For everyone in the UK and Europe, 1978 was the year we finally got to see the BOC laser show. We'd read stories about them with envy for the past couple of years and wondered if we'd ever get to see them in action for ourselves. All I can say is: it was fantastic!
Once back in the US, BOC did a major set of tourdates supported by British Lions and UFO and ended the summer with a Day on the Green show which saw the return of Sam Judd to the BOC fold.
September also saw the release of the live "Some Enchanted Evening" LP, containing maybe the best ever version of "Astronomy" - although why this wasn't a double LP, I'll never know (though of course, the remastered re-issue has since somewhat rectified that particular mistake).
A massive thank you must go to BOC pyrotechnician, Ken Welch, who has kindly sent along a whole bunch of hall reports and gig itineraries - these have been instrumental in sorting out and confirming many of the gigs on this page.
Have you got anything to contribute to this page? Reviews (your own/local paper etc), missing support band/venue/gig info, ticket stub/handbill/poster scans etc etc - basically, anything that would be relevant to this page. If you do, please let me .
- Rescheduled gig from a postponed 28 October 1977 date...
It was the coolest show I've ever seen! Unbelievable. They had those glitter balls you'd see later in discos hung all over the place and they'd shoot a laser into one in the center which was spinning and the laser would ricochet to the other balls that were spinning and you felt like you were in a war zone. They seemed to be coming from all directions. They had rings with lasers, guns with lasers and those strobe light guns.
I was on the floor, 13th row. Municipal Aud Kansas City Missouri. First band was Millionaire At Midnight and then Black Oak Arkansas.
I can't recall which songs they used them in, but they definately did not detract from the show.
To this day I still say that it was the greatest rock concert I have ever seen.
Opening act was Millionaire At Midnight and followed by Black Oak. My first BOC show and the lasers were stunning. "Cities On Flame" had a lasting impression.
- Openers - The Rockets - cancelled and BOC played a longer set...
BOC played in Springfield, IL on January 7th. The opening act failed to show, and one of BOC's equipment trucks either failed to show or was robbed of their outfits, so they performed solo in jeans, new tennies, and BOC t-shirts, well over a 2-hour show.
This was the last time i saw the fabled laser show.
The band that was supposed to open the show was called "The Rockets". They did not show and a gentleman came out on stage and said, "the opening band, The Rockets couldn't make it tonight, so tonight you get to spend the entire evening with Blue Oyster Cult".
They opened the show with "Golden Age of Leather". Amazing sound that night and the full lazer show too. :-)
- Rescheduled gig from a postponed 27 October 1977 date...
This was a rescheduled date from 27 Oct 1977 (check out the stub above dated 27 Oct). I remember that they used a lot of red lasers in the show and then Eric yelled, "More lasers!" and a laser shot from out of a ring he was wearing. This was back in the days when they were still allowed to project lasers into the crowd. What a great show.
Here's a review of this gig from the 09 Jan 1978 edition of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Black Oak Performs
By John S. Cullinane
Blue Oyster Cult smelled up the place in a concert here last night. Fortunately or unfortunately - depending on whether your instincts as a health nut or a music lover won out the stench came from a fogging device used to shroud the musicians in pale smoke, with laser beam icing.
The Cult appeared at Kiel Auditorium along with J.D. Mangrum's new band, Black Oak. The Cult, as the main act, drew an audience of about 4,500 persons, a modest-sized crowd as rock concert crowds go but an embarrassingly large one for any self-respecting cult.
With performances like last night's, Blue Oyster Cult may lay claim to being one of the few heavy, heavy acts on the rock circuit today. For sheer creativity, the group easily outstrips Aerosmith, another East Coast band of the same mold. Even though the Cult's air of mystery is as cultivated as greenhouse tomatoes, no one seems tempted to snicker during the special effects and laster-mania.
Perhaps the key to the performance was the playing of Donald Roeser, a guitarist who never stops improving. Roeser had an emotionless expression on his face for most of the set, obviously because all the passion had gravitated to his fingertips. His playing was exceptionally crisp and melodic. And with some wizardry provided by a seasoned sound man, Roeser made the most of his vocals, too.
Much of the lead singing fell to Eric Bloom, the band's utility guitarist and keyboardist. He sounded best with harmonies floating about. As usual, he wore sunglasses, something he does more often than even Waylon Jennings.
Each song had a twist to it, even those approaching traditional American rock. On one called "Golden Age of Leather," they all sang like jaded choirboys before the thump of the drums took over.
Black Oak's music was more down to earth, although singer J.D. "Jim Dandy" Mangrum left his feet often. He even did the splits once and lived to sing about it. Actually, his singing was more like the sophisticated growl that made his old group, Black Oak Arkansas, so popular.
The new Black Oak is certainly an improvement over the old Black Oak Arkansas from the standpoint of musicianship. Only occasionally do the three lead guitarists step on each others toes. Mangrum himself has surrendered a tad of his former vocal exuberance for increased control. His voice sounded good nestled amongst backup harmonies, something that rarely happened in the old band.
Black Oak offered good new material and also made some thin material go a long way. Oldies like "Not Fade Away" and "Jim Dandy To The Rescue" captured the crowd's fancy the most.
This gig is down as an opening night at Nassau Coliseum on boc.com.
However, it's down as Providence Civic Center in Ken Welch's Hall report for this gig, and he backs this up with travel itineraries and details of accommodation and travel between Providence and NYC.
Further proof has since arrived in the form of a review of this gig kindly sent by Heiko Klages above, not to mention the fact the gig has appeared as a Lampinski download off Dime together with the stub and gig poster!!...
Thus, I think we can say with a reasonable degree of certainty that 12 January 1978 was Providence!!
Here's a preview for this gig which appeared in the 11 Jan 1978 edition of the Daily News:
'Cult' in Nassau
By Stan Mieses
"There was a time," recalled Blue Oyster Cult lead singer, Eric Bloom, the other day at his home in Great Neck, "when we'd be sitting around the house at about 6 in the evening, and our agent would call us and say, 'Listen, can you do a gig in Baltimore at 8.30?' Or I'd hear: "There's only room for a trio. Can three of you do it?"
All five members of the Cult will be doing it Friday at the Nassau Coliseum, and the following night in New Haven, where they end their current U.S. tour. But this time, the hard-rock quintet will be accompanied by a 25-man crew lugging three tractor-trailers full of equipment, including a 230-lamp light show (a Broadway show might use 100), and two Greyhound-sized buses for the crew, which includes not just musicians but two full-time pyrotechnicians and a federally licensed laserist, who operates four high-power laboratory lasers for the group's stage show.
These days, the term 'cult' can only refer to the group, because most of its dates are sellouts. While the group still may not be a household name, it certainly has been one of the steadiest rock bands in America. The B.O.C. began with controversy and critical acclaim six years ago, and now makes big AM hits and albums that "go gold." Its big backers now are fans, not critics.
As far as its record company is concerned, the 'Cult' is blue chip.
And here's the preview appearing on the day of the gig from Newsday:
The Cult Keeps Climbing
By Wayne Robins
"And now, ladies and gentlemen, direct from their engagement at Las Vegas' famed Aladdin Hotel, the Blue Oyster Cult!"
Shades of Shecky Greene! Not really. The Blue Oyster Cult, the best-selling (and perhaps best-sounding) hard rock band ever to come out of Long Island, plays in familiar surroundings tonight at Nassau Coliseum. The performance in Las Vegas really happened, however, during a segment of the band's most recent American tour.
In Vegas, the band filled the 8000-seat theater that's part of the Aladdin Hotel complex. "They put our name up on the marquee," keyboard player and guitarist Alan Lanier said with pride. "I got a kick driving down the Strip. At Caesar's Palace, it said 'Frank Sinatra.' A few blocks away, in letters almost as large, it said Blue Oyster Cult.'"
The Las Vegas show was different from most Blue Oyster Cult concerts in other respects as well. "There were a lot of kids running through the casino to get to the theater," Lanier said. "Everything in Las Vegas is designed to make you pass through a casino before you get to wherever you're going."
The message wasn't lost on Lanier. The band took two days off in Las Vegas and, like most visitors to that town, Lanier spent most of his time at the tables. He lost at blackjack but won most of his money back at the craps table, he said.
After five years, the career of the band that began in Stony Brook under the name Soft White Underbelly seems like less of a gamble that it ever was. The group had its most successful album last year with "Agents of Fortune," which also contained the Cult's first hit single, "(Don't Fear) The Reaper."
The recently released follow-up album, "Spectres," doesn't have quite the impact that "Agents of Fortune had. But it reinforces the band's diversity after years of being typecast as part of the nihilistic heavy-metal mainstream.
On the new album, the band down-plays the paramilitary image that made it somewhat controversial a few years ago. One reference to that era, a song called "Golden Age of Leather," opens with a capella harmonizing by the Newark Boys Chorus. The band's hard-edged attack remains intact on "RU Ready 2 Rock," which is perhaps the only rock anthem to deal explicitly with resurrection: "I only live to be born again," Eric Bloom sings. There is also a literary allusion to the group's former storm-trooper image with Lanier's "Searchin' for Celine"; an appreciation of the Japanese monster movie hero, "Godzilla"; and another possible hit single called "Goin' Through the Motions," which sounds like the Blue Oyster Cult imitating the Raspberries imitating the Monkees.
"We wanted to release 'Godzilla' as a single in Japan," Lanier said. "But we can't do that until a Japanese band records the song and releases it first." The band also had to pay to use the name since Toho Films Ltd., which has made more a dozen of the "Godzilla" movies in Japan, had sold recording rights to the name to Wonderland Records.
"Godzilla's a monstrous hero in Japan," Lanier said, seconds before becoming flushed with shame at his heavy-handed pun. "There's even a statue of him in Ginza Square. He's probably the prime archetype of their attitude towards nuclear technology."
What most interests Lanier about "Godzilla," however, is the monster's evolution from villain to hero. "In the first film, he was evil," Lanier said. Then he was the one who came to the rescue in all subsequent releases." Among them was something called "Godzilla Vs. the Smog Monster," which was virtually a public service movie condemning air pollution.
From the effect of "Godzilla" movies on Japanese culture, Lanier's thoughts turned to another part of the world. Ths band will be touring Europe beginning in May, but a long-held desire to play in what used to be called the Iron Curtain countries will remain unsatisfied.
"We've tried," Lanier said. "We tried the People's Republic of China. We sent a package of records and requests to tour. They sent back a very polite letter saying that the Blue Oyster Cult wasn't quite what they were ready for."
Lanier veered off into a favorite fantasy. "If the best few dozen rock and roll bands would tour China or Russia, it would have earth-shaking repercussions," he said. "It would really change things culturally, the way it did here. Imagine years of steady touring: the Rolling Stones, the Who, us, even Kiss, to initiate those countries into anarchic emotion - what a kick! I guess there's good reason for this prohibition. For their own purposes, they're absolutely right not to allow rock and roll into their countries. They think it's a threat. And it is."
There are still plenty of tickets for tonight's show, which begins at 8. Also appearing at the Coliseum is the rather witless hard rock band Rush.
Rush - "witless"...? Perhaps a tad harsh, Wayne...?
One of my favourite live shows was Blue Oyster Cult and Rush on Friday the 13th at Nassau Coliseum, January 78, during an ice storm, no less. It was one of the most enjoyable and memorable shows I had ever seen then or since, with hand-held lasers breaking into hundreds of beams when hitting mirror-balls, and flash boxes exploding when struck with a laser beam, things you just don't see anymore (hand-held lasers were outlawed soon after that show). Rather than identify a specific song or moment, let's just say the band was at their artistic peak in front of their hometown audience in a celebratory mood.
I got seperated from the gang as we were exiting and spend at least an hour walking around the circular parking lot in the pouring, (literally) freezing rain looking for everyone. When I finally found them, all of us soaking wet frozen, we boarded the car (which had no heat or rear windows) and tried to exit the parking lot, which was still jammed with concert-goers.
In our haste to exit the lot, we had the misfortune of sliding on the ice and side-swiping a van, knocking off its side door. Inside the van was a gang of angry men who became more angry as the driver of our car tried to speed away. About 6 of them piled out of the van and chased us on foot. It was not hard for them to catch up, considering the traffic and slippery surface. Reaching in through one of the malfunctioning rear windows, an angry guy unlocked the driver's door and ripped the driver from the car. I slid over from the front passenger seat and took the wheel.
By the time I got to the van, my friend was being pummelled by the angry pack. We stopped and they threw him out. We collected our friend and began the long drive home.
It took close to ten hours to get home, and that was after being nearly electrocuted due to downed power line as well as nearly arrested due to small riot at the Hempstead Jack in the Box (they ran out of food). In the company of seven of my closest friends, all aged about sixteen as I was, it was about as cool as cool could be - I had seen my two favorite bands on the same stage. The night And despite the ordeal that had befallen us that night, I have never enjoyed a concert as much since.
Another BOC ticket I never got to use. I should have known, 13th row, Friday the 13th, 13 inch snow storm = no BOC for 3 kids from Jersey...
I just (re)discovered your site and wanted to add my three cents about this gig that is so full of memories, seemingly not just for me...(and thanks for the opportunity to experience the reverie)...
I grew up on LI, but by the Autumn of '77 I had only recently heard of BOC. I started at a new school and met a bunch of new kids, many much more into rock and roll than those I left behind. Rock was still Classic and a lot of kids were feeding off what their older siblings were handing down. Sabbath, Floyd, and Zeppelin of course were huge. I didn't have any older sibs and not knowing any better, I fell for the Sex Pistols and BOC in the same year.
"...Reaper" got AoF into a lot of households, including mine. I was slowly making new friends. Talk was of BOC and Rush at the Coliseum. Some guys I was getting to know were going, and I was eager to join in. Before I knew it, there was something like 8 or 10 of us. I was so excited I got my dad to drive me to the box office and pick up tickets for everybody. This was going to be my first real rock show.
Of course, my dad did the driving on the night of the gig, too. He dropped us off in the circular lot as noted by Galluccio. Older teens were tailgating, drinking and smoking. Hawkers touted their bootleg T-shirts, keeping a certain distance from the doors. We had relative nose bleed seats at the back of the upper section, almost opposite the stage. What did we know? But, from our vantage we could observe all the cool older kids, even girls and the air was sweet with weed! THAT was very exciting.
Rush opened and though familiar with at least "Fly By Night" we weren't too impressed. I don't think a large portion of the crowd was either. Half of the house sound blew out at some point during their set and there was distinct laughter among the boos. This was a BOC hometown crowd. (Of course, subsequently Rush became probably ten times bigger than BOC ever were and continue at pace to this day. And my wife is a huge acolyte. So there ya' go.)
I don't remember the BOC set-list since I only knew the one record (this was the Spectres tour), but nonetheless a major switch went off in my head. Hearing tunes from the first three records, in all their twisted riffiliciousness and harmonically weird glory, I "saw" the dark light. To this day I have no doubt it was "Harvester of Eyes" more than anything else that sent me down the wayward path that I willingly wander as both a listener and musician.
After the show, all us little guys (I remain a Buck-ish 5'4". Actually, the last time I saw Bloom as he judged a battle of the bands for Little Steven's Underground Garage, at a cheesy bar by my sister's house out on the Island, which featured a set by Adny Shernoff [Dictators] and Keith Streng's [Fleshtones] really good defunct band I can't remember the name of - he could've been shorter than me!)...sorry!...
Anyway, all us little guys teetered dazed and confused out into the literal darkness of a Friday the 13th laid black by the storied Ice Storm of '78
I found this link:
It took us a good hour sloshing thru the sleet to find my dad in our big ol' Olds Vista Cruiser station wagon. He gingerly drove through downed trees and cables dropping off each of my buddies safe and sound to worried parents.
Back home with no power for days, our place stunk of the food rotting in the fridge. But, I could never shake the stink of that first BOC show and the rot it fomented in my brain. I was a month shy of 14.
Raised in a quietly fierce atheist home, I was never going to have a bar-mitzvah. But that enchanted evening, in that particularly strange Jimmy Carter time-scape, I guess I became a little bit more of a man. Or at least a consumer. As soon as I possibly could (waiting out the damage of storm) I had my little local record emporium order me up the unholy triumvirate of initial post-SWU vinyl.
I turned on other kids for years to come, dutifully sent my fifty cents and SASE for dot matrix lyric print outs and rued my Boomer cusp birth date which relegated my experience to a post radio hit Cult. The self titled debut, Tyranny and Mutation, and Secret Treaties remain staples to this day.
PS Certainly, this was eons before the advent of cell phone and anti-lock brakes. If my 13 year old daughter (a budding Nirvana and Misfits fan - via her pals, I don't proselytize!) was involved in such an escapade, I'd shit! But of course I'd be the nice daddy driving the kids home.
My 1st concert, and I still have the ticket stub! The weather was crazy. 4 of us piled in my buddies sisters VW. Got 2 flats in the Bronx on the way home.
Ah yes, the infamous Friday the 13th ice storm. My friend Warren and I went to this concert. Being carless teenagers living in New York City we had to take the bus to the NYC suburbs where the Nassau Coliseum was.
When the concert ended, no buses were appearing at the bus stop! Assuming these buses were canceled, we schlepped it to some other bus stop that was supposed to go to a train station to wait for a train that didn't stop close to where we lived, but was closer than the Coliseum.
During this time a police cruiser came by shining their spot light by the side view mirror on these two drenched shivering kids back in corner out of the freezing rain to make sure no undesirables were in their squeaky clean town.
When we asked them instead on bus schedules they realized we could actually use some help and as typical of cops of that time they quickly hightailed it out of there. Eventually some bus no where listed on the schedule arrived and we made it home.
I was looking forward to this show as I had not seen BOC in two years, and the show was on my birthday! A "coming of age" show for me in a way. I always tried to get floor seats to an area concert, but this show, my seats were in the "100" section, to the left of the stage, maybe the second row. Close seats for an arena.
Other commenters had written about the ice storm. Frankly, I don't remember that at all. I was living at the time just down the road from the Nassau Coliseum, maybe 5 miles away, so there was no issue getting there.
My memory of Rush were they were loud and outrageous. They had these pyrotechnics - best I can call them are heat flashes - that exploded down the front of the stage. I could feel the heat from them on my face! If you want to see an example of these pyrotechnics, watch the movie "Rock Star." The fictitious band Steel Dragon does their first concert with the new lead singer, and explodes these flashes at the end of the song "Blood Pollution."
In my memory, the Rush pyrotechnics were similar, only larger!
My memory of BOC were the lasers. Not that they had them, but how they were used. I have never seen anything so cool as this evening.
Eric Bloom had a handheld laser attached to the inside of his wrist. During a song - I believe it was "Then Came the Last Days of May" but it could have been "Astronomy," - Bloom nonchalantly tilted his hand back exposing the laser which emitted a beam towards the ceiling of the arena. Think of how Spider-Man shoots a web from his wrist - he did it the same way.
Now, the laser would have been cool enough, but this was BOC during their peak, and a mere laser coming off a lead singer's wrist like Spider-Man was just not enough. To explain, you need to understand the Nassau Coliseum. Back then, the entire ceiling of the Nassau Coliseum had exposed girders that held catwalks, lighting, and the scoreboard. This was one reason why the arena was not known for its acoustics.
BOC rigged pyrotechnics across the girders. When Bloom was singing, he tilted his hand back and a laser beam hit one of these girders, and at the same time an explosion and heat flash came from the ceiling! It seems like the laser was causing the explosion. It was the timing and the spontaneity, and the fact that no one expected anything like it made for without a doubt, one of the coolest effects I have ever seen during a live show.
I found a video on Ken Welch's YouTube channel from a 1978 airing of the TV show "30 Minutes" about BOC. At 54 seconds into the video, you will see the wrist mounted laser I described that Eric Bloom used.
- BOC on 30 Minutes 24 Aug 1978 || Ken Welch
This is the only time I saw BOC... honestly, I went for Rush... my 3rd concert ever...
My memories of this particular show are slightly hazy (I wonder why ?) but I do seem to recall them playing one or two unfamiliar tunes ( Arthur Comics ? )
But I do know they blew Rush clean off the stage...
What was happening in February? If you know, please let me ...
We were most likely on a break. At the time we toured 3 to 3 and a half months and took one month off.
Then started all over again...
One thing that did happen during Feb 1978 was that Allen got packed off to Europe to do a bunch of interviews - here's a mention that appeared in the 02 March 1978 edition of the Edmonton Journal:
From P.B., in St. Louis: What's Blue Oyster Cult doing? Allen Lanier returned from a European promotional trip, where he did five days of interviews in advance of Blue Oyster Cult's May European tour. "That was harder than touring," said Lanier, back in New York.
Until I got sent the above handbill, the only indication I had that this show occurred is that it appeared on one of Ken Welch's tour itineraries...
Wed March 1st Agricultural Hall, Allentown Pa is the venue. The Rockets and a band called Dakota were the opening acts, unfortunately thats all i remember...
After thinking some more about this show, I am now pretty sure it was only Dakota as the opener...
I think you must be thinking of the 1980 show, which had the Rockets in support at this venue.
I have since received the (above) flyer (courtesy of Jim Allford and Sam You), which says the original support was to be Judas Priest, but was later replaced by Horslips.
Here's a piece on this gig from the Saturday, March 04, 1978 edition of "The Morning Call":
Blue Oyster Cult
By Stephen J. Boudreau and Michael Hendrick
Of The Morning Call
Blue Oyster Cult, far from letting success success cramp its style, has expanded its horizons as it gets ready to record its second live album.
In a recent interview, Eric Bloom, lead singer and second guitarist, noted "It will be all live with about half of the songs being new material. We have seven new... songs. We'll do one or two a night... to try working new songs into the set, so the stuff will be better for the record."
Allen Lanier, rhythm guitarist and keyboardist, commented, "We're going to put some songs on it... that are really integral to our roots as a band. Old songs we used to play in the bars and things like that. We're going to try and put it out by summer."
The LP will be taped entirely on their current tour, which started Wednesday in Allentown and will cover the east coast and parts of the midwest and Canada. Recording is planned for Boston and the Fox Theater in Atlanta.
Placing new emphasis on the group's stage presence and performance is an innovative electrical system which features features a laser light show and quadrophonic sound.
"When the laser are really working properly... We're great at least eight out of 10 shows," Bloom stated.
About the lasers, Lanier added, "It's an idea we had a long time before we got it. We had been looking around for lasers for a long time ... But for a peculiar thing in lasers that was much more sophisticated than everyone else had."
The band's laser system, costing about $200,000, is reportedly capable of unique effects, such as surrounding the stage in a spider web of light and of encasing each band member in a cone of light.
Bloom mentioned the importance of each member writing songs: "It's different. An individual writes the whole song. It's his trip. If the rest of us can buy his trip and the song is good, it goes."
"I think it works," are Lanier's sentiments, sentiments, although he added, "You can't have every album exactly 10 songs two cuts per person."
"I think we reach people by going through a broad spectrum of states of mind on the records... and attitudes. Not deliberately, it's just because we all write and all have different points of view to get in," he continued.
"With us, it's five different individuals. Each guy is on a different trip. Laying each other's trips on everybody else makes the band evolve because we all have to work up our own parts," Bloom said.
Before the interview, the group played to an enthusiastic crowd at Agricultural Hall for about an hour and a half.
The compositions, including rockers "Hot Rails to Hell" and "Cities on Flame," were played with white-hot intensity and thunderous decibel level not heard previously, primarily due to the poor acoustics in the hall.
In between drum and bass solos, which tended to diminish the band's energy level, the Cult epitomized the art of playing powerhouse rock music with booming, driving rhythms puncuated with searing, screaming guitar work.
Clean and tight throughout the performance, the band closed with a crowd favorite, Steppenwolf's "Born to be Wild," complete with Roeser and Bloom's well-known "battle of the axes," where guitars are furiously rubbed against each other in piercing shreiks of feedback.
For an encore, they did "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place," first popularized by The Animals, and their own song, "(Don't Fear) The Reaper," which elicited the night's best response from the audience.
I was at this show. Tickets were $7.50! Set list was similar to the Baltimore gig listed the next night but I can't confirm that. I was waiting for ME262 but honestly don't think they did it.
I also don't remember "Angel" as the opener, but I suppose it's possible. BOC had the whole laser thing going.
I was at this show and Walter Egan ("Magnet and Steel") also opened with Angel. It was Angel's White Hot tour.
My buddy bought that album and when we were getting baked I noticed the way they designed the name" Angel" it would read the same if you turned it upside down!
My first concert. BOC Spectres tour, March 2, 1978. Binghamton, NY.
Angel opened. As for Walter Egan also being on the bill - I don't remember him and neither do the other guys I went to the show with.
So... we either forgot or Walter Egan sucked so hard we erased him from our memories.
Turns out there no "Walter Egan" on this gig - Paul V sent me a copy of the review from the 03 Mar 1978 edition of the "Press and Sun-Bulletin":
Fans of Blue Oyster Loved Late-Start Show
By Mark Silverman
If you didn't mind wading through a sea of teeny-boppers at the Arena last night to see Blue Oyster Cult and Angel, then you probably didn't mind the hard-driving rock and excessive amplification that characterized both groups, either.
Casablanca recording artists Angel opened the show at 8:30, a half hour behind schedule and ended their seven-number set only 35 minutes later. The crowd didn't ask for an encore, but the group provided one anyway.
The three-chord rock of the five-member group, accompanied by some feedback problems and muddled sound, lacked any demonstration of musical refinement, but that was to be expected.
Lead vocalist Frank Dimino did everything but waltz with the microphone, and Edwin Lionel (Punky). Meadows pranced across the stage with his guitar, providing some flashy picking during brief solos. Angel fans appreciated the performance, but it was nothing to get excited about
Most of the songs were from the group's new and fourth album, "White Hot," which they are promoting on the current tour.
Radio advertising for the concert heralded the group as "Circus" magazine reader's choice as best new group of the year; that's hard to believe.
The 70-minute intermission that followed was intolerable. The crowd began to show its impatience early, but the headliner Blue Oyster Cult finally appeared at 10:15 amid an orchestrated tape and flashpots for a 15-number set that lasted nearly two hours.
BOC's special effects were almost as entertaining as the group itself, utilizing red and green lasers, glitter balls, strobe lights and smoke to fascinate the audience, which didn't prove too difficult a task.
With "Spectres" being their sixth Columbia album, the group had a lot of material to cover. Happily, they didn't rely entirely on material from the new album, but threw in older music as well.
Drummer Albert Bouchard kept up a steady beat throughout, but at times it seemed the group was playing around him rather than with him. Donald (Buck Dharma) Roeser, the lead guitarist, showed his proficiency with a hot guitar that never stopped.
Keyboardist Allen Lanier, bassist Joe Bouchard and lead vocalist Eric Bloom all displayed their particular talents during brief solos within various selections. Bloom's guitar playing didn't detract from his clear but sometimes strained vocals.
Highlights of the show were cuts from their fifth album, "Agents of Fortune," including the title cut, "Summer of Love," and encored with their hit from last year, "Don't Fear the Reaper."
"Godzilla," a hard-rocker from the new album, has just been released by Columbia as a single and is the only cut from "Spectres" receiving radio play. A 15-minute laser light show was inserted midway through the "Godzilla" rendition, and was a genuine crowd-pleaser.
The light show was well synchronized with the music, and Bouchard accompanied the flashing lasers on what sounded very much like the synthesized drums of Carl Palmer, Emerson, Lake and Palmer's percussionist. There was even a short synthesizer theme from "Close Encounters" to coincide with the light show.
The group's vocals blended well on some softer cuts to give them a tell-tale sound that is easily recognized on their albums. BOC's music and lyrics were much less muddled than that of Angel, even though BOC played much louder and through the same amplifiers. The solved the feedback problems experienced by Angel.
Later in the show, all five members of the group picked up a guitar of some sort and pounded out a number that made the whole Arena hum and shake. Each performer had a chance to show his particular talents on the guitar with a solo, and they played surprisingly well together.
The all-guitar number was followed by their own version of "Born to Be Wild," Steppenwolf's "golden oldie" from the late 1960s. BOC followed that with a song never before played in concert called "Make Your Way Lucky."
Although firecrackers and frisbees were annoyingly distracting, BOC put on a decent snow, well worth the admission price.
The group is appearing in Syracuse with Be-Bop Deluxe later this month.
Eh?
BOC followed that with a song never before played in concert called "Make Your Way Lucky."
WTF? The mind is boggling with that one. A song that followed "Born to Be Wild" (the last song) would have to be the first song of the encore - yet he's already said BOC "encored with their hit from last year, Don't Fear the Reaper."
At this time, BOC were sometimes playing "Kick Out The Jams" and "We Gotta Get out of This Place" as encores with Reaper, but I don't see how either would make a listener unfamiliar with these rather well-known classics think that their titles could possibly be "Make Your Way Lucky."
Anyone got a clue...?
Horslips had all of their gear stolen in Baltimore the day of the show. That left the J. Giels band left as opener for BOC. They did a full set and BOC just made the show. They had to come down from NY on the train. Heavy snow.
Another great night of lasers and Quad.
What a great Concert despite the SNOW!
J Geils did a great show warming up the crowd. Peter Wolf was all over the stage.
The Sound in this arena always sucked for most Bands as the lack of sufficient electricity to drive powerful PA systems in this terrible venue was legendary. I was concerned about the Lasers drawing too much power from the Sound System, but as always the Sound Team for BOC did a great job. What stood out most from this concert were the lasers bouncing off the walls to Albert's drum solo. The crowd was mesmerized. Despite the horrible weather and BOC just making it, they rocked the house.
Still remember the stage a blaze with all of them jamming on Guitar before they played Born to be Wild.
J. Geils opened. A third band was suppose to open for J Geils (Horse lips) But had their equipment truck towed away because they parked in a area designated as a snow emergency route.
So the MC came out and told us this and that both J Geils and BOC agreed to extend their shows 20 minutes each. Hands down the best laser show ever. It was before it was found out that the lasers actually burned your retina some and were band from being shown into your eyes anymore. BOC used 4 medium mirror balls, one towards each corner. A 5th one, was a giant one (5 feet across) in the center of the room right under the score board. Then a 6th one was small like in your bedroom size hanging about 8 feet above and a little in front of Eric Blooms head.
BOC blew massive amounts of smoke onto the stage that slowly rolled down into the audience. They also had 2 red light runners on the floor right down each side of the middle floor isle marking where the seat rows were. After a bit into one of Bucks solo's the smoke was head high to the audience and halfway to the back of the floor seats, all glowing red.
They used all colors of lasers: red, blue, green, yellow, orange. Each color shooting at each mirror ball from different directions, and the mirror balls were spinning. This broke the beams into chunks that were real close together and flying all over the place in all directions. So you had 6 mirror balls with 5 colors of lasers on each mirror ball. It was being in the middle of a Star Wars battle.
You would get hit with one and seemed like you should feel it but didn't. People were grabbing the place they landed like they could catch them. Also Eric Bloom had a laser in his sleeve that shot wherever he pointed too. Just like on the Spectres Album cover.
When they played Last Days of May they really stretched it out with Buck doing a 5 or 6 minute solo.
He also used a chrome guitar that they shot lasers at using the strings vibrations to break up the laser light into chunks and they danced all around as Buck moved around.
When they did Godzilla Albert (drummer) wore a giant Godzilla head while he played. He also did a drum solo then and they fired off a mess of strobe lights.
When they played Born to be Wild Eric rode out onto the stage on a Harley that was almost all chrome and danced his way up to the mic.
Also between songs someone threw a M80 out into the air. Eric Bloom said: "NO, No, No don't throw fireworks, in fact if you see someone about to throw one do us a favor and punch him out".
Then they started playing and no more were thrown.
Here's the story behind what happened to Horslips at this gig from the Fri, 10 Mar 1978 edition of the The Baltimore Sun:
How to silence a rock band (hide their truck)
By Tom Dasham
Maybe it was the leprechauns.
Horslips, the exciting Irish rock band with the disgusting name, came to town last Friday to open a show at the Civic Center, but never played a note. Here is what happened.
Thursday night, Horslips played a concert in Cortland, New York. At its conclusion, the three-member road crew loaded the instruments, amplifiers and other gear into the group's 22-foot Ryder leased Ford truck and headed south into the night.
About midnight, the roadies encountered trouble with the truck, requiring a few hours and several calls to Ryder to straighten out. About 5 in the morning, they hit the storm that was to deposit half a foot of snow on Baltimore.
The truck arrived in town at 1 P.M. Since Horslips was opening the show for Geils and Blue Oyster Cult, their equipment would be the last to go onstage. The exhausted roadies parked the truck outside the Civic Center, locked it and checked into the Holiday Inn across the street for a few hours of sleep. With their fatigue and the snow, they probably did not notice the "No Standing Anytime" signs.
Blue Oyster Cult's equipment had arrived three hours late and the pre-show preparations were way behind schedule when, at 5.15, the Horslips road crew got a call to come set up.
When roadie Paul Verner arrived at the Civic Center at 5.20, the truck was gone! He immediately suspected that the police had towed it.
Bob DeJessa, who drives the truck and had the keys in his pocket, found a phone and began calling city impound lots. No luck.
The concert's schedule called for Horslips to start playing at 7. When the band's equipment was still missing at 6, the promoter conferred with Horslips' road manager, Alan Mackenzie. They decided that, since set-up would take an hour, there would be no Irish rock played that night.
To make matters worse, the band had been told that their appearance in Ocean City, scheduled for the next night, was canceled due to power problems at the club. Ob, Baltimore, man it's hard just to live.
Then, at 6.20, Paul Verner stuck his head out the stage door and, incredibly, the truck was back! And it was parked in exactly the same place it had been at 1 P.M.
Bob DeJassa looked it over. The cab was locked with no signs of forced entry. The rear door padlock was intact. Inside, all the gear was in place. In the cab, nothing had been taken. Even Bob DeJassa's camera was still in the glove compartment.
Puzzled but relieved, the roadies climbed in and began to back the truck into the Civic Center so they could set up the equipment. But the promoter's production manager stopped them. It was 20 minutes to curtain: There was no time.
As it happened, problems with the sound system caused a 45-minute delay in starting. The Civic Center's 11 P.M. curfew, however, ruled out any chance of extending the concert.
The audience of more than 10,000 took the announcement of Horslips' cancellation mildly. Most in the crowd were there to see Geils or Blue Oyster Cult anyway.
Horslips' entourage was in a darker mood. The mysterious disappearance and Rock City reappearance of their equipment was suspicious. A few people were muttering about "getting even."
But with whom? No one knew who took the truck. Evidently, it was not the police, since it had been returned to the same "No Standing" zone whence it vanished. Nothing was stolen, so that ruled out larceny as a motive and thieves as the culprits.
The promoter, American Promotions, appeared to have something to gain because the removal of one band from the late-starting show would avoid problems with the 11 P.M. curfew. Spokesman Mark Corwin rejected this suggestion. He said there was no money penalty for missing the curfew. "We wanted Horslips on the show," he said.
What about Blue Oyster Cult? Their equipment had been late arriving, causing the set-up to fall behind schedule. Maybe they decided to simplify things by making it impossible for Horslips to go on.
One problem with that theory was that, as headliners, they had "complete control of the show," according to Mr. Corwin. They did not need to resort to intrigue to remove Horslips from the bill. Their say-so would have been enough. And not expensive either, since Horslips' fee for the evening, according to their manager, was $500.
Maybe it was Horslips' own road crew. According to this theory, to which I subscribed for a while, the roadies somehow messed up by oversleeping or going somewhere in the truck and concocted the disppearance story to save their necks.
Whatever happened, the band suddenly found itself adrift in Baltimore with time on its hands. Bass player-singer Barry Devlin and drummer Eamon Carr settled down backstage for an interview with WIYY jock Ty Ford. Despite the dismal turn of events, the two seemed in high spirits.
"Our original plan was world domination by 1977," Mr. Devlin said. "That seems to have failed."
Sunday Horslips headed off for a Monday gig in Cleveland. Before they left,' they said they would return to Baltimore soon.
And what about the truck? About 3 A.M. Saturday, road manager Mackenzie got a phone call from Peter Wolf of the Geils band. It seems that a Geils roadie had gone out to gas up his band's 22-foot Ryder Ford equipment truck and got into the Horslips truck instead. This makes sense if you can accept that the same key fits both trucks.
Like I said, maybe it was the leprechauns.
I attended the show with Sanford Townsend, Crack the SKY and BOC. Sandford townsend got half way through "Smoke from a distant Fire" before they were boo'd off stage.
The rest of the show was great!
Here's a review of this gig from the 06 Mar 1978 edition of the Courier-Post (Camden, New Jersey):
Fans brave cold to see Blue Oyster Cult
By Tom McClintock - Special to the Courier-Post
PHILADELPHIA - Over 17,000 fans braved bitter cold temperatures and blustery winds Saturday night to watch Blue Oyster Cult head up a rock triple-header at the Spectrum. Visually they got what they paid for the Cult's famous, often spectacular laser light show. But the musical excitement was provided mostly by the second-billed group, the Sanford & Townsend Band.
Taking a solid, R&B-based sound born in their native Alabama, Ed Sanford, keyboardist, and vocalist John Townsend migrated to LA., in hopes of finding musical success. However, songwriting acclaim arrived first, when they won first place in the 1974 American Song Festival, professional rock division.
But, judging from the response Saturday, musical success and acceptance is close-coming. "Paradise," their opening number, is a catchy, steady rocking piece utilizing an expansive, powerful vocal melody line and a heavy, punchy rhythm backbone. Like many of the band's best tunes, it also calls on a wailing saxophone to add some guts to the up-front, rich mellowness of Townsend's voice.
THE COMBINATION of the powerful tenor voice and the solid, sax-keyboard R&B foundation has made the Sanford/Townsend Band a popular group in the area since their two other appearances late last summer. What is also pleasing about . this sextet is that, so far, they have tnanaged to balance their fine feel for creative, intelligent music with an equally adept commercial style.
Tunes like "Paradise" and "Livin's Easy," both on the band's second album, "Duo Glide," are very polished songs, showing both Townsend's distinctive voice and the bhiesjazz-influenced organ play of Sanford. However, it might be wise to point out that songs, along with last year's minor hits, "Shake It" and their first album's title cut "Smoke From A Distant Fire" are all up-tempo numbers that go over well during live performances because of their heavy beat and soaring vocal parts. But the band's slowed-down, prolonged number Saturday definitely dragged to a stop. They have yet to prove that they can drop the tempo and still score. This one-dimension-alism still seems to be holding the Sanford & Townsend Band back from mass appeal.
BLUE OYSTER CULT, on the other hand, has picked up a solid following since the release of its first album in 1972. The only question here is: Why?
The Cult showed almost nothing musically Saturday night. They do manage to parlay a standard three-guitar, keyboard and drum format into some semblance of driving hard rock, but save for an isolated gem, "(Don't Fear) The Reaper," released in 1976, the overall effect is not much more than loud, if busy, power-rock.
They displayed all the usual hard rock hooks, the searing guitar leads throbbing bass and pounding drum background, but little else. Eric Bloom's vocals are mediocre at best, and the wit and rock-satire lyrics that marked the earlier albums got lost In the thunderous "quad" sound system.
AS FAR AS the audience was concerned, the music obviously was secondary to the light show, since that was what turned them on the most.
The laser lights, in brilliant green, red, and yellow, relatively were fascinating as they reflected off spinning globes suspended from the Spectrum roof. There were blinding strobe-light flashes and laser designs cast upon the audience fans who were seated opposite the stage, but without any really adequate music to counter-balance the bisual effects, the lights even seemed to dim in attraction.
Opening the three-part bill was Crack The Sky, a new hard rock band that demonstrated some good, resounding guitar play, but a lack of any really superlative material. The band, through appearances elsewhere in the area, has just started to catch on, although this particular performance probably did little to enhance their reputation.
My original OCR dump of this article had the reviewer's name as Tom McCuntock, and I fixed it. After reading that load of old bollocks, maybe I should have left it as it was...
Mar-5-78 -- Fairgrounds Coliseum Columbus Ohio. Opening Act: the Godz.
The set list was very similar/identical to the lansing show or the show on the 3rd - I clearly remember RU Ready 2 Rock, ETI, Harvester of Eyes, ME262, Cities on Flame, Last days of May, Godzilla, 5 guitars, Summer of Love, Hot rails to hell (but that could have been an encore, so maybe it was like the Buffalo show but without Golden Age), Born to be wild, Dont fear the reaper ---- could they have played Astronomy instead of Golden Age ?
I know they didnt play Golden Age of Leather, but cant remember if they played kick out the jams or we got to get out of this place. I'm certain of the other songs.
The lasers were working well that night (hand held laser during ETI, lasers shooting off of 2 largedisco balls. Lots of pyro during Born to be Wild -- Godzilla mask on Albert during the drum solo.
I also recall Eric holding a machine gun with a strobe light during ME 262, which on later tours gave way to him holding his BOC symbol guitar like a gun. Last days of May was a highlight.
This was a general admission concert that was close to a death scene. It was cold outside and the assholes didn't open all the doors on time and finally when people started smashing the windows they just started pulling people in through the doors and didn't worry about tickets....I still have mine entire ticket stub...well not a stub I guess it is a whole ticket. The Godz opened up....a local band who I had seen many times and really got the crowd worked up.. I love BOC and this concert was ORGASMIC!
This show had the laser lights that were shot onto a disco ball that exploded through the hall... that was before they figured out the lasers could screw up peoples vision!
Here's a gig review from the March 8, 1978, issue of the Ohio State Lantern:
Blue Oyster beams; Godz silly as ever
By John Petric
The Blue Oyster Cult rock 'n' rolled and laser beamed their way to several standing ovations Sunday night at the Ohio State Fairgrounds Coliseum. The concert was sold-out a week prior and was attended by 12,000 youthful, enthusiastic, partying fans.
Opening for the Cult were Columbus' favorite sons,the Godz. Signed with Millenium Records and pushing their debut album, "The Godz," the four Columbus lads, Eric Moore, bass and vocals, Mark Chatfield, guitar and vocals. Bob Hill, guitar, and Glen Cataline, drums, are trying hard as hell to break big nationally. Good luck, fellas, you'll need it.
Led by Moore, who does most of the singing and wears his Fender bass as low as his right arm will reach, the bare-chested Godz played the simplest boogie imaginable. Moore, who is known for being a real tiger of a performer, was as harmless as a kitten. Often he played as if in a stupor or a daze. Or maybe it was pure musical concentration?
Starting with "Go Away" the Godz rumbled into "Baby, I Love You." Next was their tribute to the American pharmaceutical industry - sopors specifically, stupid pills, actually - "714." At one point, Moore was spinning around in circles to the din he was creating, closely resembling one of the dancing bears of the Moscow Circus. No fire, this one, but plenty of hair.
After fifty minutes of uninspiring noise, patronizing drug comments, and plain silly behavior, the Godz left the stage. The screaming crowd brought them back for an encore. The Godz reappeared wearing only bikini underwear and platform boots. While the band played their version of Golden Earring's "Candy's Gone Bad," the only good song they did, guitarist Chatfield put down his instrument, donned a stupid look of madness and, with a leather strap, whipped the daylights out of Moore's outstretched bass guitar. Moore took it off and joined in the fun. Thus endeth the show.
Oh, I get it! This is rock 'n' roll and sado-masochistic idiocy is art nouveau.
What it is really is an example of Moore and his Godz low-level manipulation of rock 'n' roll that mightgetthem somewhere. Poor Columbus - do you really need to be put on the musical map of America by a band that treats its instruments so - so - so savagely? You don't even have snow plows. Such genius. Such originality. Such tough guys. I pity their poor girlfriends.
After a long intermission the Blue Oyster Cult came on amid huge fiery explosions on either side of the stage. The five-man Cult, Eric Bloom, vocals and guitar, Joe Bouchard, bass and vocals, Donald (Buck Dharma) Roeser, lead guitar and vocals, Albert Bouchard, drums and vocals, and Allen Lanier, keyboards and guitar, launched into "R.U. Ready 2 Rock." They played hard, tight and well. There was melody in the vocals.
During the next song, "E.T.I." Bloom wielded a hand-held laser, similar in effect to what Darth Vader and Obi Wan Kenobi used in their battle-to-the-death in "Star Wars." An old song followed, reminding people the Cult has been together for nearly eight years. Crowd-pleaser "Cities on Flame With Rock 'n' Roll," sung by drummer Bouchard, ended in funky lead guitar. A moody "Then Came the Last Days of May" followed lead guitarist Roeser wrote it about a true story of three New York City boys who drove to Arizona for a dope deal but were robbed and killed in the desert.
By the eighth number the Cult was ready to pull out all the stops. A fifteen-minute drum solo accompanied by incredible computerized laser displays of red and green beams thrilled the audience. An Oberheim synthesizer in the P.A. picked up the drums' sounds and changed them into weird but neat electronic sounds. The scores of lights directly above the band provided lush and beautiful hues and tone colors. It was all very well done.
In the 23-29 March 1978 issue of "Scene Entertainment Weekly", they published an interview with Eric Bloom obtained during this Columbus gig:
Blue Oyster Cult: Godzilla, Losers and Rock'n'roll by Mark Kmetzko
In Columbus, they have a strange way of showing their appreciation: they throw fireworks at you. At least that's what was happening to The Godz as they finished their S&M-overtoned encore in all their jockstrapped glory.
Backstage, away from the din and the fireworks, things were much quieter. While the remaining four members of Blue Oyster Cult happily jammed away at a blues tune in their dressing room, vocalist / guitarist Eric Bloom stood in the adjacent hallway looking concerned... maybe "pissed" is a more appropriate term. He had just been informed that The Godz' opening comment to the audience regarded their not needing special effects "like some bands do" to get the audience off.
You'd better be careful, they're throwing fireworks out there," someone warned Bloom. "If they try that with us, the show'd stop," was his dry answer.
No, Eric Bloom is not a party pooper. He is, however, dead serious about this rock 'n' roll business. A member of Blue Oyster Cult since Christmas, 1968, the man with the mirrored glasses and ever-present black outfit doesn't kid around when it comes to the future of his band. This was clear when he and I conducted a very business-like interview in his hotel room a few hours before the March 5 Columbus concert.
Further proof of Bloom's (and BOC's) earnestness about their career can be seen in the way they operate. Whether it's on tour ("We have a two-man, licensed pyrotechnics crew; a full-time, licensed laserist; 27 roadies, and three 40-foot tractor-trailers of equipment") or in the studio ("We took a very long time to make SPECTRES - all of last May, half of June, all of July and all of August."), Blue Oyster Cult does things right. But as Bloom will tell you, doing things right didn't get the band much of anywhere until 1976's AGENTS OF FORTUNE and its hit single, "(Don't Fear) The Reaper." After a decade of good songs, hot guitar playing and (for the last few years, at least) a spectacular live show - complete with laser effects - BOC had done it: they'd gone, as Bloom likes to put it, "over the top."
He may not admit it, but I'd be willing to bet that a good deal of SPECTRES' three-and-a-half-month gestation period was to insure another taste of mass success. It hasn t happened yet, (the album had, however, sold a respectable 600,000 copies at the time of our interview), but Bloom sees reason to be optimistic.
"'Godzilla' was just released as the second single (following a failure with "Goin' Through The Motions" - Ed.)," he said, "and it's starting to get a few sniffs here and there. There's a major campaign on 'Godzilla' on the part of the company, and we're putting $6000 ourselves into it as a private promotion. I think it has very good chances."
To some BOC fans, it may seem strange for a member of this historically "FM" band to be talking about the desirability of a hit single. Bloom answered that when he spoke about "The Reaper" 's success:
"We always thought 'The Reaper' would do something, but we never thought it would be Top 10 or voted No. 1 single of the year by several readers' polls. "With SPECTRES, we were hoping to produce songs that could be AM possibilities - that was in mind - 'cause it ["The Reaper"] certainly put the writing on the wall in that we need AM exposure to go over the top and to be able to give the kind of show we would like to."
But old guard BOC fans need not worry that their heroes have gone "commercial." Though catchy, "Godzilla" is hardly your average AM ditty, and there are sufficient heavies on the album to keep the band's veteran followers happy. Take, for example, "The Golden Age of Leather," which even Bloom had to call "quintessential heavy metal."
"The lyric is about the last motorcycle gang fight," he continued. "It takes place out in the desert in the future, when bikers feel themselves to be anachronisms. They just decide that there's no more fun in doing this anymore, so all the bikers - all that are left - get together and have one big gang fight in which no one will survive.
"The song starts out with the big party - all the balling and drinking - and after the gang fight there's nothing left except the gleam of a handlebar. After the fight, there's a sandstorm, and the only thing left is one piece of metal sticking out through the sand."
However, SPECTRES does contain an "AM" tune or two ("Goin' Through The Motions" is about as pop as you can get) to counterbalance the heaviness of things like "Golden Age of Leather." But via the presence of the pretty "I Love The Night" and other subtly intriguing pieces, the word for SPECTRES is "eclectic." This latest BOC effort thus comes off as one of the most ambitious works from the band, an appraisal with which Bloom agreed. But he also shed light on the problems that can result from SPECTRES' kind of variety. "A lot of people see that ns being a weak point," he said.
"A lot of people think that it's too watered-down to have a focus. I've read one review that said, 'Lack of any one particular lead singer waters this album down.' And then a lot of people see it os being an interesting variety."
That variety is considerably played down in BOC's concerts, perhaps because of the adverse reaction that Bloom mentioned. More probably, it's because there is little room for subtleties in a concert atmosphere. As Bloom said, "We feel in a 95-105 minute set that the kids really want mostly the heavy stuff."
So the Cult obliges, tapping each one of their six albums to create a powerful show. And in keeping with a long-standing BOC tradition, the group includes a few non-originals in their set. Recent shows have found the band not only doing their much-lauded music version of Steppenwolfs "Born To Be Wild," but also BOC adaptations of MC5's "Kick Out The Jams" and Eric Burdon & The Animals' "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place."
Of course, for some fans, a Blue Oyster Cult concert would not be whole without the orante laser display the band's used for the past few years. The aforementioned, full-time, licensed laserist shoots brilliantly colored shafts of light into the audience, creating patterns and, in general, lending an other-worldly aura to the music.
Between the lasers and the other pyrotechnics currently gracing the BOC show, does Bloom feel the audience is more turned on by the visuals than the music?
"No, we're aware of that problem," he reassured. "We don't use lasers to the extent that it'll take away from the music. Right now, it's punctuation to the music; that's how we've always done our effects."
"I won't mention other groups whose music takes a back seat to the effects," he continued, addressing himself to goodies such as Earth, Wind & Fire's levitation and disappearance tricks. "But we're not above certain things. Our laserist just found this article about this platform that flies on propane or something. It's a little rocket pack trip. I said to him, 'I'll try it after you take 100 trips on it."
One aspect of Blue Oyster Cult music that - in the course of appreciating the well-structured songs or the hot guitar work of Donald Roeser - has been overlooked by many listeners is the lyrics. As indicated by such numbers as "Golden Age of Leather," the themes are often unusual, and the stories - even love songs - marked by strange twists. Bloom said he feels the lyrics are important, but that they're not crucial to the appreciation of the music.
"We purposely don't put the lyrics on the record jacket," he continued. "We could put the lyrics on the record, but then you just don't listen anymore. You just sit there and as it goes by, you say, 'Oh, that's what he's saying.'
"I'd rather have kids come up to me and say, 'Hey, you know that song where you say, "Get laid in the hay"? I really like that.' I never said anything like that in any song, but I'd rather have the kids hear something other than what I'm saying and think that's cool than trying to read along with it. It just takes the magic out of it."
Bloom added, however, that the lyrics are available (by mail) for those who are really interested. And it's for those same fanatics (as well as for the band members themselves) that the Cult ices their music with humorous overtones and little inside jokes. Take, for example, the middle section of "Godzilla," with its Bloom-delivered speech in Japanese.
"I took some Japanese courses," he explained. "I was a language major in college, and languages have always come easy to me.
"What I'm saying in 'Godzilla' is: 'Attention, attention. Godzilla is entering the Ginza area. Evacuate immediately, evacuate immediately.' The Ginza area is like the Times Square of Tokyo."
Bloom will have a chance to test his new language and Blue Oyster Cult will get an opportunity to see how "Godzilla" goes over in the song's main character's homeland when the group tours Japan in late September. But there ve already been problems with the song in the land of the rising sun, as Bloom revealed:
"I had a funny feeling that we were going to get in trouble for just calling the song 'Godzilla.' Somebody owns GODZILLA (the movie). It's like calling your song 'Chevrolet;' you just can't do that. So we got on the phone ... and we finally got to the people who own the music rights to GODZILLA. A children's music company owns the publishing rights to the music and picture sound of GODZILLA. We had to pay them a considerable amount of money to be able to put 'Godzilla' on our record ... and a percentage of the album's sales. Those creeps are going to make more money off this record than me."
Further helping to slow "Godzilla" 's progress - in Japan, at least - is the fact that a Japanese group must first record the song before BOC can release their version there.
"It's only because you've gotta understand that Godzilla is like Superman... bigger than Superman, it's like Uncle Sam. Godzilla to the youth of Japan is like a national hero, and the Japanese don't feel it's right for Americans to have anything to do with Godzilla until they get a chance to have something to do with it."
By now, you're probably wondering if the song is worth the trouble. So am I. But evidently Blue Oyster Cult think it is, and their insistence to make the song a hit is just a small indication of the drive that's kept this band going for 10 years. It's been a long time since BOC were able to pack all their equipment and members in one van and a car, and what's kept these guys going is a belief in their music along with a dedication to their fans.
"Our show's expenses are incredible," Bloom said with regard to the latter. "I don't know if we're in the red or black. But let's put it this way: if we had one truck and rented less lights and had no lasers ... and just went out and played a one-hour rock set and were special guest to somebody else, we'd make triple the money we're making now. But we don't choose to do that."
Here's a review of this gig from the 08 Mar 1978 edition of the Lansing State Journal:
Hard rock dazzles fans
By Yolanda Alvarado
Staff Writer
Laser beams, magic and dazzling lights entranced entranced beholders of Lansing's first hard core rock concert Tuesday night.
About 4,800 rock fans were there... more enthused over Blue Oyster Cult, the headliners of the show, than with the lead-ins, Angel.
HOWEVER BECAUSE Angel wasn't headlining at the Civic Center last night, they had some restrictions - perfectly proper in the concert business - that toned them down.
Blue Oyster Cult and Angel sound different. But aside from the fact that Blue Oyster Cult is better known, though not yet big time, the most notable difference is in what you see.
With Angel, a big part of their thing certainly what they flaunt most, is looks. Looking pretty seems to be a trade mark.
GREGG GUIFFRIA, synthesizer and keyboards, has pretty long flowing hair. And both Punky Meadows, lead and acoustic guitars, and Barry Brandt, drums, percussion and background vocals, have pretty features.
Obviously all five band members watch their figures... including Felix Robinson, whose body is the more masculine.
Angel, featuring Frank DiMino as lead vocalist, has another trade mark... as much a part of their show as smooth white satin frills, and accented femininity.
IT'S MAGIC. However, last night Angel was restricted to magic at the onset only.
Stage hands stacked black cubes, none of which appeared large enough to hold a person, yet out came each Angel. "Your voice will sing the music of heaven," bellowed a voice as DiMino stepped out.
"I think they are the best looking rock band in the business," said manager, David Joseph, adding a note of regret that the Lansing audience had to miss most of the group's illusions.
WITH BLUE Oyster Cult the most fascinating thing to see were green laser beams, dancing to the sound of drums and sound effects of Star Wars parallel.
The laser apparatus shot forth streams of light with "Os" at the ends that got smaller, larger and flip-flopped like nickels on cement. The laser "Os" merged, forming zigzags that danced over heads, then framed the drummer. Fascinated fans cheered and applauded to each laser configuration - most extending beyond the center of the Civic Center's main auditorium.
BLUE OYSTER Cult also made use of bursting sparklers, which quickly disintegrated into huge puffs of smoke.
The concert was Lansing's first featuring hard rock since the rock concert ban was lifted by City Council more than a year ago.
Gimmickry seems to be a growing trend in live popular music performances and last night's tricks were definitely crowd pleasers.
I remember Angel was pretty lame. I was in the balcony house left about a third of the way back. A great seat, but surrounded by high school kids.
Went on a whim, since it was finals week at MSU - we were on quarters then instead of semesters.
A full house, and they played every tune I was hoping to hear. The big sound of Buck's guitar on Then Came the Last Days of May was perfect.
Full lasers at this show, and I remember Astronomy with the lasers and mirror ball going, although the set list says no.
Somewhere I have a clipping from the MSU State News reviewing the show.
I was thrilled when Some Enchanted Evening came out and almost completely replicated this show.
By this time, I'd been to 2 more BOC gigs, Cobo Hall in Detroit and Flint, Mich (can't remember the venue. My lady and I were stoked for this show.
This was back at Lansing Civic Center where we saw our first BOC show ever the previous year.
Awesome show by BOC another tat for the BEAST, another incredible night after the show.
My first BOC show was at Finch Field house on the campus of Central Michigan University in 1978 and we always thought that the Quad speakers were because of the AWFUL acoustics of that room!! I think I have seen three concerts there and this was the only one that sounded good at all!!
I was only 15 or 16 at the time, and VERY STONED!!!! Great show tho... a band called HorseLips opened. Anybody remember them???
Finch Field House is on the Campus of Central Michigan University, in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. About 150 miles northwest of Detroit, and 70 miles north of Lansing, Michigan. Just a quite little town of 30,000 with another 17,000 students and a pretty big Indian Casino.
It must have been March, because I know for sure they played Lansing the night before. Also, I recall that when this concert happened I was not yet licensed to drive, and by the fall of 78 I was indeed licensed, so it must have been March!
I think your March 8th date is the correct date.
This gig did happen - and early '78 is probably correct. I think we were touring "The Man Who Built America" album which would place it then.
I remember the gig had acoustic problems - the venue's sound was pretty muddy - and BOC didn't seem to enjoy it a whole lot..
Exact date? Sorry I can't help you there. Maybe Eamon or Jim would know...
Yes, we certainly did play with BOC on at least one occasion, but as for the date or location I've no idea.
However we're in the process of doing something like yourselves, retrospectively documenting our tour schedule for the '70's, so that info may very well crop up. Hopefully we'll get it somewhere near completion over the next 2 or 3 months. If you haven't heard from one of us by then you might send another mail, just to prod us into action.
The March 9, 1978 was opened by Teaze alone. I don't have my stub, but I clearly recollect my memories of BOC shows. The ticket stub that is displayed above has the Guess Who and Be Bop Deluxe in handwriting and is clearly wrong. I distinctly remember Joe Bouchard and Buck doing an imitation of Teaze during the show. I am 100% sure.
I was there it was definitely tease... they were a local band with a hit... something like "boys night out"...
The first indication I had that this show occurred was that it appeared on one of Ken Welch's tour itineraries, but with no venue info...
Then I came across the following, in an article in the 27 May 1978 edition of "The Standard" (St. Catharines, Ontario):
Montreal based Aquarius Records has initiated a national promotion and advertising campaign in support of the latest signing a four piece rock group called Teaze. The group, which hails from Windsor Ont. via Montreal, comprises lead vocalist bassist Brian Danter, guitarists/vocalists Mark Bradac and Chuck Price and drummer Mike Kozak.
Teaze is on release with a debut album for Aquarius, following a first album on the Force One label which turned gold in Japan of all places, although not selling very well here in Canada. The title of the album is On The Loose and its first single entitled Sweet Misery is known in the Top 25 in the area.
Aquarius is supporting the album with major campaigns involving trade and consumer advertisements, consumer features for which Aquarius is providing exclusive photographs and major radio time, by coinciding with appearances by Teaze across the country.
The group recently performed at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens Concert Bowl and the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium as opening act for Blue Oyster Cult.
So, no date confirmation but it does confirm there was a gig, plus it also provides the venue and support act.
Here's a ticket stub from March 11, 1978 for BOC playing the Evans Fieldhouse at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb Illinois.
I was there. I can guarantee it was a BOC show. I don't believe I've seen this show listed on a couple other BOC sites I've seen, so you have an exclusive.
I'm especially glad to get a gig for this date because the official site lists an unknown gig in an unknown town for 11 March 1978...
This was my first concert; I also still have my ticket stub. After dozens of other concerts through the years, the last being Yes in Madison WI, this is still my favorite.
This was my junior year of high school, my friends and I drove up from a small town in Central Illinois to DeKalb in two cars. I rode in my buddies '68 Firebird.
We had bleacher seats, stage right about 100 ft. from the stage. My friends and I were all dedicated rockers and between the 7 or 8 of us in the group we had a copy of all 5 albums released to date in vinyl, cassette, or 8 track.
I had so many 8 tracks at one point that I had 5 or six big cases in the back seat of my '70 Pontiac, but I was thankfully forced to switch to cassette after leaving my car unlocked one night.
I have to admit that for a bunch of small town kids the open consumption of beer and pot was quite an eye opener. At one point one of our group, after having over imbibed, was in the process of doing a header off the bleachers (first mosh pit?) when he was reeled back in by the back of his shirt. Some things you never forget.
BOC was great; I wish I could remember all of the songs they played. I do remember not wanting it to end. I can't imagine it being such a vivid memory if the audience had been using cell phones instead of lighters to call them back for multiple encores. This was my first lesson in future concert attendance: always bring a lighter.
I distinctly remember "Summer of Love" and I especially enjoyed "ME 262". I can still see (standing under one white spot with the rest of the arena dark) and hear the guitar solo during "The Reaper".
It is actually surprising how much I remember considering the environment and the 2 hour drive up to DeKalb. The lasers were very cool for the time; remember this was back when you only saw a laser in a college physics class.
There was plenty of smoke in the air so you could really see them beaming across the stadium. We hung out and partied in the dorms for a while after the concert. More stories but not this venue.
The 2 hour ride home (this was pre I-39 days) was less than festive and at one point Cary had the stereo jamming and the windows open trying to wake us up to keep him awake.
Glad we all got back safely; different times than today. I feel sorry for kids these days; how can they possibly have as much fun as we did?
- Charlie cancelled...
I saw the following clipping on FB about this gig that unfortunately had been clipped before BOC was discussed:
The scheduled opening act, Charlie, never showed up. What we did get was a well-known English punk rock band called The Jam.
Physically austere, wearing black suits and ties white shirts, and short hair, and politically aggressive, The Jam rocked tuneful with a certain spastic charm and no lack of volume.
Crowd reaction ranged from delight (me, natch) to booing (about half the audience.) Face it, UB is just not ready for punk rock.
A "certain spastic charm," eh? Yikes...
I originally had this date down as a Utica gig but here's the listing from the Sat 11 March 1978 edition of the Star-Gazette (Elmira NY):
Calendar - Friday
The Cult: Blue Oyster Cult, in concert, Auditorium, Onondaga County War Memorial, Syracuse, 8 p.m. Admission. Information 315-425-2660.
I can confirm that this gig took place on this date and Be Bop did play.
As far as memories go, I remember the lasers from the first show from Godzilla as being phenominal and obviously the bike coming out during Born to Be Wild.
As far as the opening bands, I don't remember much at all. I know I saw them, but that's it.
Does anyone know if The Jam played this gig?
It seems like it was only yesterday...
While going through some stuff at my parents house, came across my worn out vinyl copy of On your Feet....There stuffed in one side of the album was all my BOC clippings. Concert stubs and programs, magazine and newspaper articles, and other assorted memoribilia that took me back, to easily to this day the best concert I ever saw...
The Aud in Buffalo was one of those wonderful old hockey arenas built in the 30's. Great for sport, terriblet for acoustics, but great seating and sightlines. After buying the Black BOC baseball cap (yes, I still have it in its raggged state somewhere) we ventured to our seats in the lower golds, kittycorner across from the stage. After sitting through a forgettable set from Be Bop Deluxe, the roadies slowly unveiled "THE SET". Black mesh curtains, the Logo, a slight glimmer from the lasers warming up. The lights dimmed and then...
The roar of flashpots and RU Ready to Rock. Here's the setlist for that night...
RU READY TO ROCK
HARVESTER OF EYES
CITIES ON FLAME
ETI
GOLDEN AGE OF LEATHER
LAST DAYS OF MAY
ME262
GODZILLA
SUMMER OF LOVE
5 GUITARS
BORN TO BE WILD
HOT RAILS TO HELL [ ENCORE ]
DON'T FEAR THE REAPER [ ENCORE ]
I wrote that set list the morning after the show. I wasn't wasted at the show - I was only 17 and too pumped to miss any of the show - so it's the way I remember...
Hi-lites... Too many to recall. Great harmony on Golden Age and Harvester of Eyes. Eric and the wrist laser setting off flashpots on the wings off the stage during ETI. The return of the wrist laser for Buck solo in Last Days, with the mirror ball sending individual beams of light into the crowd. Buck's solo still rings in my ears to this day as the sound echoed back and forth between the suspended speakers across from the stage. ME 262 roared through the arena. Then Godzilla... Ah, the good old days of being bathed in laser light during a 10 minute drum solo.... Where is Al's Godzilla head today ?.....Summer of Love into 5 Guitars with a blistering solo from Joe and then chaos of Born To Be Wild. Smoke, flashpot, lasers, Texas Chainsaw, sparkler fountains...Whoa !!! What an ending.....
The encores... my personal favorite in Hot Rails, and then Don't Fear The Reaper. Buck in white doing his solo with lasers screaming above him...
After this show, saw the Cult another 8 times in the late 70-s to mid 80's betwen Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse. They played the Erie County Fair this past August of 2006, but couldn't make the show... Was rated as one of the best shows to play here this summer. But for me at 46, some things are best remembed for their first time...
Looking forward to many more years of BOC...
My first Blue Oyster Cult show changed my life. My very first concert at age 14 was KISS in 1976 and that started it all for me. But this BOC show topped that by a mile.
The one thing I will never forget about this show was how stoned I was. I had smoked some very powerful weed before the show and I barely remember the first act, who happened to be Be Bop Deluxe (I like them a lot now. Bill Nelson was very cool! Great songwriter and guitarist). The crowd seemed kind of quiet, but then again my mind was in a different dimension at this time. I think the crowd got louder towards the end.
At the end of Be Bop's set my high school friends who were with me were laughing and making faces at me because, apparently I was just sitting there in a stoned trance staring at the stage after the house lights went on. It was kind of embarassing but funny too. Ahhh...those stoned high school memories. As I slowly started coming back down to earth, BOC hit the stage all guns blazing. They blew my mind!! Buck Dharma's guitar playing just burned a hole right through me.
I had just started playing guitar 2 years earlier and I just knew this guy was going to be my guitar hero forever (and he still is). And the Laser Show. FUCKING AWESOME!! I had never seen anything like it. I had a seat on the floor about 20 rows back and it was perfect for this amazing "spectrecal". Another highlight was the 5 guitar jam and Albert Bouchard's drum solo in "Godzilla" ( I think he is one of the best and most underrated drummers in rock).
Eric was very cool with his shades, leather and laser ring (way cool!) pointing at the huge mirror ball hanging from the top of that old hockey barn. Joe Bouchard rocked with his solid bass playing and great bass solo. And Allen was in great form switching from keyboards to guitar with ease. And of course, (Don't Fear) The Reaper was just earth-shattering, Buck's guitar notes just flying at me throught the laser light. To me "The Reaper" is the best rock song ever written. I had smoked some more of that dangerous weed (especially to a 15 year old) during BOC's set, but this time it just made me feel those wonderful sounds even more. I would have to say it was the best concert of my life (and I've been to hundreds of concerts).
In the last 29 years of being a mega-BOC fan I have seen them live over 40 times. Rarely have I been disappointed (expect for the time I saw "Two Oyster Cult" at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, CA back in March of '86 during the dreaded Club Ninja Tour, mainly because I found out Joe Bouchard was no longer in the band). I still think they are the best band on the planet and they (especially Buck Dharma) have been a huge influence on my music since then.
I play B.O.C. almost everyday of my life and I never get tired of them. I will see them this March in Agoura Hills, CA. I can't fucking wait!!!
Long Live BLUE OYSTER CULT ****** On Tour Forever
I was at this show! Buck dedicated Last Days of May to my friend that had died less than a year before! Pulled the letter we wrote to them out of his pocket right on stage!
One of my top 2 or 3 BOC shows for sure. Best version of LDOM ever! Buck's solo was longer than usual and AMAZING!
The lasers, all my friends sitting together about 10th row, the dedication to Urs. Just an incredible show!
Now that you mention that, I vaguely remember that. Do remember Buck's solo going back and forth between the speakers at the back of the Aud during the slower part of LDOM before his extended solo...
I remember it like it was yesterday! We met them at the Record Theater earlier in the day, they were doing a meet and greet. We handed Buck the letter telling them about my friend Urs and how the last song he heard before his accident was Astronomy and we asked if they could play it.
At the show Buck starts playing the opening licks to Astronomy and we all were in shock! Then he suddenly stops playing and walks up to the mic and says, "We met these guys at Record Theater today and they wanted us to play Astronomy for their friend Bobby Urso who died in a motorcycle accident a few months ago. Well, we can't play that tonight, but this song is about 3 friends of ours who were killed.This is for Urs."
Still gives me chills when I tell this story!
This was the first time I saw BOC. I still have the ticket stub and I even have a program.
The opening act that night was Be Bop Deluxe. A very cool show. I went and saw them 13 times after that. The two songs that blew me away was Astronomy and Cities on Flame.
Opening act in this show was actually a band called Charlie, then BeBop, and BOC.
This was my first BOC show and I'm going to my 50th show in Houston in a month or so. And then 51 the next night in Shreveport La. Great website love it
I saw BOC on 3/19/78 in Springfield, MA. It was my third ever arena show and I hitchhiked up from Connecticut to see it. Boy was I glad I did! The laser show was spectacular.
I remember the wrist mounted laser was particularly impressive, and that he pointed it at a large globe on the ceiling that exploded. I still have this image in my mind, clear as a bell.
I remember them performing Born To Be Wild, as well as Godzilla, and I think they did Cities On Flame, but I am not positive about that one.
Be Bop Deluxe warmed up, but I don't recall being too impressed by them.
It's interesting that I don't recall Charlie performing (as mentioned in the previous post). I knew who they were and had an album of theirs, so I would have thought I would remember it. I do not recall being late to the show, but I suppose it is possible I missed the opener. It's a long time ago.
But I can verify that I did not see Charlie perform this night. I did see Charlie perform in 1980, and that was the first time I saw them.
Check out Ken's great ZZ Top giglist site:
By the way - if anyone else can confirm or deny the presence of Charlie on this bill, please let me know...
This was also my first BOC concert, and maybe my second or third arena show. I do remember BeBop Deluxe and also now that you mention it, Charlie.
I was in absolutely the last row in the centre. Which ordinarily is a lousy seat unless you get to see the entirety of the laser show.
Can anyone confirm/deny that this gig took place...?
Before I got the above (admittedly somewhat small) ticket stub, the only indication I had that this show occurred is that it appeared on one of Ken Welch's tour itineraries...
The venue was called the Erie County FieldHouse and all the shows they played were at this location. It was a nice concert venue too. The acoustics were very good for loud bands. It was a minor league hockey arena that would hold at most for a concert about 5,000 people. It is now an industrial park. :-(
Just as in the 1976 Erie gig I saw, Be Bop Deluxe opened the show, followed by Crack The Sky. Crack The Sky announced they were recording the show to do a live album. The Philly show was finally used for their Live Sky album. They were not having a great night thechnical wise at the Erie show so I didn't figure ours would get used.
Click the link from the Erie County Fieldhouse Concerts Facebook page to see a concert ad for this gig:
Crack the Sky opened, and then Be Bop Deluxe. I remember Be Bop getting booed off the stage - everyone was ready for BOC. It was a great show.
I was 16 at the time. saw several BOC shows in the sports arena, great hard rock venue. All gone now...
This website is really cool.
Here's a rather sniffy review of this gig from the Sat 25 Mar 1978 edition of the The Journal Herald (Dayton, Ohio):
Blue Oyster trapped by gimmicks
By Terry Lawson
Journal Herald Special Writer
Blue Oyster Cult, which headlined a three-act rock concert at Hara Arena last night, is a perfect example of a "trapped band."
Musically proficient and articulate, the group feels economically compelled to present a pandering, dumbo rock act to the rubes, although it possesses the intelligence and capability to push the limits.
Last night's crowd of 4,000 asked for nothing more than hard, heavy rock and roll and recieved no more than it asked for.
THE SHOW was opened by Godz, a Columbus band. The group, which recently signed with Casablanca records, is an attempt to woo the kids who find Angel too pretty and Kiss too gross.
Its pre-fab stage show gave the crowd the same old posturing and worn-out boogie rlffing that every area except the midwest rejected long ago.
Sandwiched in the middle was Be Bop Deluxe, a futuristic rock band from England led by guitarist Bill Nelson.
The band opened with a thundering New Precision, one of Nelson's odes to the modern world, and followed with the instrumental Shine. Both exemplify the group's stance: metallic and cold.
BLUE OYSTER Cult is a Dayton favorite. Last night was its fifth Hara appearance in six years. Pioneers in rock's heavy metal movement, Blue Oyster Cult's records have become increasingly experimental while its concerts remain stagnant and excessive.
The band has replaced its Nazi look with a more casual stage style, but gimmicks and special effects now gloss over the boring moments in the music.
Aside from the standard smoke and fire, the Cult show includes a truly impressive laser demonstration and effective mass lighting. Only on two tunes, a remake of the Animals' We Gotta Get Out Of This Place and Don't Fear The Reaper, did the band shed the Cult gimmicks posing and concentrate on the music. From there, the volume intensified until everything was a numbing blur.
If Blue Oyster Cult could transfer the musically interesting idea it captures on disc to the stage, it could be a refreshing twist on arena rock and roll. Until then, the band is trapped in an extrememly heavy metal prison.
Prior to their gig at the Richfield Coliseum, BOC members did a personal appearance at a local record store, according to the 23-29 March 1978 issue of "Scene Entertainment Weekly":
Peaches & CBS Records Announce The Appearance Of Blue Oyster Cult At Peaches Newest Location, Peaches Willowick 32901 Vine St. At 4:00 P.M. Saturday, March 25.
Here's a listing for this gig from the Sat March 25, 1978 edition of the The Akron Beacon Journal:
Blue Oyster Cult headlines tonight's concert at the Coliseum. Also appearing will be "Be Bop Delux" and "The Jam." Tickets for the 7:30 show are $8.
The 1978 Cleveland show was my first real concert. Didn't know of the Jam beforehand but was disappointed in the lighting - or lack thereof - for their show. Well, since they were the opening band they had to share space with Be Bop Deluxe's and BOC's equipment, and couldn't take advantage of the huge lighting rigs set up for BOC. So, like they only had one or two spotlights on them and it was hard to see the stage. At that point I'm thinking, "this is how BOC is going to look?"
This, of course, changed in a big way when BOC came on - the lighting was magnificent and totally blew me away. And the lasers were absolutely amazing!
By the way, the setlist was exactly the same as the Glasgow concert the next month - I memorized it and then wrote it down (back in 1978). What made me relate that show to the Glasgow show was Bolle's BOC tapelist. I noticed the Glasgow setlist and was thrilled because that was the same show I saw a few weeks earlier. The #1 highlight for me was "Last Days of May" and Buck's solo.
I remember reading the review of the concert in Scene Magazine the next week, and it made reference to Buck Dharma and his "see if you can follow my fingers" leads. It also frowned on BOC playing so many (3) tunes from other bands - Born to be Wild, We Gotta Get Outta this Place, and Kick Out The Jams - saying that "today's bands should let the dead rest in peace".
The review also made the comment that "BOC and Be Bop Deluxe were not that far apart, musically". Hmmm...
The Richfield Coliseum, 20,000 capacity, which opened in 1974, was demolished in the late '90s. The arena was built 30 miles out of Cleveland to attract both the Cleveland and Akron/Canton market.
Moving out of downtown Cleveland was a big mistake... so a new arena was built downtown and the Coliseum was no longer needed. The area has returned to what it once was...a wilderness reserve (park).
Here's a review of this gig from the 27 Mar 1978 edition of the "The Akron Beacon Journal":
Blue Oyster Cult 'panics' Coliseum
By RUSSELL SIBERT (Special To The Beacon Journal)
What does an oversized lizard named Godzilla and a rock band called Blue Oyster Cult (BOC) have in common?
Godzilla, as you may recall, terrorized the Ginza area of Tokyo many years ago on the late show. Well, now as a hit single for BOC, "Godzilla" terrorized a sold out crowd Saturday night at the Coliseum.
The result of the attack by the king of monsters was the same as in years past with a slight hitch. While hysteria was created from the assault, it was not the mass confusion of 90-million Japanese rushing to their Toyotas to keep them from being stepped on. Instead there was a state of madness created by 15,000 fans in a delightful delirium.
AND LIKE "Godzilla", BOC has had a habit of driving audiences wild throughout the world for the last 10 years.
One of the reasons BOC can drive an audience crazy, besides their music, is the use of special effects primarily a laser light show.
During "Godzilla," two green pencil thin laser beams shoot off three mirrored balls suspended from the ceiling. The balls reflect the beams of light throughout the crowd while smoke is released from the front of the stage. The resulting effect is that of time-lapse photography of cloud movement. The clouds develop right before your eyes.
Another crowd pleaser occurred when Eric Bloom during "E.T.I. (Extra Terrestial Intelligence)" came to the front of the stage and shot a laser beam into the crowd from the tip of his finger.
But BOC's music doesn't take a back seat to anything, let alone special effects. With Donald Roeser on lead guitar and Bloom on lead vocals and guitar, the band burned through one tune after another.
THE MATERIAL played was from all six of the group's albums and some added treats. These treats were old hits made famous by other artists. Included were: "Kick Out The Jams," by MC5; "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place," by Eric Burdon and The Animals and Steppenwolf's "Born To Be Wild."
At times the band's extended solos were a little too long and loud, but the sound for the most part was clean and sharp.
For their encore, BOC played two numbers. The final one being their biggest hit "Don't Fear The Reaper." Some of the song's magic was taken away by its brevity and slowed pace. But despite this, the show was still a giant success.
Here's another review from the March 30-April 5 1978 edition of the "Scene Entertainment Weekly":
BLUE OYSTER CULT, BE BOP DELUXE, THE JAM: The Coliseum - March 25
by Dave Voelker
Saturday night's well-atlended triple bill was kicked off rather unceremoniously by The Jam, an English "new wave" band. I can only sum up their performance as "clone rock." Each formless, unallowable song sounded the same as the last, with the vocals droned in a sterile monotone. If (as their song says) "this is the modern world," please usher me to the nearest time machine.
With the emergence of Be Bop Deluxe, things began to pick up. Those who've seen Be Bop before would agree that this set was consistent with their customary live impression: high in energy, low in empathy. Borrowing heavily from their current release, DRASTIC PLASTIC, Bill Nelson and his cohorts laid down that LP's futuristic rhythms with a pulsing beat theat generated toe-tapping, but stopped somewhat short of handclapping.
In light of the fact that Be Bop and BOC are not far apart musically, it wasn't surprising that the Cultist-dominated audience got off on Be Bop's music - especially older standards like "Ships In The Night" and "Fair Exchange." If only the keyboards hadn't been drowned out and if only Bill Nelson hadn't been so damned aloof, the crowd reaction might have been adulatory instead of merely appreciative.
If I've become suspicious of bands that employ multimedia, sensory bombardments calculated to overload the viewer's cerebral cortex (usually already burned out), it's because I've seen THE WIZARD OF OZ too many times. Look behind the curtain of flash powder and smoke columns concealing most dazzle-rock acts, and you'll find a puny band that has to rely on props to do what their music won't.
This isn't the case with Blue Oyster Cult. Their fireworks and laser effects are certainly among the most elaborate I've seen, but though they didn't contribute to the music per se, they supplemented a potent rock 'n' roll show by doing to the eyes what BOC did to the ears. That's the way to use visuals with music: in a supporting capacity, not as the main event.
I'm sure BOC could have done fine without them. Here is a band that plays unadulterated rock'n'roll (a vanishing breed) with punch and passion. One song even had all five members on guitars, flailing away at center stage. If that didn't blow The Coliseum's main circuit breaker, nothing will.
BOC's set included material from all six of their albums. Four lasers (including one on Eric Bloom's wrist), strobes, reflecting balls, and various other show hardware were used throughout, climaxing in a stunning three-dimensional laser/drum solo in "Godzilla." The only real weak spots in the evening were unspectacular renditions of the Animals' "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place" and Steppenwolf's "Born To Be Wild." Why can't today's groups let the dead rest in peace?
Here's the preview for this gig from Sunday, March 26, 1978 edition of "The Times Recorder" (Zanesville, Ohio):
Cult Makes Easter Visit
The Wheeling Civic Center will be rocking Easter Sunday evening to the music of Blue Oyster Cult and Be Bop Deluxe. Showtime is 7:30 p.m.
It is the middle of winter 1970. The peaceful, brotherly vibes of 1967's Summer of Love are little more than distance memories around Long Island's State University at Stony Brook. Allen Lanier, Albert Bouchard and Donald Roeser passed much of their time, as many Stony Brook students did, watching Star Trek, imbibing various herbs and spirits, and generally mucking around.
For their further amusement, the three pooled their creative resources with Andrew Winter and Les Bronstein and started the Soft White Underbelly, a band which became one of New York's most beloved cult attractions.
A few select appearances around Long Island and New York stirred up enough interest to land the band a recording contract with Elektra Records! The Underbelly spent a good amount of time and money in the studio putting together an album which, for corporate reasons, was never released.
After a name change to Blue Oyster Cult (derived from a poem by manager Sandy Pearlman), the band recorded a demo of their own material which Sandy took to Columbia Records produced Murray Krugman. Being on the same cosmological plane as Pearlman, Murray took to the band immediately. Three weeks later, the Cult were signed to an exclusive Columbia Records contract, and their first album, "Blue Oyster Cult," hit the racks.
Guest Band
According to fans and music critics alike, Be Bop Deluxe is one of the most exciting stage acts around.
Not only has this British band stunned Europe with its performances, the group also has reared through two extensive North American tours that have brought nearly unanimous praise. Now at last Be Bop Deluxe has been captured in all its onstage glory with "Live In the Air Age" on the Harvest Label distributed in the United States by Capitol.
The above text only mentions the two bands, but can anyone confirm or deny the possibility that The Jam opened this show?
I travelled to both this show (and Lexington on 2nd Apr) with my 21 year old brother - back then my brother was smoking a of pot and drinking. We walked in with the opener on stage. We did not hear the introduction. I do believe it was Jam though.
Cheers - OK, then, until I hear evidence to the contrary, I'll tentatively include the Jam as openers on this gig, albeit with a "?" by their name...
As mentioned earlier, if anyone can positively identify the opening band, please let me know, as I've a sneaking suspicion that the Jam decided to sack this tour off after Cleveland - they probably didn't need the abuse...
I'd seen the Jam in a small club the previous year, and thought they were pretty good, but whoever booked them to play big arenas opening for what was ostensibly a "heavy metal" band with a laser show probably should have seen some serious jail time... What? Too harsh...? :-)
- The Jam cancelled...
Note the "Sunday" crossed out on the stub above because the 27th March 1978 was, in fact, a Monday...
Here's a listing for this gig from the Sunday, March 26, 1978 edition of the Journal and Courier (Lafayette, Indiana):
BLUE OYSTER CULT and Be Bop Deluxe, special guest Jam, Allan County Coliseum, Fort Wayne.
You'll notice that the venue is listed as "Allan County Coliseum" yet the ticket above says "Memorial Coliseum," so my assumption is that they are one and the same...
Getting ready to go see BOC at The Grizzly here in Denver tonight (24 July 2009) - but thought I would talk about the first time I saw Eric and Buck and the rest in my hometown of Fort Wayne Indiana - could it really be 31 years ago?
I was 13 and with my friend and his uncle. I remember calling my mom at work and asking her to get out $20 from my bank account so I could see the show. $7.50 for a ticket sounds about correct. (matches the Ticket stub on here)
I remember the opener Be Bop Deluxe - I don't think The Jam was there?. A lot more respect for BBD now but back then I just didn't get it.
It was a sparse crowd - the Fort Wayne police had been cracking down BIGTIME on the 'side action' at concerts and people stopped going. Those were the days you could just go see a show whether you were into the band or not - TIX prices didn't make you float a treasury bond or anything like that. In fact between BBD and BOC a roadie or tour manager or someone announced to the crowd something like it was 'bullshit what was going on and just stay at home and listen to your records' and the crowd applauded. (Side note - later that year Aerosmith came into town and offered to bail anyone out that night who got busted for illegal substance use at the concert - which they did and paid their fines)
Memories:
- The Five Guitars...
- Opening with 'R U'...
- remember the lasers well... especially 'the hand laser'...
- Godzilla mask during drum solo...
- Intro to 'Reaper' was a listing of all the magazines that had named it top song of the year...
- Eric waving his forefinger side-to-side during 'Reaper' (as in 'don't do that')...
Great show!
The now-offline Paul Weller Live Archive had The Jam down as playing this show (though they didn't mention Be Bop), and it is also listed on the thejamfan.net and the thejam.org.uk sites.
However, Jeff in his post above doesn't recall the Jam being on this bill, so does anyone know for sure that they didn't play?
The March 27, 1978 show in Fort Wayne Indiana was attended by myself and a fellow Jam fanatic. I was into the Jam also and the thought that I could see the Jam as well as the Fabulous Cult together on the same show was a dream come true. I can assure you without a doubt that the Jam did not play!
My buddy was actually in close personal contact with Paul Weller and when it was apparent that the Jam were not going to play he exited while the Cult were performing and talked with someone in the backstage area who told him that the Jam never showed up!
I know for a fact he asked Paul Weller later when he stayed at Paul's parents house in the Uk when he visited Paul but I can't recall what the reason as to why the Jam were a no show.
I've heard an anecdotal account that "Fireworks" was played at this show. I've never heard of this being played live before, so I asked Albert:
I thought we might have played it in Northern California once, but maybe it was Ft Wayne...
OK, Albert's left the door open on it being a possibility, so can anyone who went confirm or deny that "Fireworks" was played at this gig...?
But one thing is for sure - BOC should have made "Fireworks" a regular part of their set - it's such a damn beautiful song...
- Venue switched from Ocean Ice Palace to the Brick Forum
Here's how this gig was originally being listed in the Fri 17 Mar 1978 edition of the Daily Record:
Northeast Productions presents "BLUE OYSTER CULT" in their only N.J. appearance ONE SHOW ONLY Wednesday, March 29th 8:00 P.M. at the OCEAN ICE PALACE, BRICKTOWN, N.J. also appearing as special guests "THE DICTATORS" and introducing for the first time "RANDAZZA"
All Tickets are $7.50 (plus 50C service charge) and are available at the following locations: Pellet Records, 52 Park Place, Morristown 540 0188, Platter Puss, Bloomfield Ave, Bloomfield 743-0037
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CALL 201 449-3939, 12-5 MONDAY THRU FRIDAY
However, there were problems behind the scenes, despite the venue being switched to The Brick Forum due to power inadequacies. Here's a report from the Tue 28 Mar 1978 edition of the Asbury Park Press:
Rock Concert Controls at Issue - Brick Officials Disagree
BRICK TOWNSHIP - Producers of a rock concert here tomorrow night are under court order not to admit more than 3,000 persons persons to the Brick Forum.
In a related development, Director of Public Safety Eugene W. Halton is publicly disobeying the will of Mayor John P. Kinnevy for the second time in two weeks.
Halton and Kinnevy disagreed on whether whether to have the concert promoters pay for the added police patrols through the township. Kinnevy did not want the township to become become involved in the arrangements.
"I disagree strongly with the mayor," Halton told the Township Council last night.
Township officials yesterday obtained the order from Ocean County Judge James M. Havey. Havey, who signed the order at his home because the county courts were closed, scheduled a hearing on the restraints for tomorrow afternoon.
The Blue Oyster Cult band is to perform at the Forum off Route 88 West. The performance was moved from the Ocean Ice Palace on Chambers Bridge Road.
The court order prohibits more than 3,000 tickets from being sold for the concert and prohibits more than 3,000 persons being admitted into the building. Halton said the restraint was sought on the basis of fire safety regulations at the Forum and general safety outside.
The Forum has parking spaces for about 380 cars and officials feared nearby streets would be filled with parked cars of fans.
Havey ordered Gary Pascale, the promoter and principal of Northeast Productions and Jersey Shore Recreation Inc., to publicize a sellout if 3,000 tickets are sold before before the concert.
Halton said he plans to assign 10 to 15 policemen policemen to the concert. Walter W. Schoenewolf, the lawyer who represented the township in obtaining the court order, said Pascale has deposited $810 with the township to pay for the added policemen.
Under a procedure recommended by Halton the deposit would be reimbursement for the township's paying the additional policemen. Otherwise policemen would have to be assigned on an overtime basis, he said.
He said an opinion by the state attorney general, in response to an unrelated inquiry by the state police, disallows off-duty policemen from being hired directly by private parties.
"A direct relationship between the policemen and a private party violates the Private Detectives Act of 1939," said the opinion provided by Halton last night.
"If I allow my police officers to engage in a direct relationship... this then is in violation of the Private Detectives Act," he said.
He asked who could be held liable for the violation, the policemen, himself, or Kinnevy.
Kinnevy said in a letter if the township becomes involved in the arrangements it is responsible for providing workers compensation insurance in the event a policeman is hurt.
"The attorney general does not tell us what to do unless there is a court decision pertaining to it," Kinnevy said in denying Halton's request to implement his recommendation.
However, Kenneth B. Fitzsimmons, acting acting township attorney, said he believes Halton has the authority to draft the policy without the approval of the mayor.
He also said the attorney general's opinion provides for the direct payment by the private party to the policemen although the arrangements should be made through the municipality.
A majority of the council agreed to endorse that policy in a formal resolution tonight. Councilman John Lea said although it is easier to allow Halton to implement whatever policy he wants, he (Lea) prefers using the policemen on overtime and formulating a policy later despite the promoter's posting an $810 deposit.
Halton said the Forum operators plan a monthly concert if the one tomorrow night is successful.
However, it seems venue deficiencies resulted in the show - at least as far as BOC were concerned - being given the old heave ho very late in the day. Here's the report that appeared in the Thursday, March 30, 1978 edition of the Asbury Park Press:
Postponed Rock Concert To Reveal New Date Soon
By FRED SIMMONDS
Press Staff Writer
BRICK TOWNSHIP - A rock concert postponed after an estimated 2,400 advance tickets were sold for the performance last night will be rescheduled soon, according to the concert promoter and band booking agent.
They said the postponement of the performance by the Blue Oyster Cult, announced yesterday afternoon several hours before the concert, was due to technical problems.
Gary Pascale, the promoter, said tickets sold for the concert will be honored at the rescheduled performance. He was not making refunds, he said, because the concert will be held.
Pascale and the band's agent said a new date should be determined in a few days. Pascale said he sold about 2,400 tickets in advance. He was limited by a court order to the sale of 3,000.
Police reported no incidents last night in turning away motorists some from as far away as Queens, N.Y. from the Brick Forum off Route 88 West, where the concert was to have been held.
Pascale said the band would not play because of difficulties with lighting and the rigging for lights.
Doug Thaler, the booking agent for the band, said the technical difficulties involved the electric power supply and clearance between the ceiling and elevated stage. He said two or three technical provisions required before the performance were not in order.
"We're looking to perform there in the beginning of the summer," he said.
Pascale said he plans to conduct two performances performances at the next concert date to help him recover some financial losses caused by the cancellation last night.
The band was to perform in an area above a food concession in the Forum, which is an ice skating rink. Pascale said he plans to provide a larger stage area on the floor of the building.
He said he did not know about the technical problems until yesterday afternoon when the Cult band crew began setting up their equipment. He said they did not have enough clearance to set up the equipment used in their light show.
Thaler said the technical requirements are generally given to concert promoters to provide. The technical crew decided early yesterday afternoon provisions were unsatisfactory, he said.
Earlier, township officials obtained a court order extending the limits on the concert last night to any rescheduled performance of the same concert.
Ocean County Judge James M. Havey Monday had restricted ticket sales and admission into the Forum to 3,000 persons excluding employees. The township had sought the restriction for fire regulations and general safety.
At a hearing on those restrictions yesterday Havey granted the township's request to extend the restraints to include a future concert if the one last night were postponed.
Pascale and the Forum were not represented at the hearing. Pascale said his attorney could not attend.
Havey noted that township officials originally determined the capacity for the Forum should be 2,500 but later revised the figure to 3,000.
Walter W. Schoenewolf, attorney for the township, said the new figure was determined after reassessing the use of the space above the concession and relocating the band area.
He said police intended to count the people who entered the Forum.
Havey included in his order a requirement that publicity concerning a rescheduled concert mention that only 3,000 tickets will be sold.
Havey also said the attorney for the Forum had represented to him that his client would obtain from police a letter stating that all fire and security measures will be provided or there would be no concert.
Schoenewolf said police were not approached approached about the letter.
Thaler said the Cult had sought what he termed a "hidden" performance to help the band prepare for a live recording of a concert concert scheduled for Boston tonight.
Normally, it performs before much larger crowds, he said, but because of the purpose of the concert the band did not object to the 3,000 limit. He said the money raised by the concert would probably Just meet expenses.
There was to be no New York area advertising, he said. However, township Police Capt. Robert Santaniello said he heard the concert mentioned on a New York FM radio station yesterday.
Thaler is with American Talent International, a booking agency in New York. He said his company represents touring performers including Kiss, Rod Stewart and Joni Mitchell.
Blue Oyster Cult is considered a hard rock band, he said. It was formed eight years ago and has recorded six albums for CBS Records, he said.
Officials of the Forum were not available for comment last night.
The concert was originally to be held in the Ocean Ice Palace on Chambers Bridge Road here. However, Pascale said the building could not meet the electric power requirements of the band.
It should be noted that the Saturday, April 1, 1978 issue of the "Asbury Park Press" was touting a rescheduled date of between July 5 and 12:
Rock Concert Rescheduled In Brick Rink
BRICK TOWNSHIP - The Blue Oyster Cult rock band concert, postponed Wednesday night, is expected to be held in July. Gary Pascale, the concert promoter, said yesterday he is negotiating to hold the concert at the Brick Forum between July 5 and 12.
Pascale and the band booking agent had said technical difficulties, such as insufficient provisions for the lighting (which is part of the band's act), caused the the cancellation of the concert several hours before it was scheduled to start. More room was needed between the stage floor and ceiling, they said.
The band was to have performed in an elevated section inside the Forum, an ice skating rink off Route 88 west. Pascale said a portable stage would be used on the floor of the Forum for the rescheduled concert to provide more clearance from the ceiling. About 2,000 tickets were sold in advance of the concert. They are to be honored at the rescheduled performance, the promoter said.
Two days before the concert township officials obtained a court order limiting ticket sales and admission to 3,000. The restriction would also apply to the rescheduled concert unless the promoter, band or Forum owners successfully challenge it in court. Pascale had hoped to accomodate 4,200 persons in the Forum. "It's certainly a situation I want to clear up on Monday or Tuesday," he said.
The concert gained more than the usual amount of attention for a rock band performance because Mayor John P. Kinnevy and Director of Public Safety Eugene W. Halton disagreed on how to arrange additional police protection at the scene. There was no question additional policemen would be assigned to the concert. The dispute was over whether the township ought to become involved in arranging security for a private party and whether the policemen should be paid by the township with money the promoter provided.
However, this rescheduled gig never happened. Having shuffled off its mortal coil, it had run down the curtain and joined the choir invisible. It had passed on and was no more... it had ceased to be...it had expired and gone to meet its maker! It was an ex-gig!!
The 18 Jul 1978 edition of the Asbury Park Press published a coda piece on this affair:
Rock Band Drops Plans to Perform At Brick Forum
BRICK TOWNSHIP - The agent for the Blue Oyster Cult rock band says the group has dropped plans to perform here but an area promoter insists the concert will be staged later.
Meanwhile, a deputy state attorney general says he wants to be sure those who purchased tickets for the Cult performance originally scheduled March 29 here are able to receive a refund.
The band was scheduled as the main attraction attraction at a concert at the Brick Forum March 29. The concert was postponed then, however, because of technical problems. The stage area and electric supply provided for the concert did not meet the band's requirements requirements for the use of its laser lights and other equipment used during the performance.
Gary Pascale, the promoter, said later he planned to hold the concert tonight. However, However, the band is to play in convention hall in Asbury Park Thursday night under a different different promoter.
Doug Thaler, the booking agent for the band, said Pascale failed to meet technical and financial requirements for a rescheduled concert. Sites Pascale proposed for the concert concert were unacceptable or ones he could not rent, such as Atlantic City Convention Hall, Thaler said.
The concert was scheduled for Asbury Park, he said, because it was unfair to previous previous ticket holders to wait any longer for a concert and because the band wanted to perform perform in this area.
Pascale, who promotes under the company company name of Northeast Productions, gave a different version. He said the money Thaler asked him to post for another concert, $6,500, was unreasonable. He said the technical problems at the Forum were not his fault.
He also said he suggested the Asbury Park Convention Hall. Thaler rejected that idea out of respect for a previous Cult concert concert promoter, who also arranged the performance performance Thursday.
He said he has lost $15,000 as a result of the cancellation of the March 29 concert. Municipal officials have been notified he plans to file a suit against the township to be reimbursed for his expenses.
Pascale said he planned to sell 4,200 tickets tickets for the originally scheduled concert. The township, however, obtained a court order limiting admission to 3,000. Pascale said he could not make a profit if he could only sell 3,000 tickets.
"They (township) breached my contract with the group," he said.
He said Convention Hall in Asbury Park seats 4,000.
"We would have done the Forum," said Thaler, who added that Pascale never offered to hold the rescheduled performance there.
Thaler said he wanted a deposit in advance advance to pay for various production fees and equipment rentals because of the cancellation of the first concert.
Pascale said he had to pay production, rent and advertising expenses for the first concert and now faces the prospect of having to make refunds on the tickets.
"This show will be rescheduled," he said. "They still owe me a date as far as I'm concerned." concerned."
Thaler said he was told between 900 and 2,300 tickets had been sold for the concert. Pascale said yesterday it could be about 1,200.
Some persons already have received refunds, he said. Leonard Peduto Jr., a deputy attorney general assigned to the state consumer consumer affairs division, said he is working to ensure those entitled to a refund receive one.
"I want to get this thing taken care of," said Pascale.
The planned concert prompted the Township Council to consider adopting regulations on rock concerts and other mass gatherings.
The show was supposed to be 3/29/78 and was first advertised for the "Ocean Ice Palace", then the venue was renamed the "Brick Forum". After driving 2 hours to get there, we find that BOC won't play, because they had only booked the show as a tryout rehearsal for upcoming dates, and since the stage was very high and the only way to set up the lasers would have meant either playing on the floor or pointing the beams straight down, they decided to cancel.
What a bummer, my first BOC show cancelled.
Opening acts were advertised as Randazzo and the Dictators. I remember seeing somebody walking around in a Dictators satin jacket. At least I found out about the Dictators that night, but I was really pissed at BOC for being lame and not playing without the lasers.
Randazzo actually did play that night, and filmed for a video. I know cuz we were stuck in the cold parking lot for hours with roadies chasing us away, since my dad had driven us and dropped us off, continuing south about 20 miles to my grandparent's for dinner. We called right away, before he even got there, but he made us wait while he had dinner!!!
We watched some of the Randazzo deal from the door, they were the only band to play. They wouldn't let us in. The roadies were there with BOC's gear,as were the Dictators who were milling about, I remember seeing their Satin tour jackets on a few guys. I asked the crew why BOC didnt play without the lasers. They told me the gig was specifically set up as a warmup date to test the laser show, and since they couldn't do that they were cancelling.
I believe they may have been concerned also because the date had been cancelled for a couple days when the venue changed hands, then they decided to go on with it, so maybe BOC were afraid to not get paid, and the laser thing was just a cover story.
I did see that the stage was very high, and the alternative of setting up on the floor with no barriers as we suggested wasn't going to fly either.
I know we were there for hours and only a few people ever showed up and turned away, so I think the tickets didn't sell well. I remember it took quite a while to get the promoter to refund the money too, the store where we bought the tickets didn't want to give our money back, and it was a big hassle.
Being a huge fan of the Blue Oyster Cult, I and all of my friends couldn't believe that they were playing in our hometown.
This was going to be really special. We had previously been to many concerts at the Spectrum in Philly.
I have also seen them in other venues in NYC (The Palladium and Bonds Casino as the Soft White Underbelly) and North Jersey (Capitol Theater).
Well what a big letdown. As mentioned this concert was changed from the Ocean Ice Palace, which has very high ceilings and could accommodate the set up needed for the concert. The Ocean Ice Palace had previously had concerts with groups like Grand Funk Railroad and the James Gang. The BOC show was then changed to another ice skating rink in town "The Brick Forum" that was like a large shed and did have a very low ceiling.
It did take forever to get our money back and I like others do think that the promoter paying the band had something to do with it.
- Show recorded for "Some Enchanted Evening"
I saw BOC only once in the 70's; 1978, Boston Music Hall, now called the Wang Center. Be Bop Deluxe opened. I'd love a set list from this show... even better a recording! This was my first concert.
When I went to this show, I was only thirteen. It was a big deal... not too many of my friends had attended a concert before.
I didn't really know their music back then... I didn't even own any of their music at the time, but when someone presented me with a ticket to a CONCERT, I had to go!
They still had the lazer show: I remember the lazers shining on the mirrors on the back of the guitar and into the disco ball above the stage, and Eric, who had one in his sleeve.
Put it this way, it was my first concert and I was hooked... even to this day, and whatever how many shows later, the concert experience is one that remains special.
There were two nights with Be-Bop, the first of which Be-Bops set was cut short. Eric announced that they were recording a live album these nights, which would become "Some Enchanted Evening", although these shows weren't used.
At one of these, I also caught a (supposedly very rare) performance of "Morning Final".
That's how I have it listed, but it's odd that newspaper advert above doesn't mention the two nights - just this 30th March show... maybe it was a late addition?
I don't recall there being a 2nd night. The night I saw this, there was a terrible problem with the PA... specifically, the right side was cutting out constantly and also a very bad hum/buzz at times. This was during Be Bop Deluxe's set.
Yes, they played a short set being very frustrated with the sound. Most of the set was Drastic Plastic. Not surprisingly, there were no PA issues during BOCs set.
I only remember there being 1 show. Of course being 15 at the time, I only cared about the show I was at...
Here's a review from the Fri 31 Mar 1978 edition of "The Boston Globe:"
Cult cuts a live one
BLUE OYSTER CULT In concert with Be Bop Deluxe at the Music Hall last night.
By Steve Morse
Globe Correspondent
"Here's something you ought to know. We're recording a live album tonight." No sooner were the words out of singer Eric Bloom's mouth than a tremendous bomb-like roar went up from the crowd, which for sheer enthusiasm took no back seat, not even to the heavy-metal diehards who showed up for the Aerosmith concerts earlier this week.
Blue Oyster Cult's live album tentatively entitled "Live Bait" and expected by this summer should be quite the slam-bang affair if last night was any indication. The band did songs from all six of its albums ("Cities on Flame," "Harvester of Eyes," "Hot Rails to Hell" and "Born to Be Wild" were repeated from its first live album, "On Your Feet or On Your Knees") but there were some provocative additions.
These were, specifically, the old Eric Burdon & The Animals song "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" (which had a slow, legato guitar intro by Donald Roeser, in the manner of Carlos Santana, before Bloom belted out the lead vocal with nice crystalline harmonies behind him) and the old MC-5 snorter, "Kick Out the Jams," with a series of riffs from Roeser about as subtle as molten lead. In a white vest and wry smile he looks like an understated Mark Twain, but when he cranks up he has few peers for explosiveness.
The band draws heavily upon '60s rockers like Spirit, the Electric Prunes, the Doors and even a touch of the Music Machine, and the band molds these influences cleverly. Very definitely a riff band, the Cult plays with an old-fashioned bar-band intensity which is coupled with the most modern of light shows. An optical physicist travels with the group and attends to the complex laser system that at one point last night, during "Astronomy," included two green lasers being beamed off of three different mirror balls, creating an effect like a colossal "Star Wars" death fight.
Album-wise, the Cult has shed its semi-Fascist, storm-trooper origins ("that was a tongue-in-cheek thing," Bloom said backstage) and become more accessibly commercial with love songs and more harmonies, but it was to their credit they did such a cross-section last night. They even did "Dominance and Submission," which is eons removed from the la-la-la mildness of "(Don't Fear) the Reaper," done as an encore.
Be Bop Deluxe opened, but ran into serious sound problems and cut short their set to 30 minutes. A shame, because their new album "Drastic Plastic," with its supernatural themes and progressive scope, is their most interesting album yet.
So, it confirms that the gig on the 30th was recorded for SEE, but not a mention of a second gig being played the next night... this is annoying...
A weird sidenote is that on the expanded version of "Some Enchanted Evening", they did include a track from Boston, (for some bizarre reason, another "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" - who was in charge of song selection? If you know, kick them!!) but the date they give is "31 Jan 1978"!!
You know it wouldn't be a BOC LP/CD cover if the info wasn't wrong - for example, the Detroit tracks are given as 30 Jan 1978 and the first 4 tracks were all labelled as Atlanta (it's almost as if they didn't care about the accuracy of the info, just that there was some info) - but it would have really helped if they'd put a correct date on that Boston track...
- Show presumably recorded for "Some Enchanted Evening" (?)
This second show is mentioned in one of Ken Welch's tour itineraries...
If there is still any doubt that there was a second BOC concert - on 3/31/1978 - at the Boston Music Hall, I believe I ran into a piece of info that may support Ken's tour itinerary that there was a show on this date...
On the Thursday 3/30/1978 BOC concert recording, after the last encore (DFTR), Eric thanked the crowd and said "see you tomorrow".
Not definitive, of course, but hopefully helpful!
Thanks Jeff.
BTW: I've finally found some printed evidence that there was a second night here. Here's the listing from the Thu 30 Mar 1978 edition of "The Boston Globe":
Blue Oyster Cult - Music Hall, Tremont Street, Boston. Telephone 423-3300. March 30 and 31, 8 p.m. Tickets $7.50-$8.50 at the box office. Ticketron, Hub, Out of Town and Strawberries. Be-Bop Deluxe also appearing.
The only indication I have that this show occurred is that it appears on one of Ken Welch's tour itineraries...
- The Jam cancelled and would seem to have been replaced by The Godz
- The Godz would then also seem to have cancelled
One of Ken Welch's tour itineraries has this date down as Norfolk VA but I've seen enough ads and gig listings - plus the above ticket stubs - to be confident that this gig was indeed Lexington. Ken did have Lexington KY down on his schedules, but he had it for 7 April.
Furthermore - BOC played Norfolk on 13th July 1978, so perhaps that maybe that was rearranged from this date...? Dunno...
A second area of difficulty with this gig has been to do with the support act(s).
A box ad in the 19 Mar 1978 edition of "The Courier-Journal" said it was Angel and Godz on the bill.
Yet the 31 Mar 1978 edition of "The Lexington Herald" said this:
BLUE OYSTER CULT with guests Angel and Jam. At 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Rupp Arena. Tickets $8 and $7.
BTW: it should be noted that various Jam sites, namely thejamfan.net, thejam.org.uk, as well as The Paul Weller Live Archive (now unfortunately offline) all state that The Jam were also on this bill.
Then again, they all reckon The Jam played at Fort Wayne and we now know that to be false - they didn't turn up for that one. Maybe they'd grown tired of the abuse they had been receiving from BOC fans...
Anyway, their information looks to me like maybe it's been taken directly from original schedules, and hasn't been cross-checked for accuracy using fans' experiences etc...
More convincing evidence comes from listings in "The Courier-Journal" on the day of the gig itself which again harked back to the Godz/Angel double bill concept:
Today - Blue Oyster Cult, Angel and Godz; 8 p.m., Rupp Arena, Lexington Center; tickets $7 and $8, at box office.
So, it was beginning to look like it was indeed The Godz and Angel opening at the Rupp Arena.
I went to this show with my 21 year old brother - but, just like with the Wheeling gig we previously went to (26 Mar), we came in with the opening act already on stage. It was not the same band as Wheeling.
The opening act David thinks he might have seen at Wheeling was The Jam, although I'm still looking for confirmation on that fact.
However, I now think I've got to the bottom of who the Lexington opening act was, all thanks to the following "review" from the Tues 04 Apr 1978 issue of "The Lexington Herald:"
Tiresome Evening Featured Much Flash Little Music
By Barry Bronson of The Herald Staff
The Blue Oyster Cult brought all the rock staging technology in existence to Rupp Arena Sunday night, but all the flash couldn't redeem a so-so musical exhibition.
Using lasers, fireworks, flashpots and special lighting, the New York band whipped their fans into a rock frenzy but continually set them down again with self-indulgent solos and muddled vocals. It was cruel ending to a sad evening of music.
The first insult was a band called Angel. The white-clad dandies were denied use of their many special effects because they weren't headlining so they probably had to rely more on their music than usual. Too bad. The 4000 present had to endure a five-minute taped intro in which band members "materialized" onstage and then they had to endure another eternity before the group quit posing and powerchording and launched into a song.
Angel is the brighter (whiter) side of Kiss. They share the same record label - Casablanca and they employ the same poses, the waving, pointing and howling. Lead singer Frank DiMino's screaming was balanced by Punky Meadows barely adequate guitar playing.
The performance featured all the cliched attempts to bring the audience into the set the "Do You Want To Rock and Roll?" screams the machine-gun guitar blasts and the drawn-out endings to boring songs.
The only tune they delivered with any semblance of excitement and feeling was their new single, "Ain't Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore." They even had the nerve to do an encore.
The Cult works the sinister edge of rock and roll and their heavy metal message is not one of celebration. For creating songs that look to the future and stop the clock at the same time, BOC has few peers. Focal point of the BOC sound is lead guitarist, Buck Dharma. His lightning-quick riffing and intelligent playing rivets attention on the wider underlying guitar currents of all the Cult songs.
Their philosophy might be summed up in This Ain't The Summer of Love, a bitter look at the what's-happening-now tableaux. Vocalist-guitarst Eric Bloom handled his singing role until harmony time when the band's playing drowned out any vocal support.
Besides Dharma's sometimes inspiring guitar playing, the other instrumental standout is drummer Albert Bouchard. Imaginative transitions and colorful off-beats distinguish his technique from the legions of lock-step pounders gracing so many rock stages today. While most of the vocals were muddled, the effort on Born To Be Wild was coming through crystal-clear. It was too bad their version of the song held little excitement.
Helping the show along (and the performance needed help) were special effects like Bloom's laser bracelet and a bank of lasers behind Bouchard's drum kit. The green laser light was bounced off ballroom prisms hung from the Rupp rafters and concertgoers were zapped continuously during the hour-plus show.
When BOC left the stage, few believed they were finished. They hadn't performed their best song, Don't Fear the Reaper. Returning to a modest ovation, the group performed that burner with gusto and the crowd left semi-fulfilled.
The complete absence of any mention of The Godz leads me to the conclusion that they didn't play this gig. This guy was just hunting for things to moan and bitch about, and believe me, he'd have loved to have been able to add The Godz to the tableau of discontent which he was forced to endure that evening.
Until I got the above ticket stub from Ima Scandman, the only previous indication that I had that this show occurred was that it appeared on one of roadie Ken Welch's tour itineraries...
This was my first BOC experience. The show was the Godz, Angel and Blue Oyster Cult. I was hooked.
The only initial indication that I had that this show occurred was a used ticket stub that appeared for it on eBay, but then I saw the following listing in the Thursday, April 06, 1978 edition of the "Anderson Independent"
The Blue Oyster Cult will perform at 7:30 pm April 6 at the Greenville Memorial Auditorium. Tickets are $6.25 in advance and $7.25 at the door, available at the box office.
Logic would suggest that the Godz and Angel might also have been on the bill - does anybody know...?
Initially, the only evidence I had for a gig on this date was that it was listed on the following blog which charts the story of all the acts who played the Freedom Hall:
Then I came across the following review in the Saturday, April 15, 1978 edition of the Johnson City Press-Chronicle:
Oyster: great sound after boring warmups
By Robert Wilson
P-C Staff Writer
Godz and Angel shook Freedom Hall Civic Center April 7 in a typical, and boring, heavy metal fashion, heightening the strong sound of Blue Oyster Cult, the definitive quintet from Long Island NY.
To understand the "mythic" music of Godz, you have to understand the group's fans - brawling and shouting and falling down on the beer-and spit-covered floor. Ranging in ages from 34 to 21, the members of Godz carry guns, ride motorcycles and six nights a week take off their shirts, apply eye makeup, man instruments and create "noise."
Says Godz bass player Eric Moore: "I didn't finish the eighth grade. I went to prison. I should be married to some skinny broad, have three children and live in a house trailer. I've got a nice stereo, two hot rods, a motorcycle, a beautiful old lady. I got all the p----- I want - as far as I'm concerned, I'm a rich man. That's all I need."
Billed by publicists and introduced on stage as "rock and roll's five heavenly bodies," Angel's spectacular theatrics and illusion could not disguise, nor supplement, a very weak sound.
Angel was voted "Best New Group of 1977" by Circus Magazine. So much for Circus Magazine.
Angel's set included a lackluster guitar solo by Punky Meadows, an effeminate bore with an appropriate first name whose one-man segment was nothing more than electric discord.
Keyboard magistrate Greg Giuffria introduced to Johnson City a newly designed guitar-shaped keyboard synthesizer.
The band received a retarded ovation following its debauchery then begged the audience for an encore. The performance of "Ain't Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore," the Rascal standard, sounded too much like the original form.
Like British punk rockers, Godz and Angel play for audiences who are alienated for various reasons, including age, from mainstream commercial rock.
Blue Oyster Cult was superb in comparison.
Lead vocalist Eric Bloom, whose voice is sandpapery and sinister, led the 11-year-old band through the Cult's notorious and eerie themes: Canadian Mounted Police, oil-slicked waterfowl, ODing on life, "diz-busters" and effective ways of going to hell.
Particularly impressive was drummer Allen Lanier.
Detracting from the music, however, were flashing lights and musty smoke, props which tend to irritate the eyes.
Good - I'm glad "drummer Allen Lanier" was "particularly impressive"...
That said, I highly doubt they played Red and the Black, OD'd, Wings Wetted Down or Dizbusters...
Beatlefan Mag
This was a good line up for a BOC show...
I worked at a record store, and had heard the Godz record and saw that Don Brewer of Grand Funk had worked on it, and they did a tight hot set...
I do remember thinking it was more keyboard than guitar, not like the record, but still good.
Angel were pretty funny in spandex and big hair and poses, but they did rock - I also like the Mott - T. Rex tone some of their stuff had...
For BOC the big thing was Godzilla this time out, and I remember EB doing the Zilla--God bit for the reverb part. Really at the top of the game here...
Cheers for that. Incidentally, be sure to check out Rick's anotated stub collection on FaceBook:
I saw BOC on April 8, 1978 at the VBCC in Huntsville, AL. It was a great show, with the crossed guitars, the laser pointer, the 5 guitar lineup, the strobed drum solo where suddenly he's wearing the Godzilla mask, etc.
Ten years later, they played a small club in Birmingham, I think on the heels of Imaginos, where I first heard the reworked version of "Astronomy." I still had the 1978 ticket and both Buck and Eric were good enough to autograph it after the show! I wouldn't sell that for any money on Earth. I still carry the signed ticket around in my wallet to this day.
I was at this concert in huntsville,al. 8th grade/ 14 years old and the opening act was Angel...
i still have my ticket stub and a small concert bill... i think The Godz were also on the bill as the 1st band then Angel and BOC...
Bloom shot a laser off his wrist into a disco ball and we thought it was lift-off!!!
A friend pointed me to your site. Hopefully this is of some interest to you. Here's my brief recollection of the concert.
I attended this concert. I'd just turned 17. I remember taking a friend who had never been to a rock concert before. Normally, I would be on the floor (standing room only) jockeying my way toward the stage. This time we sat in the seats that circled the arena. Probably because my friend wasn't comfortable with the jostling crowd. It turned out to be a good choice this time, I think. We had a better view of the lasers and phenomenal liight show.
I was a fan of Angel, and was impressed with the way they 'materialized' onto the stage. My friend was pretty excited by this and the intense music. But once the Cult took the stage, and the lasers swirled through the crowd, he almost lost it. We were both jumping up, screaming, and climbing on the chairs and the railing (until security warned us to stay off the railing).
'Cities on Flame' was probably the highlight for me. The lasers and pyro really got the whole crowd up, yelling and clapping throughout.
It was an amazing night, the best concert I'd seen. My friend and I talked about it for years after.
- 1 song recorded for "Some Enchanted Evening"
I lived in Jackson, Mississippi at the time and I had a good guitar playing friend from Vicksburg named James Davis. I talked James into going with me to Little Rock to see Blue Oyster Cult at the Barton Coliseum.
We jumped into my 1973 Chevy Nova and headed to Arkansas. Stayed at a Holiday Inn not too far away.
I'll never forget the sight we saw as we entered into the floor arena area of the Barton Coliseum prior to the show that night. The floor consisted on 6" of mud. Apparently they had just had a rodeo there and had not removed the dirt they brought in.
James and I wanted to get close to the stage so we got down there early and stood in the mud. One big problem though... we kept sinking and sinking and sinking!
Anyway, Angel was the opening act and we really thought they were cool! We still get tickled today when we talk about Punky Meadows... we thought that was a funny name.
Once Blue Oyster Cult came on stage, they announced they were recording the concert for a live record that would be out later in the year. James and I made sure we screamed extra loud so we could be heard on the record.
So we knew it would be us, we kept screaming out "Whipping Post" between each song. It was a thrill when Some Enchanted Evening was released because the song from the Little Rock show that made it on vinyl was our favorite song "Don't Fear The Reaper".
I remember the Arkansas women at the concert had really big boobs! That alone was an unforgettable experience. Been a Blue Oyster Cult fan ever since.
The Columbus gig was shuffled forward three days to the 14th due to a terrible accident involving a BOC equipment truck crashing into a car and going over a bridge, resulting in two deaths. Full story below.
You may have seen the dedication to JB Fields on the back of Some Enchanted Evening... here's some info on how that came about...
The scans above come courtesy of Brett Johnson, who also provided this quick synopsis of the incident:
The accident occurred at approximately 9:40 AM on the morning of Tuesday, April 11th (not the 10th, as it turns out), which is the day that the performance was originally scheduled. Killed were Joel Barry Fields, age 32, of Cedar, Michigan, and Cora Lee Perry (age 39) of Columbus, Georgia.
Barry was the owner of a small trucking firm that hauled BOC's lighting equipment; he was only a few blocks from his destination (the Columbus Municipal Auditorium) when the wreck occurred, after a 2-day drive from Little Rock, Arkansas, where BOC had performed on Tuesday night of the previous week.
According to eyewitnesses, it seems that Barry, while heading eastbound into Columbus from Alabama across the Oglethorpe Bridge, which spans the Chattahoochee River, encountered a car that just stopped in front of him. In an effort to avoid hitting this vehicle, Barry swerved and lost control of his semi, which crossed the median into the other (westbound) lane, and crushed the car driven by Ms. Perry.
The tractor-trailer continued over the railing and plunged into the river; it seems both victims died pretty quickly. The driver of the car who was, arguably, responsible for the whole tragedy fled the scene, and I haven't seen anything to indicate that he or she was ever identified.
J. B. Fields was the driver of the semi truck that went over a bridge and into a river with our light rig in Columbus Georgia the year before. He perished, as did a woman coming the other way when the rig swung across the road before going off the bridge. The worst thing that ever happened to BOC.
One of the BOC truck drivers quit so a driver named JB Fields was flown down from Detroit to drive the rig by company owner, a guy called Corona, who'd been hired by BOC to haul See-Factor's lighting gear.
Fields had been hauling ass overnight from Little Rock to Columbus, and while crossing the Chattahoochee River Bridge on 10 April 1978, he ran up on stopped rush hour traffic... it had not rained in over 90 days before that morning, the road film was just like driving on ice, so he lost control as soon as he touched the brake - the truck jacknifed at that point, the trailer swinging into the oncoming traffic and killing a 7th grade school teacher on her way to work...
The truck jumped through the guard rail and plunged 300 ft down destroying him and all of the lighting equipment in the river below. The gig was just on the other side of the bridge... he probably had a great view of the arena as he arced out over the river and landed less than 500 yrds from the parking lot at the gig where he would have parked the truck... so close , yet so far away...
In the court case it was determined that the truck was still travelling at least 70 mph when it went off the bridge, determined by the arc to the impact point as witnessed by 2 fishermen in a boat under the bridge (think that woke 'em up?)...
This thing was complicated even further by state line issues... this accident technically happened - so far as the law was concerned - in Phenix City Alabama, as the state line was at the center of the bridge and he never made it that far... so he killed the woman and left the road in Alabama and landed in Georgia...
The effort to fix the blame and set up some entity to be sued by the family of the woman he killed before going over the bridge took years... The old curse of the cult... EVERYBODY got sued... even the Widow Fields... the lawsuits over this deal went into the 90's: See Factor vs BOC, BOC vs Corona, Corona vs the estate of J.B. Fields... and eventually ended the long-standing relationship between BOC and SFI... I think all the lawsuits were finally settled around 91 or 92...
The subsequent diving and salvage operation (required by the Army Corp of Engineers to clear the channel and billed to See Factor) was interesting as well... the very last thing recovered on the very last dive was the Electrosonics 60 ch lighting board... that was Rick Downey's newest design, the "Darth Vader" system custom made for Downey by Electrosonic... there wasn't another one like it in the world... it was later refurbished by E-sonics and we had it out for many many years afterwards... it was always referred to at SFI as "The River Board"...
The TTI 6 pack dimmers in their anvil cases floated really well and were fished out of the river by various folks MILES downstream... some were returned, but some were in regional bands lighting systems for many years after - I used to run across them all the time, still in their cases that said "B.O.C.- N.Y.C." on the side of them as those were actually owned by the band...
J.B. Fields was well thought of by many people. I never saw so many grown men cry as they did for him.
Jackson Brown mentioned him in the roadie song, "A man named Fields takes us down to shaky town".
Another little known fact is that his seat belt did not function correctly and took several minutes to unbuckle.
I have been told by a witness (J.B. knew he could not jump out of the truck on the way down to the water and he had time to), that he was blowing the truck horn all the way and into the river. I believe that to be true. It was a tremendous loss of a good man.
I originally had this down as a cancelled gig, even though it appeared on one of Ken Welch's tour itineraries... Here's what it actually says was originally scheduled:
- 11 April: Columbus GA
- 12 April: Savannah GA
- 13 April: Atlanta GA
- 14 April: Atlanta GA
Then I got the following information:
I found your website with the BOC tour history while looking for info on a show I attended in Savannah Georgia while in High School. I'm afraid I cannot give many actual details but it's for sure they did play.
The year 1978 does sound right and the lineup of The Godz/Angel/BOC also seems familiar... unless maybe that show really was cancelled and they did a make-up show the next year? All I can say for sure is I was still in High School and they did the big light show with the laser ring.
The show was absolutely at the Savannah Civic Center. That part I can guarantee. There was nowhere else in Savannah for shows of that size back then (and likely still isn't).
Being on the I-95 corridor and in between Atlanta and Jacksonville we got an amazing amount of shows. Most any mid to major 70's/80's rock band you can think of likely played Savannah at least once. The list is long and I know without a doubt that I saw BOC there.
So - Greg had clearly seen a BOC laser gig at the Savannah Civic Center and that led me to re-instating the gig again in my lists - and for want of anywhere better to place it, I gave it a date of 12 April 1978 - the originally scheduled date.
Then I got this email:
Hello - My name is Lee Simerly and I have lived in Savannah all my life. The April 12th show was indeed cancelled as a result of the crash of the truck.
I was 13 at the time and had ticket in hand. I wish I could send you a copy but it got returned for a refund. My dad also had a ticket and he paid for both and returned them both. I wanted to keep mine but he was not going to let me keep a piece of paper he could get 6 bucks for - his words verbatim.
He took me to shows from the age of 10 until I was 14 when he figured I was old enough to go alone. I really am grateful he sat through some shows that were very loud and out of his usual genre of listening.
10-19-75 was my first: BTO. My mom took me to Kiss on November 24th 1976 that was the only show he refused to sit through.
Greg Hubbard may have seen BOC but not here on that date - I am positive.
I hope this information helps.
OK - well that seems pretty definite - the 12th April was cancelled - but if Greg Hubbard saw a laser show at the venue, that gives a window of 13 months for the pickup gig to have taken place, as the lasers were discontinued following the 13 May 1979 Honolulu show.
If anyone out there can put a date on this show, I'd love to hear about it...
- 2 songs recorded for "Some Enchanted Evening"
I'd have loved to have done the intro for SEE (which was taken from this gig). Ain't that a bitch??? I was even standing about 6 ft away from Tony Cedrone when he did that one...
ANGEL was the warmup act for this show as well as THE GODZ...
Here is a link to a homemade video of the opening of this show:
I wasnt able to attend this gig having just recently joined the us navy but ive always wondered about this live album. Up to this point in time I had never heard a live recording by anyone that sounded worth a crap. Then suddenly i hear this album and im like: wtf. first live album i can remember with such a almost studio like clarity to it. most live albums of this time sounded to me like I was listening to them small building with some ear muffs on lol.
was there a technical advance or did the sound people just happen to get it right? Im guessing technical, cause this album was not all from the same place. to bad though the fox in atlanta is the most awesome place to see anything.
Friend of mines uncle was none other that Alex Cooley, im sure that name rings a bell. he was the promoter for 70 percent of the show in this area at the time. 3 nights with Skynyrd there was a test of my party stamina. Mountain sounded hot in there too.
Here's a article about the pyro used in this gig which appeared in the Sun 23 Apr 1978 edition of The Atlanta Constitution :
Atlanta Firm Behind Blue Oyster 'Pearl'
By Scott Cain
Rock concerts are expanding the boundaries of entertainment in more ways than one.
Aside from the musical innovations being wrought by imaginative groups, rock stars are alert to new visual gimmickry and are quick to exploit a flashy device.
In fact, the major change in rock shows over the past three, or four years has been the vastly increased use of visual effects. Many concerts these days are as memorable for what is seen as they are for what is heard.
Indeed, the complaint made against the Kiss group is that its stage presentation is vastly more interesting than its music. Kiss has laughed all the way to the bank.
Most bands try to achieve a balance, Of course. Serious musicians do not want to be remembered as supporting performers to a lot of technological razzle-dazzle.
There is a fine line that has to be walked. Blue Oyster Cult, a band which performed performed 10 days ago at the Fox theater, would seem at least within the confines of our present knowledge to have gone as far as a band can go in presenting an elaborate stage act without having its music overshadowed.
The amount and variety of optical spectacle was dazzling. Hundreds of lights were employed in an uncountable number of combinations. Besides that, there were fog-banks, flashpots, whirling crystal balls and, above all, an elaborate laser-light display.
It turns out that an Atlanta company, MW Productions, is responsible for Blue Oyster Cult's fireworks.
Mel Welch of MW said the Cult show was the largest ever done at the Fox theater theater from a pyrotechnical standpoint yet, he only employed half the quantity he has used in other auditoriums, out of consideration for the beauty of the Fox.
To get things off to a roaring start, Welch and his brother, Ken, who is traveling extensively with Blue Oyster Cult, set off two flashpots, using two ounces of powder in each. The 60-pound pots easily can accommodate' double the dosage he used, Welch says.
Later, singer Eric Bloom startled the audience by activating a laser device attached attached to his arm and nearly hidden by his shirtsleeve. This pistol-like contraption shot a continuous, bright green beam from Bloom's arm to a crystal ball suspended over the audience. In turn, light bouncing off the crystal ball sent beams in a multitude of directions around the hall.
Next, Bloom turned his attention to another crystal ball located further back in the auditorium, directing the green light at it and, once again, the ball reflected the light many-fold around the auditorium.
When Bloom pointed the laser beam at the first crystal ball for a second time, an explosion went off, seemingly in the vicinity of the revolving cylinder. Welch says all this was carefully arranged. His brother, Ken, fired four "very small" flash puff pots which previously had been affixed to the crystal ball. Ken Welch did this electronically, using a console.
Welch's big splash came at the end of the show, when all five members of Blue Oyster Cult took up guitars and pounded away amid a huge battery of blazing lights and thundering fireworks.
Welch said his company's contribution to this extravaganza was an explosion from four flashpots, each equipped with two ounces of powder; the ignition of a long string of "gerbs" over the stage, resulting in a fountain-like cascade of metal particles, and the detonation of 10 flash cannon from the pit in front of the stage, sending white sparks into the air. Welch reports the flash cannon is a device unique to his company.
Welch also said he and his brother are pleased to be involved in the Blue Oyster Cult presentation, because they feel the Cult uses special effects to enhance its music. "There is a meaning for having having it," he finds. He feels some bands need special effects to cover up their shortcomings as virtuosos.
Spectacular as the fireworks and lighting were, the most striking visuals at the Blue Oyster Cult show were created by lasers.
The first incident, in which Bloom seemed to be pointing a gun at the crystal ball, was only a sampling of things to come.
The biggest splash, perhaps 15 minutes long, occurred during a drum solo. A brilliant brilliant green beam emerged from the back of the stage, aimed at the Fox's ornate ceiling. After that came an endless number of variations. The beam spread out at its source, so that it projected along a wide, rather than narrow, portion of the ceiling. Then the waves began to move in patterns, forming ornate ornate drawings where they landed.
Later, the aim of the beam was lowered. Rather than focusing at the top of the auditorium, the light was aimed just over the heads of the audience on the main floor. From the seats, it looked as if a giant green cloud were descending. Many people jumped up and tried to touch it.
While the focus of the light was aimed at this middle level, patterns were changed constantly, so that there was continual movement in this colored "cloud." All things considered, it was a breath-taking show.
In the audience were agents of the federal Food and Drug Administration and the state Environmental Health Office, monitoring the level of laser power. Lasers can cause blindness if a sufficiently powerful beam strikes directly directly on the eye.
Henry Copeland of the state agency said Blue Oyster Cult was required to submit a proposal of its laser show, both for its Atlanta and Columbus performances.
"We take power readings while they are setting up and during the show," Copeland said. Beams can be measured from the audience because the monitoring equipment is portable, he explained.
"There was one part of the show that we found to be excessive," Copeland said. "It was a horizontal sweep across the spectators. I understand it was a fairly rapid scan and I don't think anyone got hurt from it."
Nevertheless, he said the state government is concerned about possible danger from lasers.
He voiced no criticism about bands that have brought lasers into the state, but he implied that rules dealing with this recent phenomenon are ineffective in the event a band does not want to cooperate in maintaining a safe program.
"At present, our regulations do not allow us to act on that in the best way," Copeland said. "Enforcement is a drawn-out process and could even take years to go through."
Something needs to be done, he says. "One should be able to act fairly fast in that situation. We are planning to amend our regulations to be more comprehensive." The best result would be a legal tool which would give state agents authority to do something something in a hurry. "We hope to move faster than the present law would allow us to do," he said.
- Gig rescheduled from 11 April due to fatal crash - see above
- 2 songs recorded for "Some Enchanted Evening"
ROCK GROUP PLAYS TONIGHT
Blue Oyster Cult, originally scheduled to appear in Columbus Tuesday night, will present a concert at 8 P.M. tonight at Municipal Auditorium.
The show was postponed after a two-fatality wreck Tuesday morning on Oglethorpe Bridge. Killed were Joel Fields of Cedar, Mich., driver of a truck loaded with the band's stage lights, and Cora Lee Perry of Columbus.
The truck collided with the Perry vehicle and crashed into the Chattahoochee River.
Blue Oyster Cult takes the stage of Municipal Auditorium tonight, barring any further tragedies. The rock group was supposed to appear Tuesday night, but a fatal accident involving its equipment truck delayed the concert.
Tickets are $6 at Sodbuster and Billy, Super Shirts, T-Shirt Shack, and Tapes and Things. Blue Oyster Cult still plans to record the concert for an album, and rock groups Angel and Godz will also perform.
I actually attended the columbus georgia show in that was part of the enchanted evening cd...
The driver of the semi lost control coming over the bridge to columbus municipal auditorium and all their equipment went over the bridge into chattahoochee river. (driver was killed unfortunately).
New equipment was sent down from atlanta and they did the show 3 days later. I may be able to get newspaper archives with pictures at local library and send as well.
I sit and talked to Allen briefly about it in atlanta 2006 and he did remember although he looked like he was still not feeling his best....
Columbus, '78: Of course, genuine tragedy & bad luck surrounded that performance (as documented). But sticking to the music, I gotta agree that "Astronomy" was the highlight, plus "Cities on Flame" had a couple of my friends digging for BOC's first live album.
And yes, that version of "ETI" from Some Enchanted Evening (recorded that night, along with "Astronomy") burned pretty good, too.
first off the original bill was: the godz/angel/boc
the godz hadn't showed by 8:00 and mike blackwell - bash productions/concert promoter came out and gave a small eulogy and got a minute of silence... then brought out angel, for 45 mins easy and blue oyster cult... played till right at 11:00 so maybe 1:30 min show
highlights:
- the ring laser: there was a mirror ball hanging from the ceiling and as Eric was shooting it around he shot it at the ball and it blew into confetti
- roadhouse blues was done
- the long Godzilla drum solo/mask and strobe lights from hell.
- and every band member holding strings jamming on ? song at the edge of the stage
- final encore: buck comes out saying something as he plays and did a short solo? and started reaper...as the band members came back on stage
I can confirm this show took place on this date.
I was at this show. My first BOC concert and I can't confirm a setlist but I can confirm Angel opened the show and BOC kicked so much ass, musically and with their laser show, that I was hooked forever.
This show was the only time in my 45 yrs. I've ever seen lasers pointed at a mirror ball so when they hit they turned into a thousand laser beams all over the Coliseum! Walls, floor, crowd, there were beams everywhere. Of course now we have strict rules so no one gets zapped in the eye, but I don't remember anyone loosing an eye that night, just having the time of their lives watching a 5 guitar assault.
Good Times!
The main thing I remember about the show is it was a brand new auditorium and if BOC weren't the first event there period, they certainly were the first rock concert.
The building was perfect for the show as the wall opposite the stage was flat; no seats; a perfect tapestry for the lasers, which were in full force that night. "I think I hear something big outside the house!"
The April 16, 1978 Blue Oyster Cult concert was opened by Angel. It was the very first rock concert held in the relatively new Mississippi Coast Coliseum.
I attended. I was 17 years old. I do not remember the set list but I vaguely remember they drew heavily from Spectres and Agents of Fortune.
I can remember they opened with, "This Ain't The Summer Of Love" and ended with "Born To Be Wild".
I have a few photos I took with an instamatic camera (110). I got some decent shots of Buck Dharma playing his tobacco sunburst Les Paul while arching his back.
Also, there is a snapshot of him playing his white Gibson SG that was stolen a few years back. If I get a chance to scan them and transfer them I'll eventually send them to you.
I stood front center stage. Maybe that's one reason my hearing has a threshold shift today.
I hope this helps.
The only indication I have that this show occurred is that it appears on one of Ken Welch's tour itineraries...
Setlist fm website has: "Tallahassee - Leon City Civic Center"...
However, I see nothing about this show in the local newspaper. As far as an opening act, it may have been "Angel," but definitely not "Be Bop Deluxe"!
The only problem with that as a venue possibility is that according to their wiki page, the Tallahassee-Leon County Civic Center - (since renamed the "Donald L. Tucker Civic Center") - only actually opened in 1981, which would make a 1978 BOC gig there a temporal abnormality...
What I remember about the show initially was that Angel had been opening some shows for BOC in the South, and I was hoping to see them. But as I drove into B'ham from Mississippi, the radio spots for the show were announcing Be Bop Deluxe as the opening act. At the show, a guy next to me said he had seen Angel open for BOC in Huntsville, Alabama a couple of weeks earlier. He said Angel were really good and put on a great show.
Shortly, someone from the local rock station announced to the audience that Be Bop Deluxe had not made it to the venue and BOC had agreed to play a little extra than normal.
So, they played a little over 2 and a quarter hours. Back then, most shows were about an hour and a half in length.
I went to see them in Dothan Alabama a few nights before they left for Europe and they put me on standby to do that tour because Sugarbear was having passport problems... they never called me up though...
It is possible that Be Bop Deluxe didn't show up for this show ! The truck was traveling from the west coast and did not make it in time for the Birmingham Alabama show April 19th 78. I was at the Birmingham show and was very UPSET ! I drove there from Atlanta Georgia 150 miles away!
Can anyone confirm/deny this one? Did Bill Nelson & Co. turn up for this gig?
Here's a review of this gig from the Sun 23 Apr 1978 edition of The Tampa Tribune :
Opener Overshadows Smouldering 'Cult'
By Eric Harris
Tribune Staff Writer
With the finest ax-man in the states in Don (Buck Dharma) Roeser and six albums of gut-wrenching guitar riffs, Blue Oyster Cult once was one of the finest rock bands America had to offer.
Before the band broke out of its cult status with 1976's "Agents of Fortune" album featuring a top-20 hit, "(Don't Fear) The Reaper," Blue Oyster Cult put on a live set that sent audiences reeling.
The band's Friday night performance at the Lakeland Civic Center, however, demonstrated how success can spoil a good band.
Instead of concentrating on their music, Roeser and lead vocalists Eric Bloom and Co., were content to play with the vast array of toys they have been able to buy with their new-found success a $100,000 laser light show that is something less than overwhelming,' and a massive fireworks display at the end of the set that nearly set the stage and the first five rows of spectators afire.
The show opened with great promise. The Cult ran through three tightly constructed songs and the show appeared to be building toward a great climax. Then the stage amps blew, killing the PA, and resulting in a distracting 10-minute delay.
When the sound was restored, Cult drummer Al Bouchard went into a 20-minute drum solo followed by a 10-minute drum and bass duo to set a musical backdrop for the laser light show of red and green patterns flashing on the back wall.
With nearly half the show killed and all continuity lost, the band got back on track to play their anthem "Cities Aflame With Rock and Roll".
They concluded their set with Steppenwolf's "Born To Be Wild," that included, a five-minute rendition of Deep Purple's old "Take two guitars, put them string-to-string and see what noises you can make" recipe.
Then as the the band moved back to the drum kit, Roman candles, sparklers and smoke bombs erupted from the front of the stage providing a curtain of sparks to close the set.
After the roadies stamped out a couple of smoldering fires on the stage, Blue Oyster Cult came back on stage for an encore of "(Don't Fear) The Reaper."
While the Cult was content to play a set of fireworks and laser beams, the night was not a total loss. Opening act Be Bop Deluxe put on an excellent set, weaving fine clean guitar work around David Bowie/Brian Ferry-like lyrics.
Lead guitarist Bill Nelson's lyrics are sarcastic and angry, inspired by impersonal relationships and a twisted view of the modern world and the future.
Unlike Blue Oyster Cult's excesses on stage, Be Bop Deluxe had an almost "Gee Whiz" quality to them. They simply got up in front of the audience and played their hearts out to win some friends. That they did.
Here's a review of this gig from the Mon 24 Apr 1978 edition of the Tampa Bay Times:
Laser light show provides the thrills at Blue Oyster Cult's Lakeland concert
By Bob Underwood
Special to The St. Petersburg Times
Even if Blue Oyster Cult is not terribly original in the rock music world, it can rest assured that it's one up on St. Petersburg in laser-artistry. The $100,000 laser light show the group demonstrated at their concert in the Lakeland Civic Center Friday makes the defunct laser sculpture of Pier Place look like a flashlight with weak batteries.
In fact, the laser easily rivals, if not surpasses, any other concert gimmick of recent years. The lasers lent to the group some badly needed stage personality. A hand-held laser-focusing prism was especially helpful to lead vocalist and bass guitar Eric Bloom in making his satanic antics of witchcraft that much more convincing.
The staging also included some nice fireworks and some sparkle-spouting flash pods. But the laser was clearly the main attraction and the group wasted no time in showing it off. Before the opening chords were even cold, they hit the audience with three laser beams fragmented off crystal globes on the ceiling, bathing them in gyrating webs of green light. This was sheer delight for the predominantly young crowd of 12,000.
Ooooohh! Aaaaaahh Faaaaaarrr Out!
WHEN THE LASERS went off, though, the cult's music grew old in a hurry. And, had they not had these outstanding visuals, they would have been upstaged and outclassed by their support act, Be-Bop Deluxe.
This is not to say the cult's concert had no musically enjoyable moments. They played a great rendition of Eric Burdon's oldie We've Got to Get Out of This Place, and also of Steppenwolf's late '60s hit, Born to be Wild. The Cult played songs from all six of their albums, and some brand-new material as well.
The audience particularly enjoyed Godzilla, Cities on Flame, and This Ain't the Summer of Love.
For the most part, however, the heavy metal was too heavy and too monotonous to stand on its own. The group seemed either afraid or unwilling to allow any variations in tempo that might suggest a low point, or to indulge in any chords that were less than searing to the ear. Must songs performed quickly reached a high point and hung there aimlessly.
Even (Don't Fear) The Reaper, a pearl of a song that Blue Oyster cultivated into a hit single, was artificially hyped to keep pace with the nonstop frenzy that the Cult is known for.
Be-Bop Deluxe had little difficulty with the inadequate sound system, but the sound proved quite a problem for the Blue Oyster Cult. As the Cult increased the volume, the distortion increased with it. At one point the amps failed for several minutes, putting a bad dent in the nonstop action. Even the obligatory screams for an encore weren't nearly so enthusiastic for the Cult as they'd been for Be-Bop Deluxe. And Be-Bop hadn't had a laser, any fireworks or even a smoke-bomb.
THEY DID HAVE musical talent, though. Most of it was in the form of Bill Nelson, the clean-cut '50s throwback who originated the group six years ago, and who writes their music and performs the lead vocals and guitar.
All too aware that most of the people had come to see Blue Oyster Cult and had never heard of Be-Bop Deluxe, Nelson and the group played for all they were worth. They were determined to recruit some new fans before the night was out.
They played hard and fast, but kept in control of the music and weren't afraid to give a song time to build. The best loved of their set were Ships in the Night, Possession, Superenigmatix, and their new single, Panic in My World.
The excellent jam sessions between Nelson and bass player Charles Tumahai put Nelson in the class with such prime guitar pickers as Jimi Hendrix, Bill Haley and Al DiMeola. Andrew Clark also deserves credit for his quick, clean keyboards, somewhat like the sounds of Keith Emerson.
Be-Bop is a talented, innovative and energetic group. They are just now coming out of four years of a limited cultish following and are looking looking at the big time. Hopefully, they can make it without compromising their unique talents with top 40 non-tunes or compensating for lack of talent talent with a flashy laser show. We already have more than enough searing riff-raff rock to go around.
Here's an account of this gig from the Wed 26 Apr 1978 edition of the The Miami News:
'It was the best night of my life'Rock 'n' roll impressions from a 13-year-old
By Jon Marlowe
HELP-HELP ME RHONDA:
Last Saturday night, 15,247 South Floridians jammed and crammed themselves into the Hollywood Sportatorium for a concert by one of America's premier rock'n'roll bands: Blue Oyster Cult.
One of those 15,247 people was North Miamian Rhonda Kerr, the 13-year-old winner of the Miami News' Rock word Contest.
Rhonda's prize: a limousine ride to the concert, a chance to meet Blue Oyster Cult backstage, and a complete catalog of all their LPs.
It was my pleasure to be the escort for lil' Rhonda, who turned out to be a most charming rock'n'roll princess.
Following the concert, I asked Rhonda if she'd like to take over my Off The Record column this week, and describe her night at the concert in her own words.
Rhonda happily agreed and the following is her unedited report:
"When I first won the contest, it didn't really hit me. My friends at school were all excited for me, saying saying congratulations. Some people who saw my name in the paper called me up and stuff.
But then last week, I started to become so excited. And really scared, because it finally hit me. I really was going in the limousine to meet Blue Oyster Cult.
"When the white, chauffeur-driven limousine came to my house I didn't know what to do. It was just fantastic. I started jumping up and down. I couldn't believe it. Everything they said I was going to win in the Miami News I did. And more.
"Jon Marlowe came to the door and kissed me and gave me the six Blue Oyster Cult albums I had also won. My mom then took pictures of me and Jon and the chauffeur by the limousine.
"The chauffeur's name was Rollie. I was sorta' hoping hoping his name was James, so I could have said 'Onward James.'
"Jon was a great escort. He got everyone to do things for me. He made me real happy. Whatever I wanted he got for me. Like when Blue Oyster Cult all signed one of their albums that I had won. They didn't put 'To Rhonda' on it, so Jon went back in the dressing room and made them put 'To Rhonda' on it. I thought that was real neat.
"I had never been backstage or in a band's dressing room before. I really loved going backstage. In the band's dressing room there was a lot of food. The drummer was practicing all by himself. There were boots in the corner. Everything was kind of a mess. But it was a nice mess.
"When I met the band they were just so nice to me. I really couldn't believe that they were all so friendly. I just didn't think they were going to be that nice.
"I also couldn't believe that they were all so little. And when I was getting my picture taken with them, the drummer smiled at me and said 'Oh, you're short, too.'
"When the band went on stage to play they gave me and Jon special permission to sit on the platform where the man who runs the lights was so I could see them play. Otherwise I would have had to go out in the crowd and stand on the floor like everybody else and then I never would have seen anything.
"Blue Oyster Cult was just fantastic. I had never seen them before, but it was just like Jon said they were like in the paper. They had these laser lights which they did all kinds of amazing things with. I really really liked their music, too. They sounded real loud and good and they really put on a great show.
"I also met the man in charge of all the limousines. I think his name was Pete Wagner. He showed me his personal autograph book. It had all kinds of star's names in it, like Cher and the Eagles. Peter Frampton's name was also in it.
"When I found out I had the same white limousine that Peter Frampton used when he was in Miami I started to shake all over inside. I sat exactly where Peter Frampton sat. Right by the radio and the air conditioner controls and all the little buttons.
"Hours after the concert was over we were still in this big traffic jam. Four cars had smashed up real bad and further up the road three more cars had smashed up.
"When all the cars were stopped in the traffic jam, some of the people thought we were in Blue Oyster Cult because of the plush white limousine. They started honking their horns at us and waving and getting out of their cars and banging on the windows. It was real funny.
"I didn't mind being in the traffic jam because I had never done anything like this before. Most people never even get to go backstage at a big rock concert. There's a lot of security and you have to have all these passes. You really have to be very special to get backstage.
"I'm just so happy and thrilled.
"I not only got to go backstage, but I also got to meet a very famous band and have somebody like Jon Marlowe do everything for me.
"It was really the best night of my life."
1978 was the year BOC brought their fabulous travelling laser show to the UK/Europe and finally we got to see what all the fuss was about...
At several of the shows, they also turned up with mobile recording trucks and in September we got to see some of the results when the live "Some Enchanted Evening" was released.
Leicester was supposed to be the opening date of the BOC European tour - however, this show got moved forward about six weeks to 2nd June after the tickets got printed...
Flaming pyrotechnics, lasers, smoke... plus great rock'n'roll, Blue Oyster Cult is the group you always dreamt about. Even though there were sounds problems and the visual effects had to be curtailed somewhat, this first date of their UK tour proved that this is one band who have no trouble living up to their semi-mythical status.
Main vocalist is Eric Bloom, who plays guitar too but takes time out to stalk the stage like a Manson/biker mutation, all leather-coated growls'n'howls. The band's line up has always seemed a bit anonymous on records, but onstage it's easier to enjoy the individual personalities: Allen Lanier doing his guitarings and Phantom of the Opera keyboard-hunch, Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser on stripy suit and six-string magic, A. and J. Bouchard on drums and bass respectively (sturdy boys indeed).
They opened with "R.U. Ready 2 Rock" from the recent "Spectres" album and then whomped into "E.T.I." from Agents of Fortune, their previous record. Those two albums are generally considered to be more "poppy" than the previous four they've done, but in a live situation the unity of all their songs comes through: this stuff blends perfectly with the (supposedly) harsher tones of "Harvester of Eyes" and "Cities on Flame" (on which drummer boy Albert takes lead vocals) where Bloom gets to beat a mean cymbal.
The lasers and all that techno-hardware are used sparingly and effectively, not just as gratuitous embellishment. Sometimes they have a single beam trained on one of those revolving ballroom-globe things, splashing stars across the audience; at others interweaving lines dance across the ceiling through the smoke, the full-scale stuff coming in during "Godzilla" (their tribute to Japanese culture) while Albert dons a horses's head (Patti!?) for a synth-treated drum solo on a Doors/"Texas Radio and the Big Beat" level.
They also showed their Animal-istic side by doing "We Gotta Get Outta This Place", which'll be included on a forth-coming live elpee, and the Stones get a nod during Joe's bass solo in "This Ain't the Summer of Love", when he slips in the riff of "Why Don't We Sing This Song All Together" from "Satanic Majesties".
That leads into the famous bit where the whole band plays axes, followed by their famed "Born to be Wild" interpretation (let's hear it for Mars Bonfire!) where Buck and Bloom indulge in some guitar frottage.... wonderful and enriching life experiences every one.
Gawd, and they encored with the hit single "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" (I refuse to mention the Byrds here), an important late seventies artifact, and that's for sure. I slid out happy, and so did the crowd, the CBS man, our driver, and even our reggae-ised photographer.
And as we left, we saw a normal, healthy-looking girl kissing a discarded plectrum... Let's hear it, girls, for the thinking man's Yardbirds!
Some stuff I recall.
Japan were pre-"Ghosts" era, and to me were just another arty proto-new wave act from the US. Interesting in places though. I recall them slowly using a famous circus riff while DS croaked "welcome to the fairground". But that's about it. Sorry, guys.
BOC's sound WAS dire at first, Japan were EXTREMELY delayed getting on because of techie problems, and it took until half way through ETI before Buck's guitar was audible at all. But from then we were there.
The setlist? you missed out "Last Days Of May", when the solo was very extended, and probably bloody fantastic, but all I recall was standing, mouth agape, watching the lasers interplaying on the underside of the balcony... cannot place where it was in the set though.
...and unfortunately, during ME 262, Albert did fluff his one true solo guitar riff. I totally forgive all, because it is my top 5 best ever gigs attended. Hell yeah :)
This wasn't just a concert it was an total body experience! Japan were dire and having come on late seemed to drag on there then followed quite a gap before BOC exploded onto stage.
As I remember it, the taped background music changed to the sounds of bombs falling and exploding, the auditorium was by now in total darkness, not even a red power led to be seen. As the sounds of the explosions came to a near deafening crescendo a bank of powerful white lights on a gantry over the stage and facing us burst into life and blinded us at the same instant as the first notes of Are You Ready burst into life. No one had EVER started a gig like that before and probably not since either.
I too remember being totally awestruck by the whole experience. Eric Bloom strutting around the stage all in leather with mirrored shades and then treating us to the laser ring mirrored ball display and laser show. Albert Bouchard's Godzilla headed drum solo was done to a strobe linked to his beats so that whilst you were listening to his amazing solo you were watching a drummer that barely seemed to be moving.
The five guitarists all lined up at the front of the stage was amazing as was the shock the front rows got shortly after when some of the band appeared with what looked like machine guns that were pointed and fired at them with flashing lights in the barrels and authentic sound effects. Many ducked for cover! It is still probably the best gig I have ever been to, it is certainly the best 'show' I have ever seen.
Great site, thank you for the memories and putting a date to it.
Let's get this straight - nothing will ever compare with seeing BOC for the first time. (see my review - my first BOC gig Nov 1975). But now they were my band. I lived and breathed the BOC. I had waited nearly 3 years to see them again and I was going to love every minute of the show - I would even watch the support band, it meant that much to me. As it was such a celebration (and I was nearly the legal age) we went out for a few beers before the show - fortunately not as many as the guy sat next to me in the stalls at the Free Trade Hall. My abiding memory from watching Japan was this bloke from Sheffield looking at the lead singer David Sylvian, and saying " I'd give her one" When I pointed out that it was actually a man, he replied " I don't care, any port in a storm".
The BOC were of course superb, though I have to say, not quite as good as 1975, I think this was partly a result of having to share them with my mate Gary who was never really a fan but pretended he was and went slightly overboard for my liking; and Eric Bloom during " We got to Get Out of Here" tripped slightly over one of the amps, and I was by this stage by the side of the stage watching every second; and it slightly took the gloss off it.
The laser show, I saw as a bit of a gimmick - yes it was cool, yes it was impressive, but I was here for Buck. I wanted the white suit out at the front milking the audience. Single spot light Buck's Boogie and I was happy - but unfortunately it was never to be. Instead we got the tepid " Are you Ready 2 Rock?" which should have been consigned to "Ant & Dec's Greatest hits" and "ETI", which was never one of my favorites.
But then they got into their thing and produced classics like "Last Days of May" and "ME 262" "Godzilla" started well but the drum solo went on slightly too long for my liking - the lizard head just did not work for me - but they returned to the dynamic form with " Born to be Wild" and of course " Don't Fear the Reaper".
I also loved "Summer of Love" as it was a personal favourite. The five guitar medley seemed slightly more orchestrated than in 1975 but this may be me being overly critical- it just appeared as though it was expected and they were playing to the audience - never a bad thing but not so great if you feel that you are being pandered to; I got the impression that it was a burden rather than a pleasure; in a similar way that "Don't Fear the Reaper" has with time labeled the band to a particular image. Of course it is a brilliant song, but they are so so much more; (obviously "OYFOOYK" would testify to this, as does the live 1978 album for those that that have or can get a copy).
Gary predictably went over board after the concert, they were the best thing that he had seen, but who did he have to compare them with? Queen?, Uriah Heep? Pink Floyd? I think not.
My overall impression looking back some 28 years? It was superb, of course it was superb; but they felt constrained by the lasers, which were great but forced them to be in certain places at certain times and this was too regimented for BOC. They needed to be free to roam the stage; they needed to focus on songs such as Buck Boogie, and Harvester of Eyes, and I needed to be there with proper fans and not my mate Gary who really did not appreciate them for what they were. He had not put nearly three years in of hard labour in the bedroom strumming the air guitar to the BOC and could not appreciate the intricacies of "On your Feet or On your Knees" (and I don't care if the band did not like it; it is still one of the (if not the) best live album ever produced"
Of course I enjoyed the show; but it was different to the first time. I came expecting the same as 1975 but they had developed. They had grown and I had not. Unfortunately we had gone in slightly different directions; they wanted the gloss of the light show and I wanted the raw energy of five guitars blistering the audience. We compromised somewhere in between, though I was left wanting more. Less stadium band; more down and dirty...
My first ever proper concert - BOC @ Manchester Free Trade Hall circa '77
Obviously being my first concert I was staggered, and it still rates as one of the best shows I've ever seen...
Lasers were fabulous, including Eric's hand-held one, and another that was fired at a *very* rapidly spinning ballroom mirror-ball - caused small chunks of laser light to fly off like WWII tracer bullets !
Can't remember much of the set list, but I would guess it was promoting Agents Of Fortune ( or would it be Spectres ? )
Saw them again in '81-ish in Leeds - much more low key, but still a great show - no lasers that time.
Incidentally, talking about support acts, the Manchester show opened with Japan, who were at that time in a sort of glam-rock, heavy makeup and spandex phase ( very New York Dolls ) ! Hard to imagine that this was the same Japan who later produced all the new-romantic type stuff a few years later.
I've got the full set list for the 28th April 1978 gig at Manchester Freee Trade:
- R.U.ready to Rock
- ETI
- Harvester of Eyes
- Cities on Flame
- We gotta get out of this place
- Last Days of May
- ME 262
- Kick out the Jams
- Godzilla
- Summer of Love/5 Guitars
- Born To Be Wild
- DFTR
I went to this gig. second time i'd seen BOC,first time in 1975 same venue. In 75 I was 3 rows from front standing on back of chair but at this one on front row of circle.
Lasers and dry ice created a cloud effect with us looking down through them, fantastic. The band was as good as previous gig but light show made the concert more of a "show". Drum solo with godzila head was amazing as was eric's hand laser that shot mirror ball during the incredible ETI.
Seen band nearly every time they came to UK and they never fail to deliver but this was the best alround gig.
Glasgow was the first time I saw BOC. I'd persuaded 6 or 7 mates to come with me, who'd vaguely heard of the BOC - needless to say, they left fully-converted!
Quite bizarrely; the support band were Japan!! Although I didn't like much of their stuff, barring the odd track, I did feel very sorry for them. David Sylvian and his mates, all dressed-up and made-up to the hilt, getting booed and jeered through their entire set!!
I suppose it would be the modern-day equivalent of having Gareth Gates being the support act for Linkin Park!
The band came on in complete darkness and just blazed into life. Most of the tracks were as those featured on the 'On Your Feet' album. As stated previously, this tour introduced their laser show and it was quite superb, especially for the 'neutral'.
The highlights? Buck's superb 'Last Days Of May' and the duelling guitars on 'Born To Be Wild'. Another was seeing the whole band, side by side with guitars!
We were in a box at the Apollo for this gig and it was nothing short of amazing for a wee 17 year old.
Everything said I'll verify, especially the lasers (the next time we were to see lasers was at Knebworth later that year) and the whole band giving it laldy, each one with a guitar.
This gig also sticks out for the mismatch of the support band. Japan's single at the time was Don't Rain On My Parade (advertised on the back page of the NME). When David Sylvain started singing it it was just him in a spotlight, nothing else.
I'm guessing he'd never heard of the Apollo crowd and I'm guessing he'll still remember what happened next... The noise started slowly and within about a minute it was just incredible.
I really felt sorry for the guy, wasn't impressed with his stuff, but I felt sorry for the guy. Nobody in the place liked him or wanted him to be there. Pretty frightening actually.
P.S. I still have the T-Shirt.
I found a review of this gig in the 13 May 1978 edition of "Record Mirror":
Smokey Blue
Tim Lott
Low down in the register, those mysterious chords that are the bricks and mortar - the sheet metal and Isopon - of power music lie potent in the guts of the heavy metal lords.
Sometimes the latent visceral power is spewed out ugly and unpalatable, stumbling and blind. Uriah Heep, Black Sabbath, look to yourself and wipe the sickly vomit from your crushed velvet lapels. You, a sham. You, a mekanik.
Occasionally, once in a million shots in the dark, beefcake chordmasters make a type of music that is not dumb, that is not only for 15 years olds with death obsessions.
The Blue Oyster is sometimes that sort of animal. Sometimes.
To be perfectly accurate, they are capable of being just as tedious as any superchording cowboys, times when their muscle turns into stringy corned beef. Like when they drum solo. Like when they bass solo.
Fortunately, during these perennially tedious occupations, the Oyster Cult provide alternate entertainment, which probably 98 per cent of the audience or so occupy themselves with during these trying times.
They achieve this with light. Diffuse light in the rainbow spotlights. Coherent light with £quarter million worth of lasers, sea green and magic. All shot through screens of thick dry ice smoke. A separate show, pupil dilatory magic lantern wizardry.
Also, Oyster Cult have one of the cleverest skin and sinew guitarists on the circuit. Despite looking like a Midlands encyclopaedia salesman, Donald Roeser is a very fast, very earthy guitarist with a quality that almost never goes hand in hand with plutonium sound i.e. subtlety.
Oyster Cult are also versatile. While sometimes they produce sounds that would not stick out too obviously at a Rainbow concert - as on 'R U Ready 2 Rock' - they can sometimes sound like a toughened up Byrds, demonstrated on the soon to be classic 'Don't Fear The Reaper'.
'Godzilla' represents them at their best. More explosive material than a million Grand Funk Railroads, but as snappy and instantaneous as 10cc. A kind of pop heavy that is something new, something infinitely more rewarding than any of their counterparts are capable of.
Unfortunately, I have a mental block against heavy metal of just about any breed - having shoved it behind me five years ago. Looking back just gives me a cricked neck, so I got bored with BOC unreasonably often.
There is no doubt though, from what I can objectively guess from the adulation of the audience, that the Blue Oyster Cult are ahead of their field and widening the gap all the time. Their image is fairly prissy but their music is pig iron, wrought in fantastic shapes.
They are the shape of heavies to come, an unprecedented combustion of muscle and thought. The fireworks coming from the speakers have the brightness of a thousand of the Brock's type exploding at the stage periphery.
Let's not beat around the bush here. And let's not have none of you poor suckers besotted by Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow or Judas Priest or Starz (or whatever other satin loon-panted collation of behemoths making for your personal cup of meat) penning barbed missives in reference to my next statement, OK., because they'll only be treated with the same 'down the dumper' disrespect they deserve.
See, the facts as I recognize 'em are clean-cut to a fine-boned T - the two kings of heavy metal rock in the world right now are Britain's own Thin Lizzy and the U.S. Blue Öyster Cult.
Not that they're alike, mark you - just that they're the best at what they do.
Ignoring Lizzy's merits (after all this is a BÖC review!) - the Cult's state of grace resides simply in the fact that they are good songwriters, never satisfied with falling into tried-or-true formulas, genuinely creative, write lyrics that are often oblique, yes, but are also thought-provoking, witty and well-constructed as opposed to the usual hard-bitten ream of terrible 'Hand of Doom' variants, self-effacing in regard to their chains-and-leather image and, most of all, as far as the punters are concerned, they deliver with a vengeance.
So, yes of course I was only too happy to trek up to Newcastle to see them live for the first time in two and a half years.
Back then, I'd been reviewing as well and had found them disappointing in the style of those bands who've been working ceaselessly for years and years and had run their inspiration into the ground and were instead just going through the motions.
On that previous showing, I'd figured 'em to be something of a spent force but, shazam, in the following months and seasons came the killer "Agents of Fortune" and later, the slightly less spectacular but still pretty damn impressive "Spectres" and I was hooked once more.
The show I witnessed at Newcastle then, was very, uh, impressive.
Visually for example, there were moments that were nothing short of staggering with lasers flashing and causing gasp-worthy patterns of light so damnably disarming in their effect that I forgot completely that the only sound coming from the stage was a drum solo at one point.
Indeed, it was the lighting that, if anything, was the star of the show because it never ceased to hold one's attention and, as such, it's only in the cold light of retrospective that one can disengage the lighting shenanigans from the band itself and the music being performed.
In such a light I must note the remnant of a residue of the very aspect of the BÖC show that cased me so much discomfort.
That is, the Cult go all out for presenting a spectacle to the point where their not-inconsiderable repertoire is by no means fully touched upon.
The most obvious skull-crushing, monuments to BÖC firepower are all in there - starting with an effective "R.U. Ready 2 Rock" and moving through "ETI", "This Ain't the Summer of Love", "ME262", the poignant respite of a near-ballad (whose title escapes me) that closes "Secret Treaties" with a particular hell-fire piece-de-resistance work-out on "Godzilla" from "Agents of Fortune".
To say they were performed well would be almost too redundant - these boys have never been anything less than pros and the show is an exercise in split-timing effects matched with guitar army fire-power.
Nothing's been lost or worn away by time in the performing of the show-stoppers is all, really.
However, there were some surprises. BÖC are planning a live album I later learnt, which is why unlikely non-original morsels like The Animals' "We've Gotta Get Out Of This Place" and The MC5's "Kick Out The Jams" were tossed into proceedings - both performed with the typical heavy metal thunder expected of the band (although the latter, though expertly executed, just missed out on the edge engendered by the sheer mania of the MC5's archetype).
So far, so good.
But it was when "Born To Be Wild" was trotted out as the last number (before encore time) that things got just a touch too predictable.
The song should really be dropped for a start, but more to the point it brought home the fact that the BÖC's repertoire is too constructive for their own musical good.
"Don't Fear The Reaper" (with Buck Dharma playing all guitar parts, by the way) and "Hot Rails To Hell" were a great double-headed encore, sure, and I doubt as to whether anyone left the hall dissatisfied that night.
But still the feeling lingers. The Cult have a strong diverse repertoire and I for one would have possibly preferred to see them mining just that (where were any of Alan Lanier's fine songs, or "Death Valley Nights" or "Nosferatu" or "Sinful Love"?) as opposed to working their act around the stunning visuals.
One almost gets the impression that they're too frightened to go out on that particular limb - just them and their music - and hide instead behind the amazing laser flashes.
I had my best ever live BOC moment at the Birmingham Odeon (UK), my 4th ever concert.
The security had kept everyone in their seats all evening, which wasn't too bad as I was in the front row. Well when the band launched into Born to be Wild, everyone just ran forward and flattened the bouncers.
I was pressed up against the stage at Buck's feet. The security men started crawling along the floor at the foot of the stage, Buck (whilst playing a soaring guitar solo) started saying "Get back lads, keep back!", the security stood up, linked arms, put their feet on the front of the stage and pushed back, Buck leapt back, and the whole of the front of the stage exploded into flame! Amazing.
That same concert, they had had Japan as support (who books these shows?!), and they got booed and slow-hand-clapped etc. When it came to Godzilla, Eric introduced it "This song is almost Japanese", which got a huge reaction from the crowd.
One of my best ever gigs, and I've seen a few classics.
Seventeen years old, seventy miles from home and two years of waiting over, I strode the Fulham Palace Road with a heap of expectation and an undercooked burger.
In the three years since their last visit, the sound of music had changed in the UK and I had started shaving. Punk rock had largely stripped Britain's rock landscape of pomp and ceremony and the guitar solo was under serious threat from three simple chords. With five guitars, lasers blazing, and a man in a lizzard mask, could BÖC still cut it?
In the shadow of Hammersmith flyover, touts sold badges the size of dustbin lids. Inside the theatre, a strange mix of punks and headbangers mingled around the tour merchandise not quite sure who may have come to the wrong gig.
As the eighth wonder strolled onto the huge stage to an OYFOOYK type intro and rumbled into RU Ready 2 Rock ('We've come all the way from NYC just to ask you this one question.....') it became abundantly clear that the punks were sadly in the wrong building.
The band unveilled a pretty standard set for the period as I recall (ETI, Cities, Buck's Boogie, Kick out the Jams, Harvester, Reaper, Hot Rails and Godzilla), but somehow failed to really lift the roof and move it up into top gear.
For most part the much-hyped lasers simply bathed Buck's white suit in pretty colours. They worked best when spewing out from the end of Eric Bloom's guitar during ME262, but more often than not seemed to be an unneccesary distraction for Eric and Buck who were either chasing beams to bounce onto the mirror ball overhead, or activate a wrist laser whilst playing an E minor chord. Allen stuck manfully to the task of reducing the European tobacco mountain single handedly.
The lights got their full showcase during Albert's interminable solo. Sadly, neither were worth the wait and I suspect that the audience not using halluciegenics took the opportunity to drain their bladder (some even used the toilets provided).
I have tremendous respect for Joe's contribution to BÖC on and off stage, but it has to be said that no song on the planet has yet been enhanced by a protracted bass solo. The mighty (This Ain't) The Summer of Love is no exception.
Five Guitars was a bizarre notion in any language. With Albert out front and with the collective tongue firmly in cheek, it had the potential to be a great comical moment in rock and roll. Look like you mean it, or let them see your tongue out front for just a moment and you sew the seed for a thousand spoof documentary makers.
The finale of Born to be Wild compounded the feeling that this was a band who saw their future wooing the old school rock/headbanger fan base, rather than majoring on the more 'leftfield' elements of their catalogue that had attracted them to many critics. Such is life, they have made a fair fist of it ever since.
Much was riding on this second UK visit. Although they never seemed to relax and allow this particular show to rip, there's no doubt that they made many new fans during this tour and raised their profile from overseas cult to over-here contenders.
As Worner, my brother and I headed out on the highway in my mum's Metro we caught sight of the neon sign over the theatre entrance which read 'Blue Oyster Cult, On Tour Forever'. Any flagging spirits were immediately bouyed knowing we were already one day closer to their next show.
Ralph, the first time I saw BOC was in May 1978 at the Hammersmith Odeon (as it then was) in London. I had been the only BOC fan in my school for the previous couple of years, pretty much since Agents of Fortune. I saw it as my responsibility to spread the word of "The Cult" to my fellow school mates, who were a fairly mixed bag of greasy headbangers and disco heads. (No girls, I went to a Boys school for my sins!) I managed to persuade, cajole several of my school chums that we should all pay the £3.50 or whatever it cost and catch the mighty BOC at the Hammy.
When we all arrived at Hammersmith, there were a few people hanging around outside flying BOC balloons which I thought was both cool and odd as I didn't recognise the logo. I later found out the BOC was in fact the British Oxygen Company rather than the world's greatest Rock'n'Roll band.
Japan were the opening act and were pretty badly received. They had just won some award (Arista New Band of the Year) and they managed to get the opening slot for BOC. Anyway, the BOC audience were not receptive to Japan and I seem to recall items being thrown on the stage, fruit and vegetables. (Why do people bring their grocery shopping to gigs?)
Now the only question mark is the date. I thought my first BOC gig was 3 May 1978 because they didn't play Hot Rails to Hell that night and apparently did the following evening. (One of my school chums managed to persuade his folks that he should go two nights in a row - I could barely get the cash together to do one!!) He told me they played Hot Rails and knew that would wind me up as it was my fave BOC song at the time (that and Dizbusters!) My doubt on the date though is the fact that the Hot Rails site has them listed as playing Golden Age of Leather and I could have sworn that I have never heard this song played live. (Someone somewhere must have a tape!)
Anyway, highlight of the gig (apart from the amazing laser show) was Astronomy. They could have left out the two covers (We Gotta...and Kick Out The Jams) and played a few more originals but as it was my first show I wasn't complaining. Back in the midsts of time, I even had a photo from this show but I was so far back and my camera was so crappy you couldn't see whether it was Blue Oyster Cult on the stage or The Smurfs. The photos have long since disappeared.
I remember going to this concert. I was seventeen, and rabid about the Cult in the way that only seventeen year-old boys can be. I was so excited about going (and worried about being disappointed) that I couldn't keep out of the toilet for the whole day before the gig. Here's some of my strongest memories of the gig:
Buying the programme (which seemed expensive at the time) and being disappointed that it was very nearly all pictures. Also bought badges and a t-shirt (sadly, the design - black on silver - faded away after a few washes). I enjoyed Japan, who were not the smooth sophisticates of later years but kind of kicked ass. Their opening song was 'Love Is Infectious'. I also remember 'Communist China' and 'Suburban Berlin' (which had an accappella intro that really wound up the audinece) from their set. They were heckled and jeered, but I liked them and their attitude. I was pleased that they went on to achieve success.
BOC - I remember them hitting the stage with 'R.U. Ready 2 Rock' and being struck with how short Buck was. As the other reviewer noted, he was wearing his white suit, with outrageously huge flares, and had very long hair. Eric in leather trousers (of course), red t-shirt and black waistcoat.
The intro to 'Harvester of Eyes' (which I think was the second song) - Buck's head bobbing along with the riff.
'Cities on Flame' - Buck doing the widdly-twiddly solo guitar bit and milking it for every last bit of feedback and applause. Eric doing his drum-majorette impersonation and bashing one of Albert's cymbals during the coda to the song.
Joe's bass solo during 'Summer of Love' and Albert's drum solo during 'Godzilla' - I remember that neither solo really impressed me, and I wished we could have had another song or two instead. Same goes for the five-guitar bit - kind of cool but just a gimmick really, and seemed to go on and on and on.
'ETI' was excellent - great riffing from Allen and much better than the studio version.
They played 'Last Days of May', not 'Astronomy'. I remember because it was my absolute fave Cult song and Buck gave a spoken intro over the opening chord sequence explaining the true story behind the song. It featured an extended guitar solo, just like 'Astronomy' on the same tour, with very similar laser effects.
'Golden Age of Leather' - great barbershop-style vocal intro, killer song. Shame they didn't perform this one more often after the 78 tour.
'Me 262' was lot tighter than on OYFOOYK, good sound FX.
'Born to be Wild' was kind of wild indeed, with the sawing guitar schtick and all. Eric's Harley didn't appear on stage in the UK until the 1981 visit (Donington etc....).
Encore was of course 'Reaper'. Beautiful song but not the best suited for live performance. I remember Buck's voice was rather weak on this, and Eric doubled up the vocals on some lines.
Other songs I remember - 'Hot Rails to Hell' and maybe (though I'm not totally sure) 'Kick Out the Jams'. Definitely not 'We Gotta Get Outta This Place'.
As I recall, Buck played a sunburst Les Paul, his white SG, and the natural wood SG (custom-built, I seem to remember reading somewhere) on 'Reaper'. His guitar tone was much more piercing and treble-heavy than on record. Joe played a big, heavy-looking Alembic bass. Eric used mainly a black SG, but did use his BOC logo shaped guitar on one or two songs. Allen flitted between guitar and keyboards all night. As I recall, he used a Les Paul for his rhythm parts.
This was about the third or fourth gig I went to, and it still stands in my memory, 26 years and hundreds of bands later, as one of the very best. I saw the Cult again on the last date of the 78 tour, two nights in 79, 81 at the Venue and Donington and 84/5? on the 'Revolution by Night' tour, and this one was outstanding. The band were at a commercial peak, were confident and awesomely tight, and Buck's playing blew my little mind. The laser show was beautiful, but I didn't miss it at all when they came back in 79 without it.
This review is from the 24 year memory of a 14 year old short-arse (the ones that can be Soooo annoying now at gigs running around your knees !!). I hold no responsibility in it's accuracy (or others that I submit) for reasons that I will explain.
Firstly, this gig was the first that I had ever attended - unless I count seeing 'Mud' mime to few songs once with my dad. Etched firmly in my memory until I came across the BOC web-site was that BOC played 5 nights at Hammersmith in May & returned triumphantly for a further 2 nights in June '78. How accurate is that !!.
Without having my ticket stub ( £ 3.00 or £ 3.50) to refer to, I believe that I went to the second London show, because of one of our crowd commenting that one of his mates went the night before (& said that Japan went down quite well - more in a bit !)
Anyway 5 or 6 of us made our way by Tube from Upminster to Hammersmith (30 odd stops) & made our way to the Odeon. We bought posters (£1.00), programmes (£1.50) badges (50 p) etc. but unfortunately, in my case, no T-shirt. We were in the Circle about row G or H - a bit to the left of the stage. Great view for 'men' of our height.
For our first concert attended, we didn't know the protocol about hanging in the bar & stayed to watch the support act. Well on this night, Japan went down like the proverbial Lead Balloon. Song titles I remembered were 'Communist China' & 'Adolescent Sex'. They were more guitar oriented than in their later years, but the singer (Dave Sylvian) already had very distinct bleached blond hair. Anyway the crowd booed & heckled every song & the set finished (early - I think) with Dave Sylvian just unclipping his Sunburst Les Paul, letting it drop to the floor & walking off. If this happened at the first London show, then that was the one I was at & not the second.
We stayed in the circle throughout the break except for the necessary pee excursions due to the vast quantities of cider (alright, coke) drunk. We gasped in awe when the safety curtain came down, what could be going on behind that? Awesome & that's just the break.
The auditorium started to fill, the lights went down & yes, on strode the Cult. I can't remember the set-list. Up to this point I had only heard OYFOOYK, DFTR (single) & some of Spectres.
I'm sure that Buck wore his legendary white.
Definitely played in no particular order were:
R U Ready to Rock as the opener and we were off into ecstasy
Godzilla - Lizard Mask, drum solo et al.
DFTR, Born To Be Wild - Crossed guitars & did Eric ride a Harley onto the stage?,
Cities - with Buck's pause to take in the adulation of the crowd.
ETI
5 guitars and bass solo
Golden Age of Leather - raising our imaginary beer
ME 262
I can't remember if Astronomy or LDOM were played or even both, just that with the lasers we were into our umpteenth orgasm. The lasers pointed at the mirror-ball scattering like stars - which makes me think it was Astronomy.
Harvester of Eyes, which I remember had a different ending (to the OYF. Version) & probably very soon after discovered was the slower Secret Treaties ending after buying the LP (with Red label & coloured inner sleeve).
During the concert a vivid memory was of an apparent madman in a white lab-coat, looking a bit like 'Jesus', racing around at the front & to the right of the stage. He was, as legend goes, an absolute BOC fanatic. Does anyone know of this man - or is it a distorted myth?
When the concert ended, as you can imagine, we were riding on adrenaline. We probably didn't stop talking all the way back to Upminster & when the return date was announced, eagerly got hold of our tickets.
I have seen them Live in Voorburg, The Netherland, on may 6 1978. That was my first rockconcert. It was a great show, fixed in my memories.
I still have the entrance ticket and flyer as well as the review in the paper from the next day.
Well send me some jpegs then - don't just sit on 'em!!
The official site had the venue as "Salle Franklin", but I saw a great Facebook page - Rock in Le Havre [1950 - 2000] - which gave the following information and confirmed a venue change:
It was at HALL BOVIS N°13. Salle Franklin was too small for all the BOC equipment...
John Mellencamp Cougar was the guest...
I originally had this gig down as taking place at the "Palais des Sports" but Mike's ticket above said "Parc Des Expositions" so I went with that.
I only ever was at Parc Expo in Colmar. And I doubt the hall is called Palais des Sports. But I'll have a good look when I'm there next time...
BOC's pyro-tech Ken Welch once sent me a bunch of hall sheets, and he had this gig as taking place in "La Halle Aux Vin, Colmar" on this date... As far as I know, that Hall is within the Parc Expo confines, so that seemed to fit in OK...
However, if you scroll down to the 20 May Le Mans gig entry below, you'll see that Ken says he is pretty sure that BOC went to Colmar the next day after Le Mans (the 21st).
Then I came across another copy of the above stub but this one had the date crossed out and "Sunday 21" written in its place. I began to wonder if the gig could indeed have been moved to the 21st...
It's now certain. The venue from May 10 in 1978 in Colmar was rescheduled to the 21 after Le Mans and before BOC flew to Stockholm, thus confirming the ticket overwrited by Haumesser (see the 2nd stub above). My friend Georgenthum was responsible by TV7 Colmar and asked the organisers at the time and found out that the cause of the report was technical, not any sort of structural failure with the hall:
The BOC concert of May 10, 1978 was postponed for technical reasons according to the organizers until Sunday May 21. The opening act was Johnny Cougar. As soon as the Cult concert ends, the group will head to Stockholm.
Thanks to Jean-Marc's investigation, I am now satisfied that this gig did in fact take place on 21 May 1978.
Here's the setlist:
- Intro
- R U Ready 2 Rock
- E.T.I.
- Harvester of Eyes
- Cities on Flame with Rock n Roll
- Golden Age of Leather
- Last Days of May
- ME 262
- Kick out the jams
- Godzilla
- This ain't the Summer of Love
- 5 Guitar Medley
- Born to be wild
- Encore: Don't fear the Reaper
"Harvester" as an opener obviously looks to be incorrect. The listing on the right comes courtesy of a tracklist from a tape in Bolle Gregmar's former archive, but, to be honest, it just looks like whoever recorded the tape simply missed off the first two tracks, "R.U.Ready 2 Rock" and "ETI".
If you went to this gig and know otherwise, please let me know...
I had just turned 18 and was about to graduate from high school in Brussels when I went to see BOC at Forest National, the biggest concert venue in Brussels.
I was surprised to discover that a Belgian classmate loved BOC as much as I did so we went together (although now he no longer remembers!). I didn't know Johnny Cougar but as far as opening acts go I thought he was pretty good.
But BOC just blew me away. I had seen a lot of famous 70s bands in concert over the previous 4 years but this was probably the best.
As others have said, not only was the music fantastic but the laser show was dazzling. One detail I remember is Eric Bloom exhorting the audience to buy the official tour t-shirts and not the counterfeit ones of which he said something like "wash'em once and they'll fall apart"!
The 20th and 21st May were originally designated as "days off", so it's clear that this Le Mans gig must have been a late addition...
After this show we went to Colmar France. I remember it well because it was my birthday. For me it was almost 24 and no more.
I drank too much that night after the show in celebration, and almost drowned in my on vomit. The subconscious would not let me puke in my sleep, scared it might spew onto someone else on the tour bus.
I don't drink much anymore after that.
PS. Most of all the shows outside of England, on that tour, were opened by Johnny Cougar, who got my attention with "I need a lover who won't drive me crazy". I liked it so much I wanted to get to know them and remain friends to this day.
At the concert of Le Mans there was no group opening.
- Gig rescheduled from 10 May
See the original 10 May entry for the background to this gig's rescheduling...
From what I can tell, Johnny Cougar opened this rescheduled gig, but if you know differently, please let me know...
I was there but it is rather a long time since then... I was 16 years old then - but I still remember it, that concert made a very strong impression on me.
I remember crossing guitars, feedback solos and last but not least - the lasers. That was beyond anything I had seen at the time (and to be honest, it still is...!). The volume was... well... loud... my ears were ringing for a week afterwards and I think I lost a little bit of my hearing thanks to that event.
The setlist was, to my recollection, the same as in Copenhagen the next day (may 25th 1978). I remember the laser lights going down into the audience (maybe during "Godzilla") - scary and exciting at the same time. If my memory does not fail me, I think that "laser shows" were banned in Sweden after this concert.
I was at this show! I especially remember when the whole band played guitar; that impressed me, but a friend I was with was unimpressed.
Also remember the laser of course. I had discovered BOC in 1976 or so. They were getting quite big by 1978. As far as I recall, Gröna Lund (open air stage, located in an amusement park) was quite crowded.
The next night I went to see Iggy Pop at Domino, Stockholm. I was 18 yrs at the time.
Was there a support act for this show?
Roadie Ken Welch's tour schedule lists the venue as "Tivoli Gardens"... now, there's a well-known "Tivoli Gardens" in Copenhagen, of course, but I was wondering if there could be two of them - maybe "Tivoli Gardens" is a performance area inside the Gröna Lund park?
It was only BOC. Gröna Lund never has opening acts. The gigs usually begin at 8 pm and last no more than 90 minutes. The stage is in the amusement park so I think it's a way of getting people to continue using the various rollercoasters, etc.
Tivoli Gardens is not the proper name. Don't know if there's such a venue in Sweden. I think Tivoli Gardens is in Copenhagen, their equivalent of Gröna Lund.
I've never really understood why BOC never made it bigger! That doesn't make me like them any less, but it's still hard to understand! Truly amazing songwriters and musicians, but I guess that's only part of the equation.
A nice, maybe enchanted evening :-)
I was there with my elder brother, his fiancee and my close BÖC friend Gustaf. Me and my friend had made ourselves our own BÖC t-shirts: white with back page of debute album printed in front, where I'd added band's name in white letters on the black circle. We all four wore them. It was a good show, but not as brilliant as first in Stockholm autumn '75.
Opening with RU ready 2 rock was good, more rolling and better than studio version. Especially Allen Lanier's piano was good and lifted the song.
The highlights were a great 'Cities on flame' with really good singing by Albert, slower than on 'On your feet...' and rocked a lot; a wonderful and sensitive version of 'Astronomy' and a lovely 'Reaper' as an encore.
'Hot rails to hell' can also fit into the best; (It was played there, setlist from next day not fully similar to Stockholm's May 23.) Five guitars (at end of ME 262?) also quite impressive.
It impressed a lot that Eric Bloom spoke Swedish to the audience! :-) He did it well, said some sentences. Many here believed he has Swedish ancestors (Eric Blom would be a very normal Swedish name.) Also because use of letter Ö.
They looked good, sharp guys with style. Allen relaxed elegant, as usual smiling and happy on stage, quite short haired - the same as Albert, shorter then ever which suited him well. After 'five guitars' he balanced his guitar with neck end in his hand for a while while smiling. Eric same good style as ever, not as big hair as before which also was better. Donald and Joe though more long-haired than before.
Before concert, Joe entered stage and took photo of the audience (around 6000-8000), smiling. Also Donald came out in his white suit gave audience thumbs up. Typical of the relaxed and nice atmosphere BÖC show thier fans.
(In end of concert '75 audience on the first rows entered the stage and joined the band digging the end of Me 262! No guards took them down, band just played on. I remember Eric grinned at them while kept on playing guitar - just great!!)
Eric played keyboards during some songs, like ETI and Harvester... and Albert played guitar for 5 guitars. So this can be added to their 'role list'.
After concert, we talked with a roadie, a chief roadie probably. He was SO excited about our BÖC t-shirts and in fact, offered me one of Donald Roesers guitars for mine!! Unbelievably, I refused the offer! Maybe I could not go there with naked upper body. But I could bought a new one there.... Anyway, he gave some of Dharma's plectrum instead - all had BÖC's chaos symbol on them.
All four in a very good mood, it was perfect be in an amusement park! We had so fun doing the rides afterwards. Indeed an enchanted evening
Tuesday May 22 2018 I made a revisit in Gröna Lund, an industry trade fair. And of all artists there over the years and decades there are some photos - only a small, small fraction selected - one of Eric Bloom! Guess if it made me glad?...
Text is: "Diehard main singer and guitarist Eric Bloom with his band Blue Öyster Cult on stage May 23 1978" Eric stands on Alberts elevated drum kit 'stage', dressed in black wearing a BÖC t-shirt with chaos symbol under jacket and black guitar.
I was born 1959 in Sweden and saw BÖC two times, 21 October 1975 Stockholm Konserthuset and Stockholm Gröna Lund 1978, May 23.
I have a picture which they still have in the "Hall of fame" section at Stockholm's Amusement park: Gröna Lund.
When I visited 2012 they had the wrong caption under this picture: (see attached) It showed Eric Bloom but was captioned in error to Buck Dharma! The cation goes something like this: "Rock-hard guitarist xxxxx in style study"
This photo is mentioned by Per Högman, "A nice maybe enchanted evening :-)" under his 23th May 1978 show entry. And his re-visit in May 2018.
I attach this picture here with my correction which later were edited by the Gröna Lund crew in 2012/2013. I know the caption is correct now - saw it in 2013!
Blue Öyster Cult played in the indoor arena Scandinavium in Gothenburg with space for 12,000 people.
The other two concerts in Sweden during the tour, Stockholm and Malmö, were held at outdoor shows in amusement parks.
The amusement park in Gothenburg, Liseberg, had at this time more or less stopped booking hard rock band. That was probably the reason why BÖC was allowed to play in the arena, in front of only 1500 people.
It felt a bit desolate before the music started with John Cougar (Mellancamp) as a support act, but the format of Blue Öyster Cult featured with lasers, pyrotechnics and Albert Bouchard's lizard head under Godzilla more than filled up the arena.
The actual attendance for this gig was only 1,354 out of a capacity of 12,000.
- 1 song recorded for "Some Enchanted Evening"
The early summer of 78 was the hottest I can remember. An exciting time for me - I'd just left school, got my first job and Scotland about to play in the soccer World Cup. Expectations were high for that one. And to top it all BOC were coming to town due to public demand for an extension of their Euro tour.
I suppose 31st May that year was a turning point in my life. Although I was a big fan and had all BOC's records up till then, this was my first chance of seeing them in the flesh. This night launched "My Big Interest" that will continue 'til the band retires and probably well beyond.
Two schoolmates and myself wangled tickets for the front row of the balcony in Edinburgh Odeon - we wanted a great view of the lasers as well as the band- and we weren't to be disappointed! After cadging a lift on the local school bus (most high schools were taking busloads of kids due to BOC's popularity) we arrived very early to see a huge queue into the venue. Obviously a sell out show! The merchandise stand did a roaring trade that night - £3.00 for a T shirt, £1.00 for a poster. I bought one of everything!
Japan gave a fairly good performance as openers but were duly booed off stage by those who thought it was hip to do so.
A little later, and with the road crew providing the entertainment (have you ever seen a roadie climb a rope to such a precarious position, 30ft up, to slightly adjust a light?) The opening music started up. Something by Wagner I think, maybe Das Rheingold? Stirring stuff! BOC were prowling the stage in the dark and doing the last minute tuning etc. Buck in white suit and black shirt, Eric in mirror shades, black leathers and wearing a BOC 78 World Tour shirt. Can't recall the others.
Opening song was RUR2Rock (much better than the studio version) followed by great use of Eric's wrist laser in ETI. Both were given a rapturous response by the fans. Harvester and Cities on Flame followed - Albert always brought this song alive! Eric then told us that the show was being recorded for a Live album, which lifted the crowd's spirits even further.
Highlights for me were Golden Age (good sing along by the fans) and Astronomy (with mirrorball laser antics from Eric). Great versions! AND two surprises in We Gotta and Kick out the jams. Strangely, they didn't play Last Days on that last day of May. Great drum solo from Albert complete with Lizard Head and strobe lighting and synth drum. Joe's bass solo led into Summer of Love and the 5 guitars - incredible. Born to be Wild ended the show with the amazing vision of crossed guitars and smoke / lasers in overdrive. Yep, pretty wild.
Encore- well, despite calls for more, we only got the one. Reaper was riding high in the UK charts at the time and the crowd wouldn't have left without hearing it. They went down a storm! Eric and Buck said their goodnights and Buck added "we hope you win the world cup". Well, we Scots know what happened then... out in the first round.
This was the first Live Concert I'd been to by any band and it was a lucky start. This remains as my favourite rock show of all time as it was a great visual and sonic experience, one I'll remember forever. On the other hand, it has to be said that BOC are much better performers on a personal level now than they were then. Long Live BOC!
Addendum: To close with a minor controversial point. I don't believe that the Some Enchanted Evening version of We Gotta Get Out was recorded in Newcastle the next night as is claimed on the sleeve notes. After hearing a story about Murray Krugman mixing up the labelling of the different shows, I listened to live audience tapes of both shows and it seems the version used was the one from Edinburgh.
I note there is some controversy about the origin of "We Gotta Get Outa This Place" from "Some Enchanted Evening": Newcastle or Edinburgh?
My vinyl copy from 1978 claims Newcastle, and I'm pretty sure that at the end Eric says "Thank you Newcastle goodnight." However, 5 years ago I bought the CD and listened to it on a brand new, very good hifi system. As I was using the disc to test the speakers in the store, I listened very carefully. I realised that the CD version was slightly different to my old vinyl version. The guitar runout was just not the same. But the audience noise after, and the cry "thank you Newcastle gooodnight" was the same - like a different version had been dropped in to replace the other.
I later read (on the internet) that the CD contained a version from Edinburgh - perhaps later pressings of the vinyl did too. But my vinyl from 1979 is definitely a differnt version from my cd bought in the 90's.
Having said that, I have a vinyl of club ninja (very early release, Nov 1985) which is different to the CD I bought in the mid 90's. (Vinyl has different intro to wtwc) So old BOC vinyl clearly is open to change when it comes to laying down a cd. Probably when CBS replaced the Newcastle gig with the Edinburgh one, they couldn't feel justified in the expense of running up a new set of liner notes.
- 1 song recorded for "Some Enchanted Evening"
A year or two before this concert I started getting into music and going to concerts. By the time word of mouth spread about BOC tickets, there was some excitement if only because of the laser show (Tangerine Dream were the other band with lasers that came to Newcastle around this time - a very different show).
The City Hall, as the name suggests, is an old municipal hall, more suited for orchestral concerts, complete with a stepped stage for a choir and a magnificent old organ (which I've heard played a few times). It holds roughly 2500 people and used to be a regular venue on the UK tour circuit.
I wasn't able to get into an earlier show (30 April) but three of us managed to get tickets for the second show, a few weeks later. By then I had the Reaper single, which was issued to coincide with the tour, and had borrowed "On Your Feet" so that the music wasn't completely unfamiliar.
I think Japan were the support band and, although they went on to greater things, they weren't well matched to the City Hall audience. We were too young to get served in the bar so we probably hung around the merchandise stall out front until the support (and the heckling) had ended. We returned to our seats, two thirds of the way back and over to the far stage right, to wait for the lights to go down.
Darkness. Cheers. "Newcastle, are you ready to rock?" (or something similar - the memory isn't as sharp as it used to be), more cheers and off we go. Looking at the setlist from the web site, it looks like a pretty good show. Oh for a time machine to go back and see it again, or a box set of all the Some Enchanted Evening concerts from Sony/Columbia.
The highlights that I remember were R U Ready 2 Rock, just because good opening songs always got the City Hall crowd going, and the announcement that we were being recorded (which also used to happen a lot in Newcastle). And Eric and the Kronos guitar looked particularly cool.
We Gotta Get Out Of This Place was great, not least because of its existing association with Newcastle (the Animals were from Newcastle and did probably the best known version, though I'm sure you knew that already).
Godzilla was stunning, especially as the curtain of laser light descended into the crowd, and Albert's lizard mask (we came out of the hall thinking that record buyers would wonder why we were all cheering at odd points during the drum solo but, of course, it's edited out from Some Enchanted Evening).
Five Guitars. Well, we knew about it in advance but it was always a sight to see and a real rock and roll moment to boot. Brilliant. Then Born To Be Wild and the crossed guitars. Finish with Reaper for the encore and it's time to go home. I went in curious and came out a convert.
I was there, age 18, god it was great. I still swear my mate Keith can be heard shouting at the start of Reaper.
Keith sadly died very young and this e-mail is in his honour.
Great site.
What a strange website ! Came across it by accident, YES, I was there, cant remember too much apart from Japan supporting, I think they wore dresses over their pants, at least David Sylvian did, they were a rock band then, they jumped onto the new romantic band wagon in the eighties. I went to the bar after 2 songs (or less).
BOC were good, I remember the light show (I also remember Tangerine dreams at Hammersmith Odeon same era).
I can remember all the band playing guitars for one of the last songs, but not much else
Note the originally-scheduled date of 26 April on these stubs and note also how it's crossed out on the first one and the true date of 2 June written in...
It was a long time ago... 30 years... when I went to my first BOC gig on the 2nd June 1978 at Leicester.
We went in a minibus from Nottingham, about 10 teenagers. We were there early and we got to the front of the stage. Japan were not yet quite a new romantic group but the audience didn't like them as they wore make up. I remember watching one of the band members hair smoulder from the cigarette end that had been thrown expertly into his mop. Blue Oyster Cult were everything I hoped they would be with laser show and drum solo. I was lucky enough to pick up Buck Dharma's plectrum off the stage during the gig and I've still got it, see picture. Born to be Wild and Godzilla drum solo were ace.
30 years on and I'm looking forward to seeing them again for a 6th time... sometime. I like to hear Last days of May and Shooting Shark again... and again... and again!
OK, first ever sighting of BOC in the flesh. What sticks in the mind? Japan were awful, no-one quite understood what they were on about! Eric's laser ring at the vital moment of an awesome version of Astronomy, it was working well that night I havent seen anything as good on any of the footage from that tour.
All in all BOC cemented their place in our hearts with a truly stunning set, I can only apologise for not being able to remember exactly what they played! And then to top it all my mates mini ran out of fuel on the way back to college in Weymouth!
I first got turned onto BOC when I was In the merchant navy and sailing to New York on a regular basis. My cabin mate brought a copy of Secret Treaties and we had it on heavy rotation. When I heard they were playing in Bournemouth I rode down on my motorbike from Southampton to see them.
I remember Japan getting a lot of stick from the audience. In fact the guy next to me shouted profanities at them their entire set. BOC were terrific with Godzilla. ME 262 and Kick out the Jams being highlights. Of course I had drunk quite a lot so my memory is probably a little hazy!
First album I bought was used Tyranny and Mutation probably 1976 - became my favourite band so I jumped at the chance to go to the Bournemouth concert.
I remember as a 21 year old watching the laser show - one effect was a thin horizontal sheet of light with dry ice creating the impression of clouds in the sky. The amount of equipment and cabling was incredible.
The music was superb and I still talk about this as the most exciting gig I've ever seen in nearly 40 years. Will now be searching the loft for any related memorabilia!
This was my first gig EVER so naturally expectations were high.
Japan as support band was not so strange as it sounds as they were in their "New York Dolls Hype Clone" (Geoff Barton;Sounds) phase, though what that actually means in english I've no idea, I think they played 'Heartbreaker' by the Stones, if they did good for them-it only became relevant that I'd seen them about 3 years later when my school friends became New Romantics & were jealous.
Oh yeah I was only 12 and wouldn't have gone at all if it wasn't for my older brother Paddy - Blue Oyster Cult were great.
The Laser Light Show is my main memory, that and the fact we smoked cigars throughout (!) which added to the ambience I'm sure.
Hardly anyone played Bournemouth ever before or since so everyone went, including this kitchen hand with an afro (white guy) so the overriding memory was like Bart seeing Otto in The Simpsons.
Oh my god I've just realised my Brother was doing the lights tonight at the Hammersmith Apollo for Texas, who bore me to death - funny old game, eh?
My memories are similar for this gig as they were for 4.5.78 at Hammersmith, so check that (above) for a more over-the-top review.
Since the first London gigs (all 5 of them !) DFTR had climbed the UK single charts (No#16 I think) & the band appeared for about 2 minutes on Top of the Pops - the definitive (only) UK chart music show. Unfortunately, this appearance was a grainy live video with poor sound of the song with Buck playing a light 'wooden' (I think) SG. In later years this was the Live '76 footage! Anyway, any appearance of my favourite band on TOTP was earth moving.
About 4 of us made our way to Hammersmith for the return. We all wore our tour badges with pride on the way & our new patches sown to our denims. Again we were in the circle, but this time near the front and to the right.
I can't recall seeing Japan as the support act, had they been replaced or did we just hang in the bar?
BOC came on to R U Ready to Rock & others played included DFTR, Godzilla, Cities, Harvester, Golden Age, ME262, Born To Be Wild and LDOM or Astronomy (with orgasmic use of lasers).
I'm sure that the man in the white lab coat was also there at the front of the stage.
As with the first gig, we were blown away & confirmed our conversion to the bands No#1 fans in Upminster. No classroom was left without the Kronos symbol or BÖC identity etched or written on desks or walls. I think we - sorry, they - were in competition with the 'Yes' fans for leaving advertising marks promoting their favourite band. For legal reasons, I did not partake in this particular activity personally & cannot recall the names of those that may be held responsible.
We all went out and bought the entire back catalogue, patches, badges, posters & whatever else had a BÖC stamp on it. We could not wait for the hopefully inevitable return.
This gig was never part of the original published UK Tour schedules and I'd heard rumours that it had taken place (Hi Pete!!) but it wasn't until I got sent this stub that I had to start finally believing that it actually took place!!
I'm gutted I didn't know about this show - as if I'd known, I would have popped along!!
I was there and it definitely took place! I've still got the "IS Ludwig USA" drum stick (log!) that Albert threw into the audience after his Godzilla-head drum solo and the autographed programme that I got signed after jumping onto the stage (left) to the side of the stack, and following the band backstage immediately after the gig had finished. (As I remember, Sounds had reviewed an earlier gig at De Montford, I think, and the set was exactly the same so I knew when the encore was over. As the final echoes of Reaper died away, my 3 mates and I moved from the middle/front across to my right and just jumped up on stage past a roadie...)
The memories of that night are still very, very powerful - Astronomy, the mirrored ball and those laser fx... the UK 12" Reaper single to commemorate the Tour (I've still got the advertising poster too). I even recall Eric wearing a silver necklace with the inverted "?" symbol on it...
BTW for me Japan were outstanding, although I remember half the audience loved their set and the other half just couldn't figure out this band of make-up touting new romantics (as we subsequently came to call them).
Nevertheless, go back and check out Adolescent Sex at volume - that set was the perfect warm up for the Cult. Don't rain on my parade!
The back of the above first T-shirt is interesting in that it gives a list of the shows scheduled for this tour - many with British Lions and UFO. Wisely, the shirt doesn't actually give any dates - just a list of towns.
The opening show of the tour would seem to have originally been "Asbury Park", a date which ended up being the 5th show on 20th July, so the shirt can't be taken as Gospel.
As the shirt seems to think the 3rd gig was at "Jones Beack", that seems reasonable advice.
Still, all in all, it's generally pretty accurate...
- Supposedly the gig attended by govt officials to spy on BOC's lasers wth a view to regulation reform (maybe BOC should have cut back that night...)
One show (1978) was the kickoff of one of their tours. I remember reading that in the paper, thinking Johnstown must be important if they started the tour there. British Lions opened the show and BOC closed. It was BL first American tour so the newspaper said. About 5,300 attended.
This was the first time I ever saw lasers. I was blown away by the light show. Back in those days, the mid 70's, a strobe light and a flashpod was considered a good stage show. I can't tell you which albums the band was promoting since I wasn't a fan. I went to any show that came to town which weren't really all that many.
No band ever topped the lasers that BOC had. The lasers debuted about 2 months after AOF came out and lasted until Feb 1979.
The Gov Regulatations on Lasers are based on BOC. In July 1978 the Gov came to Johnstown PA to watch BOC's Show. I was at this show, shortly thereafter their laser show was cut back.
PS: Interesting note. Nosferatu was played at this show. According to Bolle, Nosferatu was done only a few times in 1978 - I don't know which shows these were, but I can verify that Johnstown 1978 was one of them... green lasers were used during it...
I was at that show and still have the ticket stub, it cost $7.00 bucks. I was 14 years old.
I attended this arena show and was actually hired to stand in front of the stage behind the front row wooden barriers and keep people from jumping over the barriers. I was 17 at the time.
The bass cabinets were lined up under the stage and I can still remember looking down at my wide bottom jeans flapping to the bass drum when BOC played Cities on Flame. Fantastic laser show like I had never seen before.
At one point Eric had a laser attached to the underside of his wrist and pointed it at a mirror ball hanging from the ceiling creating a shower of lasers all over the arena.
Great show.
- Venue change from the Hampton Coliseum
Here's the original listing for this gig from the 10 Jun 1978 edition of the "Daily Press" [Newport News VA]:
Blue Oyster Cult - July 13 at Hampton Coliseum
But by the 7 July, the "Daily Press" was giving the following information:
Blue Oyster Cult stars in concert at 8 p.m. July 13 at Norfolk's Scope complex, presented by Entam. Special guests include Cheap Trick and British Lions.
Billboard listed Norfolk, VA concert at The Scope attendance at 2,400 or 2,600. I remember the date being 1 day after the Johnstown show.
Your gig list has Norfolk, Landover, etc with the BL's supporting. The odd thing about this is that arenas' listed for that tour are large and Johnstown's War Memorial had a capacity of 7,800.
British Lions was the opening band and Cheap Trick followed. I do not recall the Cult's set list but I would say that your list for the July 14 1978 show at Landover Maryland is pretty representative. I do have the Columbia Legacy reissue of S.E.E. with the bonus dvd listed as being the 1978 Landover show.
Scope can hold around 10,000 people for a show but I recall the crowd being small. I was able to get near the front. I took a direct hit from a laser that briefly blinded me. I think it was the hand held lasers that ended up being banned. I enjoyed all the bands that night and the B.O.C. was at the top of their game during this time period.
OK, I had seen BOC many times and had brought more folks each time. I was a bit older and this concert was more about me driving my Brother's friends from Baltimore to the Capital Center. It was a great Concert as I recall.
British Lions were uninspired, but Cheap Trick was incredible. My God what a weird bunch of guys that could play their ass off! Rick Nielson was nuts with all of his crazy guitars and the drummer, an old throwback guy, was a scream. The mix however was great. I became a fan.
Now for the BOC men! You would have thought that Cheap Trick would be tough to follow. BOC always blew folks away and this concert was no exception. As I recall, the real highlight was the 2 covers of "We Gotta Get Outta This Place" and "Kick Out the Jams"; Pure Magic.
They toned down the Lasers because of the flack from Washington DC, but the Albert Drum solo was magic with the lasers. By the way, let's talk about Joe Bouchard's great Bass solos! This was no exception.
Born to Be Wild off of the 5 Guitar SOLO was the best Moment of the entire performance. We left the Concert converting more folks to the growing BOC fan base by the way!
Great memory on a HOT Summer Evening!
I remember this show well. Was a little disappointed that the powers that be in DC made them tame down the lasers.
Cheap Trick was great. Neilson was a nut throwing guitar picks into the audience every song, and the drummer had a giant handle bar mustache
And played one song using wooden baseball bats, plus he played the whole show with a cigarette hanging off his lip.
Rick neilson kept teasing the audience about BOC with "How many of you are here to see Blue Oyster Cult? (rolling the oy part) the place would go nuts, and Cheap Trick would play some more.
Even though they were good I kept thinking they were cutting into BOC's playing time and I kinda wanted them to be done.
BOC's Joe Bouchard is magnificent. How many Bass players can do a solo? My favorite song was Astronomy.
They started with Alan Lanier playing a grand piano and Eric sitting on top of it singing the start of the song.
It was the first time I ever had heard it and was just blown away. Went right out and bought the album and the 8 track.
They are a very tight band, high energy. Buck looked cool in his white suit. He would just glow when the lights hit him.
Albert was very good too.
I found your site today, and wanted to throw a correction your way. I saw the Cult at the Cape Cod Coliseum on July 17th, 1978. It was a good time all around, because in addition to BOC, Cheap Trick opened that show.
It stands out for me, because I had never heard them before, but as soon as I heard Surrender, which came out really shortly after, I KNEW that this band was going to be huge.
Regarding the "17 July 1978" date quoted by David - the stub above is dated 15th July so I've gone with that in the absence of evidence to the contrary...
Not only was this my very first rock concert, it was my first (and last) Blue Oyster Cult show.
Some background on the venue: The "CCC" was built in 1972 as a 5,000 seat (bench arena) arena to serve as home ice for the Cape Cod Cubs, part of the North American Hockey League.
There was nothing exceptional about the building, including the ventilation and bathroom facilities, but there wasn't a bad concert seat in the house as the Coliseum had a very respectible run of hosting headlining rock acts for almost a decade particulary during the Cape's summer months.
The Concert: Cheap Trick opened and I recall there wasn't much space for the band to perform with BOC's gear staged right behind them.
Blue Oyster Cult was loud, and although I was only 13 at the time, I remember the fireworks that occompanied various numbers, the lasers, Godzilla with the strobe light monster head drum solo, the bass solo, the five guitar finale and a DFTR encore.
Here's a preview of the show from the 16 July 1978 edition of "The New York Times":
The Blue Oyster Cult: No More Lasagna And Spanish Rice
STRUGGLING rock musicians on the Island should gather inspiration from Blue Oyster Cult's performance tonight at the Jones Beach Theater. Because it was not long ago that Blue Oyster Cult, now one of the top draws on the rock concert circuit, was playing to uninterested audiences in Long Island bars. And it was not long ago that the same band, whose show now features a $250,000 laser light system, was living communally on the North Shore, subsisting on lasagna and Spanish rice.
"The bar scene on Long Island hasn't changed that much in 10 years," Eric Bloom, the band's lead vocalist, reflected the other day. "I feel very sorry for any band that's playing here that wants to do original material."
Mr. Bloom is the only member of the quintet who still lives on the Island (his home is in Great Neck). His attitude about playing the bar scene here was molded by the band's early experiences when it went by such names as Soft White Underbelly and the Stalk-Forrest group.
"We'd get a Friday-Saturday booking," he said, "and after Friday night the manager would tell us not to come back. We'd ask why and he'd say we were doing too much original material. They wanted us to play covers of top-40 tunes, which we refused to do."
The nucleus of the current Blue Oyster Cult was formed in 1968 near the State University at Stony Brook by keyboardist Alan Lanier, guitarist Donald Roeser and drummer Albert Bouchard. Then, as now, the band was guided by its manager-producer, lyricist Sandy Pearlman, a former Stony Brook student president and one-time rock critic. Mr. Bouchard's brother Joe was added later as the bassist, and in 1969 Mr. Bloom replaced the original vocalist.
Recalling the early performances, he said that "we had showmanship but no show." He noted that many of the group's stage pyrotechnics, such as the triple drum solo, originated while it played now-defunct bars, such as Conry's in Bethpage.
The $450 a week the band received for three nights of work at Conry's was poured back into a $300-a-month communal house in Thomaston.
"But we rarely had any money left over," Mr. Bloom said. "We didn't have a telephone for a year. We'd spend $60 or $70 a week for food that had to be divided between the band members, assorted friends, girlfriends, dogs and cats. We used to eat lots and lots of lasagna and Spanish rice."
An audition was eventually arranged with CBS Records, which signed the band in 1972. Meanwhile, "Blue Oyster Cult," taken from a lyric written by Mr. Pearlman, became the new name.
Touring 40 weeks each year for the next four years, the band built a loyal following, but its widespread acceptance was hindered by an early image problem, which in some cases curtailed crucial radio play. Its black leather and paramilitary stage outfits, song titles such as "Dominance and Submission" and "Career of Evil," and the red-and-black band flag (the same colors as the Third Reich flag), suggested to some critics that Blue Oyster Cult endorsed Nazism.
But Mr. Bloom maintained that the image, which the band no longer possesses, was calculated as a way of getting attention.
"The whole thing was done tonguein-cheek as a satire on World War II movies. Unfortunately, too many people took it seriously and it was aided and abetted by the record company and by certain publicists," he said.
Commercial success, defined by radio play and gold albums, eluded the band until 1976, when "Agents of Fortune," its fifth album, was released. That record, a departure from its earlier "heavy metal" sound, contained the group's first hit single, "Don't Fear the Reaper," and achieved a commercial breakthrough.
Part of the profits from "Agents of Fortune" were invested in a professionally designed laser system. The Food and Drug Administration recently cited radiation from the lasers as being potentially hazardous, but Mr. Bloom said the beams had now been modified to meet Government regulations. The band employs two full-time laser specialists to operate the system, which is part of every concert.
"Touring is not much fun," Mr. Bloom said. "The best part is playing the show itself - the rest of the day is usually boring and, frequently, torture." Which explains his enthusiasm when the band plays the Island, as it will be doing tonight when "Annie Get Your Gun" takes the night off.
"I never really liked the idea of taking limousines to our shows," Mr. Bloom said. "When we play here, the best part is that I can drive my own car to the show."
Almost like the old days.
This was one show I didn't want to miss. I had seen the Cult previously on Long Island at Nassau Coliseum for the infamous Friday, January 13th ice storm show with Rush (barely made it out of there and remember saying we thought j.p.'s ponytail would freeze and snap off as he wandered the parking lot looking for our car).
I had made my own custom Cult t-shirt for this show by copying the picture of the band that had appeared in the ad in newsday, the Long Island newspaper. Got a lot of compliments on it at the pre-game tailgate party in the parking lot.
I remember eric bloom asking the audience if anyone arrived by way of the blue oyster cult expressway. The weather was awful. It was raining so hard that it seemed it would be impossible for them to play the outdoor show which was advertised as rain or shine.
The band was on a barge on the water with the atlantic ocean as a backdrop. The wind driven rain was blowing right through the stage and directly at the crowd. The sell-out crowd stayed despite the torrent for the entire show. eric commented, "you guys really have gutz."
The lazers were incredible in all the fog and rainwater. The most incredible cult lazer show ever as the rain and fog diffused the lazers creating a surreal electric ether like atmosphere. The wind was howling and it seemed like the canopy over the band would shred and blow apart like the sails on a tempest-tossed ghostship.
There was a barricade directly in front of the front row and moored to it were several barges that extended out about 15' to make a kind of no mans land between the front row and about 30' of water separating the audience from the floating stage. sometime during the encore people started climbing over the barricade onto the barges secured directly in front of the first row which I was in throughout.
During the final portion of the concert, we all found our way to the front of the barges to be as close to the floating stage as possible even though this area was supposed to be off-limits to the audience. So many people were crowded there right on the edge (there was no railing), it wasn't long before people were dropping into the water. if they weren't pushed forward by the crowd before dropping in, people actually started leaping in like lemmings and swimming to the stage.
I managed to stay on the barge to observe the final part of the show. The roadies had a hell of a time fishing people out of the water and pulling them onto the stage. despite the pandimonium, the cult played on. The musicians themselves appeared drenched. I know we were all soaked completely like drowned rats whether we took the plunge or not.
It was the best visual concert I had ever seen (although the kampuchea benefit (16 Feb 1979) at the Palladium in N.Y.C. with Cult, Utopia, Rick Derringer and Patti Smith was probably the best concert I ever attended. meat loaf was not billed for that show but was listed as 'special guest.' he appeared with his female singer as the final act and performed the bulk of bat out of hell with utopia backing him as musicians. I understand todd rundgron and utopia were the studio musicians who recorded that album with meat).
The cult played an extra long set in spite of the danger of electrocution in the downpour as a tribute to the hardy crowd of hometown fans. The rain didn't finally let up until after we were in our car and driving on the blue oyster cult parkway home to eastern long island.
Of course we listened to Classic Cult on the 8-track during the entire drive. fortunately I wasn't too buzzed to drive as it was impossible to get lit with that much wind and water drenching you during practically the whole show. my only regret was the stencil on my homemade t-shirt was almost washed out in the deluge.
It was truly some enchanted evening for all those who stuck it out. Kudos to the band and crew for an incredible performance despite abominable weather conditions. Thanks eric, buck, al, joe and albert. didn't see them again until the concerts at hammerhead's bar in west babylon and at my father's place in roslyn which were both billed as the soft white underbelly.
EDP, L.I., N.Y.C.
My older brother who blessed me with rock & roll (he's now 41, I'm 37) saw BOC in 1978 at Jones Beach Theater in Wantagh, NY (still a major amphitheater on Long Island) and recalls Albert Bouchard throwing his leather jacket in the moat that used to separate band from audience - and that my brother's friend dove in to the water to get the jacket.
I distinctly remember Astronomy and ME262 being played at this gig, because, we were very vocal on the "Heys", and afterwards on the long ride back to New Jersey, we were singing Astronomy the whole way !!
ME262 was my friend Tommy's favorite, and he kept talking about how great it was.
The whole day was a rainstorm, but I don't remember it being so bad during the show. The mist coming off the seawater in front of the stage/barge during the show was pretty incredible, though.
It was a treat to see the British Lions, who were the surviving members of the then defunct Mott The Hoople, Pete "Overend" Watts on bass, Dale "Buffin" Griffin on drums, and Morgan Fisher on keys. These guys were left hanging after Ian Hunter, who co-wrote "Goin' Through The Motions" with Eric and Richard Meltzer, left the band and these guys out to dry. I was a big Mott fan and it was a great treat to see them live.
I was a freshman in HIGH school and can say with authority that I was utterly and completely out of it at this show. It was my first BOC show and really turned me on to the band. See my stub above.
British Lions opened. Sorry I don't have a set list, but I think I have a concert program somewhere around here.
Finally! After 2 tries, 3rd time's the charm. Really good tickets, about 10th row, I took pics with my grandfather's 35MM with a really tiny lens. Great laser show, RU Ready to Rock, Goin Thru the Motions, tons more.
This venue was an echobox, but BOC would play much louder than most other acts and sounded fine. Highlights definitely included ME 262 with the logo guitar. One of the best stage shows at the time, tons of smoke, explosives, and of course the lasers.
I think the protests later on actually made the show better with the Godzilla and UFO effects they used months later at the Palladium, in Asbury it was still just fanning them overhead and catching them off the disco ball. Eric did have the finger laser too. Still one of the best concerts I have ever seen.
PS: The British Lions were actually Ex Mott The Hoople, Morgan, Overend and Buffin, with a new singer.
Check out Moyssi's concert programme for this gig.
A very good show. The Godzilla drum solo had Albert wearing the Godzilla head with a very strong strobe light giving a bizarre effect...
Gozilla playing the drums! On ETI, Eric had the hand laser raising the light slowly as he sang: "All hail....we found the..."
The British Lions were not well received by the the crowd.
The British Lions opened up (ex Mott the Hoople members) but they were a punk band, and were boo'd off the stage...
Wikipedia: The British Lions album did fairly well in the USA, charting almost immediately - but the band didn't tour there until August 1978, when they landed a two-month slot supporting Blue Oyster Cult. That tour unfortunately missed most of the major cities, however, and the band often found themselves playing in the middle of nowhere. After two months in the States, they returned to the UK to record their next album.
I think I was like in 11th grade...
Here's a review of this gig from the Sat July 22 1978 edition of the The Times-Tribune (Scranton PA):
4,000 Enjoy Rock and Roll
By Michael Klodnicki
Times Special Writer
Maybe it was the hot weather that brought out the crowd. Or maybe it was the oddity of actually having something to do for a change. But at 6 p.m. Friday, a couple hundred people waited outside the Scranton CYC for the doors to open.
By the time the show started at 8 p.m., over 4,000 young people had jammed the CYC ana turned it into a sweatbox. They had come to see a blockbuster rock and roll show which featured the British Lions and the Blue Oyster Cult. By the time the night was over, the crowd heard a lot of loud, hard rock and roll, saw a tremendous light show, and also witnessed a miniature indoor fireworks display.
The British Lions, who performed first, were making only their sixth concert appearance. They were virtually unknown, but three of the members of the group had gained fame with Mott the Hoople, a successful rock group from the early 70s.
The group's first album was released just three weeks ago and a single, "Wild in the Streets," made its debut on the Billboard chart at 89.
The British Lions played most of the songs from their album, gaining exceptional receptions for International Heroes," "My Life Is in Your Hand," "Fork Talking Man," and "Wild in the Streets."
The British Lions played hard, fast-moving, good old-fashioned rock and roll. They didn't use any tricks or pull any punches. And the crowd liked it.
The group is made up of Ray Major, who plays lead guitar; Overend Watts, the bass player; drummer Dale Griffin, alias Buffin; Morgan Fisher on keyboards, and lead singer John Fiddler, who also plays the guitar.
The show started with a tape of some British bravado music. Then Fiddler tore right into "One More Chance To Run." The harmonies were a little flat during "Break This Fool," but the group more than made up for it with an effective rendition of "International Heroes."
In the next number, "My Life Is in Your Hands," the guitarists maneuvered their instruments in machine gun fashion as the lights flashed and the drummer banged out a rat-tat-tat.
Buffin excelled on his drum solo during "My Life Is in Your Hands," and Fisher, complete with his derby, bottle, and Sherlock Holmes style pipe, came out from behind his keyboards and casually leaned up against a speaker to watch.
But the group's best surprise was lead vocalist Fiddler. He can sing with the best of them, and he held the audience in his hand. He can sing with knowledge, with sarcasm, and with cynicism. His gestures force the audience to become involved in the music. And his range is tremendous.
With his prancing, Fiddler reminds one of Mick Jagger. He lacks the lashing, biting tongue of the Rolling Stones lead singer, but as if to challenge Jagger, the British Lions did a version of "It's Only Rock and Roll."
The Blue Oyster Cult came on stage ready to pick up where the British Lions left off. But they were better prepared. They possessed a light show that's hard to beat.
While performing their music adequately, the group managed to captivate and thrill the audience with their special effects. Smoke and fog bombs kept the front of the stage misty while light flashes were set off in various parts of the CYC. During an early number, the lead singer pointed his finger towards the ceiling and a ray of light shot from it. This ray was then met by numerous more colored light rays coming from the ceiling.
But this was only the beginning. After the singer touched two rings together and set off a bright flash, two silver balls which were hung from the ceiling were put to work and hundreds of blue and red specks of light rotated around the hall.
Perhaps the best musical number performed by the Blue Oyster Cult was "Godzilla," during which the drummer plays alone for an extended period. Near the end of the number he dons a head mask of Godzilla. While he plays, a white spotlight is flashed solely on his head, creating the illusion of a monster's head moving back and forth. It was during this song that guitar rips seemed to vibrate the bleachers in the CYC.
The Blue Oyster Cult finished its regular set with "Born To Be Wild," complete with indoor air fireworks, sparkling light fountains, and gigantic light explosions, climaxed by a huge sound explosion. Scranton probably had never seen anything like it.
The group encored with its hit, The Reaper.
The house lights came on and the crowd filed out. Some of the guys had their shirts off because of the heat while others suffered through it. Luckily, all the girls kept their shirts on. But everybody was still talking about those special effects. And everybody was sweaty.
I went to this show knowing a little bit of and liking Cult (Reaper and Godzilla of course, and perhaps one of their albums), but they were not my favorite band and I was unfamiliar with most of their stuff.
I had heard of their amazing light show and wanted to see them, but Rick Derringer was a major draw for me as well. Derringer cranked, and Alvin Lee impressed everybody with his blistering guitar licks.
But by the time Cult got done with Astronomy, I felt that I was watching the greatest rock band in the world. Nothing in the ensuing 35 years has ever changed my opinion.
Went to this show and remember the raceway stage was barely set and it was like they weren't expecting fans.
Hot beverages in cans, not warm, Hot! and no water available anywhere. They played "White Noise" over the sound system for easily 5 ear splitting/bleeding headache inducing minutes, like there weren't thousands of fans standing around in front of said system.
The British Lions (Mott the Hoople w/o Ian Hunter) had just the worst sound ever, no real amp or projection of sound from the system and the lead singer was pissed, they played maybe 30 minutes. Cannot for the life of me remember Nantucket and really don't think they played??
Rick Derringer was very good but they still had sound issues with his bands' keyboards and again the band did not seem pleased. Alvin Lee was really great, that man used his mike stand, a wood dowel, slides and lightning fast fingerwork to show amazing skill and great guitar tone, loved it.
BOC sounded great and the light show was just awesome in the full night sky compared to the indoor experience from an earlier show. We had gotten real close to the stage and recall Eric Bloom seemed to act kinda of rock starish at points in the show, like we should show him the upmost reverence or even bow too him, not just cheer, it was a weird vibe.
Had a great view during their set and the guitar attack near the end was my favorite part, the band was just having a great time enjoying themselves on stage then.
Really kind of "learned the ropes"/enjoyed my first "festival type" show at this one and also learned too plan better as an attendee at events in future.
It was called the Scarborough Fair. It was an all day affair at a horse track outside of Portland. It was a pretty good show considering that Mahogany Rush didn't play for some reason and BOC didn't have their laser show even though it was outside. But once Buck started to let it rip they could have had flashlights for a light show and it wouldn't have mattered.
Wow, I was at the Scarborough Downs "Gig" and actually had a financial stake in it with other investors from N.Y. We broke even - first time I saw "fuzzy bookkeeping" in action!
Regarding the show line-up - since I have never heard of Mahogany Rush I would say it is a safe bet to say they did not play.
Also, we almost got the "new group from Boston" called the Cars to play. That was my original interest in being involved in the first place. Anyway, they backed out for another gig after I signed on. And I think they became fairly famous....?
However, the super 8 videos we took backstage are with someone I cannot locate. Anyway, it was good to see it listed on your website since my kids thought I made it up.
I was actually on stage with Alvin Lee when he did "I'm coming home" and had the crowd going crazy. Then BOC came on that same night with the best laser light show of the decade (mother nature co-operated with a perfect sky!).
I have to admit of all the dozens of concerts I saw in the 60's-70's that was the most fun! Alvin Lee and BOC were awesome (not on stage together, though)...
Thanks Gene - and if you ever do locate the guy with the super 8 videos, please let me know!!!!!!!!!!!!
From the 06 July 1978 edition of the "Evening Express:"
Blue Oyster Cult Will Headline Outdoor Concert
By Jim Sanville (Staff Writer)
Promoters say it will be the "biggest outdoor rock festival ever held in Maine.
Town officials in Scarborough, where the concert will be held, say they aren't worried that the crowd of up to 20,000 expected to attend the show will get out of hand.
On Tuesday, July 25, Blue Oyster Cult, Joe Cocker, Mahogany Rush, Dr Hook and the British Lions will perform at Scarborough Downs from 4 until 11 pm.
Jim Anderson, an Albany, N.Y. music businessman who is the chief organizer of the show says he thinks a security force of 100 should keep the rock fans orderly.
"I don't expect any problems from the crowd at all," Anderson says confidently. "I've been involved in many outdoor concerts and this one presents no special problems."
The show will be staged in the infield of the Scarborough racetrack, and fans will be moved put onto the track itself if enough tickets are sold, Anderson says.
He explains that tickets be set up at two entrances to the facility, and that those attempting the show will present their tickets at the gates, without leaving their cars.
Anderson doesn't see "sneak ins" as a problem either, even though the Downs is set in a mostly wooded area.
"Who'd want to (sneak into the show)?" Anderson asks rhetorically. "You're not going to see a show like this for $10 ($12.50 day of show) anywhere. It's such a bargain, that I don't think anyone will try to hop the fence," he adds with seeming naivete.
Anderson says Blue Oyster Cult will headline the five-band show, and will play for one to one and one-half hours.
Blue Oyster Cult traces its beginnings to the New York City area, where the group was originally called Soft White Underbelly when it was formed in 1970.
When lead vocalist Eric Bloom and bassist Joe Bouchard joined original members Don Roeser, lead guitarist, Allen Lanier and Albert Bouchard (Joe's brother), in 1971, they changed their name to the Stalk Forrest Group. They played top 40 sets in East Coast nightclubs, but managed to squeeze in some of their own material, which was greeted enthusiastically in time.
Stalk Forrest, also known as Oaxaca - a cannibis growing region in Mexico - then was renamed Blue Oyster Cult (derived from a poem by manager Sandy Pearlman) just before recording a demo tape of their own material for Columbia Records. Three weeks later, the group was signed and began work on their first album, "Blue Oyster Cult."
Subsequent releases were "Tyranny and Mutation," "Secret Treaties," a live double set called "On Your Feet or on Your Knees," and their most recent effort, "Agents of Fortune."
Their latest and most commercial album contains the single "Don't Fear the Reaper," which is largely responsible for the group's prosperity.
Blue Oyster Cult's live performances are among the most spectacular staged by heavy metal bands, with a light show that includes several laser beams and a myriad of theatrical effects designed by a Broadway effects house.
The laser show, under recent scrutiny by the Environmental Protection Agency because of safety questions, features a bracelet worn by lead singer Eric Bloom which is actually a small prism assembly capable of projecting a cone of laser light wherever he points his hand. Drummer Al Bouchard uses a "laser-rifle" with which he explodes containers of mylar-reflective flakes that fall in a shower on the audience.
Although the laser show was designed primarily for enclosed halls, the Blue Oyster Cult has been using its laser equipment at outdoor concerts "to demonstrate the flexibility of the entire system."
The laser's 21-watt capacity is about 20 times more powerful than most commercially available lasers and is enough to "write" on clouds at midday.
Performers following the Cult include some of the big names in rock music during the past 10 years.
Joe Cocker, the gravel-voiced Briton who performed at Woodstock in the late '60's, will also be featured.
His hits include "You Are So Beautiful," "Delta Lady," She came in Through the Bathroom Window," "With a Little Help rom My Friends," and "The Letter."
Backing Cocker's unique vocal style will be a band that includes former Rolling Stone and Derek and the Dominos member Bobby Keyes and Nicky Hopkins, another former Rolling Stone.
Dr Hook will presumably perform their hits "Cover of the Rolling Stone," "Only Sixteen" and "Sylvia's Mother." Their style of music has been described as blues, boogie and country and is toned variously, running from humor to pathos.
Two lesser known bands, in that their's is not an AM sound, will complete the seven-hour rock show.
Mahogany Rush, a Canadian band, features lead guitarist Frank Marino, whose study of the late Jimi Hendrix is reflected in his hard-driving style.
The British Lions are current favorites in their native land across the sea and have gained an increasing following here in the United States.
Anderson describes the British Lions: "Well, they're like punk rock - sort of - but not really. That turns a lot of people off when you say that. They're an emerging band and they're going to be really big here soon."
That piece in the Evening Express mentions that Joe Cocker was on the bill, but he wasn't listed in the Billboard stats above, and nobody's mentioned him. Can anyone confirm/deny his presence on the bill?
Joe Cocker did play - British Lions opened...
Here's an article about this gig from the Thursday, July 27, 1978 edition of The Lewiston Daily Sun :
SCARBOROUGH (AP) - A few hundred music fans who camped overnight at Scarborough Downs were all that remained Wednesday after an outdoor rock concert that drew as many as 25,000 people to this southern Maine town.
"A good 25,000" according to police estimates, jammed the race track infield parking lots and surrounding areas for Tuesday's seven-hour show.
Jim Anderson of Albany, N.Y., who joined promoters Jack Utsick of Scarborough and Rick Bronson of Bangor in producing the concert, said the gate totaled roughly 12,000.
Promoters and track officials praised the behavior of the audience, which basked in the afternoon sun while listening to performances by Blue Oyster Cult, Dr Hook, Alvin Lee and other rock groups.
Police said 13 drug-related arrests were made, most involving sales of hashish, marijuana, cocaine, amphetamines and other controlled drugs. Another arrest was made in connection with sale of counterfeit concert tickets.
The Maine Division of Special Investigations confiscated several vehicles and $1,600 in cash during the drug arrests, most of which took place outside the track as spectators were leaving.
Traffic on the Maine Turnpike was backed up for miles during the afternoon as crowds streamed in for the 4 pm start of the show.
"I think the concert is great," said Linda Boucher, who told a reporter she hitchhiked from Lewiston. "Everyone's having a good time."
Many in the youthful crowd puffed marijuana cigarettes at the concert site and in the parking lots.
"We saw no problem with dope," said Sgt. Paul W. Carter of the Scarborough police who organized security for the show. "We were checking people to see if they were bringing to botues or cans of beer, but at about 3:30 I decided that it would be dangerous for my men to try to stop everyone who tried to smuggle beer onto the infield where the stage was."
Although some fans sneaked into the track through the surrounding woods to avoid paying the $12.50 admission charge.
"Right now things look good," said Roger Smith, general manager of the Downs. "It will take a few days, of course, to determine how everything went overall."
I was at this show, my first concert, it was an all day, all night, event at a football stadium. Don't remember much, the ticket price was cheap, the weather was phenomenal. Derringer tore it up with Rock and Roll Hootchicoo to get the crowd revved up.
There is an "unknown band" listed as playing on your site for this show, I remember Mott the Hoople was on the bill so that could be the "unknown", but by then, they could've been called British Lions.
Can't remember much about Cult, fabulous light show to me back then since it was my first concert, "Don't Fear the Reaper" seemed to go on forever. Hope this helps...
Justin Purington's Just a Buzz site has a British Lions gig page but he has the Lions down as "cancelled" for this show - he has them playing East Troy on this date - so it looks like they were originally scheduled for this but didn't actually play.
The clipping above says Rainbow were also on the bill but rainbowfanclan.com says that they also cancelled.
I don't remember actually seeing them play, just remember Mott the Hoople on the bill. I hadn't heard of them before, so a friend of mine filled me in on the band.
Whether they actually played that day or not, I have no clue, but the bands playing pretty much followed the line up, so it's possible another member of Mott the Hoople was touring under that name??
The 29 July 1978 Bridgeport Kennedy Stadium gig was definitely OUTSIDE.
I was at this show, I went with a group of my friends - I was 15 years old, so my older friend had to drive - he had driver's license at 16...
I grew up in Connecticut and was a big fan of BOC at the time. I remember there was a huge amount of biker's that arrived early in the afternoon, about 200 motorcycles all arrived at the same time.
I remember Rick Derringer banged his head on his amp on purpose and was bleeding down the front of his face as he jammed, the audience loved it.
Then J. Geils Band came on next and had a fantastic set. The crowd got really pumped from their set.
Then Blue Oyster Cult came on last and the place went nuts. It was an all day event, we got there around noon and BOC played until about midnight.
It was at the Univ. of Bridgeport's football stadium, and I am guessing there were at least 10,000 people there, it was a big event for the local area.
It was general admission outdoor show and I had slowly inched my way up to the front row by the Rick Derringer set, and it was so packed you could barley move.
The entire field was crowded all the way back to midfield, and the side stadium seats were also filled. Great light show from BOC too.
I attended about 15 BOC concerts from 1978-81, all in the NYC area. Mid-Huston Civic Center, Providence, Madison Square Garden were among the venues I can remember.
The MSG show was co-headline with Black Sabbath. Godzilla was a huge hit on the radio at the time.
Here's a preview of this gig from the Fri 28 Jul 1978 edition of the "The Westchester Weekend" showing that the British Lions and Rainbow were both still on the bill only one day prior to the event:
Rock Festival in Connecticut
The largest rock concert in the history of Connecticut is taking place this weekend at Kennedy Stadium in Bridgeport. Beginning at 2 p.m. Saturday and lasting until approximately 10 p.m., the J. Giels Band, Blue Oyster Cult, Derringer, the Simms Brothers, Rainbow and the British Lions are performing in what is billed as "The Great American Rock Show."
The gates will open at noon to permit the expected 40,000 people to picnic and settle in before the music begins. People are welcome to bring food, but liquid refreshments are not allowed in bottles or cans - thermoses or jugs are recommended. There will be refreshment stands.
Tickets are $12.50 in advance at all Ticketron outlets or $15 at the door.
Kennedy Stadium is located on Madison Avenue in Bridgeport and is accessible by the Merritt Parkway or the New England Thruway.
But here's a review of the show from the Sat 5 Aug 1978 edition of the "The Morning Record and Journal" [Meriden CT] which shows that the British Lions and Rainbow definitely didn't play:
Bands Uneven But Sun Heats Rock Fest Mob
BRIDGEPORT - V.F.W. Post 145's Great American Rock Show at J.F.K. Stadium last Saturday was quite an event despite the non-appearance of the British Lions, and guitar great Richie Blackmore and Rainbow.
The night before the show, bodies began to build up around the small stadium. Hundreds of temporary squatters camped out in an effort to grab prime positions for the next day's spectacle.
Although the gates were scheduled to open Saturday at noon, the crowd was so thick by 11 a.m. that V.F.W. staff began letting people in to prevent a heat exhaustion epidemic that the small medical tent wouldn't be able to handle. By 4 p.m., shortly before Derringer took the stage, well over 10,000 had filed into the stadium and filed both bleacher walls, and the football field.
With no protection from the sun, the masses were restless when the Michael Bolotin Band, a Connecticut club band making its first major appearance, opened the show an hour later than the announced 2 p.m. starting time.
Bolotin, beginning a very short set with "Rocky Mountain Way", seemed a fairly good guitarist and managed to keep the crowd quiet with his slide solo. However, they soon lost interest in his music and wandered off in the direction of the snack stands.
The Bolotin Band left the stage after playing for a half-hour, about 15 minutes less than the average club set. After the only quick equipment switch of the day, the Simms Bros. Band took over.
Poor Bros.
The Bros. extremely poor performance, with the exception of lead guitarist Mickey Leonard and keyboardist Robb Sabino who probably couldn't do wrong anywhere, drove even this reviewer, who loved them last week at Toad's Place, to the concession stand. But their limp showing at this festival didn't prove that they're a bad band. It just proved that it's a lot harder to communicate with an audience of 10,000 than 400 when you haven't got international stature or control of your own volume. However, the Bros. did play a major role in their early downfall. Let's face it, no matter how new you are (and this band has been together for over two years) you don't open your set with a Burton Cummings song when you're playing in front of Blue Oyster Cult, Derringer and Geils fans.
Derringer, featuring Rick Derringer, opened the first strong set of the night with "Teenage Love Affair". When Rick, barely taller than his guitar, came on stage a flood of people washed across the field from the concession stand to the front of the stage. There was a lot of pushing, shouting, cheering and screaming in the stadium and acts of violence began and lasted throughout the evening.
Rick played every song the audience wanted to hear, including his (Lordy Mama) famous version of "Rock and Roll Hootchie Koo". The band's last number was punctuated by a drum solo from Myron Grombaucher, who is a sub-cult figure with Derringer fans.
Flying Hotdog
While taking a few pictures of the band, this reviewer narrowly missed falling victim to a minor act of violence by side-stepping a hot dog that came hurtling from the skies, or at least the bleachers, toward my head.
After an agonizing two-hour break, Geils came onstage. Without playing a note the band had the audience worshipping them. They have been one of New England's best loved bands for almost a decade, having a reputation fantastic live performances.
Magic Dick on harmonica and Peter Wolf's singing dominated and carried the performance. It's hard to find a better harp man than Magic Dick and Wolf's maniacal behavior on stage is enough to get any crowd hopping along with him. How J. Geils acquired a reputation as one of America's better guitarists is confusing. Using his Flying V, J's style rose from dull to boring until he climbed to mediocrity during the band's encore when he shared leads with Rick Derringer.
Oysters Tasty
A long break ensued until Blue Oyster Cult bounded on stage at 9:30 p.m. to play an all-too-short hour and one-half set. The Cult's show was a spectacle with explosions, fireworks, special effects and tricky laser lighting far too impressive to describe in less than a tome. A 20-minute version of that stupid song "Godzilla", with a healthy dose of "Buck's Boogie" material thrown in, was the highlight of the performance, with all five Cultists on guitar. Even drummer Albert Bouchard plays sharp, clear leads without straining. Donald (Buck Dharma) Roeser had the audience on their collective feet and knees during their "Reaper" encore. Remaining Cult members Joe Bouchard, Eric Bloom and Allen Lanier put in a typically expert performance.
When the show ended at 11 p.m. several thousand disappointed Rainbow fans began wailing for Blackmore, but to no avail. Rainbow, It was announced at p.m. [time missing!!] was to play before the Cult, but "just didn't show up", according to one of the show's promoters. An announcement that the British Lions wouldn't play ran on most of the state's rock stations during the day, so the crowd wasn't surprised when Bolotin opened the show.
Kidding promoter
The same promoter said, in regard to the numerous stabbings that occurred during the 12-hours the crowd was in the stadium, "That's a lot of" fecal matter. "It didn't happen."
However, a Bridgeport Ambulance EMT who was stationed at the concert said "there were a lot of of minor slashings and two people had to be hospitalized for knife wounds. One guy was stabbed in the abdominal region inside the stadium" and was still in the hospital Tuesday evening.
Most of the problems handled by medical personnel were minor, but ranged from sunburn and heat prostration, to glass in bare feet and drug and alcohol overdoses.
"For the number of people there, and the heat and the music that was played, they weren't that bad at all," said the attendent.
Ted Drozdowski
- Originally scheduled for the Coliseum (see ticket stub above)
Hi there, I enjoyed your website very much.
One small bit of info: The Aug. 4, 1978, Blue Oyster Cult concert was switched from the Seattle Center Coliseum to Hec Edmundsson Pavilion on the University of Washington campus. The reason? The Seattle Seahawks of the NFL were playing a home exhibition game in the Kingdome and the annual Seafair Torchlight Parade was held on the city streets of Seattle. Thus the Seattle Police Department simply didn't have the manpower to also staff a major concert downtown, and that's why the concert was moved to the University, which has its own police force.
P.S. -- UFO also appeared as a preliminary along with British Lions.
The original lineup for this show was BOC/UFO/British Lions. I'm not sure where the Derringer and Alvin Lee information came from, but they most definitely did not play at this concert. [I originally had them down as support for this gig - now corrected. Cheers!].
Shortly before the concert began, an announcement came over the PA that UFO would not be playing that evening. The reason given was that one of their trucks broke down (enroute from Seattle presumably), and that the other two bands would therefore get to play a longer set.
BOC were excellent. I don't recall the exact setlist after all these years, but they blew my mind and it was the last chance I would get to see the band with their full laser spectacular.
Here's a preview for this gig which appeared in the Sun, Jul 30, 1978 edition of the The Spokesman-Review:
Blue Oyster Cult to take over Coliseum
Blue Oyster Cult with special guests, UFO and British Lions, will perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Spokane Coliseum.
The high-powered "Cult" gave a concert in 1976 at the Coliseum and packed the house.
A local reviewer wrote, "The Cult makes blood boil almost literally with the sheer power of sound, coupled with volume and rhythm, powerful enough to force blood through anyone's veins double-time."
UFO is a rock n' roll British quintet which recently burst into prominence in America with their LP, "Lights Out."
By far the band's best selling album to date, "Lights Out," emerged as a jolting tour de force, serving up progressive hits like "Too Hot to Handle," and "Love to Love."
Their other albums include "Phenomenon," "Force It," "No Heavy Petting," and Obsession."
Phil Mogg is vocalist; Andy Parker, drums; Pete Way, bass guitar; Michel Schenker, guitar; and Paul Raymond, keyboards, guitars and vocal backups.
Thanks to Alessandro Borri, I came across the following blog that gives stats on some of the major 70s Spokane gigs:
- 1978 Spokane Attendances || Robert Schoenberg
Here's the full list for 1978 so you can see the context:
Feb 21 America 3,000 Mar 13 Nazareth 8,500 Apr 20 Foghat 7,068 May 13 Ted Nugent 8,500 May 16 Tom Jones 4.087 May 18 Bill Gaither Trio 2,828 Jun 14 Boz Scaggs 6,270 Jul 27 Aerosmith 7,800 Aug 05 Blue Oyster Cult 7,800 Aug 12 Tribute to Elvis 1,675 Sep 10 Boston 7,800 Sep 28 Black Sabbath 4,529 Nov 08 Rush 4,200 Nov 17 Commodores 7,242 Nov 26 David Gates & Bread 3,697
Top grossing show, Ted Nugent with $63,750; then Aerosmith and Boston at $62,400 each; and Blue Oyster Cult with $59,219.
Source: Spokane Arena Office Binder: "Coliseum Concerts" typed, handwritten and word processor documents 1975 to 1994.
Regarding the 1978 San Diego gig. I was at this show about 12th row center.It was amazing to say the least as Blue Oyster Cult was one of my favorites. I remember UFO was good, I had seen them before and would later in 1979 w/ Blue Oyster Cult.
Schenker had guitar cable difficulties through the show and finally snapped at the end. Pete Way was in his usual drunken form, Andy turned in a short but nice solo. Not a bad show for UFO.
BOC also did 5 guitars, Hot Rails, DFTR, Godzilla, RU Ready To Rock, Astronomy and I believe ME 262. During Godzilla Albert stopped his solo and cursed the audience for throwing fireworks on stage.
He realized he should back track a little and turned his rant into a "do you wanna rock n roll or what"? audience participation moment rather than a riot.
He informed everyone that if they wanted to see fireworks there were so many fucking fireworks on stage that they were going to. And he wasn't lying! This was when Blue Oyster Cult were at the indoor arena laser/pyro peak and they pulled out all the stops.
Yes, British Lions did open and played the Pistols "Pretty Vacant."
I was at this show and you don't have Cheap Trick as listed, but they played this also as I recall.
I won't SWEAR on a stack of BOC Bibles that Cheap Trick were on this bill, but I am almost positive - say 98% sure.
I know that the show started early in the morning (10am-ish) and continued on until late into the night before BOC even came on.
I know there were other bands as well, though nobody major. There were probably 5 bands total and all the bands leading up to BOC were all really good and the music was great.
The San Diego Stadium was packed with people - the SD Stadium seats about 50,000 people, and it was about 3/4 full - but it was not an unruly crowd as far as my point of view. I was still a Junior in high school at the time.
There was a long gap before BOC came on, and as I said it was late into the night and I think a good number of concert goer's had begun to leave - burned out and unable to stay on for what I think was the mainline act. After arguing to stay with the friend who had drove us there, we stayed on and enjoyed to the end.
Now this was 30 years ago, so my memory is not perfect but I remember a lot of little issues throughout the day (technical sound stuff).
I later went on to meet the ex wife of one of the guys in Cheap Trick at a movie audition (I am a talent agent for a living) and I told her I'd seen them with BOC and she seemed to remember the show as well.
Cheap Trick did not play at this show. The second reviewer is getting this concert mixed up with the Aug 5, 1979 concert at Jack Murphy Stadium.
I attended both shows and distinctly remember British Lions (ex-Mott the Hoople members minus the singer), UFO (last tour with Michael Schenker for a while), and the mighty BOC (with their incredible laser show) as the only bands at the Aug 8, 1978 San Diego show.
Great night!
I was at this concert and confirm as the third reviewer stated that Cheap Trick did NOT appear at this show. The lineup was British Lions, UFO and BOC.
The show was good and BOC rocked. The sound suffered the usual problems with shows at the indoor S.D. Sports Arena but that didn't keep us from enjoying the show at all.
Especially in the upper level where I was at and the smoke concentration was greatest ;>)
Did this gig take place? Please let me know if you know for sure one way or another...
Yes, indeed, this concert took place. It was an extremely hot evening in Fresno - 107F, and the arena was packed and stifling.
British Lions opened, followed by UFO. BOC opened with RU Ready 2 Rock, then Summer of Love, ETI was the 3rd song during which out came the lasers. Sound was perfect and they used their fantastic quad system.
They performed (in no particular order) Golden Age of Leather, 5 Guitars, Goin' Thru the Motions, Cities on Flame, Last Days of May, Astronomy (fantastic) and Don't Fear the Reaper plus a couple of others. Played for 1 hour and 45 minutes. They did 2 encores - 1st was Born to Be Wild but I can't remember the second.
I have a couple of reviews from local papers I'll try to get to you.
BOC Sizzled for Fresnans
Wednesday night in Fresno - it was hot. At Selland arena it was even hotter, as Blue Oyster Cult, UFO and British Lions "rocked" Fresno.
The British Lions is basically a mixture of "Mott the Hoople" - Ray Major, Buffin, Morgan Fisher, Overend Watt, with John Fiddler, formerly of "Medicine Head." What we heard was good hard rock.
After a half-hour intermission, during which our main concern was keeping as cool as possible, UFO came out and lived up to its reputation for high-energy, hard rockin' live performances. Despite the heat, and a few long gaps between songs, a good time was had by all, including the band.
The first two groups would have been considered a good "Rock Concert," in themselves. They were just the "warm-up" acts for the next group up and after three hours of almost unbearable heat, we were ready.
Blue Oyster Cult came on with "RU Ready 2 Rock" (the type of tune most groups would close a show with). The audience answer was a definite YES!
BOC played for about an hour and 45 minutes, performing great tunes; "Godzilla," "ETI" "Don't Fear the Reaper" (they did "Reaper" for the encore), "This Ain't the Summer of Love," and many others including a couple from an album to be released soon.
Blue Oyster Cult is known for its great "light shows". For those who have not seen BOC's light show, try to imagine strobe-lights, fog, laser lightbeams, spinning crystal globes, flashing many-colored spotlights, explosions, and fireworks, matched perfectly with fantastic music done in "Quad."
Blue Oyster Cults' members are Eric Bloom, Albert Bouchard, Joe Bouchard, Donald (Buck Dharma) Roeser, and Allen Lanier. This group put on a show that was, at the very least, outstanding. There were no long gaps between songs, the lighting, the quad sound system, and the superb performance by the band, blended perfectly to form a "state of the art" beyond compare.
This review falls short of describing Blue Oyster Cult live. You have to experience it.
- British Lions cancelled
I saw them do "Nosferatu" on the Spectres tour in LA (can't remember the venue, but I was very close). It was great. I remember Joe ripping on that Alembic bass he had.
I always enjoyed the Joe songs. Liked his singing, loved his playing. He is one of my biggest bass influences, and here he is no longer a bass player! It's not right.
Here's a review of this gig from the Sat 12 Aug 1978 edition of the The Los Angeles Times:
Blue Oyster Cult on Best Behavior
By Richard Cromelin
Blue Oyster Cult is known as a heavy-metal band, but the veteran New York quintet's Inglewood Forum concert Thursday evoked little of the antics and atmosphere associated associated with that genre. Frenzy, dancing, whoops, raised fists all were in short supply in an audience that primarily sat and listened.
BOC's meticulously designed hard rock provides plenty to listen to, but at times one wishes that they were a little less interesting and a bit more exciting on a brute, physical level. The finale, a four-guitar orgy of laser beams, flashing strobes, rolling smoke, clashing guitar necks and exploding skyrockets, finally brought things to a head. Prior to that, taste and restraint were the governing principles.
The band's varied repertoire showcases a sleek, sophisticated approach to heavy-metal. Intricate layers of vocals spice basic boogie-rockers, electronic keyboard embellishments retrieve a drum solo from the routine, a Byrds-like bridge changes the course of a basic hard-rock song.
Throughout, lead guitarist Don (Buck Dharma) Roeser is kept occupied to the point of overwork. Like Bill Walton in the pivot, he does a monumental job as he keys the whole attack in both supportive and center-stage roles. BOC lacks the distinctive, expressive singing and the compelling personality to be something larger or deeper than an excellent musical outfit. But it needs to be a bit more wild, especially when singing Steppenwolf's "Born to Be Wild," a little less civilized performing the MC5's "Kick Out the Jams," somewhat angrier on the Animals' "We Got to Get out of This Place."
Not that the group should fall into the morass of excess exemplified by opening act UFO. The British band's stagey histrionics and macho, riff-rock material amounted to a ludicrous display, but it apparently met audience specifications and received tumultuous response.
The British Lions, scheduled to open, canceled its appearance.
- Detective originally scheduled but cancelled
Here's a preview for this gig which appeared in the Tue 08 Aug 1978 edition of the Reno Gazette-Journal:
Air Show of Sorts Planned - Bands to Roar at Speedway
By Gary Iratcabal
CARSON CITY - Friday night, four power-rock bands will invade Tahoe-Carson (T-Car) Speedway for an evening of musical-energy excitement.
As sponsoring East-West Productions puts it, the concert will be "the summer rock 'n' roll spectacular under the stars."
Although there's plenty of summer left, it'll be very difficult for any area rock promoter to top a show like this.
Beginning at 6 p.m., T-Car will rock to Blue Oyster Cult, UFO, Detective, and British Lions. An air show of sorts is also planned.
The five-member Cult played to a near-capacity Centennial Coliseum late last year and made a distinctive mark with its provocative music, lasers, and pyrotechincs the last two items in no way serving as a musical crutch.
Although Friday's concert is outdoors, the more than $100,000 21-watt laser system is powerful enough to be quite effective. Modified since the Reno show to meet EPA standards, the digital computer laser will be pre-programmed and attended to by the tour's optical physicist. The system is bigger and better than ever before, adding up to something more than "glitter" rock 'n' roll.
Starting out in 1970 as the five-man Soft White Underbelly, the Cult a short time later lost two members but added the sinister vocals of Eric Bloom, also on rhythm guitar, and Joe Bouchard (brother to drummer Albert) on electric bass. The group-name changed to Stalk Forrest.
After some lounge touring and the final name change, to Blue Oyster Cult, the band cut its first album for Columbia. It has released five albums since, the greatest a double-live set, "On Your Feet Or On Your Knees."
That album signaled the end to the Cult's persistent lyrical dealings with the darkness of tyranny, societal decay and hell. The last two LPs dealt with more commercial ideas like extra-terrestrial intelligence, Godzilla and leather, while not losing grasp of the band's heavy-metal edge reputation. Melodies also shifted from heavy-metal oriented lines to commercial, yet inventive, melody lines.
The British quintet, UFO, just released a new album, "Obsession," from which some songs are expected to be played Friday.
"Obsession" follows In the wake of "Lights Out" which established UFO in the U.S. as an indiscreet, heavy-metal band with ingenuity in its music. The eight-year-old group also has three other U.S. releases to its credit This will be UFO's debut in the Reno-Carson City area following a Reno cancellation last September.
Detective came together In '75 after four of its five members evolved from other well-known groups.
Guitarist Michael Monarch, whose playing ranges from fine melodies to searing metal, was the original guitarist for Steppenwolf. Michael Des Barres, lead vocalist, sang with London's rock-theater group, Silverhead, for two years, while bassist Bobby Pickett played with Sugarloaf in the late 60s. Pickett later worked with Greg Allman.
Tony Kaye, original keyboardist for Yes, later formed his own group, Badger (1973-75). Drummer Jon Hyde played in many less-reputed European bands before connecting with Detective.
The group has one successful U.S. LP out and recently "It Takes One To Know One."
Both albums carry strong Led Zeppelin rhythms and drum styles on many songs, due most likely to the influence that group had on Detective before and after Zeppelin's Jimmy Page took an interest in Detective. That interest led to concert-opener position for Detective on Zeppelin's last tour.
British Lions is not a rookie band, either. Four of its five members for seven years formed the core of England's Mott (the Hoople).
When lead vocalist Ian Hunter left the band in '74 on a bitter note, Mott the Hoople became simply, Mott, adding John Fiddler, formerly of Medicine Head. Mott carried on that way until late '76 when the band dissolved.
Months later, Ray Major on guitar; Dale "Buffin" Griffin, drums; Morgan Fisher, keyboards; and Overend Pete Wass, electric bass, grouped once again. They included Fiddler on guitar-vocals and formed British Lions. The group is with RSO records.
Concert tickets are available at all major Reno-Sparks record store ticket outlets.
The Gazette-Journal later published a review in its Mon 14 Aug 1978 edition"
Blue Oyster Cult Pulls Concert Together
By Gary Iratcabal
CARSON CITY - It took Blue Oyster Cult to pull together together a concert Friday night at Tahoe-Carson Speedway (T-Car) that had its share of problems.
One of the scheduled groups, Detective, canceled, leaving the remaining opening bands, British Lions and UFO, to make their Reno-Carson City debuts before an audience of approximately 10,000. And UFO suffered some technical (power, audio-levels) hang-ups that may or may not have been entirely entirely its crew's own fault. In addition, the show started started an hour late, and equipment set-ups went slowly, even for an outdoor event.
But it was those five guys from New York, the Blue Oyster Cult, that made the evening worthwhile.
With a set of 11 songs plus a "Don't Fear The Reaper" encore, the only encore of the concert, the Cult drove home the fact that it's one of the top-of-the-line American American rock 'n' roll bands.
The group slipped through songs from its last three releases that included the true account of "Then Came the Last Days of May". - a dope bust Then came "E.T.I.," and "This Ain't the Summer of Love; " the latter featuring an outstanding outstanding electric bass guitar guitar solo, containing some surf music licks, with tasty reverb. Besides that, the famous famous Cult five-man guitar line-up helped climax "... Summer of Love."
As usual, vocalist-guitarist-keyboardist Eric Bloom was the subtle star of the show, with his singing, moving and playing with acute yet unrestrained precision. His show style appears to have changed little since the Cult's Reno performance last October.
What did change were the acoustics and the sound levels. They were much better this time, not subverting Bloom's (or any Cult member's) efforts in anyway.
Lead-guitarist Don Roeser, dressed in a white sport-suit (a la Carlos Santana) also played an excellent excellent set, combining with Bloom at times to produce interesting off-beat effects.
The Cult gave a taste of its upcoming live LP, due in the stores in about three weeks, with a version of the Animals' "We Gotta Get Out of This Place." The song suite the Cult perfectly the band doesn't have to pollute such a good tune with a lot of unnecessary riffs. One major drum riff is added, just once, producing an exciting touch.
Those who attended the concert as much for the light, pyrotechnics and lasers as for the music were not disappointed. The Cult has refined and defined the use of these devices to synchronize them perfectly (in mood and timing) with the music.
The Cult appears to be cornering the market in spaceage rock 'n' roll visuals. It already has cornered a market in outstanding, imaginative rock 'n' roll audio.
UFO's eight-song set could have been a climax to the mounting anticipation the group has been building up in this locale since the group's cancellation last fall.
But technical problems that amounted to a very poor sound balance and, at one point, a total loss of power, quickly deteriorated any thrust the band could have produced easily within its first four songs. That thrust could have been built even with the sloppy lighting lighting work by UFO road technicians and the boring stage moves of the band, led by Phil Moog.
With the first half of its show basically shot down the drain, UFO launched into "Only You Can Rock Me." It ignited spontaneous, rhythmic hand-clapping from the audience. Momentum picked up.
The band then played "Doctor, Doctor," with its catchy four-chord hook that' easily set up the title cut from UFO's fourth LP, "Lights Out," the most crowd-captivating tune of UFO's set.
Ending with a 20-minute version of "Rock Bottom," UFO sealed its redemption, mainly through Moog's tuneful vocals and the tight playing of guitarist Michael Schenker.
None of the groups were allowed a sound check before before the gig to adjust balances and levels. But it shouldn't take a good three-quarters of a set to arrange a satisfactory audio mix, avoiding the uphill battle UFO faced.
British Lions, a new molding of the defunct Mott (the Hoople), opened the show with music that rhythmically suggests the Rolling Stones without copying them.
This band is good. It resembles Hoople only in playing technique, not in melody.
The quintet played a set of six songs finishing up with a medley of three rockers that included the Stones' "It's Only Rock 'n' Roll."
After spending six years trying to make it big in the Hoople and Mott, the core of the Lions now is ready to go all the way, and it has the tools.
My twin brother went to this concert... he was 14 years old and was invited by a neighbor who was sharing a summer home with us. His dad took his son and my brother to the show.
My brother at the time was not aware of BOC, but his friend was a huge fan and needed my brother to come along for him to get permission from his Dad.
My brothers only observations are the following: The speedway was packed like sardines and that vendors were doing brisk business selling... get this 12 packs of beer... talk about raising your can of beer.
I remember this one, it was my 3rd BOC show, I was 20, my wife 19. Karl is right, the place was packed, this was by far the biggest of what few concerts they had in Carson City. And yes they were selling beer by the 12 pack, and that worked out pretty well for me and the wife. We just found an older friend to buy for us once and we were set.
The British Lions really sucked (I guess I was expecting Mott the Hoople) UFO and BOC were hot. I remember when they did Godzilla, Eric was talking about how Godzilla rose up out of LakeTahoe and was coming down the hill. It was said that people at Tahoe could actually See the lasers!
Also the Speedway was called T-Car (Tahoe-Carson) Thanks for the great website!
August 1978.
Robert Dunehew and I drove from Sacramento, CA over Echo Summit to T-Car Speedway. There was an hour delay near Twin Bridges for road construction. While waiting for traffic to move, all kinds of people were tossing frisbees and sitting around on the highway.
We arrived before the gates to the infield opened, but while waiting, a huge gust of wind toppled a stack of speakers. Another hour delay.
Sun was starting to set and the show started even later as it was announced the band Detective was a no show.
British Lions opened. They rocked for a relative unknown at the time.
By the time UFO took the stage it was dark. I made my way to within 50ft of stage. UFO were at the top of their game around this time, but it was clear that the lead guitarists drinking problem was affecting his ability to play. Sounded sloppy at times.
By the time BOC took the stage, I was up front center. The album Specters was recently released. The laser light show was in full specter.
Here is the set list for BOC that night.
R.U. Ready 2 Rock
E.T.I. (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence)
We've Gotta Get Out of This Place
Then Came the Last Days of May
Godzilla
This Ain't the Summer of Love
5 Guitars
Born to Be Wild
I recall both the British Lions and UFO playing and of course BOC.
We got pretty high and the Swing didn't have good ventilation - it got hot. Great place for concerts - saw more than one person passed out including me I know all three groups rocked that night. Had a great time - still after a long time is kind of a blur...
Here's a review of this gig from the 15 Aug 1978 edition of the "San Bernardino Sun":
Blue Oyster Cult Packs Them In - Again
by Mark Lundahl, Special to the Sun-Telegram
SAN BERNARDINO - A sold out Swing Auditorium crowd was dealt another numbing blow Sunday night from a lumbering giant of heavy rock Blue Oyster Cult.
Also featured in San Bernardino's first big time rock concert in two months were rising bands UFO and The British Lions.
At times familiarity breeds boredom, and I am afraid this is the case with Blue Oyster Cult. This is the third time the East Coast band has trekked through Swing Auditorium in the past two years. The last visit was only eight months ago. The old "Cult" has learned no new tricks, and its stage show remains the same.
Sunday's set started with an invigorating flourish supported by the best sound system the group has ever brought with them. Blue Oyster Cult sounded brighter and cleaner than at anytime before. The group's mature brand of hard rock was executed well, and the crowd voiced an enthusiastic approval.
Blue Oyster Cult has managed to get away from its original menacing stance of hard rock and leather, and is now well entrenched in a slicked down style that mixes softer textures with the usual heavy metal assault.
The band has been able to broaden its audience this way. But while a few of these newer numbers are very good (prime example is "Don't Fear the Reaper"), most are rather anonymous and listless, hampered by mediocre singing and indulgent soloing.
Sunday's set was revamped a bit to place a greater emphasis on the newer selections. As a result, a few of the old raucous concert favorites (eg. "Buck's Boogie" and "Cities on Flame") were dropped from the line-up.
The concert started out promising, but not even a $200,000 laser show which would give a sober man hallucinations, could keep the set from miring in mediocrity. The band plays very well, but does not have enough original musical ideas to sustain much interest.
More successful was the group billed as UFO. This British quintet has just begun to make some progress on the climb to rock stardom. It is very possible that the band will make it big someday soon. They are a sharp-looking outfit, and have a very appealing sound that is close in nature to bands like "Styx" and "Kansas".
Like Blue Oyster Cult, UFO has broadened its musical attack in its quest for a larger following. The band's first albums were almost purely hardcore rock. The last two records contain some ballads that are perfectly balanced in texture and tension.
Two of these numbers ("Love to Love" and Cherry") were the highlights of UFO's set. The songs are gentle and lyrical, but have strong, full power chords to punch their essence through. They are also beautiful vehicles for Phil Mogg's expressive lead vocals.
When the band decides to rock, it's at a galloping pace. "Light's Out" and "Doctor Doctor" hurdled new sound barriers, with the searing guitar work of German Michel Schenker leading the way.
UFO is an intelligent band. Its brand of progressive rock is loaded with tension, dynamics, clarity, and musicianship. It is, however, not a unique brand of music. Without continued inspiration, there is a distinct possibility that UFO might one day cure insomnia as Blue Oyster Cult does now. For now, though, the band has a fresh sound and a bright future.
Opening the show were The British Lions, a group made up of refugees from the much heralded band, Mott the Hoople, with the addition of John Fiddler (from "Medicine Head").
The British Lions have retained the basic Mott the Hoople sound. It's a rowdy brand of barroom rock and roll that makes good use of power chords and Morgan Fisher's distinctive piano. But the band lacks a focal figure to hold their show together. Ian Hunter did that for Mott. The British Lions are still developing their aura.
The band rushed through a good selection of original tunes, and capped their set with a novel rock and roll medley that included the Byrd's "So You Want to be a Rock and Roll Star," the Stones' "It's Only Rock and Roll," and The Sex Pistols' "Pretty Vacant."
Mark Lundahl produced "reviews" of all the BOC gigs that passed through San Bernardino in the mid to late 70's, and he never missed the chance to slate them. He just didn't like BOC - he didn't like the songs, he didn't like Eric's vocals, basically, he objected to BOC's participation in general at any gig he attended.
And this is the plank that the "San Bernardino Sun" tasked with providing an objective review of three BOC headlining shows (1976, 1977 and this one)... good luck with that!
Here's the preview for this gig which appeared in the Fri 11 Aug 1978 edition of the Arizona Daily Star:
Blue Oyster Cult tops three-act bill
Tuesday is the night for a big Tock explosion at the Tucson Community Center Arena when the Blue Oyster Cult, UFO and British Lions perform.
The best known of the three is Blue Oyster Cult. Its history began in 1970 when State University of New York students students Allen Lanier, Albert Bouchard and Donald Roeser combined talents with Andrew Winter and Les Bronstein to form Soft White Underbelly.
The group won a recording contract with Elektra Records, but no album resulted. Eric Bloom replaced Bronstein on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Joe Bouchard replaced Winter on bass and Soft White Underbelly became the Stalk Forrest Group. They were also known as Oaxaca, making the club and bar sounds on the East Coast.
The group's manager, Sandy Pearlman, provided the name Blue Oyster Cult from a poem he wrote. Under its new flag, the group recorded its material, which had interested a Columbia Records producer.
Since signing exclusively with Columbia, Blue Oyster Cult has produced a record of the same name plus "Tyranny and Mutation," "Secret Treaties," "On Your Feet or on Your Knees" and "Agents of Fortune." The group has been called "a monster band, one of the most precision-tooled, powerful bands" around.
British Lions is a British rock group descended from Mott the Hoople. UFO is also from England, where it started in 1971. Its lead singer, Phil Mogg, characterizes the group's work as "hard and raunchy... with melody."
Tickets for the 8 p.m. show are $7.50 in advance, $8.50 at the door and are available at all Community Center ticket outlets.
The "Tucson Citizen" published a review of this gig in their Wed 16 Aug 1978 edition:
9000 attend Center show - The Cult presents night of laser violence
By Chuck Graham
Citizen Entertainment Writer
British rock musicians are either a few years ahead or a few years behind we in the New World. Judging by the dominance of early teenagers in last night's audience for Blue Oyster Cult (American heavy metal music's counterpart to the Loyalists of 1776), UFO and British Lions (both heavy English), the islanders of Great Britain are now pleasing people still looking ahead to the best boogie of their lives.
It would seem the British are anticipating the evolution of punk rock into rock music similar to those acid-dripping blues contortions we had several years ago. Which sounds a bit like reaching the East by traveling West.
Contrary to what other performers from the past decade have done, the Blue Oyster Cult has not sought compatibility with the diluted tastes of current times. There has been no effort to lighten up its laser light and piercing synthesizer peons to the powers of urban destruction.
Eric Bloom's sinister vocals, instrumental piles of grating electronic sounds and sprays of laser mayhem were combined in the kind of grim joyfulness that precedes a good round of pillage and plunder.
The show struck a responsive note with the Community Center Arena crowd of some 9000, many of them standing for the duration of the occasion. Somehow, despite a steady pop music diet of AM radio programming as carefully contrived to be blandly inoffensive as a brand new shopping center, these fans could relate to violence.
The laser show for this year's BOC tour is much more animated than last year's. Bowing to the government decision that no laser beams could be aimed into crowds, Bloom and the others kept their brilliant green and red rods of light bouncing from the rafters and from their own revolving mirror balls.
Smoke screens, flying flash bombs, spewing sparks and constantly changing washes of stage lighting kept the eyes as agitated as the mind. The feel was gritty east coast violence, completely lacking in the comic book fantasies of a friendlier group like Kiss.
The Cult's performance also seemed a bit more spirited than last year. BOC has been doing this sort of act for so long there's little than can go wrong. Yet the potential for boredom when presenting such elemental music night after night is awesome. The quintet should get some kind of gold star just for avoiding that.
UFO played with more verve, however. What they lacked in electronics hardware was compensated by richly textured melodies that offered ample opportunity for elaboration. But this group still maintained the traditions of pointing their guitars like machine guns at each other, going into crouch stances and all that.
The piercing repetitive choruses on the encore "Too Hot To Handle" were strongly reminiscent of the old (new?) days of rock n' roll.
The British Lions are an admittedly sentimentalist group of two original members from Mott the Hoople, two others who played in that band for a time and lead vocalist John Fiddler. Their goal is to play in the Hoople manner but with such enthusiasm that British Lions will be fulfilled in fame the earlier group never quite achieve
What came out last night was an exceptionally loud quite simplistic brand of power rock that hewed a line between the new wave punk people and Blue Oyster Cult.
Was this a British Lions/BOC only show, or did UFO play as well?
Yes, UFO did play this show.
Like most people in attendance, I went to see B.O.C. and their laser show. I was not necessarily a big B.O.C. fan. I had the Agents Of Fortune LP and thought it was pretty good. But B.O.C. was one of the first groups to have a laser show so I wanted to see what that was all about.
I had never heard of British Lions or UFO.
I almost didn't go to the show. As I recall, it was a last minute decision to go.
I have no recollection of British Lions. I have vague recollections of B.O.C. I remember the lasers, in general, and I seem to recall the drummer wearing a big reptile head during Godzilla (with strobe lights flashing!).
To be honest, what I vividly recall about that show was UFO! They were incredible - particularly Michael Schenker. I was mesmerized by the image of this tall, thin guitarist in black, blond hair over his face, playing incredible runs on his flying V. Wow! What a memory. I've been a fan of Schenker's playing ever since.
My very first Laser day with the Cult.
My brother Thomas, who turned me on to the band, took me along as I was not of driving age yet.
Tarrant County Convention Center was your typical American flying saucer shaped ten thousand seater. Most big name bands of the era bypassed Dallas due to restrictions from the Fire Marshall on flash pods and such.
No problem in Fort Worth where you could blow the place to bits if that was your act. 78 was arguably the zenith of the bands success and to witness them at this pinnacle is something I have always felt grateful for.
These were the days of Eric's laser wrist device, Albert's horrible sounding Roto-Toms & Godzilla head, Black Leather and the extraordinary Buck Dharma in the white suit and tobacco burst Les Paul.
"Some Enchanted Evening" CD/DVD well represents the strength of the band at this time. They had to follow UFO who were also at their peak in the waning days of the Michael Shenker era. They were incredible and I became an instant UFO crazy. Their excellent "Strangers In the Night" live album was from this tour.
It was also the first time I had heard many of the older songs from the black and white album days. This was magic. They hooked me for life to the mysterioso Cult vibe.
I still hold a special place for the original Blue Oyster Cult. The 5 guitars during this time was incredible to behold.
My lasting memory of this performance was the extended coda to Golden Age of Leather in which Buck took flight on the frets in that haunting, melancholy minor scale way he solos. He was motionless, center stage inside a laser cone gazing at the rafters, just squeezing those gorgeous tones to us from somewhere deep inside.
On the drive home down I-30 back to Dallas we stopped for petrol. My brother and I were still in the deafening afterglow of what we had just experienced. 2 girls were stopped as well. We asked what they were up to. "Just out partying, having a good time" they replied.
"We just saw the amazing Blue Oyster Cult" and drove off into the Texas Summer night with "Spectres" blasting all the way.
I originally had this gig down as just BOC and British Lions but I read an article on UFO in the 7 Mar 1982 issue of "The Daily Oklahoman" which suggested they were also on this bill:
Way, a charter member of the 10-year-old heavy metal quintet UFO, remembered this hotel.
"We were here opening for Blue Oyster Cult about a year ago," he said, and nodded toward the empty dance floor across the room.
"Coupla guys from the Cult were dancing with this girl and these two cowboy types didn't seem to like it much. I remember thinking, uh-oh, there's trouble coming."
Way laughed at the recollection. "The next thing you know, there are hats flying and doors bursting open and, oh, it was amazing! Like a wild west show or something."
Way and Chapman - in Norman to open the recent Ozzy Osbourne concert at Lloyd Noble Center - are not unaccustomed to such wild times on the road, since constant touring and hotel room living tend to take a toll on the nerves.
I realise he said "about a year ago", and this would actually be nearer three and a half, but this gig is the only candidate for the gig in question.
Plus... I wonder who the "coupla guys from the Cult" were...? Lookout for black eyes and bruises at the next night's show in San Antonio... :-)
A stub appeared for this gig on eBay (December 2010) that stated that UFO was also on the bill (though it didn't mention British Lions).
However, according to the promoters' website - stonecityattractions.com - both British Lions and UFO opened the show...
The original BOC gig schedules had this gig taking place at the "Civic Center"...
I attended this concert. As evidenced by the attached ticket stub this concert actually took place at the Beaumont Fair Park Coliseum.
I think maybe it was originally supposed to be at the Civic Center but got moved for some reason. Fair Park was just a fancy name for what was basically a big covered outdoor barn that was used for the livestock show when the South Texas State Fair was in town.
I remember the laser show, Buck's white suit and the wrist laser. It was a great show. The Fair Park Coliseum has since been torn down.
The presence of UFO on this bill was confirmed by an attendee on FaceBook...
I initially found an oddly-worded listing for this gig in the Friday 28 July 1978 (p8) edition of the "Ohio State Lantern":
Pinch hitting for Foghat in game four of the World Series of Rock, to be held at Cleveland Municipal Stadium on August 26, is Blue Oyster Cult. Foghat cancelled their entire tour.
So, no info on who else was on the original bill, but it looks like BOC were initially drafted in to replace Foghat.
Then, in the 6 Aug 1978 edition of "The Plain Dealer", there was an ad for this "World Series of Rock Game IV" gig which had Bob Seger headlining, with special guests BOC and Todd Rundgren's Utopia, plus The Cars.
However, the Sunday 20 Aug 1978 edition of "The Times Recorder" [Zanesville OH] provided this information:
Tickets Available To Delayed Concert
Belkin Productions has rescheduled the "World Series of Rock" Game 3, starring Fleetwood Mac, for 4 p.m. Aug. 26, at Cleveland Lakefront Stadium.
Postponed from August 5th due to an illness of Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham, the Aug. 26 bill also stars Todd Rundgren's Utopia, Bob Welch and The Cars.
This will be the final "World Series of Rock" for 1978 and a huge crowd is expected to usher out the summer.
Tickets for the August 5th show will be honored.
Looking at this chronology, it appears that when Game 3 (with Fleetwood Mac headlining) was postponed, the organisers amalgamated elements of Games 3 and 4 to create a new, revamped Game 3, with no Bob Seger... and no BOC, also, who had already booked a place in the SuperJam '78 gig at Busch Stadium in St. Louis on this date (see next entry).
Here's an article about this gig which appeared in the Sun 27 Aug 1978 edition of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
40,000 Fans Brave Sizzling TemperaturesBy Eric L. Zoeckler
Of the Post-Dispatch Staff
Superjam, fast becoming St. Louis' traditional midsummer celebration of rock music, opened Saturday before 40,000 fans at Busch Stadium, "with no more problems than you'd have at a double-header baseball game," its promoter said.
But the sounds emanating from the stadium were somewhat louder than the sounds of bat hitting ball and an intermittent cheer from the crowd. The sounds of five rock bands could be heard as far as three blocks away with the help of a three-story-high tier of speakers mounted on each side of the bandstand in center field.
There were no reports of ruptured eardrums, but one young woman did suffer an ankle injury when she tripped as the doors to the stadium opened and thousands of fans rushed to get standing positions in front of the bandstand.
A spokesman for Acid Rescue, a drug assistance agency, said there were only a "couple of drug overdoses, but mainly it's been problems with standing the heat." Spokesmen estimated temperatures on the stadium floor were reaching 125 degrees. The official temperature about 3 p.m. was 92.
But as the afternoon and music wore on, temperatures appeared to moderate and the youthful audience seemed intent on keeping cool with the aid of cold drinks, including soda, beer and screwdrivers.
The smell of marijuana smoke hung heavily in a few places, but police Capt. James J. Hackett of the Central District said the vast majority of fans were obeying the law.
He indicated that police would not necessarily disturb each person suspected of drug or illegal alcohol use.
"We try to enforce all violations within reason and with compassion for this type of event," Hackett said.
"This type of situation calls for discretion and good judgment on the parts of both the police and those in attendance." But he warned arrests would be made in cases of "obvious drug dealing and the abusing of drugs and alcohol."
Police were investigating reports that about 50 counterfeit tickets had been confiscated at the gates. Tickets were $13.50 each today and had been $11 in advance. Promoter Steve Schankman said 37,000 advance tickets had been sold.
Schankman discounted reports of marijuana use and underage drinking. In fact, he said, behavior at this year's Superjam had been the best in the three years that his company, Contemporary Productions, had been sponsoring the event.
"If there was anything wrong I wouldn't be able to take the time to speak with you," he told a reporter. "I'd be too busy putting out fires."
The audience was treated to almost continuous rock music, featuring Bob Welsh, Angel, Eddie Money, The Blue Oyster Cult and the star attraction, Styx.
Here's a review of this gig from the 28 Aug 1978 edition of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Superjam '78 in Busch Stadium
By John S. Cullinane
Although it is unlikely that Super-jams will ever become ho-hum events in this city, they are getting about as regular as birthdays. And, like some birthdays, there were some things worth remembering and other things you'd . just as soon forget about Superjam '78. Even if we have entered the age in which the all-day rocker has replaced the all-day sucker, there was more to Superjam 78 than the sheer spectacle of it and all the great-looking tans. It was another concert, only longer. More than 40,000 persons were attracted to the show that featured Styx, Blue Oyster Cult, Eddie Money, Bob Welch' and Angel.
Although it never became unbearable, the volume climbed steadily as night fell over Busch Memorial Stadium. The quality of the sound, excepting early technical difficulties, was generally excellent. But by the end of Saturday evening, the volume was great enough that passengers in the airplanes that occasionally flew over the stadium must have been tapping their feet to the music.
Ah, the music. The bands shuffled on and off stage in timely fashion for the most part. At least one band Angel made you wish for a premature exit. Bob Welch, in his first visit here as leader of his own band, was surprisingly good, on the other hand. His vocals reviewrock sounded almost languid until you realized he sounded the way he did because he had full control of things. He also had a lot more to offer than just his hit, "Ebony Eyes," and retreads of songs from Fleetwood Mac, his old band.
It looked as if Welch's band would be the only one to really jam (as in super) until Blue Oyster Cult blew onto the stage. That band started fast, paused hardly ever, and got faster. And Blue Oyster Cult occupied the position in the lineup of the bands that every band participating in an afternoon-evening stadium concert covets dusk. Unfortunately, no sensational sunset marked the group's arrival. Things went gray and then dark.
There was also an absence of light on stage well after any lights in the sky had gone out. Technicians turned on colored stage lights no spotlights only after someone in the band complained over a microphone of the darkness.
Where some of the harmonies may have been loose, the singing was always competent. Instrumentally, the band was ferociously good. Don Roeser played enough for two guitarists. The set was planned beautifully and included a couple fine oldies, "We Gotta Get out of This Place" and "Born to be Wild."
Even a drums and (mostly) bass duet wasn't boring. By the time the Cult wound things up with a fairly conservative version of "Don't Fear the Reaper," the concert was over, psychologically speaking. Styx had yet to play.
And play they did, with benefit of flash bombs and eight searchlights brought in especially for their set. Besides that, the spotlights were finally turned on. Thus, the Styx set was a bit more majestic in scope but not as good musically. The vocals were tight and sometimes piercing. It was only that the band's concept pieces came off a tad pretentious after all the good rock 'n' roll earlier in the concert.
Eddie Money comes up last in this review but not in terms of his performance. His set was short, maybe because he doesn't have much material assembled at this point in his national career. His band was good but he was better than his band. Money had two ideal qualities that rarely are present in one rock singer: he had just the right degree of gravel to his voice and good range.
Upon leaving the stadium, I realized that some of the best seats in the house were not in the house at all. They were on certain areas of lawn near sidewalks surrounding the stadium. The sound there was clear as a bell, a fact deeply appeciated by all those who camped out there for free.
The running order for the SuperJam '78 was as follows: Bob Welch / Eddy Money / Angel / BOC / Styx
The first concert I ever went to by myself (I actually drove some friends) was SuperJam '78 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.
The line-up was Bob Welch (oooo Ebony Eyes!) Eddie Money, Angel (there's a time tester for ya), Styx (The Grand Illusion tour) and Blue Oyster Cult (when Don't Fear The Reaper was on AM radio).
It wasn't the first time I smoked pot, but probably the second. I had 10x50 field glasses and everyone was trading me a toke for a gander through the lenses. I was fucked up with a capital "ucked".
The Cult came on at night and had the first laser show I'd ever seen. The unification of reality and the dream world came when they played Godzilla... The drummer, Albert Bouchard, leaned back, and when he came up he was wearing a big Godzilla Head.
When you're 17, and grew up in a town of 4100 that claims (this is no bullshit) to be the Hog Capital of the World (Pittsfield, Illinois) being completely marijuanafied and seeing a guy suddenly wearing a Godzilla head was just about maximum freak-out on the surreality meter.
I kept looking at the guy, drumming with the Godzilla head on, and saying, "The drummer's wearing a fucking Godzilla head!" My oral control centered became jammed on that sentence, as it tends to do the second time you ever smoke pot, and everyone was laughing at me, and at Godzilla. I wouldn't want my daughters to read this, but there was a time when drugs were fun.
This is a case of "small world." Styx's sound company was owned by a Texan named Bill Stephens. I had done several gigs with Bill over the years and liked his system. He also manufactured one of the first small battery-operated "phase checkers." I ended up buying three of them (and mysteriously losing the first two to sticky-handed cohorts).
Anyway, Bill was the system engineer at this show and sadly had to inform me that Styx's soundman would not allow me to use certain outboard effects. No matter, my memory of this show was that most of the audience was there for Styx anyway. The Cult could have set themselves ablaze on stage and not made much of an impression.
Anyway, in 2002 I was a brand-new employee of the University of Texas and I was sitting at my desk when Bill Stephens walked into our shop. He seemingly hadn't aged a day and I don't know how he recognized me, since I'm a long way from those long-haired daze (but he did immediately remember me). He's one of the two electronics engineers in our section and we see each other daily!
I was there! Great show! Except Styx were dicks. They were headliners, BOC second on bill.
Styx wanted to be the only one with lights but things were running late and BOC were playing in near dark. Eric kept asking for some lights.
Finally near the end they got one red light. A very sarcastic Eric said "thanks, Styx."
My opinion of Styx went down and never went back up. It was before BOC had the full laser show.
1st to last: Bob Welch, Angel, Eddie Money, BOC, Styx.
Eddie Money was supposed to go on second but his Learjet was running late so Angel went on second, which Eddie thanked them for this...
Great show except for no lights for BOC...
This gig was re-scheduled for Tuesday 29th August seemingly after the tickets were printed but before the T-shirts were printed!! See 29 August below.
BOC instead played a festival on this date with the Beach Boys in Cincinnati - see next gig entry...
BOC also played a festival near Cincinnati in the summer of 1978 at Edgewater Dragway. I'll try to come up with a date for that one but I'm sure the line-up that day was:
- Starcastle
- The Cars
- The Dirt Band (they had dropped "Nitty Gritty" from their name at that time)
- Blue Oyster Cult
- The Beach Boys
I remember it was so hot and it started raining hard and people started cramping into the port-o-lets and when it stopped and the sun broke out The Beach Boys restarted the concert with Here Comes the Sun. It was awesome!
I know BOC played Godzilla...
I found a review of this gig in the 28 Aug 1978 edition of the "The Cincinnati Enquirer":
For Beach Boys Surf Was Down at Edgewater
by Cliff Radel
Enquirer Pop Music Critic
Before a note sounded, the concert had "Beware of Strange Happenings" written all over it. The Show's lineup - the Cars, Starcastle, the Dirt Band, Blue Oyster Cult, Jan and Dean, and the Beach Boys - should have been a clue. A big clue. With such diverse acts, a something-for-everyone concert, anything could happen... and almost everything did.
Take the weather, please. Before the Cars took the stage Sunday morning to open the Great Miami River Music Festival at Edgewater Park, peddlers wandered among the sprinkling of concertgoers lounging about the 25-acre concert site. The peddlers were hawking... sun visors... and the sun was nowhere to be seen.
By 11:49 a.m. as the Cars played their opener, "Good Times Roll," the sun was shining. The visors, which had been selling like bikini's in Iceland, were now a hot item.
Three hours later, Mother Nature canceled the sun. The replacement was dark storm clouds, followed by a torrential downpour.
The concert paused as the rains fell. After a 2 1/2-hour delay, the music resumed. The Beach Boys finished the show at the evening hour of 8.46, just as flashes of lightning illuminated the sky. The lightning, along with flashlights and matches held by the crowd, estimated at 7000 persons, was the concert's light system. There were no spotlights. There weren't supposed to be any. The Great Miami River Music Festival was slated to be a noon-to-dusk show. But no one consulted Mother Nature.
After the rain, things grew stranger. As the Beach Boys sang "Surfer Girl," a member of their audience sang along. That audience member was Albert Bouchard. What's so strange about that?
Bouchard is Blue Oyster Cult's drummer, BOC had just completed an abbreviated 44-minute set before the Beach Boys did their 92-minute show.
A Blue Oyster Cultist singing a Beach Boys song? Blue Oyster Cult, the five-man band that asked the musical question, "R. U. Ready 2 Rock"? And played such heart-splattering hymns as "Godzilla" and "Hot Rails to Hell"? Yep. The one and the same.
For anyone who overheard Bouchard backstage after BOC's performance, his singing along with the Beach Boys would not have appeared so unusual.
"It's nice playing with our idols, instead of our rivals," he remarked.
"Yeah," BOC lead guitarist Donald (Buck Dharma) Roeser agreed. "Here, there's no Ted Nugent or Kiss. We can relax a little when we play.
Blue Oyster Cult should relax more often. The quintet's performance was exemplary. Especially noteworthy was Roeser's vocal and guitar work on his composition and BOC's encore, (Don't Fear) The Reaper."
This piece challenges Roeser's formidable skills as a guitarist. The themes and chord changes in "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" are extremely advanced when compared to the nonsense in "Godzilla," "Hot Rails to Hell" and "R.U. Ready 2 Rock." Roeser and BOC are wasting their time on such mannered numbers. "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" and its predecessor in the set, "Born to Be Wild" gave Roeser the chance to cut against the grain of their chord progressions and forge new melodies with his ad-libs. In the case of the former tune, it gave Roeser the opportunity to display his soft melodic voice. On far too many numbers, the voice of BOC belongs to rhythm guitarist Eric Bloom.
Credible performances were also turned in by the Cars, Starcastle and the newly remodeled Dirt Band.
The Cars relied heavily on themes and vocalists, in particular rhythm guitarist Ric Ocasek, with the David Bowie sound. Nonetheless, the five-man band put on a pleasing show by employing early-rock figures, like the chord progression from Mickey & Sylvia's 1956 hit, "Love is Strange," on Ocasek's "My Best Friend's Girl."
Starcastle had its best moments when it stopped duplicating Yes' vocals and pursued an original sound.
In the past year, three musicians, reedman Al Garth, drummer Merel Bregante and bass guitarist Richard Hathaway, joined the Dirt Band. These performers and Dirt Band standbys Jeff Hanna, Jimmie Fadden and John McEuen, gave the ensemble a fuller sound than when the group went by the name the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Despite this new pleasing sound, the band's best selection was a duet with McEuen on acoustic guitar and Garth on violin. Titled "Ryan's Arrival," this piece used classically inspired contrapuntal lines which were a far cry from the Dirt Band's chestnuts like "Rocky Top."
The Beach Boys' harmonies on the Edgewater stage were a far cry from the blend that brought the group fame in the 1960s. Sunday evening the Beach Boys sounded like the sons of Mrs. Miller. They struggled and failed to sing in tune on "California Girls," "Sloop John B" and 'In My Room."
Of the Beach Boys and their special guests, their "old surfing buddies" Jan and Dean, Mike Love and Brian Wilson had the most intonation troubles. Love's voice was as flat as a surfboard. The "room" Wilson must have been singing about on "In My Room" must have been a rubber one, because his pitch bounced all over the melody.
"Sons of Mrs. Miller"...? That's an obscure reference. That actually sounded amazing when Jan and Dean did their short medley. Extra voices helped.
We watched the show from the mixing board. I was impressed they had an early reverb unit - I think it was called the AKG BX10 or BX15. Sounded amazing on the vocals.
Some friends and I decided to turn up unannounced at a BOC gig in Nashville TN...
Upon arriving in Nashville I had a message to call home and my wife informed me that Rick Downey (He was the Road Manager and L.D. then) had called and wanted me to call him. She had kept my secret so imagine the look on his face when he opened the door of his hotel room and I was standing there saying that I had heard he wanted to talk to me! What he wanted to tell me was that the band really wanted me to come back out with them and could afford to back up the request...
After getting approval from Margot I found myself back on the road a few days later at the big Day On The Green concert in Oakland...
Here's a preview for this gig which appeared in the Sun 27 Aug 1978 edition of the The Tennessean:
Blue Oyster Cult Concert To Feature New Album
By Walter Carter
NASHVILLE'S heavy metallites can kill two birds with one stone at tomorrow night's Blue Oyster Cult concert.
In addition to experiencing the band's bombardment bombardment of sound and lights the audience will also be hearing a sort of sneak preview of the group's new album Some Enchanted Evening, not due out until the second week of September.
The album is a collection of live versions of some of Blue Oyster's most popular songs, recorded daring their last six or seven months of touring. (The title song is not on the album.)
Although recording live would appear to be cheaper and easier than studio recording, it does have some disadvantages. "There is none of the writing and belabored pre-production pre-production pre-production of making a studio record," explained lead singer Eric Bloom in a phone interview. "But we had to do an extended sound check before every concert - an hour-and-a-half check. Then after the show we would go into the mobile truck and listen to that night's show and decide whether we could use it or not. It was very time consuming. We stopped recording when we had enough."
Bloom said they hoped to bring the album in under $100,000, which would be a lot less than the $180,000 they spent on their previous record. Since Blue Oyster Cult records are are now selling at gold and platinum rates, CBS (their label) does not mind advancing the production costs, but such confidence was not always there.
"Our first tour after our first record was an all-CBS tour," Bloom recalled. "The Byrds were the headliners, John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra were opening with us as special guests. Needless to say, we were squashed. We died a real death. It took us four years before we could go back into New England. We were awful.
"There had been a lot of hype," he continued, "but then the company lost interest in us in the first month. They only released 15,000 copies of the first record and said 'Sink or swim.'"
The album eventually sold out the original pressing and CBS' confidence erew alone with the sales figures. Some Enchanted Evening is their seventh album, not counting the two still unreleased on Elektra Records.
Bloom joined the group midway through the first Elektra album (May of 1969). when they fired the lead singer and promoted Bloom from his sound man position. I wasn't really a roadie," he explained, "because they didn't have any jobs.
"They were 3/4 of the way through the record and I tried to finish it. All the songs were in the wrong key and there were other problems so Elektra put it on the shelf. We did a second album but it's still in the can."
It wasn't until 1972, after several years of playing clubs, that Blue Oyster Cult attracted the attention of CBS producer Murray Krugman. "We got an audition with Clive Davis," recalled Bloom. "It was in a meeting room at CBS. They moved the table out of a conference room and we set up the equipment there. Harry Nilsson was there, Bobby Colomby, the drummer for Blood Sweat and Tears, was there, and so was Patti Smith, who was dating one of the guys in the group - she still is. We played five songs and they liked it."
Since then, Blue Oyster Cult has built a reputation not only on their music, but also on their elaborate visual effects, which feature the latest technological improvements. Bloom promised that tomorrow night's concert would be no exception.
"We'll be flailing the lasers about," he said. "We'll have heavy pyrotechnics, a quadraphonic p.a - general good times."
Here's a review of this gig from the Sun 03 Sep 1978 edition of the Daily News-Journal:
Blue Oyster Cult plays Music City
By Gary Balser
Lasers and exotic stage effects were served in large portions, as the Blue Oyster Cult played at Nashville's Municipal Auditorium Monday night.
The show proved to be one of the most elaborate stage and music displays to show in Music City in recent years.
The Blue Oyster Cult is probably the most innovative rock group around. The music kept up a strong pace as they performed songs from "On Your Feet or On Your Knees" "Secret Treaties," "Agents of Fortune," and "Spectres."
The fact remains that the members of the band are quite versatile since most of them changed instruments in the middle of the concert. Drummer Albert Bouchard switched to lead guitar, while Allen Lanier and Eric Bloom doubled on guitar and keyboard.
Band members also took turns on the lead vocals. While performing "'Let It Rock," lasers shot from Bloom's wrist, creating spectacular visual imagery.
Lasers were also plentiful when the band played their latest hit, "Godzilla,' which included a drum solo by Al Bouchard.
After performing two and a half hours of hard driving rock, the band came out and superbly performed "Don't Fear The Reapear," with excellent guitar work by Don Roeser.
UFO and Black Oak Arkansas also made an appearance with the Blue Oyster Cult. Black Oak tried to out-do the Oyster Cult with crystal-ball lights and poor lead vocals by Jim Dandy, who made lewd gestures on stage.
UFO performed a solid rock set with some reasonably good vocals, which gave UFO a promising look to become popular.
Those people lucky enough to see the Blue Oyster Cult witnessed a nerve-tingling show. Those who didn't will unfortunately have to wait for the group's next appearance in Nashville.
I saw BOC in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1978. Lasers and leather, and a Helluva good time had by all! Opening acts were Black Oak Arkansas and UFO. A lot of the specific memories have faded after 20 years: I couldn't for the life of me give you a set list, anything with that kind of detail. I do, however, have some photos somewhere, and Real Soon Now, I'll get around to scanning them and posting them somewhere.
I blush to admit, that was also the ONLY time I've seen the Oyster Boys live. Being in the Air Force has played hell with my ability to scoot around and see them, and as fate would have it (do I detect the machinations of Imaginos here?) they have on about two dozen occasions appeared in places I had just left, or a day or so before I got there. But hey: I'm sure they'll be here in Hawaii before I depart, and THEN...
- Re-scheduled from 27 August (see stub and advert above)
Another '78 show missing is August 29th, at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis, Tennessee. UFO & British Lions opened.
According to Eric Bloom, after BOC had finished their set, this was their last show with the Lions & UFO for that tour.
So, they had a three-band jam on Maserati GT. In addition to all the members of BOC, Ray Major, Overend Watts & Dale Griffin (tambourine) from British Lions; and Michael Schenker, Pete Way & And Parker of UFO all performed on the song. Andy Parker actually played Albert's drums, while Albert picked up the guitar.
It was a very cool show!!
Regarding the date anomoly with the ticket stub for the 27th August, I can confirm this show was indeed switched to a Tuesday. I remember because I had just started jr. college and had to go home (N.E. Mississippi) from school to meet a friend who was riding up to Memphis with me. We barely made it in time for British Lions. So, yes the date of the show was the 29th, not the 27th.
This was the second time I had seen BOC in 1978. Earlier, in April, I had seen them in Little Rock, Arkansas as they had recorded the LR concert for their live album.
Me and three other buddies drove up to the Mid-South Coliseum from Jackson, MS, some 200 miles away.
British Lions opened, then Michael Shanker and UFO did their thing. We were really into UFO at that time as well.
Blue Oyster Cults laser show was tremendous that night. And for their encore, members of the British Lions and UFO all jammed onstage with Blue Oyster Cult.
Everyone was standing up on their seats with their Bic lighters in hand. I had a silent 8 mm movie camera and filmed several minutes of BOC performance, especially the jam sessions. It is such a hoot to watch today!
We bought BOC t-shirts at the concert and I still have a 1978 BOC shirt today that includes the Memphis date on the back of the shirt.
I remember after the concert we stopped at a rest area in North, MS. As we got out of the car, I found a BOC t-shirt on the ground that someone had dropped. Shortly after leaving the rest area, we encountered a car driving right at us on the wrong side of the Interstate. That was scary!!!!
- Day on the Green #5
The 2 Sept 1978 Day on the Green Oakland gig saw the return of Sam Judd to the BOC fold.
This was another of Bill Graham's "Day on the Green" shows. Order of performers: Cheap Trick, AC/DC, Journey, Blue Oyster Cult, Ted Nugent. This was a killer show, especially after Cheap Trick left the stage. It was also the first time I saw BOC live. Needless to say, I was hooked.
Nugent was awesome, and Ronnie Montrose came on stage to jam on his last encore. I remember thinking of the great guitarists I saw that day -- going in, my favorite was Nugent, but coming out it was Buck Dharma.
My first BOC gig was 9/2/1978 at a Day on the Green (DOG#5). BOC smoked (as usual). In particular ETI was awesome because of the special effects (some pedal Buck was using) where the sound came around from behind the crowd. What is that called anyway?
Oh yeah and Ted Nugent headlined. The audience is now deaf...
Query: Derringer is down on the poster - did he play?
You asked if Rick Derringer played on this day. I guarantee you he did not. This was my first BOC concert. I will dig up pictures for you. But, Rick Derringer definitely did not play...
Just seen a photo of Bill Graham standing next to a board with the running order and times for this show, under the heading "A Day in the Jungle":
| 10.15-11.00: | Cheap Trick |
| 11.30-12.15: | AC/DC |
| 12.50-2.05: | Journey |
| 2.40-3.50: | Blue Oyster Cult |
| 4.30-6.00: | Ted Nugent |
I've got a bunch of slides of Zilla from that night... they're even scanned into my puter, just too damn slack to post 'em!!...
That night was the only time he ever breathed fire... after that it was just CO2...
I was mentioning to someone today that I sure wish I had those 6 Tycobrahe cabs with the built in DC300A's that we had to leave there to fit Zilla in the truck and take him back to NYC... we had been carrying those things to fly in the back as quads...
FM productions (who made Zilla) was supposed to ship them to NYC, but we never saw them again...
I was just researching the very 1st BOC show I ever saw and found this link for info. I was 10 years old and my big brother and his friends took me. I was a HUGE fan of AC/DC and BOC even as a 10 year old.
Anyway, I was wondering if anyone had any pictures from that show. I would love to see them.
I can still picture Bon Scott chugging from a bottle of Jack Daniels Whiskey and tossing the rest into the crowd...
It was such an epic show!!
I was going to technical school in Laramie, Wyoming. My buddies and I went down to Denver to meet up with some other friends for what turned out to be a totally drunken Labor Day weekend.
Red Rocks is cut into the mountain and is acoustically perfect. The warm up band was some group no one had heard of, AC/DC, never seen any group with so much energy, never seen like it since.
BOC was awsome, unbelievable show, we left the show and went south instead of north and didn't figure our screwup until we hit Coloradoo Springs. We turned around and the following day we arrived back to school broke and running below empty.
A weekend 30 years ago I will never forget. I still get a kick out of telling the youngsters that I saw AC/DC as a warm up band.
I was nearly killed by one of the lasers that tried to crush/knock me out of a truck that day hauling them up the last hill (you can't get a semi up the last couple hundred yards, so it all goes on a stake truck for the really steep part)...
There were also some major power supply failures that day too... water leaking between banks of transistors is ALWAYS bad... very colorful (but expensive) pryotechnics though...
Bruce Friedman and I spent several FRANTIC hours replacing DOZENS of TO-3 xistors to get lasers running for that show...
Can't remember if they were 3055 or 36892, but we shucked those things like ears of corn took em all apart, ate dinner, then filled em back up...
Had an assembly line matching and prepping devices with thermal compound and insulators, then sliding them down to where Bruce and I were sitting at the end of the table with one R2D2 unit (that's what we named the power supply racks) each, bolting and connecting rows and rows...
Then sliding them to someone else who was metering for shorts between cases and chassis... found a few too... we rebuilt 3 supplies in about 2 hrs once we got the parts and finished dinner...
Blew TWO of those three all over again one week later in Flint MI... and people wonder why they left those lasers at home.. ungodly expensive to keep 'em lit in those days...
Nevermind rolling a rental truck with a couple of lasers and 2 drivers up to run back to Control Laser (Astronaut Blvd, Orlando Fla) and back out to wherever they could catch up with us...
That was TENS of thousands every time THAT happened... and CBS did NOT pay for it...
But those lasers looked AMAZING going off the mirror balls we hung off the promontories at the back and streaking down into the valley!!...
There was even an article in the paper the next day about beams being visible MILES away... gee that almost sounds illegal... lololol
BOC played at Wings Stadium, Kalamazoo MI on 9-10-78 - British Lions opened, followed by UFO.
I got the info from a master list of concerts directly from the stadium. Then I went to the Kalamazoo public library to look for any old newspaper articles on this show. This is where I came up with the opening acts. Its been about 3 years since I did this - I can't remember if I got the info from a actual concert review or a flyer. It was one of the two. I know the info was in old Kalamazoo Gazettes.
I could only find the following listing for this gig in the 8 Sep 1978 edition of the "Battle Creek Enquirer", but it doesn't mention the British Lions:
The Blue Oyster Cult and UFO groups will give a concert at 8 p.m. Sunday at Wings Stadium, Kalamazoo.
If you could let me know what newspaper you saw them mentioned in, I can try and look into it a little further.
British Lions did not appear at the show. It was only BOC/UFO. I was at that show.
I attended the show at the old Flint IMA. Thin Lizzy was in fine form, and very loud. Probably more than the room could handle.
I was in the balcony, center stage. The change-over to BOC was longer than usual, and there was an announcement that they were delayed in arriving from the airport.
I thought the March performance at the Lansing Civic Arena was much better.
I have a single source for listing this gig - this listing from the 07 Sep 1978 edition of "The Journal Times"
Tuesday, Sept 12
Concert: Blue Oyster Cult. International Amphitheater, 43rd and Halsted, Chicago. Admission.
Well, I'm glad there was "Admission," otherwise the whole exercise would be pretty pointless...
Anyway, as usual, if anybody can help with more information on this one, I'd be grateful.
BTW: there's long been an internet rumour that UFO supported BOC at this venue and that's where the majority of "Strangers in the Night" was recorded... however, the problem with that idea is that it's bollocks - the relevant UFO gig was the following month on 13 Oct 1978, and BOC didn't play it anyway - more info here...
A release date of Wednesday 13 September 1978 is given on the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) website, and as that is a trusted source, I can have some degree of faith that it is accurate.
For more details on this record, please visit the Blue Oyster Cult Songatorium page for this recording...
About that 9-27-78 show at wallace civic center in Fitchburg, MA --- i remember it being a big deal, because the venue never hosted rock shows, and it was very well promoted --- i'd bet anything they didn't play there more than once, and i saw this show...
The reason i mention it, i'm certain the opener was savoy brown, not thin lizzy (!) --- i had seen lizzy open for queen a year or so before, savoy were completely out of their element and their new record (with a song actually called "rock'n'roll man") was awful, thay tanked.
OK - if Joe's right, Savoy Brown opened this show - anybody know for sure?
Incidentally, neither this gig nor the following gig, appears in Ken Welch's Hall Reports or Tour itineraries... the dates 14 Sept-28 Sept are described as "off"....
Savoy Brown did indeed open that show for BOC. In fact it was advertised as Kim Simmond's Savoy Brown. Like Joe Coughlin mentions, it was a heavily promoted show with full page ads in the Boston Phoenix. The Wallace Civic Center ranks as the worst and strangest venue I've seen BOC at during their prime years.
The place was part gymnasium and part auditorium. Overall it was a dump! The acoustics were terrible. Could be why Savoy Brown didn't sound so hot. Kim Simmonds did have a couple tasty licks that night though.They were a trio and the overall result was fair at best. Not the Savoy Brown of the past.
This is the only BOC show I've ever been at where Buck and Co. had what I would call an off night, though they pulled it off in the end. Buck appeared flustered at times and they sounded out of sync at least 3 or 4 times. Buck even lit up a cigarette on stage and was smoking, putting the cig in the fret board when playing. That is the only time I've ever seen Buck do that!
Aside from the toned down laser light show and a bit of fog machine, this was the least amount of pyrotechnics I had seen at a BOC show. There were no flash pots and sparkler jets most likely due to fire code issues. The stage had a low ceiling and the curtains were close to the bands equipment.
At JB's Theater in July of 1986, I was back stage talking with Buck and Eric. That must have been the only time they played Fitchburg, like Joe Coughlin mentions, because they had a hard time recalling the venue. But I'll never forget that show. It showed me that yes, my Rock and Roll Heroes are human. I've seen countless BOC shows since then and have not encountered anything less than amazing!
Did this gig occur? As mentioned above, this gig does not appear in Ken Welch's Hall Reports or Tour itineraries...
I ran across your website while looking for a set list for AC/DC on this date.
I can confirm that yes, it did occur. I was at the concert. The laser show was amazing. I will search my attic and see if I can find a ticket stub to scan and send you.
I was at that show... surreal and amazing BOC performance...
Never forget Angus Young coming up to the front row doing his head banging thing... only to see two long snot trails coming from his nostrils, bouncing up and down too
maybe he had a cold, or did some lines who knows... but it was disgusting, and the whole front row gave him the finger for the whole song...
I've seen AC/DC a few times, and you quickly learned to avoid sitting anywhere within reach of Angus Young's gyrating nasal cavity - "happy trails" they definitely weren't...
Just spare a thought for the poor sod whose job it was to get those blazers cleaned each night...
This was my first concert in Rochester NY. Just started college there and blew off all my classes that day to make sure I was first one in the building.
Got there around 11am and walked around back to watch the roadies unload the trucks. As me and my friend were standing there Eric Bloom rides up on his Harley! No shit. Got his autograph. Told us to enjoy show.
Around 6 pm they opened up the gates. My buddy and I sprinted to the floor and got right up front dead center.
ACDC came on first and blew the roof off the place. Angus and Bon in their prime.
Thin Lizzy was next, and Phil Lynott actually took a couple of hits off a joint we were smoking. He goes "Good Shit" to 15,000 people. Haha.
Lastly was BOC. By this time I was pretty fucked up so don't remember all the songs, but needless to say they rocked hard. Buck was standing over me most of the night and making great eye contact while he was blazing away.
Will never forget this concert. One of the best ever.
- Show started late with no lasers due to gear truck arriving too late
- The Dictators (who had been booked to open all three nights) cancelled
Here's a review of this gig by Lester Bangs which appeared in the 9 Oct 1978 edition of "The Village Voice":
One Enchanted Evening
By Lester Bangs
"Behind the stage or but the back." "Behind the stage or but the back? Yeah, "Behind the stage or but the back."
These telling words rang out from the first cut on Blue Oyster Cult's first album. They were meant to describe something about Altamont, but even though the album remains a classic these seven years later, I still don't think they evoke anything except certain unfortunate facets of the Blue Oyster Cult's career of heavy aluminum marketed with a heavier dose of some schlep's unutterably corny idea of evil: this band's menace has always been pure Spam, and combined with their self-conscious obsession with technology has seriously undercut the real strength and beauty of their music.
Never stopped 'em from being a great live act, though - at least that was what I thought up through the last time I saw them four years ago. Since then they've added lasers - which might as well cause retinal damage if they don't, for all the good they'll ever do rock 'n' roll - and released two abysmal live albums. If you want to hear a document of the carnarge the Cult are capable of live, search out a copy of the 12-inch promotional EP they did for Columbia in 1972 (available on bootleg and at collectors' conventions); if you want to hear one of the most putrid live albums ever by a great rock band, go ahead and buy their new Some Enchanted Evening: the mix and song selection are terrible, Eric Bloom asks Atlanta whether they're ready to rock 'n' roll (answer: maybe), "Kick Out the Jams" gets revived for quick merciless killing, cover art the stupidest yet.
That and their previous double live atrocity are particularly irritating since these guys, however silly some of the conceptual baggage on their albums might have been, have been one of the hardest-working live groups on the '70s road - I mean, you can empathize with the dues they've paid till you get hit in the face with the contemptuous dogshit they're actually purveying. Thus you can imagine with what expectations I marched Palladium-ward to catch the beams and Bloom last Friday night. By the time they came on the audience was equally sanguine, having been subjected to around three hours wait because of a brokedown equipment truck.
Me, I wish the fucking truck had totaled itself, because its no-show created a state of chaos out of which the Cult pulled with enough nervous moxie to remind us of the great band they've always been beneath the silver flake. No lasers, equipment borrowed from the Dictators and openers Thin Lizzy - I don't know how much they played off of sheer frustration and how much they felt the pressure of an audience yelling you suck over and over at their first NYC gig in some time, and I don't care: I just feel lucky to have heard the cascades of ideas tumbling out of Donald Roeser's guitar, he looking for all the world like an unctuous Greek waiter as he murmured embarrassed thank yous at the audience's adulatory roars; to see Allen Lanier having the time of his life; to Mark Farner routine, and realize it made no difference whatsoever. Because the Cult are not cool, and never have been - my date, no mean guitar-slinger herself, marveled at Roeser and asked: "How come I've never heard of this guy before?" "Because of the way he looks," I replied. This night, for at least once again, the midgets rode the stars.
To just bounce that light fantastic on the edge of my seat, thinking over and over again "No bullshit, no bullshit, no bullshit!" forgetting what techno-conceptual mung this band have mired themselves in, was so refreshing that I came away a reconfirmed believer not only in them but in the kind of rock'n'roll they perfected. But that was Friday. Saturday two friends went; I asked them to call me when they got out, and they did. They said the lasers were back in place, the music was awful, and they felt like shooting Sandy Pearlman and the band with him. Maybe the Cult need to work off of adversity to really cook; I'm simply glad to have caught them on one night when they weren't just goin' through the motions.
This show was the night the BOC equipment truck broke down in upstate New York. BOC wound up using Thin Lizzy's gear for the show.
Actually E-Saurus, that was our first inclination, but since Lizzy flatly refused to let us use any of their stuff (they were pissed cause we hadn't let them use their big ass backdrop sign... nowhere to put it unless we took ours down... not gonna happen... we let 'em use it that night though..)
So we ordered up everything we needed from SIR (Studio Instrument Rentals) NYC is a great place to come up missing your gear... you can pick up a phone and replace everything but the lasers and have it delivered... hell we could probably have gotten some rented lasers if there with a little more time...
just about the time we got the SIR gear in place, our truck showed up and after a brief round of fisticuffs between our production manager and the lame ass driver (he didn't breakdown... he had picked up a bimbo (nickname Qualuudicus) the night before in Rochester and stopped on the side of the road and "slept" (see above nickname) and then managed to sleep all day before waking up too far away from the city to make it on time...
So we actually ended up doing that gig on our own gear and I believe we even got lasers up and running... you'd remember whether you saw them or not... they were in the same truck with the band gear...
That's the way I remember that deal goin down... Just trying to download this hard drive I call a brain before the damn thing crashes for good...
Although Sam says that, in the end, BOC used their own gear for this gig, Joe has previously posted on FB his thanks to Phil Lynott "for loaning me your bass that one time our equipment truck was late. Love ya, dude." In light of that, it looks like some gear at least was loaned to BOC...
No lasers Friday night but everything was up and running Saturday night.
I remember Eric announcing to the crowd the story of how the equipment truck broke down, and Thin Lizzy was nice enough to loan BOC some gear. Ahh show business, don't always believe what the stars say, you get the real story from the crew. Thanks Sam!
BOC played for 3 nights at the Palladium. I saw them on the first night. Apparently their equipment trucks were lost in transit and they had to play with support act Thin Lizzy's gear and to my immense disappointment - no lasers! Because of the truck problem the gig was many many hours late getting started.
I had seen Lizzy many times before and I didn't pay too much attention to their set. Garry Moore had replaced Brian Robertson and I think they had a stand-in drummer who went down very badly with the crowd. In fact Lizzy went down so badly that Eric Bloom came out on stage during their last number to sing along with them and try to rev-up the crowd. Phil was coolness personified as always and came out with the usual "would any of the girls like some more Irish in them?" rap. I also remember him covering the whole stage and walking in front of the PA
I was not familiar with any of BOC albums when I went to this gig but I liked very much what I had read about them and of course wanted to see some LASERS, man!
Here's what I can remember of the show:
I remember Eric at one stage while introducing a song, thanked Lizzy for the use of their gear and said something like "I'm not sure I can play this song without my Stun Guitar but I'll do my best." You have to laugh in retrospect with what we all know now about Eric's guitar playing prowess.
I was really impressed at how totally tight and professional BOC's playing was. They were outstanding from that point of view.
I was a bit puzzled by some of Eric's kind of hammy and corny arm gestures while singing - my perception was that he was trying to do some Frank Sinatra moves or something.
I remember Eric and Buck (?) doing a kind of lockstep duckwalk across the stage together which was pretty cool.
I remember Buck being dressed in a sort of proto-Miami Vice style outfit with a jacket and extremely baggy pants - this seemed like a very exotic fashion statement to me at the time - LOL
Highlight of the show for me was that at the climatic moment of Astronomy (I was familiar with that song for some reason) they suddenly turned off all the lights except for a huge mirror ball and the room was full of stars.
Oh, yeah - ASTRONOMMYYYYYYYYYY - woohoo!
The other thing I remember is the guy sitting in front of us turning around and giving us his squeegee bottle thing with a joint in it. These were common in NYC in those days - I think they were called Blasters or something. We were already well blasted of course but it would have been rude to refuse...
My final memory is that because the show was running so late I left before it was over and went home because I had to get up for work the next day - WTF was I thinking of???
A few weeks later I bought "On your feet on your knees" and the rest is history. The next time I saw BOC was London 2004.
I went to all three of the Palladium shows with Thin Lizzy. The first night, the band had an accident en route and the show started late. The Saturday show I know for sure they did Astronomy, probably ME262 and I think Kick Out The Jams. Astronomy was great.
I saw Blue Oyster Cult, Thin Lizzy and The Dictators at The Palladium, Late 78/Early 79, I'm really not too sure, as part of a three night stand. The Dictators split a few weeks before the show, so Thin Lizzy picked up the slack and decided to give BOC a run for the money, which they did as anyone who has ever see Phil Lynott & Co. can attest.
All I can say is never count out the Cult at the Academy of Music/Palladium (I believe the space is now a dorm for New York University).
I was attending Fordham University in The Bronx as a freshman that year. I saw BOC at the Palladium Theatre in NYC in late December; they wore tuxes in honor of New Years Eve, so it had to be close to the end of the month.
Thin Lizzy opened the set, and then Eric came on stage and announced that the truck carrying BOC's equipment had an accident on Long Island, and that there was going to be a delay as the band was going to use the equipment of Thin Lizzy for the show. I remember Albert sitting on a stool as a team of roadies literally built a drum kit around him.
Without lasers, lights etc, the Band had to rely on their musical skills, and they did not disappoint. The one enduring image I have of the show is Buck, clad in a black tux, tightrope walking along the edge of the stage as he hammered away at a solo.
Fri/Sept 29/1978 The Palladium, NYC, NY... I was an Art student attending Pratt Institute in Brooklyn at the time... it was the third time I saw BOC in the course of a year/year and half.
My memory is Thin Lizzy opened and it was a very disappointing set, it got announced that they had a replacement drummer... their original drummer was sick and they had a very short/disappointing set...
As far as BOC went they were great and I do remember some lasers... specifically during Godzilla I remember lasers on some sort of cheesecloth above the stage/lasers from Eric's wrists (this may be a memory from other shows) and I also remember the mirror ball during Astronomy...
My 2nd BOC show, and believe it or not, I was more psyched to see the Dictators, who had just broken up/fired Manitoba and Teeter. Bloodbrothers had just come out and was an amazing record.
They almost played these dates as the Rhythym Dukes, with Tish and Snooky and Mel Allen on drums. Of course, back in those days, you never found anything out until you were at the show!
Thin Lizzy went a long way to ease my pain. I also sacrificed my Godzilla model that night, which I had made a cutout logo guitar for, and put him onstage, where he sat until song's end! BOC had a great laser show, aiming thru cheesecloth and projecting related graphics, like Zilla stamping around and UFOs during ETI.
BOC had gotten a lot more polished in just a few short months, and the set had changed to include Kick Out The Jams and We Gotta Get Out Of This Place.
What happened in November? If you know, please let me ...
What happened in December? If you know, please let me ...
I think also that these date(s) were played in 1978 - if you have any info, please let me know:
I saw them back in 78 at Phoenix Symphony Hall. UFO opened up.
What a great show. Lasers and all.
Postscript: Looking at your lists, my "78" memory may have been 77 - It was at the Civic Hall in Phoenix - maybe the Exhibition Hall listed on your site (14 November 1977). I remember UFO opened. I remember seeing them at an earlier date at veterens memorial colisieum.
They closed with "Born to be Wild" and crossed the guitars in the finale. I remember that, because I went out shortly after that and bought a guitar!
Still playing!
Well, the November 77 gig was with Black Oak and Head East, so if UFO opened the gig you saw, then it wouldn't have been that one.
1978 still looks favourite for the "unknown" Phoenix show you saw - especially as BOC played a number of gigs with UFO during this year...