1986: This was the year BOC died... only to be born again the following year in Athens...
BOC started the year off with a European tour promoting Club Ninja at the end of which Joe Bouchard quit the band, to be replaced a month later by Jon Rogers.
During the year, the band had a series of support slots with the likes of Kiss, Rush and Ozzy Osbourne but by September they had reached what seemed to be the end of their road. There was a final gig at a farm festival in Inwood, West Virginia, and then that was it. The end...
As usual, this page, as with a great part of the rest of the site, would not have been possible without the help of ex-BOC roadie, Sam Judd, and it's his notes which inform many of the facts contained herein...
Have you got anything to contribute to this page? Reviews, missing info, Tickets, posters etc etc - if so, let me .
The flyer above suggests Tokyo Blade and Morho were on all of the French dates so I've added them to all the French bills but the ticket above would seem to indicate that on this date at least a band called Rozz opened.
Thanks to the "Vinyl Views" section of the 04 Feb 1986 edition of the "University Daily", which makes a feature of providing the actual release dates of the latest albums to come out during the previous week, we know that "Club Ninja" was released on Monday 27 Jan 1986...
The most striking thing I remember from this show, was Eric Bloom dressed as a Ninja with a nunchaku in his hand striking the cymbals during one or two songs. Funny...
The band performed well that enchanted evening. Veteran of psychic wars and Dominance and submission were, to me, that night, the best songs. Veteran is not played so often, so we were all very happy in the audience, a kind of hystery went on...
Tokyo Blade? I don't even remember...
I was so happy because they started with "RU Ready 2 Rock" and "Dominance & Submission", two of my favourites. It was a very good show but not the best BOC show I saw. Maybe because of the line up (sorry Mr Zvonchek) or maybe Joe was already thinking to leave ! I was in military service so I came too late to see the two bands opening - sorry guys !
They played two encores during this concert: Cities on flame and hot rails to hell...
I saw your website and, man! it's cool. I went to check one of the BOC show I attended back in 1986 in Italy (I'm Italian) and wanted to point out a couple of corrections.
I'm talking about the show held in Turin, Italy on February 7, 1986. It was held at the Palasport of Turin, and not at the Teatro Tenda (there's no such Teatro Tenda in Torino). BOC were the headliners and Tokyo Blade was the warm up band.
BOC lineup and songs list are correct (I'm 99% sure of that, but I can't find the song list anywhere at home for 100% accuracy...).
The Teatro Tenda entry came from the official site - that looks like it was maybe a typo, as the same venue name is given later on in the tour...
Thanks for the correction!
That night, I went to the Palasport gate very early because I wanted to be one of the first to enter and go in front of the stage. I surely succeeded, because I was the third or fourth and waited some long hours before the gate opened and I rushed to the floor and placed myself exactly in front of the center stage and waited.
I sent my best friend who was with me to buy the concert T-shirt and then Tokyo Blade opened the act. I did not know the band, but I did not either liked nor hated them. I think they overall did well in warming up the audience, that I estimated being between 1500 to 2000 people, not bad for the first time of BOC in Italy where they are not to well known.
My song list of the concert is below. According to my notes taken at that time the songs order is different than the one on the side box, but the songs are the same:
When the band showed up on stage I hardly recognized Buck because he had shaven his mustache and was not sporting his classical white outfit I saw on many pictures of BOC. Nonetheless his guitar style was astounding and superb. The band played well, energetic and the crowd went wild from the beginning.
My friend and I had prepared a banner saying "BOC FANS TORINO" and waved it during most of the songs and finally throwing on the stage where it landed right on the arm of Eric's guitar! He picked it up and put in on the floor. We retrieved the banner after show from a roadie.
During "Burning for You" I sang very loud and Buck saw me so excited and gave me a thumb's up for my involvement. I also kept asking the band throughout the concert to play "Veteran" to such an extent that I had a sore throat for many days after. Other nice memories of the show were the superb singing of Eric and his and Buck guitar in "Take Me Away", surely I did not miss Aldo Nova!
Joan Crawford had a great and long piano solo by Tommy Z. The crowd was ecstatic and silent, the Palasport almost entirely dark, an eerie feeling all around. During "Godzilla", Joe B. stepped front stage for his bass guitar solo and snapped one of the string right at the beginning and had to step back, grinning to the rest of the band, with Buck filling in with his guitar. Poor Joe!
During "Shadow Warrior", Eric sported a black velvety kung fu jacket and a nunchaku with which he helped Jimmy W drumming during the song. I thought that was pretty cool.
Two superb encores and the night ended with Jimmy throwing his drum sticks to the crowd. Myself and another guy to my side jumped higher than anybody else and each grabbed one end of one stick. We looked at each other a while deciding what to do, none of the two willing to give up its prize and then decided to split the drumstick in two halves. Since I was holding the tip, I got that half and he got the handle.
A night to remember forever!
According to a historic issue of Italian newspaper LA STAMPA BLUE OYSTER CULT gigs in Italy were as follows (February 1986):
Here is a concert review of the Turin gig which gives the attendance as around 1000:
Was Tokyo Blade the support?
The 1986-02-09 show of BOC in Vienna was opened by Blind Petition (Austrian band - nowadays well known and famous here in Austria) and Tokyo Blade...
In 1986 i went to see B.O.C. in Milano (my hometown) for the very first time, it was 11th of february, supporting act was Tokyo Blade (a nwobhm metal band).
Setlist is correct, but Blade Runner's theme was used as intro (and during Godzilla there was a drum solo); great show and good audience that night.
A review, hmm? It will take a little time, as I have to sail back through the mist of time. I was so young, you know.
Early 1986, then; I was 20 and very depressed because of a 'bad case of loving her' and because of my studies not going very well, to say the least. They were at the nadir of their career of evil, 3OC and their weakest album ever to be promoted, so I wasn't much concerned about seeing their Club Ninja Tour (although it was their first -and last ever- time in Italy). I changed my mind when the Udine gig was moved to a small disco club about a km. from my house. I didn't even call a couple of friends who shared my cultism (they both came to the show on their own) and there I went.
Some 300-400 people attending, poor supporting act and a terrible sound. I expected to see shadows of a band I once did like, yet they were very tight and professional, a fine rock act nevertheless (wonder how they sounded like in their glory days).
9:30, Blade Runner theme, I never thought I could hear 'people of Monfalcone, R.U. Ready?' in my whole life. They started with a good performance of 'RU Ready 2 Rock' very similar to the 'SEE' version, and followed with a chaotic D&S, the heaviest track of the evening, and a classic version of ETI.
I soon noticed that Zvonckeck was trying his best to replace Lanier, with a little help from Bloom playing more guitar than usual.
Also evident was that Buck's guitar style was getting stronger and more 'sustained', with sparse echoes of fusion scales and a heavy edge to his playing.
I remember Eric was wearing black with a japanese 'hachimaki', was in excellent vocal form and played an ESP black guitar, Buck was thinner than any picture I've seen of him before and after, in a white tshirt with a german heraldic sign (how do you say it in English?), dealing with Telecaster-looking (which I later recognized as St. Blues) and Steinberger (early model) guitars.
Joe played a Music Man and looked almost fat, with an odd-looking moustache (he looked like Kimball of Toto), dressed in black leather and playing almost motionless at the right side of the stage.
They played great versions of White Flags and Take Me Away (with a lenghty synth intro), far superior to the studio versions, then a striking Veterans with a beautiful, almost haunting 'delayed' guitar solo (I'm listening to it right now) over a boogie double-time feel, possibly the best of the entire set.
They went on with Ruins, J. Crawford (another fine version, although Zvonckeck intro is a little overlong), Shadow Warrior and the Big Three (with a boring drum solo on Godzilla), which were given a standard rendition (fans went nuts anyway). In spite of the cries of 'Astronomy' from the crowd, the encore songs were Let Go and Hot Rails.
85 mins. of good rock'n'roll in a small town in the northeast of Italy and that's all. My only regret is that I didn't join a DJ friend of mine for a short radio interview, with the unlucky result of Buck been annoyed by silly questions by a teenage metal kid. Well, you can't always get...
I was there, at the age of 18 and, as somebody else wrote, at the highest point of my BOC addiction. They had been being my fav band since 1981. It was the first and - until now - the only tour of the band in Italy and although Revolution by Night and Club Ninja disappointed many followers, it was quite a unique chance that could not be missed - reports kept coming that they were close to split-up.
Audience was around 850 people in a venue which could have contained 3000.
Opening act was Tokyo Blade (who did not succeed to warm the crowd), and I could confirm the BOC track list (though, I have no audio recording).
I remember that the opening sequence of Me262/ETI/BB, played almost breathless, was quite a fist in the face: I did not expected Buck's Boogie to be included in the set - what a pleasant surprise! The audience responded hotly to the heavy rifferama.
Like many, I went to the show (doing some 250 KMs, in snowy weather) quite prevented and skeptic towards new members Wilcox and Zvoncheck, but I had to admit that their performance was superb. They were indeed trying to deliver the best, and I still remember the slower-then-usual intro to JC By Zvoncheck, a great version of Take Me Away (a song that, until then, was far from being one of my favs from the cult), as well some parts of a very good drum solo. For sure Wilcox and Z. had not the personality of former members, but they were excellent executors.
Buck showed no moustache, but I remember the vitality of his eyes as he seemed quite amused to see young kids going once again wild at their tracks.
Bloom seemed a bit low on energy and not quite communicative - later I read that all the band was sick at the and of European tour and maybe he had some sort of flue or else, but overall all the band did a good concert. I still remember Joe sitting like a satisfied quiet cat for all the gig, but eventually - during Godzilla - made the fastest bass solo I ever saw in my life.
Definitively a gig worth attending to. At least for me remains close to the archetype of a Rock concert - was similar to the Metallica gig with Cliff Burton I saw in 1984.
At the end of the show all the audience was aware they have witnessed a ritual officiated by a legend.
Was Tokyo Blade the support?
According to a poster off ebay, the support act for all gigs on the Italian dates was "Tokyo Blade".
Again - was Tokyo Blade the support?
This gig was featured in the April 1986 issue of Metal Hammer (West Germany). It gave a good review for the BOC performance, but only 800 fans attend (The capacity for the Philipshalle is around 7,000).
The guest was Tokyo Blade only, not Savatage, because of no money from the Record Company!
The Promoter: Concertbüro Hänsel, Nürnberg + Blitz Musik, Düsseldorf
I saw BÖC there for the first time. I wasn't really a fan, because I only know Secret Treaties before. I've won the tickets at a local radio station contest and so I'm going with a friend to this gig.
After the show I WAS a big Fan of BÖC and now 23 years later BÖC is still my favourite Band.
Tokyo Blade was the support, I think, but I haven't any reminds on this Band.
Then at 9 O'Clock the houselights went down, and the stage were lighted in blue.
A mysterious voice was screaming "on your feet or on your knees, here they are the amazing Blue Öyster Cult". The crowd was screaming, there were a lot of American people in the hall, because in Mannheim and Heidelberg (near the venue) were US Army villages.
The Band started with RU ready 2 Rock, I think. I haven't heard this tune before, but I was on fire. Then there was a great 10 minute performance of Dominance & submission, which ended with Eric Bloom lying on the ground of the stage. A very heavy performance of the Band.
I don't know each song that was played on this evening, but I know some songs from Club Ninja (of course) and Astronomy, Joan Crawford and Roadhouse Blues, Godzilla and The Reaper.
An evening later SAGA played in the same venue and I was there also. In the encore, Roadhouse Blues I think, Saga's guitar player Ian Crichton entered the stage and played with the Band for this song.
After the concert I bought a T-Shirt but I didn't have it anymore (shame on me) and I was going to buy all their LPs. Next day I bought On your feet or on your knees and it's putting me down. What a performance!!
I saw them for many times again and I hope I will see the Band more times, so Boys, German BÖC Fans are waiting for you to play in Germany again.
I think Tokyo Blade were probably almost definitely the support on this show but my policy is never to guess or suppose - so I'll leave the support band info blank for now until somebody tells me for sure.
The supporting act was Tokyo Blade.
The concert was promoted by Enterprise Concerts.
The supporting act at Nuremberg was Tokyo Blade.
Was Tokyo Blade the support?
Just as it had become a tradition with BOC that at the end of every tour I came out to play with them on the last song, Tokyo Blade also had me come out to play Midnight Rondevu with them...
However, the catch was they had to dress me! What a great bunch of guys they were...
The 86 Euro tour was a ballbuster all around... everyone on it was sick and tired of being sick and tired... the band was driving themselves in rental cars on looong ass drives... 24 karat DUMB of them to not have a bus...
I was told that Joe left cause he did NOT like the material on Ninja and the direction that BOC was going in... and I'm sure the wear and tear of that tour had a lot to do with his decision...
I myself QUIT that tour, loaded up my suitcases and went to the nearest airport (Innsbruk) to fly home... only to find out it would take 3 days to get home from there and I'd be arriving home almost 6,000 bucks in debt with no job... had to go back with my tail between my legs and get back to work... sick as a dog...
FYI, it took me almost a month to clear the lung/ear infection I caught on that tour once I got home... that was some grim shit... the absolute LOW point of my entire time with the band...
Last time I ever saw Joe was after the show at the Metropol in Berlin, he came and shook my hand and thanked me for all my hard work... I thought that was a bit odd, but appreciated it just the same... little did I know that was the last time I'd see him for who knows how long...
... I remember back to that period and Joe ALWAYS having his Gibson 335 in his hotel room... ALWAYS playing and writing in every off moment... he had a great little rig that looked like a walkman... you could plug instruments in it... and it had a headset mic... if I remember right, it had it's own drum machine and effects for the voc and inst inputs AND it recorded on cassette.. he was using this to write a LOT of stuff.. likely he figured it would never see the light of day if the BOC Club Ninja mode continued, so he left to give that stuff an outlet... ONLY a guess on my part...
Nobody but Joe would know why he left... other than the reasons he gave at the time... which came to me second hand at best...
It seems (to me) that this 3/19/1986 show is the one that had opening bands STRANGER and RENEGADE.
I was there and got a hat and t-shirt of those bands, as well as worked the show as crew. And it was a Nelson Productions show as well.
This was my second BOC show ever... sold out to the maximum!
I can't remember the opening bands, but the "Special Guest" was Ronnie Montrose.
Ronnie played after BOC... Ronnie played for about an hour, mostly acoustic, I believe as an honored guest - but it could of been due to tour scheduling.
Here's a review of this gig (courtesy of Paul 5) in the Fri 21 Mar 1986 edition of the "Santa Cruz Sentinel":
Civic crowd doesn't fear the reaper
By Dave Gingold
Sentinel Correspondent
With ears of metal they stood, as menacingly as possible, to experience the latest from masters of high-decibel rock, Blue Oyster Cult. Packed tightly into a sold-out Santa Cruz Civic and blowing off excess steam in several fist-fights, a huge crowd received the archetypal wielders of the the gothic-rock sledgehammer.
The Cult, never caught sleeping, are into the ninja thing these days, as they opened their "Club Ninja" tour right here in Santa Cruz. Beside "Shadow Warrior" from the album, the occasionally inventive band blasted home the cream of their tunes. From their hit "Burning for You" to that un-killable monster of a song "Godzilla," complete with strobe-lit drum solo, it was all here.
The only way to top Godzilla was to follow it with the remarkable "Don't Fear the Reaper," which is what Blue Oyster Cult did. "Reaper" remains a song that hopefully keeps the PMRC awake at night worrying over youthful thanatos.
Backed by a drummer who hits, shred-guitarist Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser and singer Eric Bloom, who wrapped his middle-aging presence in a quasi-oriental get-up, led a rocking big-arena within the confines of the smallish Civic.
Although the Cult's planned pyrotechnical feats were nixed by the local fire department, the extravagant light and sound systems of the band and their big-time of the stage created the kind of stadium presence that is rarely perpetrated on this town.
"We're back!" they kept insisting, ostensibly referring to a month's tour of Europe, but just possibly emphasizing their lurch from recent obscurity. And a sea of fists responded.
Going back to their first LP for "Cities on Flame With Rock and Roll," Blue Oyster Cult performed a strong encore that moved into the Doors' "Roadbouse Blues." The crowd took up the "roll, roll, roll" lyric with red-eyed glee. Bloom went at the cymbals with a pair of nunchakus. And that was it.
The headlining Cult surrendered the stage to guitarist Ronnie Montrose. Explaining their odd mid-bill spot, one of Blue Oyster Cult's technical staff spilled the demographic beans: "A lot of these young kids, they have curfews, you know. We have to put the band on early enough that they get to see them."
The review doesn't mention the opening band(s), but mentioning the fact that BOC played in a "mid-bill spot" suggests there was indeed at least one opening band - was it Renegade...?
Here's a preview notice for the original date that appeared in the Fri 14 Mar 1986 edition of "The Fresno Bee":
Blue Oyster Cult will perform at Wilson Theater Thursday
Veteran heavy metal band Blue Oyster Cult will perform in concert Thursday at the Wilson Theater.
Led by original members, Eric Bloom, Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser and Joe Bouchard, the five-man band is touring in support of "Club Ninja," its 13th album in as many years.
Blue Oyster Cult, which has also performed under the name Soft White underbelly, first hit the rock scene with its "Blue Oyster Cult" LP in 1972. BOC's best-known songs are "Godzilla" and "Don't Fear the Reaper," but the group achieved its popularity with its dark imagery and Roeser's multi-layered guitar riffs.
Heavy metal guitarist Ronnie Montrose and his band also will perform; Renegade will open the show. Tickets, priced at $12, are on sale at all BASS and Ticketron outlets; they will cost $13.50 at the door.
However, on Thu 20 Mar, the day of the proposed gig, "The Fresno Bee" printed the following postponement:
Blue Oyster Cult concert postponed until Tuesday
Tonight's scheduled concert featuring rock band Blue Oyster Cult has been postponed to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Wilson Theater.
Tickets already purchased will be honored at the Tuesday show. Tickets are on sale for $12 at BASS and Ticketron outlets.
No reason appears to have been given for the postponement. Does anybody know...?
Here's a well-informed and thoroughly research gig preview from the Fri 21 Mar 1986 edition of "The Signal" [Santa Clarita CA]:
Blue Oyster Cult To Perform At The Mountain
By Dave Gingold
Blue Oyster Cult, the legendary legendary British heavy metal rockers, will perform at Magic Mountain next Saturday in the Showcase Amphitheater.
Back in the U.S. from a December tour in the U.K., Blue Oyster Cult is celebrating the January release of their new album, "Club Ninja."
B.O.C. fans can look forward to hearing "Dancing in the Ruins," "Rock Not War," "Spy in the House of the Night," "When the War Comes," "Take Me Away," "Don't Fear the Reaper" and "Burning for You."
The five-man band has gone through few line-up changes, consider the many years they have been making albums together. With the exception of Allen Lamir (sic) (keyboards, guitar, vocals), who has been replaced by Tommy Zvoncheck, and Albert Bouchard (drummer), replaced in 1981 by Rick Downey and then in 1984 by Jimmy Wilcox (tours only), the original membership remains the same Eric Bloom (vocals, guitar), Joe Bouchard (bass, vocals) and Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser (lead guitar, vocals).
Shows are at 6 and 8 p.m. next Saturday, March 22.
Magic Mountain season passes are now on sale for $39.95 at the park's main ticket windows. Season passes include include unlimited park admission admission through Dec. 31, 1986.
I was at this show.
Great story. The night before, I had a bout of the worst food poisoning I ever had. Still don't know how I got it. Puking all night. Despite this, I was determined to make it to this BOC show, hell or high water. It was a long drive to Valencia (I was living in the South Bay area of L.A. at the time). I arrived there late for the show and when I got to the amphitheater the theatre attendant told me the show was full and they were not letting anyone else in.
I begged him to let me in, as I had driven so far and paid the admission to get into Six Flags, but this dickwad said no. I was going to give up when I noticed a couple of dudes motioning me through some trees near the entrance. So what did we do? We snuck through the trees and got in the amphitheater taking the back way. There was no way I was going to miss this show, after what I had been through. Take that, motherfuckers!
I was in! But when I finally sat down, I noticed there was no Joe and no Allen. Unbeknownst to me, they had quit the band. Bummer! Especially since I saw all the original members (including Albert) at San Pedro a year earlier. Still, it was a good show, despite my shock and disappointment of Joe and Allen leaving.
The first song I heard was "Take Me Away" and it sounded great. Obviously, they did a lot of Club Ninja songs, and they of course sounded better live than on the record (which I had just purchased). I don't remember the set list very well, but I'm sure they played all the classic songs like "The Reaper" and "Godzilla". I also remember them playing "White Flags" and "Dancing in the Ruins".
A good show, but I still couldn't shake the disappointment I felt about the member changes that were taking place. The new guys were good, but it just wasn't the same, you know? It was indeed Two Oyster Cult, at this stage. A bit of a letdown, for sure. It was a sign of things to come with BOC. They took a year-long break after this tour was over.
Here's a preview notice for the gig that appeared in the Fri 21 Mar 1986 edition of "The Modesto Bee":
Cult Fans to Gather
The Blue Oyster Cult will meet in Stockton Sunday night to hear its heroes play selections from the 13th Oyster album in 13 years, "Club Ninja."
Doors of the Memorial Civic Auditorium will open at 7 p.m. with the opening act, Renegade, to go on at 7:30. Tickets are $11.50 in advance from Bass and Ticketron, $13 at the door.
Blue Oyster Cult has a reputation for an offbeat, mystical flair, according to a spokesman for the concert promoter, but has retained its following since the group's first album in January 1972.
It has its most solid following, he added, among mainstream rock aficionados, "achieving strong results in collaboration with familiar or not-yet-familiar lyricists." The new album's anthem is "Rock, Not War."
The band members are Eric Bloom, Tommy Zvonchek, Donald Roeser, Jimmy Wilcox and Joe Bouchard.
March 23, 1986 at the Stockton Civic. Blue Oyster Cult with Armored Saint and Renegade.
Ronnie Montrose was supposed to open this show, but instead at the last minute he dropped off the bill.
Good set sets by Renegade and Armored Saint, then BOC came out and really tore it up.
Always a good night when you get to see Blue Oyster Cult.
Tickets for the previously scheduled date of 20 Mar were honoured at this re-arranged gig.
Here's the review of the show that appeared in the Thu 27 Mar 1986 edition of "The Fresno Bee", which showed that Ronnie Montrose actually opened the show:
Blue Oyster Cult proves dinosaurs still can rock
by Alvie Lindsay
Three ancient giants, pounded and thundered on the Wilson Theater stage Tuesday night at a guitar-orientated rock show headlined by Blue Oyster Cult. One of those giants was indeed "Godzilla," but it was the other two, BOC guitarist Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser and Ronnie Montrose, both at least in their mid-30s, who stole the show.
Montrose and his band opened a nearly five-hour triple bill that included Renegade, a young, hispanic Los Angeles-based heavy metal band. The show climaxed with Montrose joining the members of Blue Oyster Cult for their final encore, which included the group's remake of the Doors' "Roadhouse Blues" and a splintered version of the Doors' "Love Me Two Times."
The sight of Montrose and Dharma - two of the best - trading licks side by side was the highlight of a concert that had its moments - good and bad - but was well received by about 1,500 fans.
Blue Oyster Cult, which has been around 15 years or so, recently put out its 12th album, "Club Ninja." The group always will be somewhat of an attraction, not only because of Dharma's precise playing, but because of those two hard rock's classics, "Godzilla" and "(Don't Fear) The Reaper," played back-to-back to close the regular set.
Dharma's solo in the latter was as stirring as ever, but "Godzilla," which was introduced with synthesizer footsteps and a hard-to-understand dialogue by vocalist Eric Bloom, appeared to be the most anticipated song of the night.
BOC's material consisted mostly of works from 1975 to the Ninja album. The opened with a strong "R.U. Ready 2 Rock," strong mostly because of Dharma and drummer Jimmy Wilcox. Unfortunately, as was the case with Ronnie Montrose and Renegade, vocals in nearly every song were undistinguishable.
The Cult, playing a simple show with little theatrics outside of the usual display of lights, flames and sparks, continued with "Dominance and Submission," the popular "Burnin' For You," "Take Me Away," and "Dancin' in the Ruins."
"Dancin' in the Ruins" is the single and video off the new release. It reflects a change in the group's direction towards a more danceable, sing-along style. This change also may be the reason why Blue Oyster Cult has gone from one of rock's big acts to a group that plays to a select audience - mostly in its late 20s - and can no longer fill the likes of the Wilson.
Montrose, somewhat of a mystery man today, still is remembered by most as the guitar genius for the band that bore his last name and featured vocalist Sammy Hagar. He put out one of the greatest heavy metal albums of all time in the mid-'70s, then more or less disappeared.
Looking more than slightly out of place with a haircut shorter than even Judas Priest's Rob Halford, Montrose and his mates - all gifted musicians - play small clubs, and the backbone of the set continues today to be the material off the self-titled first album.
Montrose, a persistent smile across his face and leaping in his best Pete Townsend imitation, opened with "Rock the Nation." Other highlights included "Rock Candy" and "Space Station No. 5." All three off the Montrose album. In fact, the night's biggest disappointment besides the drowned-out vocals was the fact that they did not play "Bad Motor Scooter," one of their best cuts off the debut album.
Without explanation, Renegade, a newcomer and supposedly the third attraction, played second. Their bone-crushing style of "thrash" metal clashed with Blue Oyster Cult and Montrose. Except for a few fist-waving fans standing between the stage and the front row, they were not exactly taken to heart.
While BOC and Montrose rely on an "older" polished style, Renegade dishes out an aggressive no-holds-barred sound that reaches out, grabs you and slaps you in the face. Their music parallels a host of other young metal band bands like Metallica, Piledriver, Anthrax and Exciter. In addition to their musical linkage, they also have one other thing in common - you've probably never heard of them. They are an obscure lot recognized and idolized only by the hardcore metal fan.
Renegade's none-to-soothing sound, led by axeman Kenny Marquez and drummer Luis Cardenas, did show promise. Like all LA metal bands, they looked like heavy metal stars, with their colorful outfits, elaborate guitars and first-rate equipment. Marquez showed off a six-string whose body was shaped like a tiger. Cardenas' drum set was the largest this side of Rush's Neal Peart. But Blue Oyster Cult's Wilcox, who played with a simple set, proved quantity does not equal quality.
Weird things seem to have been happening with regards to the Ronnie Montrose component of these last few dates - at one gig he headlines when he's supposed to be the support, at another, he cancels, then, at this latest show, he opens instead of playing mid-bill...
What on earth was going on...?
This complete show is available for free listening (sorry no downloads) at Wolfgangs Vault. They have digitally remastered copies of many original soundboard tapes from King Biscuit, Bill Graham, Record Plant, other original sources. There are no bootlegs or audience tapes, some shows are available for download, but unfortunately not the two BOC shows they have.
The show is available for listening at:
The Tickets above mention a special "video taping" - I know this was a KBFH show and this is where I know Wings of Mercury from but that's radio so where's the video bit come in?...
It was indeed a full video shoot... that's why the multi tracks were made that were eventually sold to KBFH to help recover the costs...
Apparently the video was so bad it's never seen the light of day... although Tommy Z told me recently he has dubs of the raw footage that even has time code on it...
The only show that Eric Bloom had red hair for was a show we opened for Kiss in Baltimore on Apr 10...
He shaved his beard, cut his hair short and dyed it red just to be contemporary and then got busted by federal marshalls at the BWI airport the next day for having nunchucks (rubber practice ones that he used onstage) and handcuffs (his belt buckle on his stage pants) in his carry-on bag...
He was convinced that it was the red hair, so he dyed it back, but I believe he kept the beard off till after the grand jury, where logic triumphed and all charges were dropped...
At least that's the way I remember it... I'll have to ask Bloom about that sometime...
I just checked a KISS site and KISS were playing an unnamed venue in Baltimore that night, along with a band called King Kobra - no BOC mention, though...
Was at this show with my nephew. He dearly loved both BOC and Kiss.
Mountain was also on this bill. No doubt in my mind what so ever.
That's the second mention I've heard of Mountain being on this bill - Pollstar didn't mention them (above) and they're normally pretty good with that...
Does anyone else recall Mountain at this show?
Mountain was definitely the first band to play. It was my nephew's first concert. We still talk about it...
I was at this gig. BOC opened for Kiss who were on the "Asylum" album tour. That was not a huge album for Kiss but NJ is a hotspot for Kiss fans and the show was sold out.
A fellow co-worker approached me and asked if I wanted to go to the show as he had an extra ticket and a friend somehow had backstage passes!
SURE! Let's go. We get to Brendan Byrne Arena parking lot as full on NJ style "Heavy Metal Parking Lot" is in full force. His friend hands me the "backstage pass" which at the time looked pretty official but on close examination I thought "this isn't going to work".
The friend had taken a real backstage pass which was actually a fabric type material that had adhesive on the back and color photocopied it and then had the color photocopy laminated in clear plastic and a lanyard attached.
For 1986 clear lamination and a lanyard - which is so common to see today at everything from your local retail worker to school children - actually gave the color photocopy an official look. Color photocopying was not common and was expensive, we all paid the friend $10 to cover the cost of the color photocopy and lamination!
I figured, just roll with it, worse thing that can happen is you get denied entry.
We entered the concert hall and got to the backstage security area, first security guard sees our lanyards takes a look at them semi-closely and lets us through to the backstage area. The only comment from security was "sorry we looked at the passes so closely, there have been counterfeits".
I guess the lanyard/lamination worked!
Started walking through the backstage area and I recall seeing Buck smoking a cigarette and talking to a person that appeared to be road crew. Before the show started I made my way to an area in the seats that was to the side of the stage but was blocked off from normal ticket holders.
BOC took the stage, played their gig. I do recall Eric wearing a red Gi on stage and during Shadow Warrior throwing a few hokey type karate moves around. Audience really wasn't into BOC but they were not hostile either.
BOC finished their set and then Kiss took the stage.
The original "boc.com" gig lists mentioned a Burlington gig, but all they had for a date was "April".
I really remember nothing about this show, except that I was there! And I'm pretty sure it was for the Club Ninja tour.
It was definitely at the Burlington, Vermont Memorial Auditorium, but I remember nothing about time of year, warm-up bands, etc.
That's what happens when you turn 56!
I finally managed to pin a date to this gig as a result of the following review in "The Burlington Free Press" [Monday 14 April 1986]
Blue Oyster Cult Keeps Heavy Metal Rollin' On
by Dan Williams
Heavy Metal is the kind of music you try to hide from the children, and few groups have perpetuated its image with the glee of New York's Blue Oyster Cult. During its mid-70s heyday, it sported more leather than the average motorcycle gang while churning songs like "Dominance and Submission" and "Hot Rails to Hell." A dozen LPs, numerous personnel changes and countless drum solos later, the Cult is still packing in the kids on the concert circuit. It made a good case for its longevity before a hopped-up Memorial Auditorium crowd Saturday.
Founded at Stony Brook University in 1967, Blue Oyster Cult is one of the longest-running outfits of the burnout-heavy hard rock field. Originally the brainchild of lyricist/critic Richard Meltzer, the group rose to prominence as the opening act of mascara king Alice Cooper's 1971 tour. After signing with Columbia the same year, it began to release records highlighting guitarist Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser's flashy leads and the occult fixation of lead singer Eric Bloom. Although such an approach has sometimes resulted in overkill, the occasional album captures the group with energy and style intact. 1973's "Tyranny and Mutation" album and the live "On Your Feet or on Your Knees" set remain favorites of this reporter's apocalypse-rock playpile.
Saturday's show was thankfully free of the head-banging histrionics that reduce many a metal show to self-parody. Bloom - resplendent in red satin karate outfit - howled with flair and conviction, particularly on "Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence" and an encore cover of The Doors' "Roadhouse Blues"." Roeser and bassist Joe Bouchard approached their monstrous solos with economy - rarely tripping off into the realm of "Spinal Tap" guitar heroics.
"Godzilla" stomped like the fire-breather it takes its name from, while "Veteran of the Psychic Wars" showcased the grandiose noodlings of recently added keyboardist Tommy Zvonchek. At least two generations raised their voices for "Don't Fear The Reaper" and "Joan Crawford," two of the more durable anthems of the band's back catalog.
The sound was characteristically uneven, and the obligatory drum solo would have seemed dated in 1973, but the Cult showed enough vigor to upstage many bands staking the same turf. "Rock'n'Roll", the teenage at my elbow screamed at periodic intervals.
Rock'n'Roll, indeed.
Therefore, the gig must have taken place on Saturday 12th April 1986. I just wish the review would have mentioned the support act...
This tour with Rush was a lot of fun after the hell of Europe earlier that year...
It was like Rush throwing us a bone for having them open for us in the late 70's....
Club Ninja tour. April of 1986 at the Broome County Arena in Bingampton, NY. They opened for Rush on Rush's Power Windows Tour. Great place to see a show. Not a bad seat in the house. I was so close I scared the band. Standing right in front of John Rogers for BOC, then Geddy Lee for Rush. Such an awesome show!!
I think they opened with White Flags. Eric was running around in a a red satin and black karate outfit, barefoot, short hair, dark glasses but no beard. They came out and before the lights went on and they started, I recall wondering where Eric was. I didn't think that was him. He looked 20 years younger.
Here's an excerpt from The National Midnight Star, Number 166 (Tuesday, 5 February 1991) from a Rush fan called PDK:
I was also at the Power Windows concert in Binghamton, NY (my first concert).
Yes, it was amazing. It's funny that the rush-mgr called it a killer concert. During the intermission, someone threw an M-80. (For those of you that don't know, an M-80 is a BIG firecracker.)
Well it landed about four people away from me. It was the loudest thing you ever heard. It blew the guy up. Well, not exactly. But, he did have powder burns, and the girl next to him did have blood all over her sweater.
When we asked him if he was OK he only said "....no". Needless to say, he didn't get to see the Boys. Just thought I'd add my Rush experience to the Archives.
I saw them at EM Loews, in Worcester (Club Ninja tour)... also the only time I saw Eric without a beard... what's up with that??
E.M. Loews held about 2500 people...it's now called the Paladium, but made into two clubs...
I remember this show well... didn't Jon Butcher Axis open??...
I can confirm Jon Butcher as an opener, even though I saw about 2 minutes of his set and the date 4-17-86 and I have a set list:
I had seen Jon Butcher a bunch of times, always as an opening act... being from the Boston area, he opened up for many a show.
When his set started I headed for the bathroom for a toke; there was this guy selling joints in the bathroom, but was matching everyone he sold to... before you know it we're in this big circle passing around joint after joint... my friends in the mean time thought I was getting sick or passed out... they went to check up on me... much to their surprise, I'm in the middle of one of the best smokeouts ever!
Another note: It marked the first time I saw them without Allen...
I've always tried to remember just where that show was, cause we fired a drum roadie that morning leaving Philly and had to leave him passed out in a Hotel room (some people just don't know when they've had enough Roherer 714's)...
So after the show in Mass that night I had to step into the vacant seat in the equipment truck and help out with the drive to Hampton VA... I drove all nite and woke up the other roadie ("Zilla Dave" Thorpe) to drive only about an hour from the Hotel... that's just the kinda roadie breath that I am...
We had that day off, so we used it to find a drum roadie and we had gotten the ph# of a really kewl stagehand at Harpo's in Detroit, so Thorpe made the call and Danny MacAleer worked his first show for BOC on 19 Apr... Danny was around till 92 whan he left to play drums for Mitch Ryder... he then got married and had a couple of kids and worked at a machine shop for a few years and is now back on the road with Foghat as Drum Roadie/Lighting operator/Road Manager....I recently got to hang out with Danny for a couple of days when BOC/Foghat was in town...
Glad somebody came up with just where that Mass venue was...
LOL... This was rare... But what Sam forgot to mention is that I was the one that left Rizzo in the Hotel when I could not wake him. I told the Hotel manager we had an emergency and he opened Rizzos door, we could not wake him so I called Paramedics/Schenck and hit the road.
Drove like a maniac but made the gig in time. Sam drove that night to Hampton as I was pooped, but he made sure i got no sleep as he kept making noise with a monster bag of potato chips all night at my face. LOL... It was all in fun though.
FYI... Danny MacAleer was an Excellent addition to the road crew and one hell of a safe driver as well. Danny and Sam were the BEST and all the Hell was worth it as long as the 3 amigos were on the crew together.
Opener for Rush. Short set that included Wings of Mercury.
When I was working as Flight Instructor at North American Institute Of Aviation, Conway, South Carolina, I saw the band play a gig at the Rock Club CASTAWAYS in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Great gig, appx. 600 people present.
I notice that they played North Carolina 20 + 22. April 1986. My girlfriend at that time came with me to USA around 14. March 1986, and left to Arizona to become an Au Pair around 1. May 1986, so it had to be in that timespan, she went along with me on the gig...
I haven't been to the area since 1992 / 1993 (I'm not sure of the year), on vacation, but then the club Castaways didn't exist no more.
What I know, is that there was (is)? a rock radio in Myrtle Beach called WKZQ 96.1 (I think it was), maybye they know? Or maybye the BOC management would know?
If it happened, it would have been on the 21 April... I was home on the 24th...
OK - although I'll tentatively pencil this in for the 21st April for now - I've looked on a map, and that seems fair enough from a logistics point of view - I have to wonder if it did actually take place on this date as there is a confirmed gig at this venue 5 months later on 19 Sept...
I saw them open for Rush in Greensboro, n.c. 4/22/86? they were bad, not enough equipment for sound.
Eric was doing karate kicks and wearing a red sash. Club Ninja tour was kinda lame.
My first time seeing BOC was at the Greensboro Coliseum when they opened for Rush in 86.
I was ready to kick the ass of any Rush fan that would dare to boo but actually the Rush fans were pretty respectful and they even clapped after songs like Godzilla or Reaper.
Looking back I can't really tell if was a good performance or not, I was just so happy to be able to see one of the main bands that provided the soundtrack to my life during so many years.
Support for RUSH, Power Windows Tour
Ever since 1976, RUSH has been my favorite band, BOC second. So it was great to see them paired together for this show.
I remember my friend Robert and me talking about that, and wondering how many people were at both shows.
This will be short because I don't remember much. Blue Oyster Cult played well and we enjoyed it. Great acoustics in Greensboro.
Here's a review of this gig from The Gamecock, the USC college newspaper:
Rush Rocks A Rowdy Crowd
By Patrick Jean
Assistant Spotlight editor
As the lights dimmed, the famous theme music from "Three Stooges" short films played over the speakers. But the Canadian trio that came onstage to the music were anything but stooges.
Rush entertained a rowdy crowd at the Augusta Civic Center Wednesday with its unique brand of innovative, technological hard rock. The band employed much visual flash without physical vigor, but still packed a punch with its sound.
Blue Oyster Cult opened for the trio with its 1970s heavy metal. Once a major headliner, the band has lost most of its old following and has been reduced to the humbling presence of a 40-minute opening act.
The band still showed flair onstage, especially the fiery guitar work of Buck Dharma. The audience cheered and sang along with rock hits "Don't Fear the Reaper," "Godzilla" and "Burning for You." But Blue Oyster Cult is an aging band that has not kept up well with the times. The graying hairs and slowing moves of band members reflected that, although the performance still shined. Tipper Gore would be pleased.
After a short intermission, Rush took the stage. Lead guitarist Alex Lifeson jumped into the spotlight first, followed by master drummer Neil Peart and lead singer/bass and keyboard player Geddy Lee. The band began a steady stream of their biggest rock hits - "The Spirit of Radio," "Limelight," "The Big Money" and "Subdivisions."
Nearly half the band's two-hour set consisted of material from its latest album, Power Windows. While the audience didn't seem as familiar with these songs as the older ones, they cheered and danced anyway.
A large video screen took up all of the backstage. Videos and laser drawings accompanied some of the songs. For some of the songs without videos or animated or live film footage, colored lights were used for artistic or entertainment value. The band's set also used many stage lights, elaborate lasers and an extremely good, clear sound system.
All these visual fireworks suggest that Rush lacks physical firepower onstage. Indeed, Lee packs an interesting voice but not much stage movement. Lifeson's stage presence consisted of little more than hot guitar licks, a smile and occasional movement from one end of the stage to the other.
The stage's physical boredom ends with Peart, however. His performance confirms his reputation as one of the best drummers in rock. He was completely enshrouded by a rotating drum set with enough bells, chimes, cymbals and percussion specialties to make any drummer envious. He threw his sticks 10 feet into the air and drummed faster than the eye could follow. One six-minute solo brought a standing ovation.
Rush did a good job of blending old songs with new ones. After a few new or unfamiliar numbers, the band played such crowd favorites as "Tom Sawyer" and "Distant Early Warning." One of the regular live numbers, "Countdown," was left out, maybe because of the recent space shuttle explosion.
The encore cooked with the instrumental music from 2112. The set packed in many visual effects to satiate the "MTV generation" but lacked the physical punch one expects from a band that records such powerful music. The show was still well-worth the money and 90-minute trip. Hopefully, the band will remember its Columbia fans on its next tour and come a little closer than Greenville or Augusta.
News of this cancellation was given in the Fri 28 Mar 1986 edition of the El Paso Herald-Post:
Blue Oyster Cult and Fastway have canceled their April 24 show at the Coliseum.
I was at this show, about 40 rows back on the floor. I was working in a record store at the time, and had heard all of "Club Ninja" on the job (I wound up buying it for "Perfect Water"). I certainly don't recall the full set list, but I believe BOC opened with "R U Ready 2 Rock"--but don't quote me on that one.
I'm sure that they played "Perfect Water" and "Dancing In The Ruins" from the "new" album, as well as the usual hits: "Godzilla," "Reaper," "Burnin' For You." Eric introduced "Godzilla" with, "It's time for the big green guy!" Personally, I was disappointed that "Joan Crawford" wasn't in the set.
That's about all I can recall 21 years later (I'm sorry to say that I went 20 years between shows; I didn't catch BOC again until September of 2006), but I do remember Eric was in fine voice and Buck kicked his usual amount of arse on guitar.
I was traveling (flying) with the band and it was amazing how fast we could get done and back to the hotel on these Rush shows... sometimes fast enough to even catch a late movie or a decent dinner....
After the Birmingham show, I drove back to ATL in a rental car after and was home in time to watch Letterman in my own living room!!
Scary stuff!!
There's previously been a slight bit of confusion over a Kemper Arena gig on the 28th...
I originally listed a single show there on 29 Apr 1986 (see next entry), and had the Pollstar stats to back that up.
However, when I came across the Billboard figures, I noticed that they had the gig date down as "28 Apr 1986". However, all their stats were exactly the same as the Pollstar figures for the 29th, so I thought obviously the "28 April" must have been a misprint.
But then I saw on the "PowerWindows" Rush site that they had Rush playing two nights here - 28 and 29 April, so I wondered if there were two Rush gigs here, maybe BOC were the support for both these nights...?
However, when I looked into it a little more, none of the online newspaper sources mentioned two nights - they all said there was just one gig on the 29th April. Here's the listing from the 27 Apr 1986 edition of "The Kansas City Star":
Rush with Blue Oyster Cult, rock, 8 p.m. Tuesday, Kemper Arena.
So - no mention of a 28 April gig at all. The KC Star also printed a review of the concert on Wed 30 April which only referred to the concert on "Tuesday".
I tried to check back with the "PowerWindows" site to see if they still listed the 28 April gig but they have since removed their gig lists for some unknown reason.
However, on "cygnus-x1.net", they had this:
28 Apr 1986: St. Louis Arena, St. Louis MO
29 Apr 1986: Kemper Arena, Kansas City MO [w/Blue Oyster Cult]
There was also a ticket stub for the St. Louis gig, so I was finally able to label this 28 Apr 1986 Kansas City gig to be a "Phantom"...
We know that Rush did play St. Louis on the 28th because a review of the show appeared in the Wed 30 Apr 1986 edition of the "St. Louis Post-Dispatch', although the support band isn't mentioned.
I suppose the question remains whether or not BOC supported Rush at this 28 Apr St. Louis gig, but if they did, I'd have thought that would have warranted at least a one-line mention in the gig review...
See the above entry for the reasons why - despite the above Billboard stats giving the date of the gig to be the 28th April - I am now happy that there was only one gig here on the 29th.
Here's the listing from the morning of the gig in the 29 Apr 1986 edition of "The Kansas City Star":
Rush with Blue Oyster Cult, rock, 8 p.m., Kemper Arena.
A further word about the Pollstar/Billboard figures quoted above - according to that last bastion of truth and accuracy, Wikipedia - (yeah, right) - the venue's capacity is actually 19500, not the 12200 quoted here.
Also - ticket prices were given as "$13.00 - $14.00" but if you look at the stub I have above, it's actually priced at "$14.50".
The overall picture is a bit confused so if you have any info that might help clarify matters, please let me know.
This was the last show on the Rush/BOC swing and during the pre-recorded giant footsteps bit at the start of Godzilla when Eric was inquiring of the audience "who is it?... is it Rodan?... is it Gammera The Flyin F'ing Turtle?"... out of the PA came the familiar TV voice... "Hello, I'm Mr.Ed"...
It was probably inspired by the fact that around this period, we would occasionally list Mr. Ed on our guestlist each night... (along with Elvis Presley, Don Ho, Joan Crawford, etc...)
How did Eric take this? Did he know about it beforehand?
Oh he definitely knew about it when it happened as it was REALLY loud thru the incredible on-stage monitor system (that's Foldback to you Tea-Bag types) Rush was using....
He looked a bit confused initially, but once he figured out what had happened, he was almost as amused as I was...
I think the crowd was more than a little bit confused....
NB: Since Sam wrote the above, I have discovered what appears to be a further Rush gig in Wichita on the following day.
If this is correct, then obviously that would make Wichita the final gig on the swing, meaning that maybe the Mr. Ed episode actually occurred there, and not here after all...
Can anyone confirm this one way or the other?
30 Apr 1986: Kansas Coliseum, Wichita, KS... I was there at this show! BOC warmed up for RUSH...
I've checked on a Rush giglist site and they are SUPPOSED to have played a gig at the Kansas Coliseum, Wichita, KS on May 2nd 1986...
Can anyone help with this one?
I remember seeing BOC when they opened for Rush in 1986 at the Kansas Coliseum (Britt Brown Arena) in Wichita. My Ticket states only Rush, but whoever tore the ticket ripped the date off of it.
I searched Rush's tour date archive and found the date to match the Ticket . The date was May 2, 1986. The Rush website also states BOC played with them. The concert was the Club Ninja tour and I bought the BOC Ninja tee shirt at that concert (I still have it).
It was the only Club Ninja concert I saw that year. BOC opened for Rush on the Power Windows tour. BOC didn't have much of a stage show, it seemed very relaxed. It was nothing fancy, I remember them playing around their tour cases.
I found a date confirmation for this gig in the Fri 02 May 1986 edition of "The Wichita Eagle-Beacon":
Rush celebrates Years of Popularity Quietly
By Gary Graff
Knight-Ridder News Service
At its inception, no one expected canadian rock band Rush to last longer than a few years. Not the record company executives, who figured it was just another hard rock band. Not the disc jockeys, who slowly warmed to the music. Not the critics, who never really have.
Not even the band themselves. "Back then, if somebody told me I'd be touring in 1986, I'd have thought they were dreaming," admitted Geddy Lee, the group's singer, bassist and keyboard player.
Rush and Blue Oyster Cult will appear in concert at 8 p.m. today at the Kansas Coliseum.
Stop Press: Thanks to Bocevil, I've now discovered a setlist for this show courtesy of the following post on "giginjapan.com":
Despite the date on the (above) ticket kindly sent to me by Damon from Lubbock, this gig was re-scheduled and took place on 3rd May. Damon tells me that his brother said his ticket has a paste over on the date april 26th, and if you look at the scan of the ticket you can see the area where the glue was over the 26th dark area on the ticket.
I think there are a BUNCH of dates missing from May and June 86... we played several weeks of shows in TX during that period...
This gig was confirmed on the gig history page of the "kfmx.com" site:
I found a listing for this gig in the 4 May 1986 edition of the "Odessa American":
Blue Oyster Cult will be in concert 7:30 p.m. today at the Ector County Coliseum. Tickets, $13-$15, are available at Endless Horizon's Records and Tapes in Midland and Odessa. Opening acts include Autograph and Poison Dollies.
I also found a review - well, it's sort of a review - of this gig in the 5 May 1986 edition of the "Odessa American":
Earsplitting - Bands Rock Arena With Heavy Metal
Concert Review
By Eileen Mcclelland
Staff Writer
Three heavy-weight contenders for loudest metal band all held their own last night as Blue Oyster Cult, Autograph and Poison Dollys blasted the half-filled Ector County Coliseum.
Perhaps Autograph said it best with its hit single, "Turn Up the Radio." Even seats in the rafters vibrated.
Volume aside, though, Autograph came out ahead of the other two bands on the strength of its personality and current status on the charts.
Autograph opened its set with an assault on the senses that included an alarming red light.
Band members established a rapport with the audience by the middle of the set that sustained the show through "My Girlfriend's Boyfriend," "Blondes in Black Cars," their version of "We're an American Band" and the top-40 standard "Turn Up the Radio."
Autograph is one metal band that doesn't take itself too seriously to communicate that music should be fun. The band members' sense of humor comes across in song titles, their willingness to pour beverages over their heads, and their ability to localize a funny story to include the Odessa Hilton.
The band's enthusiasm and playfulness didn't allow for one slow spot.
The 14-year-old Blue Oyster Cult was more ponderous. While the band drew from old standards as well as its new album, "Club Ninja," it wasn't likely to make any new fans with last night's show. The musicians were no slouches, but the band came across as a bit bored.
But the nostalgia factor appealed to many. Blue Oyster Cult was a pioneer of the heavy metal genre. "Don't Fear the Reaper" and "Godzilla" are just as compelling a decade later. And the "oldies" were well-received by the audience.
Poison Dollys, four women from Long Island, struck a blow for equality between the heavy metal sexes, proving just as hard hitting and agressive as their male counterparts and just as willing to wear Spandex clothing.
The group joins Autograph as part of a promising new crop of headbangers.
The colorfully clad foursome is led by the towering figure of vocalist Roulette, and backed up by Gina Stile, lead guitar; Mef Manning, bass; and Gail Kenny, drummer. Their debut album, "Poison Dollys," was recently released on Invasion Records.
The band, whose members range in age from 19 to 22, has toured with Motorhead, Girlschool and Twisted Sister, and was discovered by Aerosmith, a group whose tough musical style the Poison Dollys seem to emulate.
Poison Dollys delivered a short, if not exactly sweet set, and came out making a definite impression in the heavy metal melee.
it was one of the late spring months of 1986, that i first saw boc. i had no idea what to think, as this was my first taste of boc's music!
i was living in illinois, a senior in highschool. it was time for our senior trip, we would go to six flags in st. lewis. our senior class sponsor told us that blue oyster cult would be there!
the show was incredible! i would love to have a setlist from then. (can anyone help?) i do remember dont fear the reaper and godzilla being played! the whole audience sang along to godzilla! ;-) i think they also played dancin' in the ruins, and some other club ninja songs.
it was a great time, and one of the real definitive moments in my life in music appreciation! a turning point, if you will, and the 2nd concert i had ever been to!
i would love to see boc again! 20 years later!!!
it would have been either may or june in 1986. it was right before graduation. i really wish i had more info. i would love to see a setlist from then! it was one of my first real concerts!
i remember they played 2 shows that evening. i saw the first one, i wish i had watched the 2nd one too. it sounded like the same setlist as i recall.
they played six flags in st lewis, missiouri in '85 also, i think it was something they did a few years in a row.
i wish i did have more details. i remember eric with his moment before godzilla, scratching the strings on his guitar, ROOOOAAARRR! that impressed me!
it was the club ninja tour, so i believe they played a lot of material like dancin' in the ruins.
the songs i remember (wow, 25 years ago!) are joan crawford, e.t.i., dont fear the reaper, godzilla... i am sure they performed take me away and burnin' for you.
eric announced some song about getting high from their first album, i am sure that was the last days of may.
that is about all i remember. i wish i had more to go on. the band was very professional sounding and put on a good show. eric had a good charisma as a frontman. at one point, during the end of the show, eric was playing a custom guitar in the shape of the BOC logo.
I finally found a date for this gig as a result of seeing a mention of it in the 11 May 1986 issue of the "Herald and Review" [Decatur IL]:
Six Flags Over Mid-America
Eureka, Mo. Colossus, an 18-story ferris wheel, is the highlight of the new season.
All Night, Senior Night, 5 p.m. Friday to 3 a.m. Saturday with Blue Oyster Cult performing at 9 p.m. and midnight. Daily operation will begin May 23. Park hours: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. today and May 18; 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $14.75 adults, $10.52 children 3-11 and $9.46 senior citizens 55 and over. Two-day tickets are $20.03. Children 2 and under free. For ticket or park information, call 423-8152 or (314) 938-5300.
A more local publication, The "St. Louis Post-Dispatch" also listed the upcoming gig on 15 May 1986:
Blue Oyster Cult - The rock group will perform at 9 p.m. and midnight at the annual Senior Night party at Six Flags Over Mid-America. Information: 938-5300.
The same newspaper published a review of the gig on the following Sunday written by David Surkamp of Pavlov's Dog fame:
Blue Oyster Cult Proves It's Longevity Is No Fluke
by David Surkamp
One of rock music's most enduring acts, The Blue Oyster Cult, brought its "Club Ninja" tour to Six Flags Over Mid-America for two performances Friday evening. The group's appearance was part of the annual Senior Night celebration for the area's high school graduating classes.
The Blue Oyster Cult remains one of the most potent forces performing in the heavy metal genre. This group puts out enough decibels to shake the fillings out of your teeth. The band's philosophy of being "on tour forever" continues to make them one of rock's tightest and most exciting live attractions on the concert circuit.
The band was formed in 1971 at Stony Brook College on Long Island N.Y. and it quickly staked out its musical territory with overpowering guitar duals performed by all five band members simultaneously. While only guitarists Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser and Eric Bloom remain from the original lineup, the band continues to deliver the musical goods with power to spare.
The group performed music from every part of its 15-year career. Present-day material, such as "Burnin' for You" and "Dancing In The Ruins," fits easily with older songs, including "Then Came The Last Days Of May."
Roeser continues to be the band's driving force. His high-speed riffing takes the band into hyper-drive with intense upper-register fretwork. Both his musical ideas and execution are clean, well-phrased and totally dynamic. For this kind of guitar style, Roeser has few equals.
The new members - drummer Jimmy Wilcox, bassist Jon Rogers and Tommy Zvoncheck - all are capable instrumentalists and handle the crushing tempos with precision. Most impressive was Rogers, who only joined the group a little more that 60 days ago.
Highlights of the performance included the band's tribute to that great '50s monster "Godzilla" and exhilarating version of its 1976 hit "(Don't Fear) The Reaper."
The original BOC gig lists had this date down as Cleveland's Richfield Coliseum.
However, I recently saw a copy of a Columbia Records promo photo depicting Donny Osmond feigning to strangle Buck Dharma at a party. Under the picture was the following text:
One Bad Apple: Donny Osmond (center, sunglasses) gets tough with members of Columbia recording group Blue Oyster Cult -- from left, Tommy Zvonchek, Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser, and Eric Bloom -- at an all-star celebrity 'biker bash hosted by the pop star at the Mucky Duck, a popular motorcycle haven in Santa Monica, California. BOC's new album is Club Ninja, featuring "Dancing in the Ruins" and "Perfect Water".
Upcoming tour-dates for BOC commence May 22 at the Inferno in Buffalo, sponsored by WPHD-FM; Cleveland's Mall C on the 23rd, sponsored by WMMS; their first show ever in Mexico City on the 25th, at the Sports Palace; and an outdoor show for radio station B-93 in Amarillo, Texas on May 26th.
I decided to ask roadie Sam Judd if he recalled any of these gigs...
I can not say one way or the other if this Buffalo gig was played... pretty sure it WASN'T since I dimly remember a night off before we played Cleveland...
This was to turn into a weekend of hanging out in hotel rooms... waiting...
And that Donny Osmond thing was set up by CBS... they were taken to the affair he was promoting for a charity where the "press" photo was made...
This was right after we'd gotten back from Europe and the full US promotion was on for Club Ninja...
Does anyone out there know if Buffalo was played or not?
The May 86 concert at The Inferno in Buffalo did take place. Wasn't able to win tickets from WPHD, so I stood outside till Cheektowaga's Finest and Inferno security asked us to leave...
I attended this show. 2nd time seeing the band (Shea's in Feb 1984 was the first). I don't recall any other band playing.
I hated the Club Ninja record, and I was disappointed that E. Bloom and Buck were the only originals left. The very 80's-pop sounding keys didn't help.
E.Bloom was clean shaven, and had a cheesy ninja costume on. The keyboard player was very sweaty and looked like he was totally wasted.
Having said all that, they kicked ass. I liked the '84 show better, but this one was more up close and personal, and Buck killed it on guitar, as always. BOC forever!
This Cleveland date is the second one I got from the BOC/Donny Osmond promo photograph. As mentioned in the previous gig entry, boc.com originally had a Cleveland gig down for the previous day (albeit at the Richfield Coliseum).
This was a free outdoor show played on Mall C of a big downtown park... for WMMS...
I think Meatloaf may have been on it as well...
This was the third date I got from the BOC/Donny Osmond promo photograph. However, Sam reveals below that it was subsequently cancelled.
We loaded up and left for the airport right after playing Cleveland and flew to Mexico City had the 24th off...
Sat around drinking Mexican Cokes (this was during the "New Coke" fiasco and the Mex cokes were the real deal... Me and Bloom watched the Indy 500 in my room)...
Come the 25th, as the day went on, we were still sitting at the hotel waiting for the word from Schenck (who was at the venue) to tell us when we needed to come over and see what rental gear we had to work with...
He eventually called to tell us that the Mex promoter had NOT managed to pay ALL the bribes necessary and the show was cancelled by the chief of police as a "Security Issue"... fine...
More Mex cokes and we flew to Amarillo the next morning...
The band was to play their debut concert in Mexico City on 05/25/1986. I remember the date because I had a test that day and asked the teacher to do it before but he said no, so I never cared and got my ticket-for travel a friend bought 2 tickets, so went to MX city in the 15/24 just to hear in radio that the concert was canceled.
Sadly we returned our tickets for the money. The record store that organized this broke, the band arrived, and according with Bolle they received life threats if getting down from plane do they stayed until knowing no concert so they flew back with all the gear.
Of course in MX never a life threatening was announced bit who knows, if someone in that semi government saw Divine Wind and Joan Crawford, they got ultra catholic and the life retreat started.
But how it comes they did play in 2017 in Cancun, Mexico for 5 days in a row there is no video, ticket nor photo. Nada. So we'll at least they did play in a nice area.
That "Rock Getaway" 2017 series of gigs in Riviera Maya is a bit of a mystery - they were originally down for a series of gigs between 26 Oct - 1 Nov 2017, then extra dates seemed to be listed for 2-4 Nov 2017, and then they seemed to disappear. In the end, I heard that only two gigs were played on 28 and 30 Oct 2017.
I never did manage to get any clarification on what happened...
This was the fourth and final date I got from the BOC/Donny Osmond promo photograph. However, as with Mexico City the day before, but for different reasons, this gig was also cancelled...
We met up with our gear at a JIVE ASS gig in a park in Amarillo... LOTS of really shitty local bands on a tiny stage... we kept our shit in the truck till last minute... then put it all up once the stage was totally cleared...
Then a storm moved in, along with a tornado, blew down some trees and the show was canceled... loaded it back in the truck and back to the hotel for dinner...
Flew home the next day to find that Margot had gone and bought a new Nissan P/U truck... before I could spend too much time wondering WHY she'd bought a TRUCK, I discovered she had also bought 2 horses.. thus began my association with those "Giant Beasts Of Sorrow" as my friend Bieser calls them...
Anyone able to put a date to this show?
Actually I think I do have a way to pin the date down, since it was supposed to be the date of my graduation but it was postponed because of rain...
A good friend of mine is one of those people who can't quite let go of the high school days, is very active with the reunions, etc. etc. and she immediately knew the graduation was supposed to be on June 6th but got postponed twice by rain to the 8th. I remember that now because when it got postponed on the 6th I thought we were going to have to miss the gig before it got postponed again!
So, I can say for sure that the gig at Kingston Fairgrounds in NH was Saturday, June 7th, 1986!
Blackfoot was definitely there, because my friend brought a Blackfoot shirt at the concert. I have a picture of him in it during the party later, then late at night he tried to put it back on because it was cold but he was so drunk he tried to put his head through one of the sleeves, and being a typical cheap concert shirt, ripped the sleeve apart! Hilarious.
On the other hand, I'm not sure Molly Hatchet was there, they may have been at the Kingston Fairground gig in 1988. BOC was definitely the headliner!
A side note: Six Flags Atlantis was wrecked by Hurricane Andrew in 1994. Here is a memorial to the site that lists BOC as one of the groups that performed there under the "shows" tab: http://www.lucas-photo.com/atlantis/
I attended this show... was center stage for BOC... It was a very hot afternoon... During Roadhouse Blues, Eric Bloom handed me the rest of his Budweiser and told me "make sure you share it with the rest of the audience". Of course I did not... my friend and I finished the Bud and kept it as a souvenir.
I remember Blackfoot really kicked ass during their set... the rest of the bands were watching them from the side stage.
I can't remember if Molly Hatchet was there but there was a band called the Jam band (I believe it was an all star band of some sort).
Joe mentions Blackfoot and the Jam Band there but I think he's conflating two Kingston Fairgrounds - this one, which definitely featured Blackfoot, and the one from the previous year - 22 June 1985 - which definitely featured The Jam Band.
Can anyone confirm if BOC or Foghat headlined?
BOC was definitely the headliner. My sister took me to that show... we bought tix at the venue... we were told that only previously-purchased tix were valid for the openers...
We got in anyway, saw the whole show... but that is why Blackfoot, Outlaws and Butcher are blacked out on my ticket stub.
The band running order was:
The only source I have for this is that it's listed on boc.com. - but no town is given...
The Center Stage was and is in Atlanta GA.... and we DID play there on that date... first time my daughter Rosie came to a show...
I wanted to confirm the June 20, 1986 date at the Center Stage Theater in Atlanta. I don't have my Ticket but I do remember that it was early summer in '86.
I also recall being disappointed that "Psychic Wars" wasn't on the setlist because I hadn't seen that performed live and I was excited by the possibility that they might play it.
Just to confuse things - I saw an ad for this show in 23 May 1986 edition of the Atlanta Journal which said: "Tickets for the BOC concert at the Centerstate Theatre go on sale Saturday. $14.50"
So is it "Centerstate" or "Center Stage" Theatre...?
I saw Blue Oyster Cult at Center Stage Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia in the summer of 1986.
My brother and a couple of my best friends got together for the show. Not too many people turned out but the band was extra cool. I got to shake hands with both Eric and Buck from the stage. It was that intimate of a show.
I have my ticket stub packed away, but from other databases in Atlanta, the June 20 date is correct. I know it was on a Friday, because I got paid and bought the tickets that day. It was a last minute decision but I was able to get everbody together and go.
I found a listing for this gig in the 15 June 1986 edition of "The Tennessean":
Saturday
KDF's One For The Sun with Blue Oyster Cult, Lone Justice, Fabulous Thunderbirds, Carl Perkins, The Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Greg Kihn Band, and the Sluggers at the Starwood Amphitheater. Gates open at noon, showtime 1 p.m. Tickets ($14.50 reserved, $12.50 general admission) are available at all TicketMaster locations.
The only chance I've had to see the mighty BOC was in 1986 when they headlined a multi-band amphitheatre show in Nashville. The crowd had been pretty normal for most of the day long event - the best acts being Greg Kihn, Carl Perkins, and Nashville's Walk The West (the Fabulous T-Birds and some members of Lynyrd Skynyrd were also on the bill) - until BOC hit the stage and all of a sudden the seats were filled with bikers that most have been drinking alcohol in the parking lot for most of the time.
At first we were a little bit scared of them, but as soon as they saw we had sat through all of the crap just to see BOC they accepted all of my geeky friends and myself. It was a total blast.
This was an annual multi band event called "One For The Sun" that used to be held at the start of summer at Hermitage Landing. They moved it to Starwood Amphitheater in 1985.
I found a review of this gig in the 23 June 1986 edition of "The Tennessean":
"One For The Sun" Rockers Return to Roots at Starwood's first Show
Thomas Goldsmith
Staff Writer
A heat-soaked "One For The Sun" concert filled with the roots-music energy of rock'n'roll highlighted Starwood Amphitheater's first day as a concert facility Saturday.
A host of national and local rockers starred at this year's edition of "One For The Sun," the annual charity concert sponsored by Nashville radio station WKDF-FM (103). During a 10-hour show at which the brand new Starwood facility showed itself off to good advantage, almost all the participating acts paid tributes to the roots of rock.
"You don't need no synthesizers: you don't need no drums - all you need is the three chords of rock 'n'roll," California rocker Greg Kihn told the sweltering afternoon crowd.
Kihn arrived at "One For The Sun" determined to play, even without his absent road band. Former Lynyrd Skynyrd drummer Artimus Pyle came to the rescue by playing percussion and singing along as Kihn strummed acoustic guitar and performed spirited versions of his hits Jeopardy, Love and Rock 'n' Roll and The Breakup Song.
"This is the first song I learned on the guitar: I figure it's the first song anybody learns on the guitar," Kihn said before launching into the Eddie Cochran/Blue Cheer/Who hit Summertime Blues. In addition to Cochran's 1958 summer anthem, Kihn and Pyle came up with creditably full versions of Bob Dylan's Like a Rolling Stone and Buddy Holly's Not Fadeaway.
Between 7,000 and 8,000 music and sun-lovers braved temperatures in the mid-90s to hear the afternoon and evening of rock, according to WKDF program director Bill Pugh.
The crowd count fell a "couple of thousand" people short of that seen at past "One for the Sun" concerts at Hermitage Landing, said Pugh, who speculated that the event's attendance was hurt by the heat.
After a brief opening set by 'KDF staffers Traffic Jam, Texas bluesmen The Fabulous Thunderbirds burned through a set of blues, rock and rhythm and blues fueled by lead guitarist Jimmy Vaughn's power and expertise. The churning quartet ended its enthusiastically received set with Tuff Enuff, the tune that's put the group high on the pop charts after years of critical acclaim and professional semi-obscurity.
After the T-Birds' back-alley blues, the "One for the Sun" crowd was treated to a rousing set by a rock founding father.
"This is a song that tells you a little bit about what happened in the early Sun Records days," rockabilly pioneer Carl Perkins said in introducing his new song The Birth of Rock 'n' Roll.
Perkins also performed The Class of '55, the title tune from the all-star session which reunited him with Sun greats Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Roy Orbison.
"For all of the Elvis fans and to the memory of the greatest rockabilly I ever knew, here's his first record," Perkins said before a powerful version of Presley's That's Alright Mama.
At the forefront of a rocking band which included saxophone legend Ace Cannon, Perkins forceful vocals and driving guitar led the crowd through early rock territory in a medley of Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Lewis and Presley material.
Perkin's trademark hit Blue Suede Shoes ended his set, clearing the stage for the third in a succession of fine guitarists - Tim Krekel, the lead-singer, songwriter and frontman for The Sluggers.
Krekel and bandmates Tom Comet (bass) and Willis Bailey (drums) are the most recent Nashville rock act to release a major-label album and they used Saturday's concert to showcase much of their Over the Fence LP.
Material such as the title track, I Can't Help Myself, Jack in the Box, Perfect Man and In That Magic Moment not only displayed The Sluggers' studio-honed live playing, it gave the new Starwood system a chance to show its stuff. From the top of the grassy lawn that accounts for much of the ampitheater's 17,000 capacity, the visually distant band's instruments and vocals came through loud and clear.
The Sluggers' nod to rock tradition came in a revival of the Righteous Brothers rocker Justine. After Kihn's show, Nashville's Billy Chinnock won wild applause for his saxophone-driven "people's rock" - and concluded his set with Presley's Hound Dog.
A diverse set by an assortment of Nashville musicians including Johnny Few, Ricky Ray Rector, Vickie Carrico, Joanna Jacobs was followed by a brief performance by local favorites Two Desperate Women. Pyle then reappeared with a for-the-occasion group which played blues and Skynyrd hits Free Bird and Sweet Home Alabama, the latter renamed Sweet Home Tennessee to reflect Pyle's residence in Nashville.
The bouncy country-boogie of the Ozark Mountain Daredevils and group tunes such as If You Want To Go to Heaven occupied the crowd as the sun, finally, began to go down. New Nashville major-label rockers Walk The West made the first-ever Starwood performance under lights, taking the stage just before sundown.
Walk The West frontman Paul Kirby and group members poured out intensely energetic versions of Precious Time, Backside, Living at Night and Solitary Man. After winning over an initially unfamiliar crowd, the group left the stage after performing their eccentric, entertaining rendition of Roy Acuff's Wabash Cannonball.
A lavish, 12-minute fireworks display and a crowd-pleasing set by the hard-rocking Blue Oyster Cult ended "One For The Sun" shortly after 11 p.m.
With its peak capacity less than half-filled, Starwood on its "shakedown" show emerged as a pleasant, attractive place to attend a concert. However, a $2 parking fee and relatively steep concessions prices on top of conventional ticket costs don't make for an inexpensive outing.
And for an all-day summer event of the "One for the Sun" type, Starwood's "pavilion seating" - under a high, sheltering roof - seemed to be the place to be. By late Saturday paramedics at Starwood had treated 35 people and assisted two dozen more in minor health emergencies, two-thirds of which were heat-related, said Ronald Bing, director of field operations for Medcor, Inc.
The last show before the 24 June show you have listed was in Fla and there were a few days between those...
The DAY before the FLA gig we played an outdoor arena (The Starwood Ampitheatre) in Nashville TN... we usually played the Center Stage in Nashville, so there's a chance that the Nashville gig was the 20 at the Starwood, 21 was the unknown Amusement Park in Fla. and the 24 June then would be right for the Trocadero gig in Philadelphia PA and not Wisconsin as shown in giglopedia...
Since Sam sent the note above, I've had independant confirmation of the Nashville gig being on the 21st June, and I found a listing for this gig in the 19 June 1986 edition of the "The Miami News" that shows it was indeed on Sunday 22nd June 1986:
Sunday: Blue Oyster Cult
This rock group will be showcased in a watery setting for songs such as "Cities on Flame" and "Burnin' For You."
(8:30 p.m. Sunday at the Old Mill Stream, Six Flags Atlantis, 2700 Stirling Road, Hollywood, free after $10.95 park admission; 926-1001).
The Old Mill Stream...? Erm... OK...
Hey, just wanted to give you a little bit of info on this show. It was recorded and broadcast live on 93.3 WMMR FM. It was also a dynamite show, with the whole band playing ultra tight, even the new members.
All the songs and even the Club Ninja tracks, sounded extra beefy here. Eric was also in great form as his usual self, interacting well with the crowd, and throwing in plenty of local references during the show. Buck also threw in plenty of extra jams here, most of the songs were extended a few minutes past there usual length.
This was my first BOC show, and one of the best I've seen!
I found a listing for this gig in the Wed 25 Jun 1986 edition of "The Times Leader" [Wilkes-Barre PA]:
Friday, June 27: WKRZ-FM concert featuring Blue Oyster Cult, beginning at 7:30 p.m. The opening act is yet to be named.
Saw BOC on June 27, 1986 at Rocky Glenn Park Music Hall. I have the ticket but can't remember much else except it was sponsored by some radio station... Just thought I would pass it along.
Here's the setlist:
Sometime in late June 1986, BOC got hastily drafted in at the last minute to replace Metallica as support to Ozzy on his Ultimate Sin tour for a number of dates (best count so far, five gigs).
Why did this happen? Well, initially there were reports that it was as a result of James Hetfield breaking his arm skateboarding before a gig - and indeed, this did happen, but at a later date, and wasn't the reason for BOC's insertion into the tour.
This all happened in the context of some cancelled and postponed dates, with the added confusion of tickets subsequently coming to light with incorrect dates on them and other helpful things like that.
In the Sacramento entry below, Alex gives a helpful account of the context and some of the reasons behind the cause of this confusion.
In a nutshell, Ozzy and Metallica were touring the West Coast quite happily together in June 1986. Coming up was a slight break in the schedule, during which Metallica were booked to play a handful of Scandinavian dates before resuming back with Ozzy in early July.
However, it seems that during one of their Long Beach gigs (13-15 June 1986), a fan died and Ozzy cancelled or postponed the next few gigs to deal with the fallout. Metallica's schedule couldn't cope with the re-arranged early July dates, so a replacement band was needed - and that's where BOC came in.
They shouldn't have bothered! At a number of the shows, it seems that nobody had bothered to tell the hoards of Metallica fans who turned up that this was now the case and so - when it was announced there was no Metallica - only BOC - they booed and pelted the band with anything that wasn't nailed down.
The story that it was as a result of James Hetfield's broken arm can't be true as the arm-break occurred at an Evansville Indiana gig with Ozzy and Metallica on July 26th - this was confirmed by attendee Curt King who sent me a copy of his Ticket for that night to prove the date. Curt was very miffed that Metallica didn't show up that night and you can check out his blog post here:
Due to the last-minute nature of the scheduling of these dates, as I mentioned above, they are still somewhat shrouded in confusion so if you saw Ozzy supported by BOC in 1986 and have a stub or a handbill or something like that you could scan, or even just some memories or thoughts you'd like to share, please send them along. I'm interested in seeing anything with a date on it, although obviously it's going to be 50-50 whether or not that date will be correct or not...
The shows we opened for Ozzy that year included Spokane Wash, Portland Ore (I believe those were back to back) and a big ass outdoor festival I believe in Sacremento where we were the last minute replacement for Metallica as they had wised up and wandered off to do their own even bigger tour...
I remember 2 or so days off in SF and then flying to Des Moines for another Ozzy gig...
So the order was Portland, Spokane, (this could be reversed as I WANT to say Spokane was first, but I remember giving the monitor guy our plot and specific mix instructions in Portland and wouldn't have had to do that if we'd done a show the previous night) then possibly a day off, Sacramento, deffo at least 1, possibly more, days off as I stayed in Frisco and everybody else went home... then Des Moines (I flew there from S.F.)...
Minneapolis was deffo the last one on the swing... crew left 2 guitars behind (I was NOT loading the truck that night) and the aforementioned monitor man held them for ransom till he was paid for the 5 shows (proof that it was the last show of the swing, otherwise we could have taken care of this next show)...
I got a phone call around 1AM informing me of all this, had to go wake up Shenck and ask him for $500 cash and keys to his rental car (don't you fancy THAT job eh?)... definitely an unforgettable night.....
Hope that helps... these have always been flaky as they were indeed jumbled up due to Metallica moving on to bigger and better things... first time I ever felt really sorry for the band was that Sacramento show when they were being pelted with anything and everything from that crowd just because they weren't Metallica...
I guess if there is a decent Ozzy Gig list somewhere, that's a start on some more "unknown" shows...
Well, here's a link to an Ozzy list but (a) it doesn't look like it gets updated and (b) this guy's entry for 5 July 1986 has Ozzy playing "Saapasjalka, Wvaskyla, Finland"... with Metallica supporting!
My first BOC gig was actually a bit of a downer, but I enjoyed it regardless.
It was in June 1986 and some friends had purchased me a ticket to see Ozzy on the Ultimate Sin tour in Portland, Oregon. I was not sure I wanted to go, given the let down that album was combined with only a passing interest in Metallica, who was opening up.
About a week before the show, Metallica cancelled due to James Hetfield breaking his elbow I found out later [ See above. Ralph ].
Blue Oyster Cult was picked as the replacement act. As soon as I found out I told my friends I'm there!
The audience was eager to see Metallica, so as a result they booed BOC most of the show. It wasn't until they played Burning for You and Don't Fear The Reaper that the teen age girls started getting into the show. As a result guys either walked out, or shut up for fear of offending their girlfriends. I still remember the set list to this day, but cannot confirm the exact order:
Dominance & Submission (opening!)
ETI
Dancing In The Ruins
Veteran of The Psychcic Wars
Burning For You
Godzilla
Don't Fear The Reaper
Roadhouse Blues (encore)
The band played through regardless of the audience, so the members of the audience who wanted to see them still saw a good show. Looking back on this nearly 20 years later I find it interesting that Metallica has since fallen from grace and are accused of being sell outs by the same fans that booed BOC. Blue Oyster Cult on the other hand has stayed true to their sound and maintains their core following.
I was at this show. I remember being excited to see Metallica and didn't know they had been replaced. When Blue Oyster Cult came out instead, my friend and I were both pleasantly surprised. We were saying, "Well, at least it's a band we love as much as Metallica!"
My memory is very vague here, but I do remember "Dominance And Submission" and Eric's call and answer routine going over fine making me remember BOC as going over just fine. I think they had a good fan base in Portland.
My first BOC show.
It was early summer of 1986, I believe it was june. Ozzy was touring with Metallica and I had tix. there was a rumor that BOC was going to be the opener, I dont remember how I heard that but I was delighted. either was was going to be good. Ive harbored a fantasy since hearing that the Who pulled a guy out of the crowd to help finish the show when Keith Moon couldnt do it anymore, I hoped that I would get my chance here (and any show that I go to now I still hope that the drummer has some non-painful or non-life threatening condition that prevents him from going on and POW, I fill in). I knew all the songs off of OYFOOYK, ETI, and SEE plus the whole Club Ninja album, I figured that if the light shined on me I'd be up for the challenge.
I arrived at the Spokane Colleseum early in the afternoon and was one of the first ones there. somehow I still ended up way behind a lot of other people.
I rushed to near the front of the stage and ended up in what would be the EB zone. Eric was clean shaven and had a very big afro going on. He wore a kamikazee headband and at one point played a Budweizer Bow tie guitar that last I heard was stolen. I didnt recognize Buck, as he was shaven as well.
As for the rest of the band, I dont know who was there. I only had pics from the record jackets and EB was easy to pick out.
I was disappointed that they didnt play anything from Club Ninja. I remember ETI, DFTR, and Godzilla being played.
I think that a lot of the crowd that was there with me at the front of the stage was there for BOC as when their set was over we all left. I went to go sit down, the others just dispersed.
It was 13 years before I got to see them again.
I worked out the date for this one thanks to the Friday 4 July edition of the Spokane Chronicle which described the gig as having taken place on "Thursday night". That would mean the gig took place on the 3rd July.
The gig was described as a "mellow", tame affair...
The Minneapolis show was originally advertised on the 5th - the ticket stubs for the gig all have that date, and there are a number of press adverts for the 5th also...
However, the actual gig took place on the 9th July.
Actually, pretty much all of the following week's Ozzy gigs had their dates pushed back, some were postponed twice, and some were also subsequently cancelled.
Various differing reasons have been reported for these postponements - for more info and to try and make sense of it all, keep reading...
I can confirm that on July 5th, 1986 I saw B.O.C. open for Ozzy at the Cal Expo Amphitheatre in Sacramento, California as I was there - see the stub above.
I remember hearing through the crowd as we made our way to the amphitheater that Metallica had cancelled and that B.O.C. was now opening-up for Ozzy. This was confirmed when we saw signs at the entrance and then seeing them on stage.
I remember the booing that they got, what a shame, but the main interest of the attendees was for Metallica and then Ozzy, they had no interest in B.O.C. whatsoever no matter how great a band they are/were, and with the cancellation of Metallica and that a lot of them had traveled far to see them, they were mad and took it out on B.O.C.
After B.O.C. left the stage and Ozzy came on, the crowd was in good spirits and Ozzy made sure that we up front stayed cool by pouring water on us with hoses and buckets, as it was a very hot night.
A big ass outdoor festival I believe in Sacramento where we were the last minute replacement for Metallica as they had wised up and wandered off to do their own even bigger tour...
The crowd was not told about the change until BOC was introduced and the band was booed and pelted with debris mercilessly... I really realized that the wind had truly changed for the amazing BOC and that their day was over...
I've never felt more sorry for the guys as they put their backs into it and finished out a dynamite set to the loudest, most continuous BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO that I've ever heard... a sad day for sure...
Ralph, this is just my recollection, which I will only vouch for if I can wind up vouching for it.
The two shows I have a memory of playing supporting Ozzy that year were Spokane and Sacramento. No others, to my recollection.
Spokane was Okeydokey, we did fine, and stayed to see Ozzy getting over great with the crowd.
When we did the Sacramento date, the Metallica fans that expected a performance by Metallica, behaved in a fashion that justifies the thread header. [ NB: This reply was in response to a thread called "Ozzy Tour 1986: BOC booed and pelted thoughout... " ]
We were not prepared for that response, but WTF, how STUPID is an audience that knows in advance that their darlings are not appearing, and in their place is a band whose performance would be a history lesson that an attentive listener might actually LEARN SOMETHING from?
Did I take away from that gig a lessor opinion of Metallica's audience, while trying to maintain my respect for Metallica's success?
Yes.
Yeah we did those other shows too, the dates are just a little hazy...
I don't think most of the Tallica heads knew Metallica weren't going to be there... all the stagehands told us that - even as of the night before - radio ads were still saying they were on the bill and no mention of BOC till time for them to play...
This Sacramento stub has thrown the cat amongst the pigeons, date-wise! I now have TWO different stubs for July 5th 1986 - Minneapolis (see next gig but one) and Sacramento!!
Interestingly, here's a link to a Metallica site which lists a Sacramento Ozzy/Metallica gig for 18 June 1986:
They also have a link to ticket stubs for that date! So my thinking is that this show, originally scheduled for 18 June 1986, was at a later stage rescheduled for 5 July 1986. Metallica were mentioned on the June ticket by name but not on the July one above supplied by Steven. (It seems like nobody actually bothered telling the crowds that turned up that Metallica had buggered off to Europe)...
Incidentally, looking at the metlists.com site link above, after the Sacramento show, they list:
That's interesting in that Portland and Spokane seem to be the opening two dates of this mini-tour with Ozzy - too much of a coincidence, in my book. It seems likely that these two shows also got re-scheduled for approx 2 weeks later and are the ones which Mike McPhee and EDog attended above - obviously minus Metallica...
I have some clarification about the July 5, 1986 Sacramento gig supporting Ozzy; there seems to be some confused recollection among some of the stories. I was at that gig, 16 years old at the time. It's not true that nobody knew BOC were on the bill until they came on: the change from Metallica was announced ahead of time, but there may have been some fans who hadn't heard about it.
The gig had originally been scheduled for sometime in, I think, June (which is why some people recalled Ticket s with a June date on them), with Metallica as the opener. However, Ozzy put his entire tour on hold after a fan jumped/fell to his death from the upper level at a concert at Long Beach Arena, which I think had been just a day or two before the originally-scheduled date at Sacramento. The later dates on Ozzy's tour were eventually rescheduled, but I believe Metallica couldn't continue as the support act on the rescheduled dates because they had other dates booked (I think in Europe) right after the tour supporting Ozzy. Which is why BOC was substituted.
I heard about the BOC substitution at least a few days before the rescheduled gig, and I was actually happy about it, since I'd been a fan of theirs long before Metallica appeared on the scene and I was a little slower to take to Metallica than many of my peers. However, in 1986, Metallica was blowing up HUGE on the metal scene -- they were really the hottest new thing going -- and I can understand to some extent the disappointment of the kids who had been really pumped to see them. Seriously, among my burnout high-school friends, the excitement to see Metallica at that show was greater than that for Ozzy (much like when the comparatively hot-new-thing-at-the-time Guns'N Roses opened for Aerosmith's Permanent Vacation tour two years later).
So I definitely remember hearing a lot of friends complaining about the substitution. But I didn't care, and judging from the crowd right up front, at least a good chunk of the audience besides myself didn't either. I was right up against the barricade when BOC came on, hanging on as best I could for as long as I could until finally forced back into the crowd, and was thrilled when I managed to catch a couple smiles of acknowledgement from Joe Bouchard right in front of me. I don't recall hearing booing for BOC, but then again I was right up front, with the PA system right in my face, so for all I know it could have been going on farther back.
But if it is any consolation, that's just the 1980s Sacramento audience for you: they liked their rock and roll, the harder the better, and they could be pretty rowdy and obnoxious about it at times. As another illustrative story of the Sacto rock and roll audience goes, sometime around 1981 or 1982 there was a Sammy Hagar/Y&T concert at that same venue, Cal Expo Amphitheatre. After Y&T's opening set, there was another support act placed on the bill by Sammy, which had not been previously announced: a little-known blues band led by their guitar player. The audience had never heard of this group, and proceeded to give them a warm Sacramento UN-welcome, with booing, catcalls, and perhaps even thrown missiles.
I wasn't there, so don't know whether they succeeded in booing this act off the stage or whether they stuck it out, but as I heard it, Sammy Hagar was pissed at this reception and gave the crowd a piece of his mind when he finally came on.
That previously-unannounced act was... Stevie Ray Vaughan. ("And now you know the rest of the story.")
By the way, I couldn't tell you much about the 1986 BOC setlist except that they came out with "Dominance & Submission" and what I remember about the rest of it was pretty much a greatest-hits set along with a few from "Revolution by Night" and their current release at the time, "Club Ninja," but I don't recall song order at all.
Regarding the confusion over the actual date: I recall clearly that the rescheduled date in Sacramento was July 5, and it only got shifted once. I have a June 18 ticket just like the one on the Metallica website somewhere in a scrapbook; they honored tickets for the original date at the rescheduled show. July 5 must have been the originally-scheduled date for Minneapolis, and the person who thinks it was on that date is mistaken -- it had to have been pushed back from then, because Ozzy & BOC couldn't have been in both places on the same day. (Sac and Minneapolis are a long ways apart. :-)
The only reason I'm certain it was July 5 is, this was the second big rock show that I ever attended, and I recall clearly thinking at the time that my first one had been almost exactly a year prior, on July 4, 1985: Iron Maiden at Cal Expo. July 4 is US Independence Day, and I recall being very excited at a 4th party that I was to see Ozzy and BOC the next day.
(Incidentally, at that Iron Maiden show the year before, there had been yet another incident of Sacramento fan f*ckwittery: someone threw an M-80 firecracker on stage during their third song, "The Trooper," which exploded very close to Steve Harris. Bruce didn't sing the last verse, gave the audience a withering bollocking after the song, and I was afraid they were going to call off the entire show after that but fortunately they went on.)
Thanks very much for that post, Alex. It's proved to be very informative and helpful in trying to put some order on these dates.
Stop Press: I am now certain Sacramento was on 5 July as Billboard (19 July 1986) gives the full details of the show:
Date: 5 July 1986
Artists: Ozzy Osbourne/BOC:
Venue: Cal Expo Ampitheatre SAC:
Promoter: Bill Graham Presents:
Total ticket Sales = 8529 (capacity:12000)
Ticket Price Range = $16.50
Gross Receipts = $140728
July 5, 1986 at Cal Expo in Sacramento. Ozzy Osbourne with opening band Blue Oyster Cult.
This show was supposed to be the night after the Ozzy Osbourne / Metallica show in San Fransisco, but something happened and they postponed the show a couple of weeks.
That show was really really good, so I was ready for another great concert by both bands.
When my friends and I started walking into the venue, one of the security guys was yelling "Metallica will not be playing tonights show. The opening band will be Blue Oyster Cult. If you want a refund, bring your tickets to the box office."
A few people stopped right there and seriously considered returning their tickets, but I loved Blue Oyster Cult so it wasn't a huge loss for me. Really wanted to Metallica open again but oh well.
Just a great show by both bands under the stars. Jake E. Lee and Ozzy were a great team to see live.
This was my first BOC show. My stub is for June 18. I attended the Ozzy/Metallica show at the Cow Palace the night before, June 17. Ozzy threw his voice out half way through the gig.
When the re-scheduled dates were played, James Hetfield had broken his arm in a skateboarding accident and they were unable to perform for a few days while they taught the set to the guitar tech.
BOC was on the marquee when we arrived at the venue. I was Fing jacked! They were not appreciated at all. I have never been more embarrassed to be a Sacramentan. Kudos to the guys for not holding too much of a grudge and actually coming back here.
I know this info is extremely late to the party, but it is accurate.
A while back I came across this small mention on a music forum discussion board:
Ozzy Osbourne, Ultimate Sin tour, Blue Oyster Cult opened up. Omaha Civic Auditorium, summer of 1986 I think. Kick ass show.
However, as Sam Judd had never mentioned it, I just set it aside as something to look into at some future date...
Then, about 3 years ago, I came across a couple of Ozzy Osbourne Omaha tickets dated 6 July 1986 on ebay, and I simply noted "with BOC?" next to them and filed them away, again for future consideration...
What I should have done is asked Sam for his comments at the time - could there have been an Omaha gig somewhere in this run...? too late now, of course... :-(
Then, the other day (Aug 2017) I got sent another, larger used Ozzy 6 July 1986 ticket for the Omaha Civic Auditorium by Alessandro Borri... and this sparked the memory that I'd already had a query over this date...
The problem remained however (which, to be honest, is probably why I didn't really pursue this at the time) that this gig couldn't have been on the 6th. If you look at the gig on the 7th July, Des Moines, you'll see Sam says "Des Moines was after Sacramento - I flew there from San Francisco".
You can take Sam's info to the bank - how he recalled all this stuff, I have no idea, but if he says there was no gig between Sacramento (5th) and Des Moines (7th), then there wasn't...
I did find a listing for this gig in the Fremont Tribune which, on the 5th July - so, the day before the scheduled gig date - said this:
Ozzy Osbourne, heavy metal rock concert, 7:30p.m. July 6 at Civic Auditorium, 18th and Capitol streets, Omaha.
However, Google pointed me in the direction of the "Omaha World-Herald" newspaper, and I found out that that the good news was: they have an online archive - but the bad news was: you have to pay if you want to see anything...
But they do let you see the first paragraph or so to hook you in - and luckily, that was just enough to get the info I wanted.
"Omaha World-Herald", June 24, 1986:
Osbourne Concert Postponed One Day
Rock singer Ozzy Osbourne's City Auditorium Arena concert has been postponed a day, from July 6 to July 7. Arena spokeswoman Joni Baillon said the promoter had rescheduled several Osbourne shows without saying why.
The concert still is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m., with Blue Oyster Cult as the opening band.
Ms. Baillon said tickets issued for July 6 will be honored. She said refunds would be made to those who had already bought tickets but can't attend on July 7.
So: Sam Judd was right, after all (as usual). That even confirms that BOC were the openers.
But July 7th...? Sam says that was Des Moines...
And just to confuse matters even more, I've seen reports that there was also a Cedar Rapids gig scheduled for the 7th...
Three gigs - 1 day... Yikes!
Well, Ozzy originally announced a gig at Cedar Rapids - with Metallica as support - for 7th July but fortunately, the 6 June 1986 edition of The Gazette [Cedar Rapids IA] brought this news:
Concert Changes
The date for the Ozzy Osbourne concert, originally announced for Saturday, July 7, has been changed to Sunday, July 8, at 7:30 p.m. at the Five Seasons Center.
In addition, Metallica will replace Blue Oyster Cult as the warm-up band. Tickets to the concert are $14.50 general admission.
First of all, I should just note that four days later on 10 June, The Gazette clarified those dates:
Correction
A notice in News Notes/Concerts in Friday's Weekend! section indicated the day for the Ozzy Osbourne concert at the Five Seasons Center had been changed to Sunday, July 8.
The correct day is Tuesday, July 8.
An obvious thing to note is the statement that "Metallica will replace Blue Oyster Cult as the warm-up band". Clearly, that should be the other way round, and the only conclusion I can draw is that the paper just got it wrong. No other explanation makes sense...
Anyway, bumping the Cedar Rapids gig to the next day now meant that we now only had two gigs - Omaha NE and Des Moines IA - vying for the 7th...
I mentioned just above that I had two gigs down for this date - well, the the June 26, 1986 issue of the "Omaha World-Herald" came to my rescue to reduce that to just one:
Osbourne Concert Gets Moved Again
The City Auditorium concert by rock singer Ozzy Osbourne, originally scheduled for July 6 and then moved to July 7, has been moved to July 8.
Auditorium spokesman Joni Baillon said the first change occurred when the promoter rearranged part of the tour schedule.
The second move was made when a July 8 Osbourne performance scheduled for Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was canceled.
Ms. Baillon said the promoter then switched the Omaha date to July 8, a Tuesday, because Tuesday concerts...
Actually, the date changes do make sense and fit in with the general air of chaos that seems to pervade this short series of rearranged dates with Ozzy...
Des Moines was after Sacramento - I flew there from San Francisco...
FYI the Des Moines show was deffo in the Memorial aud or whatever it was called... same place we played with Slade in 75..
I found a date for this gig in the 5 June 1986 edition of the "The Des Moines Register":
Hide The Bats - Here comes Ozzy Osbourne, who will forever be remembered as the rock musician who allegedly bit the head off a bat during a Des Moines concert.
He's also been sued by parents of a teen-age boy who committed suicide. Seems the lad was obsessed by Osbourne's music, and the parents blame the singer for the troubled child's death.
Osbourne's concert, with special guests Blue Oyster Cult, will be at 7:30 p.m. July 7, at Veterans Auditorium. Tickets are $14.25 in advance or $15.25 the day of the show. Tickets go on sale tomorrow.
So then - so much for all those stories that BOC were drafted in late in the day as replacements for Metallica - the above listing was printed on the Thursday 5th June 1986 - that's over 4 weeks in advance!!
I know thanks to DES MOINES REGISTER issue 26 June 1986 that OZZY OSBORNE canceled the gig planned in Des Moines 7 July 1986...
I checked and here's what it said:
Ozzy Osbourne Cancels Shows
Heavy metal rock musician Ozzy Osbourne has canceled plans to perform in Des Moines and Cedar Rapids the week of July 7, concert officials announced Wednesday afternoon.
Osbourne was scheduled to appear July 7 at Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Des Moines and July 8 at Five Seasons Center in Cedar Rapid. Box office representatives from both auditoriums said the concerts will not be rescheduled, and full refunds are available at each box office either by mail or in person.
Leslie Ireland, box office manager at the Five Seasons Center, said she was told that Osbourne changed the route of his concert tour in order to make up performances he missed while he was ill.
Because the announcement was made after press time Wednesday, information on the Des Moines concert appearing in today's Datebook section should be disregarded.
I'll look at Cedar Rapids separately - see the entry for the 8th July - but this Des Moines note is interesting and you might be wondering why on earth is it still being listed here as an actual gig, and not a cancelled one...?
The answer is simply that Sam Judd says it happened, and even identified the venue in which it took place. If you're new to this site you might be wondering why I'd take Sam's word over a printed newspaper report.
The thing is - Sam's memory for detail is (yikes, I keep forgetting) - was - absolutely phenomenal - if he says he flew to Des Moines after Sacramento, then that's good enough for me. Why would he fly there if the gig had been cancelled two weeks previously?
So, for now, I'm going against the grain by ignoring printed "proof" and going with SJ's anecdotal evidence for the above reasons, but if you know different, please get in touch and set me straight.
This gig was originally scheduled for 6th July (see my notes here), then moved to the 7th and then moved a final time to the 8th.
Here's what the June 26, 1986 issue of the "Omaha World-Herald" had to say:
Osbourne Concert Gets Moved Again
The City Auditorium concert by rock singer Ozzy Osbourne, originally scheduled for July 6 and then moved to July 7, has been moved to July 8.
Auditorium spokesman Joni Baillon said the first change occurred when the promoter rearranged part of the tour schedule.
The second move was made when a July 8 Osbourne performance scheduled for Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was canceled.
Ms. Baillon said the promoter then switched the Omaha date to July 8, a Tuesday, because Tuesday concerts...
I wonder what was so special about "Tuesday concerts"...? Well, unless they come out from behind that pay-wall set-up, I'll probably never find out, but the date changes do make sense and fit in with the general air of chaos that seems to pervade this short series of rearranged dates with Ozzy...
By the way - here's the small opening of the review of the gig that appeared in the July 9, 1986 issue of the "Omaha World-Herald":
"The Liberace of Heavy Metal' Ozzy Osbourne Show Creates Fireworks
Author: Steve Millburg Phil Johnson/World - Herald
Ozzy Osbourne, the Liberace of heavy - metal rock, brought his fireworks show to the City Auditorium Arena Tuesday night.
About half the songs were punctuated by explosions, bursts of sparklers, gouts of flame and other pyrotechnics and that doesn't count the firecrackers that members of the crowd touched off sporadically.
Adding to the spectacle were the banks of lights that loomed at the back and...
If I want to read more, I'd have to pay the "Omaha World-Herald" some money, and I'm not that curious...
Minneapolis was deffo the last one on the swing... crew left 2 guitars behind (I was NOT loading the truck that night) and the aforementioned monitor man held them for ransom till he was paid for the 5 shows (proof that it was the last show of the swing, otherwise we could have taken care of this next show)...
I got a phone call around 1AM informing me of all this, had to go wake up Shenck and ask him for $500 cash and keys to his rental car (don't you fancy THAT job eh?)... definitely an unforgettable night...
OK - now as I mentioned above, I now have TWO different stubs for July 5th 1986 - Minneapolis and Sacramento!!
The Minneapolis stub was sent to me by Melne from boc.com who attended the show...
Clearly the two gigs took place - but as they BOTH can't have been on 5 July, obviously at least one of them took place at a later date. I know with the cancellation of the Metallica shows, the original dates must have been thrown into some initial confusion (to say the least), and I suppose some re-scheduling is only to be expected, so that's why it's not TOO weird that one of these two gigs - at least - got switched...
I think the likelihood is that it was Minneapolis which got rescheduled (if so, when? Anybody know?) because if it wasn't, then that would mean that Sacramento would have had to have been rescheduled twice!! If that was the case - then no wonder there was booing!
I can attest 100% that I attended BOC opening for Ozzy at the Met Center, Minneapolis. The date confusion is weird, and I can only suspect that the other show was the rescheduled one because I have no memory of ever being at a rescheduled BOC show. The MSP show was never advertised with Metallica, only as Ozzy/BOC. When I find my scrapbooks (buried in a box somewhere) my backstage sticky pass may have the date on it.
Memories from that show: Outside the venue (a big sports arena) I ran into Eric Bloom. He and I sat on the grass near the backstage entrance in the sun. A fan came up to me and asked some question about BOC. He had no clue that Eric was the guy sitting next to me! (funny!) (Probably because this was the Eric-clean-shaven era).
Other memory: seeing Ozzy stroll by backstage in a dark (maybe it was purple?) tight lycra jumpsuit with stars and moons on it. He was too fat to wear that sort of thing--oh well!
I did not watch Ozzy, I spent their set backstage with the BOC folks.
BOC were well received - the show was never advertised as having Metallica on the bill, so no one was expecting Metallica to be there. It must have been advertised on the radio that way - Otherwise I'd have never known BOC was even playing if it been advertised as Ozzy and Metallica.
Anyway, Ralph, I am sticking with the idea that my Ticket (Minneapolis) is the correct date. When I dig up my scrapbooks, I'll let u know.
Stop Press: I am now certain Minneapolis was on 9 July as Billboard (26 July 1986) gives the full details of the show:
Date: 9 July 1986
Artists: Ozzy Osbourne/BOC:
Venue: Met Center Bloomington MINN:
Promoter: Contemporary Prods/Rose Prods Presents:
Total ticket Sales = 7554 (capacity:12750)
Ticket Price Range = $15.00
Gross Receipts = $110625
July 21 1986 at The Playpen in Wildwood Crest, NJ. The reason this one is near and dear to me is because this was our favorite shore bars with my favorite band playing! A win win combo. The only problem with the gig is that it was about 2 and a half hours from where I lived and it was on a Monday! You might say, well just take the day off from work.
This is actually what we did a few weeks before when the concert was originally scheduled! We show up and they say the concert was moved give us back the old tickets and here are the new ones. Needless to say we ended up driving the 2.5 hours to see the concert and back home that night and to work Tuesday morning with our ears still ringing!
Wouldn't have traded it for the world. I don't remember that set list but I do remember 2 things that happened. We always liked standing in front of Buck and to the bass side. During Road House Blues (Ok that's one song I remembered them playing) Eric poured his Heineken into my girlfriends (now wife) outstretched cup.
Also at the end of the show she grabbed the towel that Jon Rogers was drying off with. The funny part is he grabbed it back from her before walking off stage! It looked as if he was kind of pissed! Everyone was sleeping on the way back as the echoes of amplifiers were ringing in my ears.
In Feb 2017, a "reproduction" badge (said to be faithful to the original) appeared on ebay advertising a gig at The Playpen, Diamond Beach and it was dated "13 June 1986".
During the latter part of 1986, BOC were about to disband and their gig schedule was pretty chaotic and largely undocumented so my initial thoughts were maybe this was yet another unscheduled gig that had been shoe-horned into their itinerary at the time?
It was just the fact that the badge was acknowledged to be a "reproduction" that caused me to wonder - that and the fact that the picture on the front included Albert!!
However Bill Stanton has helpfully pointed out that I already had the gig listed as "Wildwood Crest" and under 21 July 1986...
A closer inspection of Joe's post above indicates an explanation for the different date - the original was cancelled - and Bill gave me some info about "Diamond Beach"...
The Diamond Beach area was a strip of land south of Wildwood Crest that was originally going to be a luxury resort but I believe the developer eventually abandoned that idea.
But he waited too long and think they went into bankruptcy. I do not know if it is still named Diamond Beach or something else - it's been over a decade since I was in the area.
I do remember my mom telling me of a show in the area just not sure what year. My parents lived in Wildwood and she thought I could come for a visit but work was hectic and I couldn't arrange it.
I have verified the name of the club is correct.
Eric Johnson was the opening act for this show. I was there that night, it was a good show...
By the way, I have NO memory of Eric Johnson jamming with the band at the Bayou club, although Pat Travers did jam with the band at that show I believe...
Eric Johnson didn't jam with the boys till the last show of the swing, which I thought was the place known as JB's, but if Giglopedia is correct would have been the show in Syracuse, cause Eric Johnson was definitely on the show in Boston...
This was my first BOC show. Sam is absolutely correct about Pat Travers/Eric Johnson - I absolutely confirm that it was Pat Travers and not Eric Johnson. I remember EB introducing Travers, saying that since Pat was playing there the next night, that he was going to jam with them.
Eric played a Bud logo guitar and the jam was very long with Love Me 2 Times thrown in. Great jam.
This was also Two Oyster Cult, but didn't bother me. Was Jon Rogers on bass? The bassist looked very young so I think it was.
The Bayou in Washington, D.C. - opening band was local group "Mask".
I actually don't remember any on-stage guests at this show, Eric Johnson or anyone else. Eric Bloom was beardless. BOC came on *ridiculously* late and were visibly intoxicated when they did come on. Not one of their better shows, though it had its moments.
Set List (incomplete and order uncertain, sorry):
R.U. Ready To Rock
ETI
Cities On Flame
Dancing In The Ruins
Joan Crawford
Take Me Away
Beat 'em Up
Burnin' For You
Godzilla
Reaper
Encores:
Wings of Mercury (unreleased - cover version?)
Roadhouse Blues
Eric Bloom played a guitar shaped like and bearing the Budweiser logo for Roadhouse - I was dismayed and thought that was tacky as hell. though it was funny when he tossed an open Budweiser bottle into the front row after singing "...got myself a beer" and it sprayed all over the fans as it got batted around it the air!.
OK - a couple of anomolies here: first - the Eric Johnson business - both Sam, James and Gardner reckon there was no EJ at this gig so that seems pretty good testimony that he didn't jam that night. In fact, James is certain that it was in fact Pat Travers.
The setlist... the setlist I have is from a tape in Bolle's possession - Gardner mentions 3 songs that aren't mentioned on the tape: Joan, Take Me Away and Wings of Mercury...
If Gardner's right - then maybe the tape Bolle has is from another night - especially if Eric Johnson is mentioned on it...?
Well on the first two songs, it's possible I could be wrong, but I know that they played a song called "Wings Of Mercury" as an encore - I remember thinking that it was better than 90% of "Ninja" and wondering why it wasn't on the album - I also assumed that it would be on their next album which I expected (incorrectly) to come out in 1987 (I had no idea that they were fragmenting at the time).
Also I'm pretty sure that there was no Eric Johnson at that gig. Unlike the many Slim's in San Francisco shows I've been to from 1990 - present, which all run together (in a very good way), I have vivid recollections of this show - it was right before I went off to college & I dragged my cousin to the show (which she 100% hated - BOC coming on so late didn't help).
I don't know about Bloom being intoxicated, but:
I certainly was!
I vividly recall Eric tossing the beer can. It was a fabulous rendition of Roadhouse Two Times Blues. Wish they'd do more Doors. As for Wings of Mercury, I don't recall it at all - one way or the other. There are certainly more shows that I can better recall, ashamed to say.
As for whether Mask opened? I was hanging outside and would've skipped the opener.
New gig addition: July 25 1986 Agora Ballroom, West Hartford Connecticut
I found a listing for this gig in the 24 July 1986 edition of the "Hartford Courant" which gave the support act info:
Blue Oyster Cult and Eric Johnson at the West Hartford Agora on Friday...
Opening act: Eric Johnson.
This show has some historical importance since this was JB's Theatre's last show. The sheriffs department was waiting outside the venue to summons the owners with a foreclosure notice after the show and then padlocked the doors. They at least waited until everyone was cleared out.
I knew one of the owners so it was no surprise. These were the same owners of Albanys' legendary now defunct club JB Scotts, who moved to the more spacious JB's Theatre.
JB Scotts hosted U2 on their first American Tour along with hardcore punkers Black Flag and a lot of other alternative and progressive bands. I believe it is Bono who is sporting a JB Scotts T-Shirt in their "Gloria" video.
BOC was in top form that night despite what a local newspaper, The Times Union wrote about them. The reviewer called them "A shadow of their former self". Not even close, they shredded!
This was my first time seeing TZ on keys and he did a great job. It was also the first time seeing BOC without a single Bouchard! Jon Rogers held his own though,playing comfortably like he'd been there right along.
All the songs were tight and Buck was his usual self with his blistering solos. Watching Buck play is always a treat. His version of "Bucks Boogie" sounded as fresh as ever, and he is always changing up his solos.
The vocals and harmonies were perfect. Even "Beat 'em Up" not exactly one of my favorites,sounded great live with all it's energy. As far as I can remember "Roadhouse Blues" was the only encore. It was a nice long jamming version with opener Eric Johnson joining them on stage.
My only complaint, JB's was a sweat box with bad ventilation. The great acoustics more than made up for that!
BOC played the Cellar Door in 1986. Blackfoot opened the show.
Here is a link to the show (although the Cellar Door address is wrong, there was also a restaurant called Cellar Door which has also closed):
The original BOC schedules had a Chance gig listed on this date, but it's now clear that BOC were playing the Kingston UPAC on 30 Jul 1986 (see next entry).
However, despite me labelling this as a "phantom" gig, I'm thinking that there must have been a Chance gig somewhere around this time-frame because Joe Bouchard once got in touch and mentioned this gig (whilst I was still listing it as 30 Jul):
"... Actually the last time I performed with BOC (I think it was July 30, 1986) was on stage at the Chance. I played Allen's strat on Roadhouse Blues for the encore.
I was there because a group I was producing, Catania, was the opening act and I mixed their sound. Catania did really well in the opening slot so I was in a good mood."
So - can anyone throw any light on this one...? Did you see Joe guest on the Roadhouse encore with BOC at the Chance...? And, if so, got any clue as to the date...?
I saw a SWU show at Ulster Performing Arts Center, with Eric Johnson as the opener.
It definitely happened, my friend punched a no parking sign on the way there. And it was the Club Ninja Tour (so I am thinking it was definitely 1986). I got a black Ninja Warrior shirt. Eric Johnson was terrible too...
I remember that 101.5 WPDH had a radio spot with the Reaper intro solo in it. I can hear it clear as day. "Coming to Kingston the Soft White Underbelly... "brief pause"... cues the solo... But you know who they really are!"
And it was warm weather so it was over Summer vacation.
Looking at the other dates, it had to be around the same time as the 26 July Albany gig listed.
I found some ads for this gig in the Poughkeepsie Journal on 18 and 20 July 1986 all stating the date of this gig to be 30 July, as well as the following listing, also in the 18th July issue:
The Ulster Performing Arts Center in Kingston has a dynamite one-two punch lined up for the next two weeks, leading off with the Outfield on Tuesday followed by Blue Oyster Cult on Wednesday, July 30. Starting time for both concerts, presented by Chance Productions and WPDH-FM, is 8 p.m.
Despite Etrigan's assertion above that this was an "SWU show", I have listed it as a BOC gig because all the adverts and listings were for "Blue Oyster Cult" - no mention of SWU...
To put it in a chronological context, the last ever documented SWU gig was on New Years Eve 1985 at "The Ritz", NYC, so this gig falls well outside that time-frame...
Eric Johnson was definitely on the show in Boston...
Eric Johnson was NOT a happy camper on this deal since there was very little room to put his rather LARGE amp rig onstage and he just couldn't understand why I was adamant about refusing to remove Zvoncheck's LARGE keyboard rig from the stage just to make more room for him...
He was definitely in a state at the Bayou, initially refusing to play unless we moved shit, then deciding to play when we just said "fine"...
I'll never forget that night as this was the night that Zvoncheck got the ass at me and called Pearlman and said that if Shenck didn't fire me, he was quitting...
Shenck's word to Zvoncheck was "would you like the stagehands to load your keys in your rental car for you?"...
Really blew my mind that Steve felt that the band would rather replace Tommy than me... it put the fears into the rest of the road crew, as they had NEVER seen anything like that, where a roadie was more valuable than a band member... they realized that they really didn't want to cross me in any way... not that I had any beef with them ever...
I only know of the existance of this gig due to an advert I saw in the 1st August 1986 edition of the Providence Journal...
The name Teen Angel as the support act was drawn solely from my recollection from 20 years back. Sam's indication that Teen Angel's manager and Steve S. were friends confirmed my suspicion. Keep in mind that I had no physical evidence - ticket, etc. - of attending the gig.
But I have a vivid memory of how hot it was that day as I had waited in line at the venue - first! - since 12 noon and the doors didn't open until 10 or so. All of that has been confirmed by others.
I also recall receiving bottled water from Steve and/or Sam that afternoon.
I saw BOC once at L'Amours, think it was August of '86. I recall them going ON at 1:35 a.m. Sam corroborated that for me.
I originally went with Gene's recollection that it was Teen Angel who opened this show, but I now think that he must have been thinking of something else (maybe the Staten Island '82 gig which Teen Angel opened) as I recently came across a small advert online for this gig that had "Kim Simmons" down as the support...
The official site gives the venue as "Apocalypse" but as you can see in the above advert, the venue was "Lost Horizon"...
Saw them advertised in the local Syracuse 'style' newspaper (The Syracuse New Times) as "Soft White Underbelly" and I believe they had a grainy B&W picture in the ad where I could just make out that they were the 'real' BOC (and not some fake traveling tribute band). I knew that they sometimes did shows under this name and 'knew' that they were the real thing.
My roommate and I went and saw an excellent show! But we couldn't hear for about 2 days after the that. Damn ringing! I guess their equipment only had 2 volume settings... 'Arena' and 'Off'.
The bad thing about the Lost Horizon was that it had a support pole in the center of the stage, right along the front edge. Seriously! Every band I've ever seen there has, at some point in the show, made a comment on the fact that it had that 'fu*****' pole right in the middle. I haven't been there in over 20 years so maybe they've gotten rid of it.
I attended the August 3rd, 1986 show at the Lost Horizon... they were definitely billed as "Soft White Underbelly" in the paper but I knew who they were...
There was a roadie wearing what appeared to be an original soft white underbelly t shirt onstage that had holes in it and was stained...
I remember people trying to pay him like $50 for the shirt... for some reason I remember that clear as day...
Anyway, it was a pretty good show but extremely loud for that size venue... I'm 100% sure the opening act was a little known guy at the time named Eric Johnson... he was fantastic but his bass player was just too loud and was kinda drowning him out... I was basically 5 ft from the stage...
I left the show with the loudest ringing in my ears ever... also notable is that the antenna on my car had been broken in half by somebody...
Another thing I remember is that they played the same as if they were in a much bigger venue... great for visuals, tough on the ears for like 2 days... good thing I was home for the summer from college... well worth the price... I was thinking like $10 or $12 maybe at the door... way too long ago...
I'd be very interested in seeing any newspaper ad for this gig that mentions "Soft White Underbelly" because the only one I've seen to date clearly just says "Blue Oyster Cult"...
This may not be much help but there was definitely a show at the Penny Arcade in the summer of 1986 in Rochester NY which i saw no mention of on your site.
I was there but remember very little other than being stoked and a little surprised that my heroes were gonna play in a local bar for 400 people or so...
OK - got a date for this now thanks to research by Jill Atwood who uncovered the above advert, as well as the ticket stub off eBay...
I also found a listing for this gig in the 3 Aug 1986 edition of the "Democrat and Chronicle" [Rochester]:
On Tuesday there will be a rare club appearance by Blue Oyster Cult, one of the more enduring and interesting of the heavy metal bands, at the Penny Arcade, 4785 Lake Ave. starts at 8 p.m.; tickets are $13 in advance, $15 day of show.
For the August 6th 1986 show in Canton, Ohio I notice a couple of missing pieces. The venues name was Tripper's Night Club and The Godz opened up.
Sorry, I can't give you a complete setlist, those hazy days of youth coming back to haunt me. :)
The 3rd August 1986 edition of the Chicago Tribune gives the information that BOC and Cheap Trick were booked for the "nightly grandstand stage show" on August 12.
Despite the Billboard information suggesting that BOC were the headliner, it seems Cheap Trick were the bigger draw at this time, and so it looks like they headlined...
The 11 August 1986 edition of the Tribune added this:
2 p.m. - Southdown sheep show
8 p.m. - Grandstand stage show featuring Blue Oyster Cult and Cheap Trick
So that reads like BOC went on before Cheap Trick - can anybody confirm or deny this?
What isn't in doubt, though, is that the show was opened by a bunch of sheep...
I only know of this gig as a result of the following listing in the 26 July 1986 edition of the "The Indianapolis News":
Foghat will play at the Vogue July 29, Blue Oyster Cult will perform there Aug 14. Tickets are $12.50...
First of all, this was the first (and as far as I know only) concert held at Detour Meadows, which in reality was just a big field behind the Detour Bar... there were rumours of more shows to follow, but for whatever reason they never materialized.
Benzonia is a small town on Lake Michigan about 120 miles north of Grand Rapids, or 30 miles southwest of Traverse City. The friends I went with and I were curious about the various potential logistical problems, but from what I remember there were enough gates, toilets, beers, etc. Maybe somewhere in the neighborhood of 3-5,000 people showed up, maybe more, so it qualified as a 'Big Rock Show' in my book.
I was way more into BOC than Cheap Trick, and was disappointed that Cheap trick would close the show, but I have to say Cheap Trick blew me away... I had seen some of the schtick on tv, but live they were a force to be reckoned with, and I was glad I stuck around for them after BOC.
As for the Cult, they had been a favorite band since I was a kid in the 70's, but I was a snob that ranked the first few albums ahead of the 'new' stuff, especially FOUO, and of course Burnin' for You, which I considered a sellout at the time.
Now of course I am able to appreciate the songs without such pettiness, but one one of my few actual memories of this concert was the song Dancin' in the Ruins, and thinking to myself that it was the 'new Burnin'...
Overall though, I was totally stoked to see BOC... I had never seen them before even though Tyranny and Mutation and Some Enchanted Evening were some of my most-played records of all time, and I had almost all the rest too... I wish I could say this song or that one stood out, but mostly I just remember the overall impression that BOC could still rock out, and my opinions about them being sellouts or washed up were sorely mistaken!
Although they played first, they did a long set, with at least 2 encores, the last of which I remember was roadhouse blues. I never thought that much of the Doors version, but again they tore it up and I was floored. My other main impression was of Buck absolutely blazing on the guitar, knowing he was good, but still getting blown away by solo after solo.
Hard to believe that's the only time I've seen them!
I think this was the show where we showed up with no gear... just so happened Melne was living nearby at the time, so we borrowed guitars and bass from her and I only had to rent keys and backline...
We actually played that one...
I also remember walking out with the band after the show and some guy running up out of the parking lot cursing and acting like he meant to do harm, so I laid his ass out flat with a shot to the adam's apple and the fucker looked like he was gonna die before he finally got a breath...
I think this is the right date because the day before, we were somewhere in Mich (outdoors with Cheap Trick) and the equipment truck failed to make the ferry that was their only shot at making the gig... too far to drive otherwise...
I remember Shenck made them drive to Minneapolis anyway as punishment for missing the ferry (they arrived long after we were back at the hotel after the gig) and they had to turn around and drive right back the other way (East to Chicago?)...
That would be right, cause I remember going shopping for sunglasses with jimmy Wilcox on the day off before the Chicago show (we went to an actual Bauch&Lomb store and I had a custom set made with Black frames (from a pair of Amber-Matics) and a pair of G-4 dark green lenses (from a pair of Large Aviators)...
I knew I had cool shades when a Missouri State Trooper wanted to know where I got those glasses... wish I still had them boys...
The Metro in Chicago is a small venue (1200 people max) but with a rich history of fab gigs. I remember it being sold out (or close to it) and it was fun to see them in a smaller venue with good sound and sightlines.
Saw them at this small club called Malo's in Aurora, Il. USA on Friday Aug 22, 1986. About 45 miles west of Chicago.
Believe the opening act was a local Chicago band called the B'zz. Song list is prob the same as other dates close to this one.
Remember the sound guy doing a "line" on the floor under the sound board right before the show started. Funny how you recall stuff like that.
After the show, met the guys out back, got they're autograph on a copy of Club Ninja.
Hope this helps you fill in the blanks.
Whoever Stephen saw doing a line it wasn't me, and I was the sound guy for that tour...
Here is another date missed and set list. This show was in Hartford WI, the day before the Madison show at Headliners. I have great pics of this show.
The place was an old ball room in a very small town about 10 miles from where I live now. Place is no longer there.
Eric Bloom had shaved off his beard by this time and looks totally different. He also was playing his BOC logo guitar and wearing a headband.
The setlist I have for this is as follows:
On a side note I was with my friend Z and after show took our time leaving and spotted Buck getting into a car with EB in the back seat. He was putting his bag in the trunk when we approached him. We were kind of nervous [of coarse].
We said hello and my friend said "Buck, you'll always be bigger than life to us" - he may have mumbled thanks, and got into the car and off he went. This was my first encounter talking to him which would set the tone for the coming years even though I did not properly introduce myself.
This gig was confirmed on this link:
I was at this gig at Headliners in Madison. Was a huge fan but have to be honest... I worked at the bar next door and got in free to all Headliners shows.
I remember distinctly how amazing the light show was for this gig! My friend Todd and I spent some time talking to the light designer and spent a lot of time watching him run his system.
Been to many shows there and no one had a light show setup like BOC. It was a great show but I remember feeling like they really had fallen as the last time I saw them was the BOC/Foghat show for the "Fire of Unknow Origin" tour which was a yuge deal.
Saw them in East St Louis on Monday 25th August 1986 while I was on holiday in the States.
Found the ticket stub which reads:
Telestar Int'l Presents
Blue Oyster Cult
An Xtravagant Production
Stages * I-70 to IL 203 N
Doors Open At 8:00pm
Mon August 25, 1986 9:00pm.
I first saw the boys play in Fayetteville, Arkansas, in 1986 while they were supporting Club Ninja.
My wife and I were trying to nail down the dates and locations for all the different concerts we've seen, and this is one I'm stumbling on.
The venue was The Rink, a podunk club... And it was just them, as far as I can remember... May have been a local opening band... But no big name band like Rush, Ozzy, etc.
In the Thursday 28 Aug 1986 issue of the "Fayetteville Northwest Arkansas Times", they had a section dealing with the week's crime, and here's the bit that interested me:
The manager of Blue Oyster Cult Inc. of New York City told police early Wednesday band equipment valued at $700 to $800 was stolen late Tuesday night from behind the stage at The Rink on Hwy. 62 west.
So, that'd place BOC at the Rink on the night of Tuesday 26 Aug 1986 playing the gig that Bert remember above - as well as having some of their gear nicked...
BOC's next gig was Dallas the next night, so that fits in nicely with this Fayetteville gig...
I initially had a conflict with this date as 26 Aug was the date that Sam Judd suggested for the rained out Austin gig but I now believe that show took place on the 28 August. Or rather, didn't take place, as it was cancelled...
I found a listing for this gig in the Fri 22 Aug 1986 edition of the "Fort Worth Star-Telegram":
Wednesday: Blue Oyster Cult, at the Ritz, 2711 Storey Lane, Dallas. Doors open 8 p.m. $11 at Rainbow.
I can personally attest to the fact that "Beat 'Em Up" has been performed live.
The first I saw B.O.C. was in August of '86 at The Ritz, here in Dallas.
"Beat 'Em Up" was one of the two Club Ninja songs the Cult played that night. ("Dancin' In the Ruins" was the other, of course.)
One strange anomaly I should report is that the "Fort Worth Star-Telegram" continued to report that BOC would be playing on the forthcoming Wednesday in both the Fri 12 Sep 1986 and Fri 19 Sep 1986 editions.
Obviously, these cannot be correct. Besides, I have ticket images for the 27 Aug 1986 Ritz gig, so until I hear differently, I'm going to go with that...
Our gear didn't make it there... truck broke down and cost them 8 hrs they didn't have for making that drive from Wisconsin... probably 1500 miles +??
And I was the ONLY road crew that made it... it was me and soundman Steve Griffiths against the world... burnin up the phone lines rounding up gear to rent, getting it there...
It was an outdoor show in a pretty good sized permanent pavilion/amphitheater in a park... didn't even have instruments... rounded up enough stuff, changed strings and tuned 5 or 6 guits...
We got everything ready on stage, ran up to the dressing room to get band and as we came down the steps, the monsoons hit... I felt so badly for the folks from the music stores who had provided all the gear... it was all brand new gear... and it was all full of water...
I remember helping take down the Yamaha piano and showing the guys from the store how to turn it up to get all the water to drain down out of the keyboard action, and telling them to NOT stop blowing this thing with several hairdryers till it was completely dry if they EVER wanted it to work again...
But it didn't break my heart that NONE of this soaked gear was MY JOB!!!
Just a few notes to explain my dating for this show, as Sam's initial idea was that this gig was scheduled for 26 August.
However, this was thrown into doubt when the Fayetteville gig above surfaced for that same date. Could BOC have been at the rained out Austin venue earlier in the day, then have headed over to the next state for a club gig in the evening...?
It didn't seem terribly likely, plus logistically, it wasn't great. If Dallas was on the Wednesday and New Orleans on the Friday, this Thursday 28th date would have been much more realistic to schedule an Austin show.
I couldn't find any newspaper adverts, reports or previews for any Austin show in the relevant time frame, so I decided to check the local (printed) weather forecasts for the Austin area.
In the Friday 29 Aug 1986 Austin papers, they talked about parts of West Texas having been flooded the previous day, so all logic points to the correct date for the rained out show being on 28 Aug 1986.
So that's how I'm listing it... unless you know different....
I have very distinctive memories of my first BOC show.
I'd gotten interested in BOC in 1982, after falling in love with the song "Shooting Shark". The local record store had a bunch of their albums on sale, so I bought SOME ENCHANTED EVENING and FIRE OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN and was immediately hooked (and went out and bought two more albums the next day).
By the time 1986 had rolled around, I'd more or less given up on ever seeing BOC in concert. They hadn't released a new album in 4 years, and it seemed like I had managed to get interested in them at exactly the wrong time.
And then CLUB NINJA came out and they went back on tour.
The show was held in August 1986, in Metarie, Louisiana, at a bar called Jimmy'z.
Metarie is a suburb of New Orleans. Jimmy'z was noted for two things: No seats (standing room only), and no air conditioning. So, to recap: August. New Orleans. No air conditioning. Oy.
To make matters more interesting, I had just had surgery on my left foot, and was hobbling around on crutches with my foot in a cast. Did I mention that Jimmy'z had no seats? Thankfully, there was a guy in front of me in a wheelchair, and he was cool enough to let me rest my cast on his chair. I probably wouldn't have made it through the entire concert if not for that.
We stood there listening to some lackluster local band open up the gig. Only thing I remember about 'em was that the lead singer was female. And then, finally, they cleared the stage and we all geared up for BOC.
When BOC finally hit the stage, we all got a big shock. Eric was completely clean shaven. Buck had shaved off his trademark mustache by this time, and we'd seen that in the videos for "Dancing in the Ruins," so we (or at least I) wasn't surprised by that. But to see Eric with no beard or mustache was quite a surprise, and one I haven't seen ever repeated in the dozen or so times I've seen Blue Oyster Cult since.
Don't remember much of the gig list. I do remember that it was the only BOC concert I've seen that featured a rendition of "Shooting Shark" or anything from Club Ninja. At the end of the show, dizzy from the heat and from standing on one leg and two crutches for 3+ hours, I finally gimped my way back to the car, a happier man for having finally seen my favorite band in concert.
I only know of this gig thanks to one of those forum gig-listing posts you come across from time to time - in this case, it was a post by the wonderfully-named "See You In Hell" on ultimatemetal.com, and all it said was:
Blue Oyster Cult / Lillian Axe (9/1, Fairgrounds Field, Shreveport LA)
That's all I had, so I asked Sam Judd did it ring any bells?
It deffo fits nicely into the general scheme... I'd call it a gig... I wonder where did he get the actual date??... does he have a stub or what??...
That was a very fluid time with gigs appearing and disappearing by the day.. on again-off again sort of stuff... but if he says he was there...
Was this an outdoor show??... if it was indoors, then I remember it and Lillian Axe was an all girl band... we nicknamed them the "No-Gos"...
Lillian Axe was an all-MALE band...
I saw Blue Oyster Cult at a club called Night Town (or Nighttown) in Destin, Florida on the "Club Ninja" tour in 1986. The club was fairly small, I remember.
I got to meet Donald before the show and ask them if they would be playing "Perfect Water", my favorite song from "Club Ninja". He said they had not worked it up.
The show was plagued with ear-splitting feedback and poor lighting. I was 21 and it was my first time seeing BOC. I was disappointed, but have gone on to see them twice more since and was very happy both those times; once at The Key Club and once at The Roxy, both in Hollywood.
Regarding a date for the show - I no longer have the stub but I am fairly certain this gig was near the end of "Club Ninja" tour and September sounds about right.
The gig was in Destin, so it looks like it may have made sense for the band to schedule this between September 1st (the Shreveport gig with the all-MALE band Lillian Axe) and September 5th (Tampa). They would have had to go through this town on the way from Louisiana to central and east Florida.
The club was smallish and I was shocked to be seeing them in this place when they had been playing stadiums not long before.
I discovered BOC a little too late - with "FOUO". They didn't play anywhere within a hundred miles of me between October 1981 and this show in late '86...
Stop Press: The date was Tuesday, September 2nd, 1986 at Nightown, Destin, FL - here is a link to an image from a local newspaper with the gig date:
The Venue was a club called Nightown, which is still in business. There was a local group that opened, pretty forgettable, so I do not have their name.
My wife saw Buck at the other end of the balcony area (2 level bar in the concert hall). I went up to him, introduced myself and we had a nice chat about the relatively new technology of digital recording, as well as my long time following of the music. They had just gotten a CD player for the band bus.
As I type, the band name Platinum Rose comes to mind, but I think they were the opener for Steppenwolf when we saw them in Dayton, OH in late summer 1982.
Regarding the date - September seems right - it was a cool evening, was driving my gold S-10 and the wife and I were wearing jackets. Had on my old BÖC t-shirt with the first album cover on it.
I found a preview for this gig in the 2 Sept 1986 edition of the "Fort Walton Beach Playground":
Nightown will host New York's Blue Oyster Cult tonight at 11
Edmund Barksdale
Daily News Entertainment Writer
New York City's own Blue Oyster Cult will appear tonight at Nightown for one show only. Known for the hits "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" and "Godzilla," Blue Oyster Cult developed considerably more than a cult following with their hard rock and laser light show extravaganzas of the 1970s.
Having a reputation for excellent live performances, BOC has recorded 13 LPs, or one album a year from 1972 through 1985. Their debut album in January 1972, titled "Blue Oyster Cult," featured the single "Cities On Flame With Rock 'n Roll," which premiered their use of science and mythology in conjunction with amateur psychology in their lyrics and music.
For 12 years the Cult's lineup remained the same - singer-guitarist Eric Bloom, drummer Albert Bouchard, his brother Joe Bouchard on bass, guitar-keyboardist Allen Lanier and Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser on lead guitar. Bloom is lead vocalist, but all of the others sing as well.
The Cult's first gold LP was 1975's "On Your Feet Or On Your Knees," a live two-record set of BOC's best. 1976 brought the Cult's only platinum release "Agents of Fortune," which featured the Top-10 single "(Don't Fear) The Reaper."
About this time, Blue Oyster Cult unveiled its sophisticated $100,000 laser light show. The optical physics of the show were developed in conjunction with one of the coun-try's most advanced optics labratorys.
The band followed "Agents of Fortune" with two gold albums, '77's "Spectres" and '78's "Some Enchanted Evening." The 1978 LP featured the singles "On Your Feet" and "Kick Out the Jams." Between the release of these two albums, Blue Oyster Cult performed 250 shows before a half-million people. BOC's LPs "Mirrors" and "Cultosaurus Erectus" followed during the next two years.
But not until 1980s "Fire of Unknown Origin" did BOC have another hit single, the rousing "Burnin' For You" which received wide airplay and led to the band's first video.
The present lineup of BOC finds Jimmy Wilcox on drums and keyboardist Tommy Zvoncheck along with original members Bloom, Roeser and Joe Bouchard. The cover charge for Blue Oyster Cult is $8 for the 11 p.m. concert at Nightown. Doors open at 8 p.m.
Joe Bouchard, eh...?
I was at this BOC gig at Nightown, Destin, Florida - at the time I worked with the area rock station TK101. It was a great suprise, when I received a call from Nightown Club Owner Bob Bonezzi saying that he had a big show he wanted to get the word out on, but didn't want people going too crazy.
I ask "Who do you have playing...?" Bob just paused and said: "Just tell your listeners, Soft White Underbelly" and then he hung up. For everyone that knew, word got out that this was Blue Oyster Cult.
The night of the show I asked Bob: "How the hell did you arrange to get BOC to play your club?" He just smiled said: "You do favors and you get favors."
Bob and been a long time business associate with Promoter Tony Ruffino. They had worked together for years. So when BOC, was packing them in around the country at large venues, Bob had 'em come play his club for snickers.
Anyway it was a great night, the club was filled and Bonnezi considered this a treat for all his loyal patrons.
That's the way he just was, he loved rock music, loved his club goers, and loved his business.
Despite that, I'm still classifying this as a "BOC" gig and not a "Soft White Underbelly" one because the adverts for the gig as well as the newspaper review above do not mention "SWU" by name, not even in passing...
The original gig schedules on boc.com listed a possible "university gig" at an unknown venue in Orlando for September.
However, I can find no evidence to support this. The Orlando Sentinel previewed a number of local BOC gigs in this run - Cocoa Beach, Gainesville, Daytona Beach - but didn't mention any gigs in Orlando, so I'm currently inclined to discount this as a possibility.
Unless you know different, of course....
I only know of the existance of this gig due to it being mentioned in the Orlando Sentinel, which was sent to me by Bert Gangl (see the 7 Sep article below)...
I previously only knew of the existance of this gig due to a small ad I saw in the 3rd Sept 1986 edition of the St Petersburg Times, which said:
"Sept 5: Blue Oyster Cult. Don't Fear The Reaper is BOC's major claim to fame along with a highly dramatic stage show.
But that was in the early '70s, and they've done little since. The price is right for this show: free at the Martin Luther King Plaza on the USF Tampa campus"...
I then came across the following listing from the 22 Aug 1986 issue of the "Tampa Bay Times" which helpfully gave details of the support act:
Blue Oyster Cult and Jett Jarrett - Martin Luther King Plaza, USF Tampa campus: Free. Sept. 5, 4 p.m.
Since then, however, I've seen a partial DVD from this show surface on dimeadozen, which had the following info:
Got this from a friend of the filmer,lots of crowd interference trying to film but some good shots here and there.
Filming in a rowdy college crowd just doesn't work. Crowd had be told to back up 3 times during the show.
But none the less another piece of BOC history Club Ninja style.
BOC fans collectors item.
Band:
Eric Bloom - vocals/guitar/keys
Buck Dharma - guitar/vocals
Tommy Zvoncheck - keys
John Rogers - bass/vocals
Jimmy Wilcox - drums
This gig does thow up a slight potential anomoly in that if you look a bit further down to the 17th Sept, you'll see another Tampa USF show, and this one with a full setlist. Two Tampa USF shows in a week?
Doesn't seem likely, but I suppose anything's possible...
But could they be the same gig? If so, what date is the real one and how could I explain the discrepancy between setlists?
Well, regarding the date - I have a contemporaneous newspaper mention of the 5th Sept date (St Petersburg Times - 3rd Sept 1986) so I tend to favour that in the absence of a ticket stub or handbill etc.
The DVD of this gig actually cuts out after "Dancing in the Ruins" due to crowd pushing. Up to this point, it matches exactly the setlist of that given for the show on the 17th.
It fades back in during the intro to "Burnin for You" and cuts out before the very end. It's not impossible that the taper missed out the intervening songs and turned back on for the "big three" near the end.
I suppose the only way to find out for sure would be to compare Bolle's tape with the DVD...
I also went to this free show at USF. A field in the middle of the quad. Excellent set of songs.
I had just got out of the army. We really cut lose at this show. I recall people with signs carry crosses saying Jesus Saves.
Great memories!
The event was on September 5, 1986 at the Sun Dome near the University of South Florida in Tampa. I believe this was their "Club Ninja Tour" and they played many kinda "club dates" around that time.
The boys were playing at a college in Tampa Florida and my younger brother's band was the opening act. The band my brother was playing for was called "Jett Jarrett" fronted by Marvin Jarrett, a local guy.
Marvin was local to Jacksonville Florida and his dad apparently backed him like we all wished our parents had the resources to do. My brothers and I had to work to feed our musical addiction! Anyway, he had, if my memory serves me correctly, par lights in place of his speakers and wore white shoes! I thought it was kinda different, but hey, daddy didn't get me a gig with BOC so who am I to judge?
Anyway, my brother and his guitarist played a few more gigs with him before packing it in and forming other bands through the years. Strange how the universe works sometimes. I think they have changed the name of the Sun Dome, sorry I can't remember what it is. I was his keyboard tech at the time (my band in hiatus).
I was in heaven, I had followed BOC from city to city throughout the 70's and most of the early 80's. I was finally going to get to meet my hero Eric Bloom!!!
So the time comes when I'm backstage with Eric and I begin to tell him how big a fan I am and so much so I even wore sunglasses when I played in my band! Eric, cool as ever, and let me tell you he is one of the most approachable, nicest people you'd ever want to meet, Eric leans over to me and says "you know why I wear sunglasses on stage?"
OK, I'm in the presence of my all time hero and he's getting ready to lay some cosmic knowledge on me! I'm eagerly awaiting for his next words of wisdom when he says, "it's so the people can't see me looking at my guitar when I'm playing."
He then looked me in the eye and gave me a grin I'll never forget! I knew he was pulling my leg because I've watched him so many times, but since then I practiced until I never had to look at my guitar while playing and singing at the same time and putting on a show!
Thank you Eric for being the kind of regular guy you are and making me a better musician not to mention making a dream come true! BOC really are the regular man's band, that's what has made them last through the years! Here's to all the members past and present, thanks guys, keep it real and rock on!
Anyway, BOC came out and did an incredible set! They started with of course, R U Ready 2 Rock, then they proceeded with Dominance/Submission, ETI, Buck's Boogey, Beat um Up, Take me Away, Veteran of the Psychic War, Then came the last days of May, Dancin in the Ruins, Cities on Flame, Burnin for you, Godzilla, and Don't fear the Reaper! How cool was that?
Plus, I've always been a SG player (I own four still)! I'm 66 years old and my other younger brother just gifted me two tickets to see BOC and Mark Farner in St. Augustine this May 22! [2021] I thought I'd never get the chance to see the boys again. Needless to say I'm extremely excited, can't wait to relive some old memories.
The reason I remember the details of the gig is I wrote down on the back of my brother's set list what songs were played. My brother has kept meticulous records of all the gigs he's played through the years. We are fourth generation musicians.
A little side note, my brother, Howie Lucero, was the musical director for "The Platters" for over five years before leading his band "The Mystery Band" a constantly working corporate/wedding/cruise band for over 25 years. Now he just writes and records in our studio. Again, useless music trivia, but you never know who you'll meet or when fate will smile upon you!
I only know of the existence of this gig due to a small ad I saw in the 5th Sept 1986 issue of the "South Florida Sun-Sentinel", plus there was this listing in 6th Sept 1986 edition of the "Palm Beach Daily News":
Blue Oyster Cult - Saturday, 9 p.m. at Summers on the Beach, 219 S. Atlantic Blvd, Fort Lauderdale. Tickets: $10 in advance, $12 day of show; available at BASS outlets.
I can confirm this show took place on this date.
The Sep 07, 1986, issue of the Orlando Sentinel lists the opening acts for the Sep 07 concert in Gainesville and the Sep 09 show in Daytona Beach.
It also mentions a concert held three days prior at Brassy's Night Club in Cocoa Beach, FL, on Thurs Sep 04, 1986:
The First String Is Still Plugging On Blue Oyster Cult's Tour
September 7, 1986
By Thom Duffy of the Sentinel Staff
Once one of the premier heavy-metal rock acts in the U.S., the boys from BOC don't pack the big halls as they did in the heyday of hits such as ''Don't Fear the Reaper.'' So they're now on a bar tour through Florida.
After performing at Brassy's in Cocoa Beach last Thursday, BOC will appear in a free concert at 7 p.m. today in the O'Connell Center at the University of Florida in Gainesville. Savatage will open that show.
Then the band will move back to the coast for another barroom performance at 10 p.m. Tuesday at Finky's Country Showplace, 640 N. Grandview Ave. in Daytona Beach. Secret Weapons, a local band that released an independent album earlier this year, will open the Finky's show at 8:30. Tickets are $10.
It's not unusual to see once-hot acts riding through the Florida club circuit. But often the lineups of these acts have little relation to the musicians who first led the groups through their glory days.
So the good news for BOC fans is that ace lead guitarist Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser and frontman Eric Bloom are still in the fold. Completing the band now are Tommy Zvonchek, Jimmy Wilcox and Joe Bouchard.
I was at this show. Forgive me for only going on memory on certain aspects of the show and not having a complete setlist. There was no internet or Hot Rails giglopedias back then so I didn't take notes!
I was 15 years old and a sophomore in high school. I was a pretty good fan of BOC back then while my friends were all into either the bubblegum pop of New Edition or hair metal of Poison, Bon Jovi and Motley Crue. I just could not get into that scene while I had the Club Ninja and Some Enchanted Evening albums cranking up at 11. Fortunately, I had an older brother and sister who came of age in the 70's and I was tuned into their music.
Now on to the show (or what I remember at least).
BOC was to put on a free show at the O'Connell Center on the campus of the University of Florida. I believe that it was put on by the UF Student Government. Back in the day, UF had a lot of great shows at the bandshell there with acts like The Allman Brothers, Billy Squier, 38 Special, Joan Jett and others that I was able to go to.
As mentioned before, I had the coolest big sister around, and she and her husband and another couple were going and were kind enough to let little brother tag along. The O'Dome was the basketball and gymnastics arena for UF and I remember it was a packed house. The opening band was Savatage out of Tampa. I don't remember much about them and I wasn't too familiar with them. Knowing then what I know now about Savatage, I would've paid more attention.
This is kind of foggy, but the intermission between them and BOC was extended and I remember someone saying something about there being a bomb threat that had to be cleared (Maybe if Eric or Buck read this, do they remember that?).
BOC came on and was hot!!! I remember obviously the hits (Burnin', Godzilla, DFTR, etc.) I believe they closed with Roadhouse Blues. Again, forgive me for not knowing a setlist or order.
I remember during Godzilla, the stadium bleachers were pulled out and the crowd found a way to get them to sway back and forth. So about 2,000 people were rocking back and forth in unison.
My buddy, Doug Grantham, who was also in my class in school got to go as well with his older brother who I think was going to UF at the time. We were on separate parts of the arena. I remember getting the Club Ninja t-shirt and going back to school the next day thinking I was the coolest kid around.
Fast forward to 2018 and as a dad I took my 13 year old son to the show on 02-21-2018 in Mt. Dora...
I only know of the existance of this gig due to a small advert I saw in the 31st August 1986 edition of the Orlando Sentinel, which said: "Finky's in Daytona Beach will also play host to Blue Oyster Cult at 9.30pm Sept 9."...
I can only assume it took place...
It did take place. I was in college at Embry-Riddle in Daytona Beach.
Finky's was a country-western bar of all things and BOC destroyed the place. I want to say it held about 400.
BOC was so loud you had to know the songs by heart to know what they were playing. It was packed and rowdy.
I've seen them about 25 times but not recently. I was looking at your giglopaedia and using it to refresh my memories. I remembered the time I saw them in Fayetteville, N.C. I had kept the newspaper ad (see above).
The show is September 10th, 1986, which is not on your list.
Wish I could remember the setlist, but it's just a flickering light now. I remember talking to one of their roadies about Al and Joey leaving.
Well, it wasn't on the site before, but it is now!!
Thanks!!
I initially only knew of this gig's existance on this date because a blogger called Chuck Padgett posted that he saw it on his (now offline) MySpace Blog. Then I got the following confirmation:
I was there standing near Chuck so I can confirm this one. This was another very memorable night for me but in a better way than my trial by ordeal back in '81. Kidnappers was a "beach club" in an industrial area off South Boulevard in Charlotte.
My brothers Steve and Dave and a few other dorm mates from UNC Charlotte, (my roomate Dave, Jim (Fingers), Brian, and Chuck) all got there at opening time and the place was empty. We bought beers and went outside to play ping pong and shoot the shit on the patio.
Along comes Eric and Buck and they hang out with us, chatting and watching us play. No Joe and no Alan (and then there were two - bummer). We told them that my brothers and I we were fellow transplanted Long Islanders from Happauge and I recounted my ordeal during the FOUO tour, which they seemed to appreciate. Buck gave me a white pick with his signature on one side and the kronos logo on the back.
Inside, Kidnappers was an open air dive with a bar at the back and a low stage up front and I was in the Buck Zone as always. I'm 6'-4" so I'm looking Buck and Eric right in the eyes.
Creem Magazine once wrote in a strange article titled "61 Terrible Secrets of the Blue Oyster Cult" something like "if the saying 'You are what you eat' is true, Blue Oyster Cult has been eating a steady diet of birthday cake and Twinkies".
My brothers and friends must have been in the steak and potatoes line because all of us were 6'-3" or better with Chuck towering over everyone. God help anyone in the crowd behind us because we were a human wall. Three years later at Cadillacs in Hickory after seeing them the night before at The Palomino Club in Charlotte, our human wall was standing between Eric Bloom and two brunettes in black lace cat suits, eliciting the comment "Hey, you tall (guys) saw us last night! How about letting the ladies up front where we can see them."
Back to Kidnappers. They seemed to play forever. Buck was amazing as always and since he was only two feet away from me, he held out the guitar a few times, as if beckoning me to strum it as he hammered away on the neck, before pulling it away with a grin.
The setlist is a blur beyond the usual standards, Take Me Away and Dancin' in the Ruins (it was surreal to see my heroes showcasing a new album in a southern dive one notch below Boss Hogg's) but the song I remember the most was Roadhouse Blues. I think this was the first time I saw Eric use the Budweiser logo guitar, though it might have been at The Palomino Club two years later.
Eric does his intro where he's talking about life on the road and living out of hotel rooms. It's hot and smoky and he wipes condensation off a 16 oz can of Bud onto his brow and continues with his patter, teasing us with his cold beer. Somebody taps me on the shoulder and when I turn around, they hand me a pitcher of beer.
I'm looking around confused and there's nobody saying "Hey, that's my beer!" so I reach out to hand it to Eric thinking that it's part of the show or for the band and he says "No man, that's yours!" I still can't figure out how or why a pitcher of beer made it all the way through a drunken crowd to the stage or whether Eric or Buck arranged it.
So I'm thinking "How cool is this, Eric's buying us beer". Not seeing any cups following the pitcher and getting into the theme of "I woke up this morning..." I raise my pitcher of beer on high and seal my fate forever. I slammed about half the pitcher in two or three huge gulps before stopping for air and handing it off to a brother or friend.
Eric's eyes are probably buggin' behind his glasses as he yells into the mike "Damn, this guy can drink!" and the crowd roared in approval before they launched into the opening chords of Roadhouse Blues. The beer put me over the top and I was toasted not long afterwards. Too cool.
I initially only knew of the existance of this gig thanks to the used stub above which appeared on eBay...
Then I saw a couple of mentions of it in the "Daily Press" (Newport News VA) - in the 10 Sep 1986 edition (page 97), the venue was given just as "Bessie's Place", whilst in the 12 Sept 1986 issue (Page 40) it was described as "Boathouse, Bessie's Place".
No support band was listed.
The above stub Ticktron stub is ripped and some vital info is missing. First off I'm 99% sure this gig is for the Stone Pony in Asbury Park NJ. You can read The STO... and 913 Ocea.. on the stub. You can also see a Month and day Sept. 13 @ 9:00P.
I checked back on the calendar dates from the 80's and 90's and the only time Sept. 13 is on a Saturday is 1986 and 1997. I'm inclined to believe this show was on Sept. 13, 1986. That's just my educated opinion.
Again I don't have a set list or a memory of this show. Maybe if someone sees these stubs they might remember something.
Well, I have BOC down as playing a gig in Hampton VA on 13 Sept 1997, so 1986 it would appear to be...
However, this is around BOC's "last week" before they dissolved so I was wondering if they'd have had the chance to go back up to NJ to play the Stone Pony?
If this gig happened, it would have had to have been between 17 Sep and 21 Sep... we would have had to have done Stone Pony with rented gear to do it on the 13... and I'd remember craziness like that...
The Asbury Park Press (13 Sept 1986 - Page 55) confirmed the gig taking place at the Stone Pony that evening and gave the support band as "In Between Dreams"...
This date originally featured on the original boc.com gig lists - however, I now think this gig actually took place on the 5th Sept.
Just to confuse matters, boc.com also gave a setlist for this date - obviously coming from a tape Bolle has - so I was wondering if that setlist could be the same show as the 5th Sept one...?
The setlist for the Sept 5th gig is the same as this one until you get past "Dancing in the Ruins" - here it goes to the piano improv, Joan Crawford and then Cities, whereas on the earlier Tampa show there's a break whilst the crowd is told to sit back down, and then the band come back to play Burnin for You, after which the tape cuts out.
If you check the 5th Sept entry, you'll see I mention the possibility that the taper of that show might have missed out three songs and resumed before the "big three"...
If anyone has a copy of the full show and can compare it with the DVD on dimeadozen, please let me know...
This show never took place!
Thanks to Pollstar evidence, I now know that BOC were in Washington, DC on 17 Sept 1986 - see next entry.
I found a mention of this gig in the Thu 18 Sep 1986 edition of the "The Evening Sun" [Baltimore MD]:
Speaking of bars, Blue Oyster Cult played the Bayou in D.C. last night. With major hits like "Don't Fear the Reaper" and "I'm Burnin'", you can bet this group didn't expect ever to see clubs again, either.
I only know of the existence of this gig because Pollstar have published figures for it...
The following review appeared in the Sun 21 Sep 1986 edition of the "Sun-News" [Myrtle Beach]:
If you can stand the loudness Blue Oyster Cult concert wasn't bad
By Paige Jones
Staff Writer
As a rule, I try to avoid heavy metal. The squeaking, scraping, metallic noise sends me reeling and staggering to the nearest drug store for a set of earplugs and Extra Strength Tylenol.
But when I heard Blue Oyster Cult was coming to town, I thought I'd give it a try. I fell in love with the Agents of Fortune album in college - you know those experimental years when you search for cosmic awareness and the ultimate state of being.
Friday night was definitely a cosmic emerience. My ears will never be the same.
The band played at Castaways on the Strand starting about 11:45 p.m.
Too bad the group, which has a satanical sort of sound anyway, couldn't have started right at the witching hour.
People packed the place like compressed air in a tire pump. After sucking in my stomach, I squeezed and slithered my way to a safe spot.
Blue Oyster Cult, dressed in black leather, zippers and studs, started off with "Are You Ready to Rock?" The crowd, whose dress mirrored the rock stars, punched and slapped the air at invisible opponents.
The group, whose music was tagged "intelligent heavy metal" when they first appeared in the early '70s, may have lost a little of its cleverness with years off the road and a change of band members. But they can still be powerful, if they want to be.
Their sound and lyrics are rich, original and at times a little funny.
With most bands conforming to the conventional humdrum radio riff-raff, Blue Oyster Cutt takes the road less traveled.
Much of the credit goes to Buck Dharma and his electric, somewhat eerie sounds. Dharma - who unlike most heavy metal artists, seems to care about words more than how much noise he can make - sent the audience hurtling through outer space with science fiction tunes such as "Extra Terrestrial" and "Veteran of the Psychic Wars."
Dharma played his guitar with the fluidity of some of the best in the business. His adept fingers could cause a trance. That is, if you could fight the image of his energetic stage show, which looked like the black leather guitarist was riding the mechanical bull at Gilley's rather than playing a fine instrument.
Although Blue Oyster Cult's sounds are original, there's one thing they share with all their heavy metal relatives. They're loud.
Now for some, that's OK. That's the definition of heavy metal. But I knew at my moment the floor, vibrating like Jell-O, would crash through to the deli below sending innocent victims fleeing.
But the decibel level didn't disturb many others. Everyone seemed to have a good time mouthing the music along with the musicians. The oldies such as "Dominance and Submission," "Are You Ready to Rock?," "Take Me Away" and "Godzilla" went over like spooning sugar to a baby. But the new ones such as "Beat 'Em Up" and "Dancing in the Ruins" from their 1985 album, Club Ninja, didn't fare quite as well.
The Top-40 hit, "Burnin' for You," off the 1981 Fire of Unknown Origin album, was a good attempt and fairly enjoyable. But the one I was waiting for, (Don't Fear) the Reaper," was disappointing. The words were garbled, giving the impression that the band was trying to smother their voices.
All in all, a good concert by the rock'n'roll dinosaurs. The management of Castaways plans to have more hard-rock bands this winter. Just don't forget the earplugs.
I went to a 1986 show at Baity's in Winston-Salem, N.C. Unfortunately, I don't have the date of the show, but I do have a setlist - Club Ninja Tour - somewhere after the Club Ninja opening dates for Rush:
There was no opening act for this show. I remember because BOC came on very late. The gig was outside under a shelter (the "Music Garden").
This gig was in the middle of nowhere on a farm... no clue as to town... I remember we had to drive several hours to get to an airport to go home... that gig was to be the "last" BOC show... the band had no further plans to tour or record....
The gig itself was your typical festival in a field kind of deal... it was a very wierd vibe though as it was supposedly the end... Dave Thorpe on Guitar and Danny McAleer on drums (roadies) joined the band for Roadhouse....
This gig was also my last show for a while - in Nov 86 I was stricken with a BADLY pair of herniated discs that put me flat of my back for 6 weeks (residual damage over the years from lifting too many Marshall cabs and B-3's)... I made a partial recovery, but was unable to do ANY work in all of 87 and never qualified for any dole either... hard times, but Margot had a real job then...
My condition worsened in Nov 87 and in Jan 88 I had surgery (Chymopapain injections to the nucleus of the discs, dissolves them and turns them to water... it's an enzyme extracted from Papaya plants... same stuff used in meat tenderizer) they don't use that procedure anymore cause if you had an allergic reaction to the enzyme you'd just die on the table of anaphylactic shock... but it FIXED my back in 15 fucking minutes!!!
I was most of 1988 in recovery and saw the boys in summer 88 over in Birmingham and Steve called me in the fall and said if I came back out, he'd not only make sure I didn't have to lift gear, but I could travel with the band and somebody would even carry my suitcase... he only told the band that he'd found somebody for the tour (the Ill fated Imaginos tour... we actually had a tour bus) and it was a total surprise when the guys saw me return to stage right on 24 Oct 1988 at the Oregon gig... that tour was supposed to last thru Crimbo, but the sales were dismal and it was bagged after San Jose...
My replacement during that time was Paul Crook, who is quite the guitar god these days, playing in that Queen Musical in Vegas among other ongoing projects... he was only ever called "Laughing Boy" by the BOC bunch, cause he walked around with an insane grin at all times...
I remember this gig as if it was yesterday. Regarding the pix of me jamming with the band - Buck started all of this - one day he asked me to join in on the last song and then it became a tradition. At the end of every tour i was called out to play.
I also was playing guitar parts off the side of the stage anyways. See also the shot further up the page under 23rd Feb 1986 - Tokyo Blade had me come out to play Midnight Rendezvous with them,however the catch was they had to dress me. What a great bunch of guys they were.
LOL - of course with BOC I was not dressed for the occasion as you can see. Roadies do not wear leather.
On this WV gig - what I can remember is lots of drinking for me and some of the guys and lots of hugs and I will call ya. I remember Schenck on the verge of tears but he will Never admit it.
We were all sad, you get to be a family after working so close to people for so many years. You see their kids grow up, eat dinner at their homes and always have their back if needed.
Regardless how some of us left I would do it all over again as long as Sam and Danny were on the crew.
With BOC apparently defunct, nothing much would have appeared to have happened in October...
Or November...
Nuffin to see here either...