmed Arena and Set list information for 1977-11-20:
Here's an article centred around the two Portland gigs that appeared in the Fri 21 Apr 1978 edition of The Miami News:
Blue Oyster Cult: A Rock'n'Roll Diary
By Jon Marlowe, Miami News Music Critic
FROM THE DIARY:
Hastily scribbled rock 'n' roll memories of Los Angeles, Blue Oyster Cult, and Portland, Oregon/January 1978: I ask you:
What the hell kind of vacation is this?
I mean, here I've been telling everybody for months that when I finally do take my vacation I just wanna get as far away from the state of rock 'n' roll as possible.
Impossible.
First I wind up in L.A., sitting through four stunning Elvis Costello shows at the Whiskey. But I soon find myself becoming totally bored with long blonde hair, suntans, and groovy Sunset Strip conversation, so I am easily convinced to leave L.A. and join Blue Oyster Cult as they open their current tour with two shows in Portland, Oregon (of all God foresaken places).
It all becomes a blur:
The hastily arranged Portland plane ride... the freezing cold... a quick supper... the limousine ride to a decrepit ice skating rink where the group is scheduled to perform... the desolate, concrete backstage area... singer/guitarist Eric Bloom changing from normal street clothes to black leather duds and sunglasses... lil' Buckie Dharma, Joe Bouchard, and Allen Lanier carefully tuning what seems like 800 guitars... drummer Albert Bouchard knocking about on a practice drum kit...
In the midst of all this pre-show activity, the Oysterheads' highly trained, light/laser man walks over and begins explaining to me how the Cult's massive lasers are not harmful. "The government regulates their power now," he tells me. "Parents get all worried about it, but there's no fear at all of bodily harm."
To tell the truth, I'm not really that interested in the Oysterheads' potential laser damage, for I'm still not convinced that BOC are even capable of doing any musical damage.
Ever since their inception as the Soft White Underbelly in the late 60s, I have always found them to be more than slightly tacky. Their power-chorded/musical cries of "Tyranny and Mutation" coupled with their black leather / whips / handcuffs / satanic / biker / gestapo image did not sit too well on my turntable.
But hey - most every other music critic loved (adored, idolized) them. That is, up until a few years ago, when BOC finally gained commercial/financial AM radio success with their haunting "Don't Fear The Reaper." I thought it was a great lil' tune - but many critics felt "BOC had sold out" and viciously turned on them.
Here in the sticks of Portland, though, the kids gathered tonight are still thrilled with them. (And ain't that the bottom line?)
I am totally surprised (and impressed) to find that live, BOC plays fine / tense / melodic / highly structured / rock 'n roll. Gone are most of their backdated trappings (hell, Buck is even wearing a three-piece suit) and it's simply down to business.
Their last killer single, "Going Through The Motions," sounds just incredible. Buck and Eric face off in a gut wrenching six-string showdown, guitars blazing, while Allen beautifully covers their backdoor on keyboards. Joe and Albert seal the whole thing over with steady musical perma-wax.
Their biting vocals twist and bend above the sonic roar. Their musical pacing is impeccable. They're superb craftsmen of tension. And get ready for the finale: The mirrored balls are spinning, the laser lights reflecting and refracting off them, the whole rink is glowing and sparkling, as their musical blitzkreig finally comes to a frantic climax.
(Cue Steve Martin: Hey these guys are good.)
Following the superb show, the promoter comes backstage and tells us all to "speed it up, for its starting to snow outside."
A real understatement.
The snow is falling as thick as Betty Crocker whipped frosting and it takes us over two hours just to manuever the slippery roads back to the hotel. Upon arrival, I am invited up to Eric Bloom's room.
When he finds out I'm now living in Miami, he begins telling me about his "college days and how I used to go down to Fort Lauderdale all the time. Me and a bunch of guys would rent a car and drive around. A six pack of beer. Just cruising for chicks. But ya' know. We never got any chicks. (Laughter). It was all just an image perpetrated by Connie Francis and 'Where the Boys Are.'
"I suppose it's the same with us and our image. The black leather. The whole sado-masochism thing. Ya' know, a lot of people actually think we whip our girlfriends or wives. That's how strong an image can be. They actually think we go home, pull out the ol' whip, and make the old lady take 20 lashes while we walk all over her. We never took it serious, but they did. I hope that's all beginning to change. But I really don't know if it is or not. I hope the kids are beginning to see us in a different light now than just five weirdos."
To Bloom, the Cult is now "a solid rock'n'roll band that can play with the best of them. I'm the first to admit we knew about our heavy image at the start. And it's probably what got us to where we are today. Sure, it was all programmed for shock value. Parents hated it. The kids loved it. But I feel the Cult right now is a perfect blend. We've really matured. Sandy Pearlman (their manager and sometimes lyricist) isn't involved as much with us anymore. It's mostly on our shoulders now. With 'Agents of Fortune' and 'Spectres" (their last two LPs), I think the songwriting finally came together. It's not all evil images now. And we still do one hell of a show. I mean, we still try to give the kids something to remember us by."
The snow continues to fall.
It's now five in the morning and I'm in Allen Lanier's room. He and I are sprawled out on the floor. By this hour, jetlag/fatigue/and maybe even the plague have set in on both of us. My questions are coming as slow as his answers.
Allen is telling me how "it's really strange. You didn't like us before and now you do. But the critics that liked us at the start have all turned on us now. They hate us. They wanted to keep us all to themselves. That whole 'underground-I-knew-them-when-they-were-nobody' syndrome. Then when we had the hit single they said, 'Oh, just forget them. Now everybody knows about them.' Hell, you just can't win with that kind of mentality."
Allen says "the same thing is set to happen to Patti (his girlfriend). One AM radio hit and all her original fans will turn on her. They'll give her the same ol' crap. You sold out. Who needs you."
There is no doubt in my mind that Allen Lanier is definitely Keith Richard #2 of rock 'n' roll. To him, "rock 'n' roll is all I really live for," he says. "I'm sometimes a little lazy with things in the studio, but I just love everything about it. I love to see the kids out there having a good time. And I think the kids are sticking with us through our development Screw the critics. I mean, we can't stay the same forever. We have to go on."
Our cigarets and alcohol don't, though.
Having run out of the two most necessary items to conduct any kind of conversation, it is as good as time as any to say goodnight (or good morning).
Before I go to bed, I am invited by the Cult to stick around for tomorrow night's second show.
I decide instead to leave town.
Only I can't.
When I finally awaken, I find most of the major roads are closed, the airport is shut down, and the bottom line is I'm snowed in.
I finally drag myself downstairs for breakfast (dinner? supper?).
The teenage waiter in the hotel's restaurant says "Hey, weren't you with the band last night?" "Uh... yeah... sure... right."
The kid's eyes widen.
He only wants to know one thing:
"Please. You just gotta tell me. Did they whip any groupies upstairs last night?"
Oh Mama - can this really be THE END?
Make of the above what you will. BTW: the bit in the first line about the Portland gigs being in Jan 1978 was clearly wrong, but I'm guessing you know that, being as you're currently on the 1977 page...
Nov. 23, 1977 show played at the Jackson County Expo in Medford, OR. Attached concert poster photo confirms this.
Black Oak supported BOC at Salt Lake City on 11/25 with Sammy Hager
I could have sworn it was REO Speedwagon rather than Sammy Hagar that was on the bill. A friend of mine and I were discussing this the other day and I am sure of Black Oak Arkansas, hell I even remember the girls name that I took to the concert, but I don't remember Sammy Hagar...
But then, like they say, "If you remember the 70's you weren't there". Class of 77 rules!
That was my first Concert at age 12 in Salt Lake City. Yes it was definitely Sammy Hagar opening up for them for about 20 minutes. Black Oak next and of course Blue Oyster Cult. What a awesome experience!!!
I remember United Concerts as the promoter. BOC announced they were recording the show for a live album, which of course made the crowd roar.
Although they did not take any cuts from Salt Lake City for Some Enchanted Evening, I remember the anxiety of waiting for that album.
I was actually on stage at that concert, here's the deal:
I started working for Danny Jessop, a local DJ for KCPX radio in Salt Lake City, as a "roadie" for his remote DJ work on the side. He was actually my Sunday School teacher. After a year or so of that work he asked me if I wanted to be the KCPX mascot. The mascot was the KCPX Weiner, and it was a hot dog costume. They picked me because I was tall and thin! This was 1977.
My first appearance as the KCPX Weiner was at the November 25, 1977 Black Oak Arkansas and Blue Oyster Cult concert at the Salt Palace. I was 16 and had never been to a concert. I got a backstage pass, and saw Blue Oyster Cult backstage before I went on stage during the break between Black Oak and Blue Oyster.
Since the concert was a day after Thanksgiving, KCPX staged a "Dress Up Like a Turkey" contest at the concert. I was on stage for the judging of the contest, and there were 3 contestants chosen from the audience. I vaguely remember various "weiner" slurs from the hard rock audience, but fortunately the costume hid my face behind a brown cloth that I could see through, but people could not see my face. I was very glad for that!
After the appearance I and my cousin from California, who was in town for Thanksgiving and with me at the concert, stood inside the security area, just in front of the stage, and looked straight up almost at the band as they performed. Quite a first concert experience!
Headed down from Fort Collins, Co with some of my fraternity buddies to see this show. I had been a hardcore BOC fan for several years since the San Diego Golden Hall show in '74.
This was the height of BOC's laser shows and the crowd went absolutely bonkers when Eric's famous logo guitar produced the wicked lasers which bounced off a hanging ball in the middle of the arena.
Great show but nothing ever compared to the Golden Hall show and I have now seen them at leased a dozen times.
My wife Sue and I were married on April 6, 1977, and this was our first concert together - Sue had seen them previously at her first concert in San Jose in 1975 at the San Jose Civic.
Bought tickets at The Broadway, Ticketron. Black Oak Arkansas opened for BOC in Long Beach...
I do remember someone throwing up a couple seats over from us and that the laser effects were awesome, I can still see the guy that upchucked just staring at the lasers, mesmerized... Ahhhh, great times...
I remember the Kronos being projected on the side of the arena as we were walking in from the parking lot, was cool. Can't recall the set, so must have been a good show but I remember that we were in the mezzanine on Buck's side. I know my ears were ringing afterward.
Go Jim Dandy Go!
What I remember is very similar to Jon's description. The date of the gig was Dec. 2nd, 1977.
Masses of people descended upon the Long Beach Arena. We were searched at the entrance in a rather cursory fashion, so they didn't find our weed.
We sat up just above the bleachers on the right-hand side of the stage. The view of the band was pretty good, but nothing like being right in the Buck Zone.
I don't know if they used this trick at this particular show, but I would witness it twice before the 70s ended: A dim light was shone upon Allen, who noodled with his keyboard at low volume. The idea was to get the audience to pay really close attention to Lanier both visually and aurally.
Of course, since the light was very dim and the sound low, every one of the 14,000 or so people in the arena strained quite hard to see and hear him.
All of a sudden--KABOOM! A startling explosion went off, melting both ears and eyes. As soon as the explosion was gone, the band was on the stage, the stage lights were all up, and the PA was at full volume.
They were blasting a song (either D&S or RU Ready 2 Rock, I think) with unbelievable ferocity.
They were really loud that night and lived up to a description that I would see years later of them: "Fast, heavy and loud."
I do remember the laser show, and it was great. Eric had his wrist laser. He bounced it off of the mirror ball, which was a great effect.
I am a little cloudy on the event as we smoked a fair quantity of weed during the course of the show.
I also remember Black Oak Arkansas opening the show. They were not too bad. I liked seeing U.F.O. as the supporting act the next year better, but I guess that is a matter of personal taste.
Overall, I give the show 5 stars (out of five) or two thumbs up, whichever you prefer.
My first BOC show, and I was not expecting what was coming. They put on a great rock show.
The lasers, and searing guitar solos were mesmerizing. I sat in the middle of the floor staring straight up at the lasers dancing on the ceiling.
Easily one of my top ten favorite concerts EVER, and I have been to many.
Here's a review of this gig from the 5 Dec 1977 edition of the "San Bernardino Sun":
Black (Oak) and Blue (Oyster) and Punk, too
by Mark Lundahl Special to the Sun-Telegram
SAN BERNARDINO - Slicked-down heavy metal. Southern-fried raunch 'n' roll, and a swell of new wave English rock were all offered as musical courses Saturday night at Swing Auditorium.
The triple-feature concert, featuring Blue Oyster Cult, Black Oak, and The Motors won an enthusiastic response from a sold-out crowd of rock 'n' roll captives who reeled, rocked, and staggered like an unleashed waterbed. Good and sloshed and ready to roll.
The evening was marred by a few instances of vandalism and violence. Four persons were arrested by the San Bernardino Police Department on minor charges in some bottle-throwing incidents that damaged auditorium doors and benches.
Headliners Blue Oyster Cult continued to lean away from the hard-core heavy metal stance that marked its inception. Once the masters of decadence and sado-rock, The Cult now likes to use a spruced and cleaned-up version of heavy metal that offers a wider variety of textures and a less threatening viewpoint.
Aware of its changing posture, The Cult opened one of its new songs with an accapella beerhall chant:
"Raise your can of beer on High
And seal your Fate forever
Our best years have passed us by,
The Golden Age of Leather."
Like the bulk of its older work, the new approach was successful only part of the time. "The Golden Age of Leather" and last year's hit "Don't Fear the Reaper" were victories for The Cult. Shifting moods in mid-song and expanding the subtleties in arrangement, these tunes reflected a new maturity of approach in heavy metal.
Also, stops-out rockers like "Cities on Flame" and "Born to be Wild" reconfirmed the notion that Blue Oyster Cult can stomp it out with a passion when it wants.
But sandwiched between these songs were a number of tunes that were drenched in mediocrity. Listless in execution, they painfully exposed Blue Oyster Cult's weakest link: poor vocals.
Lead guitarist Buck Dharma continued to impress the crowd with the fact that he is the outstanding instrumentalist of the group. His fluid, slithering work on the slow and moody "Then Came the Last Days of May" was an aural knockout, second only to the light show that drew everyone's attention away from the stage and directed it onto the ceiling.
The laser lights continue to be the one Blue Oyster Cult highlight that sets its concerts apart from the rest.
At times, the audience was skewered with hundreds of pencil thin beams emanating from three huge mirrored balls hung from the rafters. When the beams were flattened into planes and combined with smoke, the effect was that of eerie Martian gas. Finally flames, sparklers and strobes exploded for the climax, and the Swing was transformed into a palace of visual ecstasy.
Like a number of veteran bands gasping for their second wind, second billed Black Oak Arkansas has attempted to slick-up its image and draw a new audience by shortening its name to simply Black Oak.
Remembering its dismal past performances, I think, "Wonderful, I can now just call it B.O."
But wait. There have been some other significant changes for the band.
Black Oak has revamped its entire line-up. Besides lead singer Jim Dandy (now refered to as the distinguished J.D. Mangrum), not one original member remains. In addition, the band now records for the respected southern label, Capricorn Records.
The results? Black Oak has emerged with a bright new sound and a more polished musical approach. All this, and energy to spare.
Once the lamest band in the land, Black Oak surprized and impressed the crowd with the most energetic performance of the evening.
San Bernardino's introduction to new-wave rock also came on Saturday when a group of scrubbed down punk rockers known as The Motors opened the show.
Like many of their counterparts, the Motors relied more on raw energy than musical finesse in a performance that borrowed a lot of Who-like power chords, and mixed them with grating harmonies and simple songs.
The band was received moderately well until its resident cheerleader overextended himself in trying to bring the band for an encore. The resulting cheers were heavily mixed with booing, leaving a bad taste in everyone's ears.
Mark Lundahl is manager of Redlands radio station KUOR-FM.
My first gig was in December 1977 at the University of California-Santa Barbara. Spectres had been released, and they were playing the laser show. Not all of the lasers were functional, however. I know this only after hearing about some of the spectacular laser performances discussed by others, and specifically remembering NOT seeing certain diplays from such discussions.
I don't recall a setlist, I was a new fan. I do remember RU Ready, Zilla, Golden Age, Reaper, Hot Rails, Cities on Flame, ETI, and Tattoo Vampire. I would assume Born To Be Wild, they performed the cross-guitars, and the Five Guitars.
The venue was called "Robertson Gym". It's on campus. It was a college sports arena. Many other big name bands played there. I do remember it was a weeknight because I had class the next morning. Also it might have been Eric's birthday because I remember someone on stage joking about a birthday. At that time I did'nt know who was who name wise. But I remember a quip about a birthday.
If you cross check the open dates it would have been around gigs in Los Angeles and Bakersfield. They are in close proximity in the southern California area.
I think the opening band was named Hilltop. They had a guy who played trumpet.
Hope this helps!
Well, nothing to do with BOC, but until I began working at U.T. Austin I had never seen such a concentration of beautiful young women in one spot. The "dodgy boilers" backstage after the show were all 9 or 10's! Something in the water, I suppose.
Checkout the following forum link (4th post down) in which the guy reckons this show was 1976...
However, Ken Welch's Gig itineraries helpfully list this show as 4 December 1977, so hopefully that's sorted that out...
Anyway... here's the text of a review I found online that confirms the support band:
I recently had the pleasure of attending a B.O.C. ("Blue Oyster Cult") concert at Robertson Gym on the U.C.S.B. campus in Santa Barbara.
The band that played in front of B.O.C. was a band called "Tommy and Timmy", who put on a fairly good show, but did not compare to the show B.O.C. gave.
When Blue Oyster Cut came out on stage it was dark, three guitarists, Eric Bloom, Allen Lanier, Donald Roeser, and bassist Joe Bouchard all lined up on the front of the stage, while Albert Bouchard sat down behind an all chrome drum set.
The right when they started out with one of their new releases "R.U. Ready 2 Rock", two big explosions were lit off on both sides of the stage, setting the crowd into an uproar.
They also sung another of their recent smash hits "Godzilla", using plenty of synthesizer work on it. They also put on a tremendous lazer beam light show in the middle of this tune. They put on another fireworks and lazer beam show when they sung an old Steppenwolf song, "Born to be Wild".
Each member of the band got a chance to solo on their instrument. With Donald Roeser on lead guitar jamming by himself in several of the tunes. Eric Bloom and Allen Lanier both did separate solos in the tune "Don't Fear the Reaper", which was their second encore. Allen Lanier also gave a tremendous keyboard solo in "Born to be Wild" which was their first encore.
Joe Bouchard jammed alone under the spotlight for about 10 minutes on the bass. While his brother, Albert Bouchard followed immediately after with about a 20 minute drum solo under two white strobe lights. While the electronic engineers put on another spectacular lazer beam light show.
However, in the 19 Jan 1978 issue of the "Daily Nexus" (University of CA Santa Barbara) they list the band line-up as:
Dec 4,1977 - Rob Gym - Blue Oyster Cult/Tillman Thomas Band
As that sounds much more like a band name than "Tommy and Timmy" (who sound like they should be playing children's parties), I've gone with that.
Billboard [24 Dec 1977] gives the total ticket sales as 5868, with a ticket price range of $7.50-$8.50 and gives the gross receipts as $45,027.
Check out the above so-called stub which appeared on eBay as part of a large lot of tickets in April 2010. There was no venue or information provided other than the date.
This info itself comes from what is apparently the back of a ticket stub for the show and is hand-written. Strangely, the name of Detective is dominant, suggesting they headlined but this is rather unlikely...
Detective did play some gigs with BOC later on in that month actually, but the (now offline) desbarres.com site was no help as it listed gigs in St. Louis MI (support for Kiss) and Atlanta GA (support for Todd Rundgren) on the 7th and 9th December respectively - so nothing for the 8th. That's not definitive, of course, as the gigs they do list with BOC aren't correct anyway...
So that's all I have for this. Anyone out there got any info?
The opening band was Piper.
Love your site! I wanted to add a comment on the 10 Dec 77 concert of theirs at the Cow Palace. I don't remember Piper playing, but I do remember Black Oak playing. We were all disappointed that the Runaways didn't play, but after BOC got done I don't think any of us cared.
I do remember some guy passing out on the floor and then vomiting. Despite all the people there, they managed to clear a ring around him until security hauled him out.
The music was great, the lasers were awesome, and the whole experience was one to remember - even all these years later I still remember the strobe light under Albert's set! Truly amazing to watch that.
During the BOC set, I passed out due to lack of oxygen, when I woke up I was being passed over the railing at the front of the stage to security. I finished watching the show from the seats on the left side of the stage.
Flashing laser light was hitting a disco ball above the audience and I thought bolts of light were going through my chest to the sound of music. It was awesome and I will never forget it.
Too bad there's no professional video of the BOC laser shows.
Ken Welch's Hall Report for this gig has Eddie Money scheduled as the opener, and then Detective...
Anyone know for sure?
Stop Press: Just seen a mention of this show on Michael Des Barres' site - it says Detective were the support (doesn't mention Eddie Money, though):
I was at this show, I remember no equipment, lasers etc... The band said they would be back and play again with the lasers.
I think I got in for free next show a week later. I will let you know if I can locate anything else about the show.
For BOC's December 16th, 1977 show - I don't recall much. It was my first time seeing BOC and me and my buds and girlfriends were way into Agents Of Fortune and Spectres. This was the Spectres tour (obviously).
I just remember that they played most of their set with half of their laser equipment. They expained, from onstage, that the semi was stuck somewhere and this was only half of their laser show. If THAT was ONLY HALF - Holy Shit! I can't imagine what their "full-on" laser show would have been like!!!
I remember midway, someone had been dispatched to pick up a laser from some distributor in the Cincinnati area. They hooked up on stage left and it didn't do very much - it was not even close to as much as their one working laser could do. I was blind when I came out of there, not to mention DEAF!!!
It was one of those teenage experiences I will never forget. The lasers were just fantastic. They swept the audience, put us in a spinning box that was totally disorienting and kept on sweeping and changing and getting bigger and bigger and bigger and faster sweeps as they jammed along.
The music, of course, was awesome. We all knew just enough to get us around their set with a good deal of familiarity. It was a blast. I don't know how the band felt about their performance, but we in the audience loved it. It was exciting as hell, dynamic, loud and other-wordly (tongue-placed--in-cheek). I will never, ever forget that show!!! Nor will my friends.
BTW, it was freezing outside on the riverfront. Two years later I was almost killed at the same locale when hundreds of Who fans stampeded. That was the first time I ever saw a dead body up close - blue skin. I HAD to step over them to get into the damn Coliseum... but that's another story.
As for who else was on the bill - I really want to say it was "that other Casblanca band" called "Angel", but I could be confusing that show with another. Angel were an LA outfit who were the only other known rock band on the Casablanca record label besides KISS. It might be worth it for me to look up some info about them and to see whether or not they ever opened for BOC.
I also recall Todd Rundgren's Utopia opening for another major band - and perhaps this is the concert I'm confusing it with. So - it could have very well been either "Angel" or "Utopia." Sorry I can't be of more help. I mostly recall the exceptional performance from Blue Oyster Cult.
I absolutely love your website! Keep it going! Loads of great information...
I remember this show very well. The opening act was Edgar Winter and White Trash.
Out of the three trucks that carried equipment only the band gear did not show up in time. It seems that the driver (with the same name as a president) had hooked up with some babe and had other things on his mind.
Edgar had already played the entire set and was starting his encore when the truck showed up. Someone asked him to play an extended encore, he agreed with a really big smile and he then broke into a 45 minute version of Frankenstein.
It was amazing and not what he normally played with that band.
We the crew scrambled and took advantage of every available person around, I think even some of the band helped out too. We set the band gear up during the 45 minutes of Frankenstein and pulled the show off. I thought we did quite well knowing how long under good conditions it took to set up all the equipment.
Once the band started playing we were still setting up equipment. We set up what we had to have in the order of how it was needed in the show. It was truly a work in progress during the show.
All of the equipment was in the truck including all the lasers. It was a question of logistics as to what may have been excluded. It was always the goal of the band to never, ever leave anything out of the show - no matter what.
The truck was immediately replaced.
OK - there's a bit of discrepancy about this show - there's a mention of this gig on Michael Des Barres' site saying Detective were the support:
Now Kenny's info above is pretty specific - the band immediately in front of BOC was Edgar Winter, but could Detective have opened?
Anyone got any info on this, let me know...
I'm taking Kenny's word for it that it was Edgar Winter and White Trash who opened this show. I do remember seeing Edgar Winter live but did not put these shows together with BOC.
As far as BOC's use of the lasers that evening, they were set up on stage left behind a transparent screen accommodating a giant cut out hole for the laser equipment to sit in and the shine through. I noticed an identical hole in the screen on stage right that did not get used, hence, I believe only half the lasers got used that evening.
I distinctly remember the news from onstage that they were only playing with half of the laser equipment that night, because they were very apologetic about it - not that it even mattered! I'm happy that I got to see the band during those days before the FDA got a hold of their equipment.
It's funny that Sandy Pearlman was managing them back then, and Sandy went on to manage my friends Romeo Void here in San Francisco, though I never did get a chance to ask him about that incident.
I know he disliked using the stuff because the band lost way too much money on maintenance. It's sounds like such a "Pearlman" idea to gimmick out the show with this "then" clunky and temperamental "new technology."
Now everyone uses lasers, but not nearly in the same way BOC used them. Back then, that shit was dangerous; definitely NOT safe, and it still lends a lot to "the mystique" of the band from that time. BOC WERE dangerous, and unpredictable!
BOC have tons of fans here in (Northern) California, by the way. TONS!! They should be playing in the San Francisco clubs, not playing up in the Napa Valley wineries....
Cincinnati '77...
My boyfriend took me to the BOC concert. I had worked after school and all summer and earned enough money for a nice little Nikon camera (a lot of money in those days, especially for a teenager). I took it to the concert with me.
BOC was rocking hard, Buck was wearing white, and he sang Last Days of May, lasers going full bore while the pot smoke FILLED the air. It was awesome! Best night ever!!!
I got all the pics I possibly could, and I was so excited at the prospect of seeing how good they'd turn out when I'd gotten them developed.
Anyway, we partied late, and I was majorly stoned (it WAS the '70's, after all) when my boyfriend dropped me off at my house.
I realized I'd forgotten my keys. I pounded on the door, but my mom slept like the dead, so she never heard me. So I walked two blocks to a payphone, and let the phone ring and ring until it finally got her up.
I walked back to my house and it wasn't until I woke up later that morning that I realized I had left my camera bag, camera and ALL that film in the phone booth.
I ran as fast as I could back to the phone booth, praying all the way that it would still be there, but of course it was long gone.
I trudged back home, locked myself in my room and cried for hours - not because of the camera, but because I lost ALL THAT FILM.
So it was one of the best, but also the most heartbreaking 24 hours of my young life.
As someone who grew up pining for a Nikon F2 - and later the F3, but had to settle for an Olympus OM1, I feel your pain over both the lost hardware and the film stock content...
There was a mention of this show on Michael Des Barres' site (desbarres.com) confirming that Detective were the support, however this is now offline.
There was a mention of this show on Michael Des Barres' site (desbarres.com) confirming that Detective were the support, however this is now offline.
Your lineup info is correct. Detective did an in-store appearance at Karma Records before the show and members signed my friend's album.
As far as the BOC performance it was in line with the other descriptions you have from around this time. The visuals were stunning with the lasers.
Thanks for the site, it's a lot of fun walking down memory lane.
The only evidence I have for this gig occurring is that it's listed on Ken Welch's gig itinery for November.
Do you know if it took place or not?
Stop Press: There was a mention of this show on Michael Des Barres' site (desbarres.com) confirming that Detective were the support, however this is now offline.
On Christmas night in 1977 - the night before they were due to play the St. Paul Civic Center - they were going to have a free outdoor laser light show at Como Park.
The only problem was that the lasers were water cooled and the temp was about -15 below zero. We were on our way to the light show when we heard on the radio that two of the lasers had froze and broke. The show that evening was cancelled.
The next night they only had one laser at the concert. From my review clipping I have about the show there was one interesting fact. They sold 8,000 tickets the day of the show, a Civic Center record.
The review also states that Rockets opened the evening with a half-hour set and were followed by Black Oak.
I was at the Dec 26, 1977 show and they definitely played Last Days of May, and I am pretty sure they played Godzilla.
It was the first time I saw them, and I have since seen them over 30 times.
The lazer show info is correct, they only had one working.
November 1977 - I was 17 and I just saw my first concert: Jethro Tull. Tull was my absolute favorite band so they set the bar for all concerts to come.
We had tickets for Blue Oyster Cult, coming up in another month. I wasn't very familiar with them yet, except of course Don't Fear the Reaper which was pretty ubiquitous at the time, and the live versions of Cities on Flame and ME262, which I had heard a few times on Beaker Street. My friend picked up Spectres, which had just been released, and they were playing Godzilla on the FM station. I had sent a self addressed stamped envelope to the BOC fan club and they sent me several pages of lyrics, primitively typed and photocopied. I was amused by such whimsical titles as "She's as Beautiful as a Foot" and "Harvester of Eyes". I distinctly remember reading the lyrics to "Cagey Cretin" and thinking "Whaaat the helllll..." But there were also titles and lyrics of deeper concerns, such as Astronomy and Flaming Telepaths. I saw some pictures of them and they looked seriously cool. I was looking forward to this greatly!
A couple days before the concert KQRS 92.5 FM sponsored what was supposed to be a spectacular laser light show off the roof of the IDS tower in Minneapolis, using BOC's 3 lasers synched to music broadcast from the station. You were supposed to park in designated parking lots, with a view of the skyscraper. It was about 20 below that night. I remember parking in this park, along with hundreds of other cars, waiting for this amazing show. The DJ announced it, the music played, and one weak dim spotlight appeared at the top of the building, pointing at the ground. Half an hour went by and nothing else happened. I don't remember if anyone ever came on the radio to tell everyone to go home or not, but it wasn't until the next day that we heard that the lasers were water-cooled, and it was so cold that 2 of the lasers froze and broke. Great, thanks, that means BOC had to do the show with only one laser. The newspaper ran a comic showing the IDS Tower with a light beam spelling out "Suckers".
I think The Rockets opened. I was pretty disinterested, but I do remember them so they must have been ok. They had a minor hit at the time with Fleetwood Mac's "Oh Well". I just remember straightforward hard rock and ripped jeans.
Next up was Black Oak Arkansas. They were very entertaining!
Finally BOC takes the stage. I think they started with R U Ready 2 Rock, but I was so unfamiliar that I'm not sure. I mostly had to piece it together from memory afterward as I started collecting their music. I'm sure that the setlist published on this website is incomplete because I know they played ME262, Cities on Flame and Last Days of May and they aren't listed. I'm sure there were others too. I remember Eric Bloom shot something from his wrist (a laser?) up into the light rig and exploded a firework. Now it's a cat toy, but then it was a LASER! It was kinda cool, but if that's all they got to do with their one remaining laser it was pretty sad. Happily it was not.
The concert was filmed, with a pretty elaborate film crew and cranes and the works. They said it was going to be released as a movie but it never was. The DVD that comes with Some Enchanted Evening was from that tour but it wasn't this show. It sure doesn't do it justice.
Then came the highlight. In fact it was a highlight of my youth. I don't know if it was Astronomy or Last Days of May, but When Buck played his solo the whole arena was dark except a spotlight on him. As his solo intensified and the band started in a laser shot up from the back of the stage and slowly tilted toward the center of the arena and fanned out to cover a huge spinning mirror ball. The laser fractured into thousands of fragments that shot in every direction, occasionally catching you in the eye for just a split second. The visual and aural experience was incredible. You have to remember, this was 1977. The world was darker and blurrier back then.
So then I ran out and got On Your Feet or On Your Knees and everything else up to Mirrors when I sort of stopped, because the '80's.
How did it stack up to Jethro Tull? I couldn't choose a favorite. I dare say if I was more familiar with their music at the time of the concert I might have ranked BOC higher than Tull.
I saw BOC last week. It's not the '70's anymore, but they still rocked. Buck is still one of my favorite guitarists, not just because of his skill and talent but also his personality. My only disappointment was in the setlist. They focused almost entirely on Buck's songs. Eric sounded great on ME262 and The Red and the Black but he didn't really take the lead on much else. Maybe that's all he can muster. That's ok, I appreciate him sticking with it!
An eel is waiting under the train...
This was the first rock concert I ever went to. I had just turned 16 several weeks earlier, and my father let me drive our quite new 1977 Ford LTD two-door from our home in rural western Wisconsin into St. Paul for this event. I brought along two of my high school classmates. I had been developing a liking of BOC, which was quite unusual in my hometown.
I had an 8-track of Agents of Fortune, which I liked but only occasionally listened to. However, I really did like the then-recent release of Spectres, which convinced me to get tickets for this concert on the day after Christmas. It was cold and snowy, and driving 45 miles was anything but easy.
We had a great time as you can imagine, and smelled pot for the first time. I wasn't aware of issues with lasers or sound system; they sounded great to me. They played Godzilla in the first third of the setlist, and saved (Don't Fear) The Reaper for their encore, which brought the crowd to its feet.
I saw them at the same location again two years later in October 1979, when they toured for their recently-released Mirrors album, which I loved. Just as good, they played two hours by themselves. The Vigil sounded great and powerful then, and remains one of my favorite songs of theirs.
Andy Tanas definitely has this show on the 27th as a Black Oak/BOC gig, and this is confirmed by Ken Welch's Hall Report for the show.
Here's a link that also definitely gives this gig's date as Dec 27 1977:
I saw Blue Oyster Cult at the International Amphitheatre, Chicago, IL with the Black Oak Arkansas and Detective on 12/27/77.
I was at this gig in Chicago. I was going to college in Los Angeles and also saw the show at the Long Beach Arena a month or so earlier. I remember the Chicago gig very well... Black Oak played a great set. We had great seats just to the right of the stage.
BOC came on and an entire side of the PA system blew out. It never came back! So the Cult played with half their sound system all night - every now and then, the "bad side" of the PA would bark and crackle and threaten to work... ... and then fall silent. IT WAS HILARIOUS!
I saw BOC many times in the '70s and there always seemed to be something wrong with their equipment - amps blowing up, missed taped que's, and such... . but their shows always a great time!
Long live BOC!
This second show and the band line-up is confirmed by Ken Welch's Hall Report for the show.
This show was only my 2nd concert, and I do remember that it was a birthday present (12th row!).
Rocket was a fairly 2nd rate band, too loud, but did a decent cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Oh, Well". Edgar Winter had a horn section, did a few good blues songs and a great "Frankenstein" to close.
Blue Oyster Cult came out and the sound was instantly more powerful and focused.
The highlight for me was the Golden Age Of Leather, where Buck played a beautiful solo over the ending (choral part), then a long jammed out Last Days Of May with the lasers decorating the back wall of the Ampitheater.
Hot Rails To Hell featured a Joe Bouchard bass solo. I remember (Buck?) someone pretty much ripping the strings off of their guitar at the end of the 5 guitar jam, or maybe Born To Be Wild.
I don't know why they did Going Through The Motions, maybe they thought it would be their next hit?
I don't recall Rocket, but I will confirm Edgar Winter was there in support. Edgar winter did a monster (sorry) rendition of Frankenstein as his encore. He played one of those keyboards with a strap over his shoulder like a guitar. It had a mirrored back which he used to reflect the spot back out around the arena and hit a mirror ball above the main floor. We didn't know it was a hint of the light show to come.
Actually - I know you're having a problem deciding about if this gig was the 26th or 27th - well I've done some investigating and I can tell you that apparently there were two shows: Tuesday 27th and Wednesday 28th. But, I'm not sure which was which.
Edgar Winter was DEFINITELY the act on before BOC the night I was there - although I don't recall a band before them, but there's a better than even chance I missed them. We would often spend the time before the main acts out in the concourse getting high, checking out girls, waiting for others to arrive, etc.
Billboard had "Pockets" down as the opening act but this was clearly a typo and obviously should have read "Rockets". There was also a mention of this show on Michael Des Barres' site confirming that Detective were the support - however this is now offline.
This show was part of KBFH's "The British Biscuit" and some of these tracks later appeared on the expanded version of SEE (despite them being annotated as 30 Jan 78 on the cover)...
This gig was also filmed by Columbia for European TV (part of it was shown on the BBC's "Old Grey Whistle Test", as I recall)...
In "Morning Final 14", Bolle Gregmar revealed some interesting insights about this filming:
In the late '70s, The King Biscuit people expanded their horizon to include a special called "The British Biscuit". Despite the name, the show consisted of U.S. shows with U.S. performers. The 1978 "British Biscuit" show with an air date of 78-03-20 was in reality a recording from the 77-12-30 at Cobo Arena, Detroit, Michigan.
This show was also filmed by Columbia as a special promotional film for European TV. At the screening, the band members left the screening room, disgusted by the production - but Columbia, without the band's consent, sent the 20-minute special out for a world tour in Europe and Japan. When it arrived in Sweden, though, it was "lost"...
In reality it was stolen from the CBS offices and sold to me in a strange deal I had with the CBS official for southern Sweden. So, I hold the master 16 mm concert footage. Some of this I supplied for the movie "The Stoned Age" which I was mighty proud of!
None of us are getting any younger, and I think it's about time this footage saw the light of day once more...
There was a mention of this show on Michael Des Barres' site (desbarres.com) confirming that Detective were the support, however this is now offline.
Just a small bit of info... According to the Legacy Edition of "Some Enchanted Evening", the first bonus track, #8, is "ME 262", was recorded here in Rochester on 12.31.77.
Too bad I was only 6 at the time.
There was a mention of this show on Michael Des Barres' site (desbarres.com) confirming that Detective were the support, however this is now offline.