January 31, 1974 - Hershey Park Arena - Hershey PA: BOC opened for Black Sabbath. I was there.

I attended a memorable BOC concert at the Capitol Theater in Passaic NJ on April 27, 1974 but I knew I'd seen them earlier that year in either Hershey or Harrisburg, and it was not long before April.

I also remembered Black Sabbath being the main act. But, your site did not indicate any shows there before Apr 27, 1974 - but I knew that I had been to one - I clearly remembered that concert because I had never even heard of them before, and I became an immediate fan.

I eventually found the date on the Black Sabbath site:

• http://www.black-sabbath.com/tourdates/1974/index.html

Despite that it was the first time I ever saw them, and didn't know who they were, I remember 4 songs in particular:

1. Stairway to the Stars - they opened with that
2. 7 Screaming Dizbusters
3. Cities on Flame
4. Born to be Wild - the encore

Black Sabbath - I was so blown away by BOC that Ozzie and company seemed mediocre by comparison.

• 2 Shows: 8pm and 11pm

3-9-74 - Orpheum - BOC backed up Aerosmith on their 'Get Your Wings' Beantown debut - eye don't know if'n there were two shows, AS I attended that one behind 3 hits of potent orange microdot, and may have erased alot of memory tape loop...

BOC massively blew away the Beantown boys, and Mr. Bloom personally en-twerped mine cosmic mind with a green cyalume cylinder, AS he strolled through the pre-show crowd. Like wow, man!

I first saw BOC on 3/23/74 in St. Louis at the Ambassador theater. It was the first of many times I've seen them, lost count actually. It was also just my second concert ever. The opener was Rory Gallagher who was kickass.

They previewed several songs from the yet to be released Secret Treaties LP. The standout songs I remembered most were Flaming Telepaths, Astronomy, Harvester of Eyes and Cities on Flame.

I first heard of BOC in Circus magazine, and then got Tyranny and Mutation free with a subscription to Creem Magazine. I was hooked.

I recall that the gig was during Spring Break in high school and took place in the Memorial Stadium in Daytona Beach, Florida in front of a pretty small crowd - perhaps two or three hundred people.

Eric was wearing his full-length cape. It was black outside and silver inside. Seems he was wearing some high boots also, either black or silver.

Allen was wearing a solid silver "Spaceman" suit. Looked very similar to the ones that astronauts used to wear. Buck and Eric were playing red [wine] colored Gibson SG guitars. Allen played a Les Paul, seems it was sunburst during some of the tunes. He [Allen] started OD'd on keys and ended up with guitar at the end of the song. It knocked me back since I am a guitar player also.

I don't remember anything unique about the drummer or bass player. One thing that stands out is when someone up front asked "When are you going to play .... [whatever title]?" Eric replied "We gotta play Diz first!" He was smiling when he said it. Sticks in my mind.

Oh, another interesting note: the fact that they only played songs from the first two albums. They definitely did not play any tunes from albums other than the first album and Tyranny.

Some of the tunes I remember were:

The Red & The Black
OD'd On Life Itself
7 Screaming Diz-Busters
Bucks Boogie
Cities on Flame
Stairway to the Stars

Seems they only played briefly - perhaps only 30 minutes. Looking back, I wish they had played Transmaniacon MC, Wings Wetted Down and other obscure tunes but I don't think they did. It was the first time I saw them. At that moment, I was hooked!

April 12 1974: Michigan Palace, Detroit MI: Running Order: KISS, Blue Oyster Cult, Suzi Quatro

This date is confirmed by the motorcitymusicarchives.com website.

However...

I just have to entertain the possibility that this show never happened. Like with the 31 Aug 1976 Jackson MI non-gig, if you ever put "Blue Oyster Cult" into an eBay search, I guarantee that you'll come up with a bunch of unused tickets for this show. Also - quite often, the seller is selling them in batches!

This would seem to indicate that the tickets were printed but not used at the time - possibly because the gig was cancelled or re-scheduled - and somebody has since come across a stack of them and is gradually trying to offload them on eBay.

If you don't believe me - here's a current eBay link - check it out and see if I'm wrong. There will always be unused Mississippi Coliseum 1976 and Michigan Palace 1974 tickets for sale there - it's just one of those things you can be certain of, like death and taxes....

One thing: you never see tickets for the next night's performance - at least, I've never seen one... if it took place, then maybe the next night was re-scheduled from the day before?

Just a thought to try and make sense of it all...

April 13 1974: Michigan Palace, Detroit MI: Running Order: KISS, Blue Oyster Cult, Suzi Quatro

This date is confirmed by the motorcitymusicarchives.com website.

However, check out my thoughts on the April 12th show - if anyone can offer any help on this one, I'd be very grateful...

Yes this show happened as did the previous show, I was at this one, being my first BOC show I can tell you I would never forget it. It was my senior year in HS and the beginning of a lifelong following of the band.

Although I don't have the ticket stub or remember the exact setlist, I remember running out to buy Secret Treaties, which had just been released and the first two records after that. Cities on Flame was still being played on early FM radio at the time.

Suzi Quatro, a local girl that sang and played bass in her band and later ended up on the Happy Days TV show for a short time, opened the show, followed by KISS, whose first record we had not heard yet, and admitedly was quite the hard act to follow, but BOC was up to the challenge and changed my life forever.

Here is a show you do not have: 4/16/74 Riverside Theater, Milwaukee.

Capt. Beyond was to be opening act, but cancelled and a no name group Farm warmed them up.

I do not have set list but all songs on On Your Feet were played. I remember thinking when that album came out the inner sleeve looked like it could have been modeled after that theater.

Not sure if song order on OYF is the same i saw but do know that Maserati/BTBW were encore stuff.

• OYFOOYK recording

April 27, 1974: Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ: Running Order: Ross, KISS, Blue Oyster Cult

This date is confirmed by the Capitol Giglist on Moyssi's website.

This was the first time that I ever saw Kiss was that night.

I'm also pretty sure that at least one or two songs were recorded there for the double live album On Your Feet or On Your Knees.

KISS arrived too late to set up, and they were forced to cancel...

Running Order: Hydra, Manfred Mann's Earth Band, Blue Oyster Cult

This was a last minute road trip concert for me an my buddies. We were all fans of boc and Manfred Mann but we knew nothing about the opening act ... a band called Kiss, well there was some problem with Kiss's equipment or something and Hydra filled in wich was fine with us.

I wont mention what it was that got us so buzzed that evening but this was still when you could see guys walking around with tacklebox's selling there wares like wandering pharmicists, and more often than not what they sold was what they claimed it to be.

Well by the time boc came on were were all giggling non stop and then boc cut loose and we all got such a nasty seriously boc blast of evil we all sat down and just took it all in.

The one point of the show that made me exit the hall for some fresh air was when Eric Bloom was singing the words The Red Eye of Saton is upon you {or something to that effect} and then a super bright red spot popping on just behind him that seem to be aimed right between my eyes... What a freakin rush that was, to use the exact lingo of the time.. lol

Great show ill never forget and also the ride home was a tale to share in itself lol. we all got home safely and very late.... woot

I remember standing in line outside the Coliseum, a black limo pulled up to the gate next to me. The limo driver started blowing the horn, waiting for someone to unlock it.

Several guys with long hair, wearing t-shirts with "KISS" on them got out and went up to the gate to try to open it. After a few minutes they got back in the limo and left.

Later inside the coliseum they announced that KISS "had problems" and had cancelled.

Anyway, the concert was great, even without KISS, especially BOC.

OK - now I originally got info that Rush were the support for this show - plus I also got a note that Lynyrd Skynyrd were also on the bill...

Due to a disk crash, I lost a whole bunch of emails and so cannot put my finger on my original sources for this information, but it looks like Rush, at least, weren't on this bill (see Eric's email below).

I was just cross referencing tourdates between your BOC page and my Rush page, and can confirm the Rush definitely did NOT open for BOC on May 12, '74.

Rush's first show in the US was on May 18th in Lansing, Michigan. Prior to May 18th, they were still only touring around Toronto...

My source is Rush's first roadie, Ian Grandy:

"Before the ZZ Top gig, we'd played one, count them ONE gig in the U.S., which was some outdoor thing near Lansing Michigan."

• Power Windows

Thanks Eric - and if anyone has any Rush tickets, handbills or anything like that, please visit Eric's site and send him scans...

Running order: Aerosmith, Sharks, Blue Oyster Cult

This date is confirmed by the Aragon venue website.

I think Chris Spedding's Sharks were the first up, but that was a long time ago, and my memories of that night may have been somewhat... ahem... distorted.

I think Aerosmith came on second, touring on "Get Your Wings" (1974) - they were already gaining some noteriety, while Sharks never made much of a dent in the US market, and by this point Andy Fraser had already left the band, replaced by one Buster Cherry Jones (I will assume that wasn't his given name!). Jones played on the second Sharks album, "Jab It In Yor Eye" (1974).

From what I've read, The Sharks broke up in early 1975, with singer Snips joining Baker-Gurvitz Army, and guitarist Chris Spedding puting out solo albums and getting involved in both the punk and rockabilly movements.

This was my first show at The Aragon as well. We sat in the 3rd or 4th row, on Buck's side, directly in front of the P.A. There was a fellow who stuck his head into one of the speaker cabinets, passed out, and remained there through the entire evening. And no, it wasn't me!

The Aragon stage was only a couple of feet off the floor at that point, but was raised to 10 feet or so shortly afterward. Great show, wasn't it Jeff?

I was there. It was a big fieldhouse with no seats, you just sat on the floor or stood up. There may have been seats on the sides, like a hockey arena. We were in the middle on the floor.

There were many bands. First some all-girl band - a bunch of big women who rocked... never caught their name. We arrived after they started playing. I think they were the first band but there may have been another before we got there. It's possible Rick Derringer was also on that bill, but again it was a long time ago.

Then Dixie Peach from southwest Ohio area (played Allman Bros), who we would see play in bars in Oxford.

Then Billy Cobham the jazz/fusion drummer, who was awesome, played with his band.

Then BOC. They were great. Eric had his silver cape on. I remember the Cult ended the show with their 5 guitar jam, I think on Born to be Wild.

Then after a long delay, the New York Dolls. I think BOC was the headliner but the Dolls played last of the 5 or 6 bands. Most people had left because it took forever for them to reset the stage. Even for those days it was a really long time. We were wasted but wanted to stay until the end.

By then it was really late and it was a weird crowd. There were people with green hair and boy scout uniforms, things like that. We figured they followed the Dolls around. The Dolls musically were very poor after the Cult. We didn't stay for much of their set. Long ride back to Oxford Ohio for us that night.

By the way, great website. Thanks. I became a BOC fan in the summer of 73. A friend had their EP and played it for me. When I got to Miami, one of the first people I got to know was a (fellow) long haired kid who asked me what kind of music I liked. I said did you ever hear of Blue Oyster Cult? His eyes lit up, he took me to his room where he had a dynamite sound system... and BOC's first album... A great friendship was born.

I probably saw them 5 or 6 times down through the years, but I think that show in Dayton was the first.

Try this link:

• www.iorr.org/talk/read.php?1,1065074,1065119

This guy Souldoggie is talking about that same concert. He seems to think Billy Cobham was headlining. May be true. We were there to see the Cult but were definitely into Billy Cobham at the time too.

The rest of his description matches mine, other than the fact that he liked the Dolls and I didn't. He doesn't say a specific date other than to say 1974.

BOC behind Aerosmith again...

Running order: Aerosmith, Blue Oyster Cult

I saw BOC in '74 and they played at the Allen Theater (Cleveland, Ohio). It was a pretty big hall (use to be a movie theatre). BOC opened up for Aerosmith and they knocked their socks off. I mean they were fantastic way back then (even though I think they are actually tighter now-saw them at The Tangiers (small venue) in Akron last year)... but maybe I "heard" them better last year as I was sober and BOC appeared to be pretty straight too... ;-)

Running order: Aerosmith, Blue Oyster Cult

Check out the stub above - it's ripped in half, but you can clearly see the support act was originally going to be a band whose name begins with "Qu"!!!

A piece in the 5th June 1974 issue of the LA Times reported: "The Blue Oyster Cult will appear with Nazareth Friday in Santa Monica Civic Auditorium - Performance begins at 7:30 p.m", so Queen obviously didn't actually play the gig, but it would have been a hell of a double bill.

June '74. Portland Paramount. Nazareth opened, BOC was in the middle and a boring headliner - Lydia Pence and Cold Blood.

Scene 1... Van load of 17 year olds head down I-74 to the Union Auditorium. There was LSD, Weed and copious amounts of beer involved. I think I drove (here's where I say that I don't condone abuse of drugs among children and I don't know how we made it there and back alive.)

Scene 2... The show starts. I was in awe. The laser lights were spectacular and oh so loud, the music too

From what I remember I know for sure that they played - Bucks Boogie, Seven Screaming Dizbusters, and at some point (I think at the end of the show) there were 5 Guitars.

I'm seeming to recall Career of Evil, Stairway to the Stars, Flaming Telepath, Dominance and Submission, and Cities on Flame (I know Albert sang a couple times). Albert was all over the stage from what I recall, like a madman. I was weirded out by his leather shorts though.

During Bucks Boogie I couldn't take my eyes off this guy who could play this fast, this well! I kept thinking I wish I could do that with my guitar (fade to 17 year-old me with a record and turntable, and my guitar trying to figure out just some of the rhythm to Dominance and Submission). That show really made him stand out to me, that's why he's my favorite oyster.

There was also a drum an bass solo. I can't remember what encore was done but I think they came back out twice. I don't have a clue how long they played, I just knew that I wanted it to go on forever. For what its worth there you have it.

I was at this show, as was Jeff Turley... Jeff sent me photos, years later. I don't remember any lasers, but I was in the front row and couldn't see much of the light show.

Buck Dharma brought down the house, as always, in the white suit with a black shirt, and played the white strat and also the sunburst Gibson Les Paul.

Eric had the silver boots and cape and played the black SG. The place was packed and it was hot in there.

They DID do the five guitars thing, I have a picture of Albert in his leather hot pants.

Thanks to Jeff Suhs for info on this show. Jeff co-authored a book called "KISS Alive Forever," which chronicles in detail KISS's touring history. He researched these dates over seven years so I'm very happy to benefit from his hard work. Cheers Jeff.

This is the first of a series of gigs which were supposed to have featured KISS, but Paul Stanley had to have minor throat surgery and KISS backed out of the shows.

Running order: Nazareth, Lynyrd Skynyrd, BOC

Another gig which was supposed to have featured KISS, but because of Paul Stanley's minor throat surgery, KISS had to back out.

Running order: Maggie Bell, BOC

Obviously this stub is dated 26 June and I currently have this show down as the 27th, but this date is confirmed as having taken place on 27 June by Jeff Suhs as one of the shows KISS cancelled out of.

Running order: Maggie Bell, Lynyrd Skynyrd, BOC

Another gig which was supposed to have featured KISS, but because of Paul Stanley's minor throat surgery, KISS had to back out.

Running order: Brownsville Station, Nazareth, BOC

Another gig which was supposed to have featured KISS, but because of Paul Stanley's minor throat surgery, KISS had to back out.

Running order: Brownsville Station, Nazareth, BOC

Another cancelled KISS show...

Running order: Nazareth, BOC

It was the summer of 1974, I was a young 18 year old just learning about HARD ROCK. I had been a BOC fan for about a year. Myself and two friends Zach and Dickie, I am Cliff, had our first apartment away from the folks. We were partiers from the get go! 18 and free from home, this was the life. We all worked construction $5.00 per hour as laborers. Good money back in 74. Kept us in beer and what ever, you know what I mean.

We had an arrangement at the apartment that we would take turns selecting what LP to play next. Each person taking their turn of selecting an album. My turn was always BOC "Tyranny And Mutation". I had the album sleeve of the band, a black and white picture of them, in a picture frame next to my bed. These guys were my anti-heroes!!!! No one else ever picked BOC for their turn, because they knew I would. So between POCO, AEROSMITH and MOUNTAIN there would always be BOC selected.

So we all heard about the Alexandria Roller Rink show and were very excited. I had seen only two other concerts in my life, Raspberries at my high school and Pink Floyd at the Post Pavilion, in MD. Neither excited me like a chance to see my idols, BOC in concert. We bought 10 tickets and were ready to rock!!!!

The day of the show came, not only BOC but Nazareth, and some band I never heard of called KISS. We were getting ready to go from our apartment only 15 minutes from the Roller Rink. All of a sudden dickie comes in and is very upset. He just wrecked his Honda 750 while coming home to change for the show. The very ironic thing is he ran in to Brian (his brothers friend), who was crossing the road, to also go to the show with us. Oh well, we all went anyway and it was awesome.

The show had no seats, no stage lights, and a small stage. I was with my friends center stage 4 or 5 rows back and wasted to the BEJESUS BELT!!!! The show started with Nazareth, who I also liked, I love "Go Down Fighting", they played very well. KISS was a no show. However, I did not care, cause I never heard of em anyway! BOC came on and ROCKED the house.

I do not remember their set, song for song, but the standouts were, Last Days Of May, Cities On Flame, The Red and the Black, Buck was incredible. He was all in white and played the white Gibson SG, that was later stolen. His fingers were SOOOOO fast and his licks soooo melodic and tasteful, I will never forget. The finale was all five guitars jamming at one time, AWESOME, AWESOME, AWESOME!!!!! The entire band Allan, Buck, Eric and the Bouchard brothers were awesome!!! All of BOC literally blew me away, I had such a good BUZZ, that I will never forget BOC in this small and intimate place!

Another cancelled KISS show...

Running order: (no other acts listed) BOC

Running order: Aerosmith, Blue Oyster Cult

Another of the run of cancelled KISS shows...

Running order: Nazareth, Rare Earth, BOC

I just found a flyer for an outdoor Blue Oyster Cult concert that I attended in Jackson Tennessee on July 7, 1974 that is not listed on your site.

My scanner is not hooked up right now, but I'll try to send a copy to you sometime. I should have the ticket stub somewhere also. Here is the info on the show from the flyer:

Off Broadway Productions
Dancing On The Grass With
Blue Oyster Cult
Special Guest Stars
Nazareth & Kiss
plus
Larry Raspberry and the Highsteppers
Sunday July 7, 2:00 P.M.
West Tenn. Fairgrounds
Jackson, Tenn.
Tickets: Advance $5 - Door $7

Kiss, of course, was not there. Larry Raspberry and the Highsteppers were a high profile Memphis band.

This was my first BOC concert and I was blown away. Buck Dharma in his white suit and Eric Bloom in black leather made a heavy Good vs Evil impression on my stoned brain.

During the "5 Guitars" segment of ME 262, with three guitar players and the bass player already lined up across the stage, I was totally confused when some crazy looking guy in silver shorts and no shirt runs out from the side with a guitar and starts playing.

"Where the hell did he come from, and who the hell is he? Is it a roadie? Some out of control stoner from the audience?" It wasn't until he finally ran back to the drum kit that I realized it was Albert Bouchard.

And the crossed guitars during Born To Be Wild sent me reeling and showed me anew just how powerful a Rock 'n' Roll concert could be.

Another cancelled KISS show...

Running order: Nazareth, BOC

First gig of the resumed KISS/BOC tour as Paul Stanley had recovered from his minor throat surgery.

Running order: KISS, Nazareth, Blue Oyster Cult

Second gig of the resumed KISS/BOC tour.

Running order: Isis, KISS, Uriah Heep, Nazareth, Blue Oyster Cult

Third gig of the resumed KISS/BOC tour.

Running order: KISS, Nazareth, Blue Oyster Cult

According to the 6 October 1974 edition of the St Petersburg Times, this gig attracted less than a 3000 crowd and cost the promoters thousands.

Fourth gig of the resumed KISS/BOC tour.

Running order: KISS, Nazareth, Blue Oyster Cult

This gig is listed on BOC.com but it looks pretty clear that it didn't occur - see 19 July below...

This Baton Rouge show is often - incorrectly - dated as 5th July on various sites on the internet.

The 5th is the date that the show was originally scheduled to take place, but due to Paul Stanley's aforementioned surgery, the gig was re-scheduled for the 16th.

What's more - I know the person who recorded the July 16 performances by KISS and Blue Oyster Cult (the New York Dolls were in the middle of the bill), and he assured me that the July 5, 1974 show did not take place.

As for the Electric Ballroom gigs. I have seen on several BOC web sites a listing for BOC in Atlanta on July 17 & 18. But, the ads for the show that appear in the "Atlanta Constitution" and the "Great Specaled Bird" (an Atlanta entertainment rag) both list these shows as: KISS w. special guest Fat Chance.

So, while it makes sense that BOC would have done these gigs, I've never seen anything in print that would confirm that.

I seem to remember these shows being talked about on the local radio stations at the time but I couldnt go because Alex Cooleys served Alcohol and you had to be 18 at the time to get in and I think i was just 16 at this time.

Although I found out later that one of the guys that I went to school with was Alex Cooleys nephew and and could get me and other friends into shows at the Fox Theater across the street from the ballroom. Just to name a few names this friendship got me in free to see Mountain, Kansas, Mahagony Rush, Robin Trower oh and the crown of my free shows when Skynyrd did there 3 nights there and recorded there live album (For, From the road.)

Oh the good ole days. Hell for the robin trower show alex cooley came to the front door of the fox to let the 3 of us in... thats a sight to remember... that man was over 6 foot tall and probably weighed 400 pds and im cutting him some slack here.

I can confirm that the July 19 date in Fayetteville was definitely a BOC/KISS gig.

The running order for the show was: Nazareth, KISS, New York Dolls, Blue Oyster Cult.

1974 Fayettevile, NC The New York Dolls were supposed to open but canceled and a great local band out of Raleigh, NC replaced them. The Band was called Glass Moon. My buddy had just got back from California around March of 1974 and brought back two albums he heard on WKIS in California he said. One album was the first Kansas Album and the other one was KISS (Debut). This concert was near the end of the year. It was a last minute thing as we all piled into a van and off we went.

When I walked in I couldn't believe my eyes. There was like two hundred people standing up at the front of the coliseum and KISS was playing Firehouse. The place holds 9,000 people, can you believe this? Well Kiss blew me away and I've never been the same since. Now after there done, you have to remember they use to open for BOC at first and they did that night as well.

BOC comes on and it must of been the 3rd or 4th song this girl is standing next to this guy and a whole bunch of girls are circling them. I walk up next to this couple as I left my friends who wanted to sit the whole time anyway. This guy is the guitarist from KISS and his face had the Makeup brushed off all except the base of it so you couldn't see who it was. It was Ace Frehley. You know I have no picture to prove that to show everyone years later.

They only have my word and that's a funny thing as my daughter and I went to see Nickleback here last weekend and she had the her dream come true by getting back stage to meet the band.

During the concert she was going up to people asking if she could by their camera phone instead of enjoying the music. She tells me no one will believe dad if I don't get pictures. I told her who cares - you know you were there and that's all should matter.

Wild story you think? Well its the truth and my wife and I picked up my daughter at the MARRIOT Hotel the next morning. She is 30 yrs old in case you thought she was a younger teen.

The KISS/BOC tour resumes after a break.

Running order: KISS, Nazareth, Blue Oyster Cult

By the way - the dates on both this Indianapolis show and South Bend show on the next day are often listed incorrectly.

We consulted KISS's itineraries, and also called the venues and/or promoters to clarify when these shows happened and the results of our findings was that the Indianapolis show took place on August 3, and the South Bend show took place on August 4.

Running order: KISS, Nazareth, Blue Oyster Cult

As well as this gig often being incorrectly dated as the 6th August, the venue name is often misquoted.

Please note that the correct name of the venue is Morris Civic Auditorium, not the Civic Center as is sometimes given.

I only know of the existance of this show thanks to Konstantinos Takos (responsible for maintaining and updating the giglists at www.uriah-heep.com) who kindly sent me a link to the above photo on flickr taken by "pcsf11". The photographer offers the following info on his page:

"Concert signs posted on the door of a music store at the West Shore Plaza, Lemoyne, PA. The prices at the Farm Show arena were $5 advance, $6 at the door. Photo taken in June 1974 with Canon FTb."

This doesn't conclusively prove the gig actually took place, of course, because the photo was taken over a month, maybe nearly two months before the gig, but I rate the photo to be fairly decent evidence of a Harrisburgh show on that date.

Unless you know better...

You question whether that show actually took place or not. I can't confirm it but know that I was NOT at that one despite seeing every other Harrisburg, Hershey, and Philadelphia show from 1974 through 1977.

I just know that I was such a fan by then that I was aware of shows anywhere nearby, and went to all of them. The Harrisburg arena is the closest one to home, so if they were there, I SHOULD have also been there - or at least remembered "not going".

As late as the early 90s, they were still on my radar, but I didn't attend all shows. I may be able to find out locally if the show did indeed take place.

• New York Dolls didn't play

Fargo... my 1st BOC show. It was at the Fargo Civic Auditorium. A guy comes onstage around 7:00... says the NY Dolls said something to the effect of "Fuck North Dakota, we aint coming! " We could get our money back or stay and watch BOC who agreed to do a double set.

They took the stage about 7:30 and I remember looking at a clock behind the stage that said 11:40 and they were still playing. Great show... glad the Dolls decided to skip out.

Regarding there being an opening band (Gandolf) - it was so long ago, but I don't remember a opening act. It is possible.

I do remember BOC played a regular set... came back for a one song encore , then another 2 song encore, then a 3 song encore, a four song encore, and came out yet again and played 5 more songs.

So they took quite a few breaks. I was not very familar with their songs at the time, I remember at the end they seemed to be doing a lot of covers, they might have even played a few songs twice, but it was definately almost midnight when they quit playing.

I thought the stagehand said the NY Dolls were back in Minneapolis and didn't want to come to N Dakota, so I don't know if they played the Minot show or not the night before...

Regarding the Dolls: the following link has a Dolls gig chronology:

• www.fromthearchives.org/nyd/chronology.html

Both this gig and the Minot gig are mentioned - though it doesn't say that they didn't play the Fargo gig.

One thing they do mention is that roadie Peter Jordan replaced Arthur Kane on bass for these two shows. If you check back up their schedule, you'll see that this had happened before - clearly by this stage, Killer Kane was struggling to keep on top of his lifestyle, and this may well have had some bearing on the Doll's Fargo cancellation.

I don't have a venue for this gig - the official site lists it as Oakland Coliseum or the Cow Palace...

Venue was Winterland. I was there...

The only indication I have that a gig was scheduled to take place on this date in this location is a couple of mentions in the Southeast Missourian newspaper. Here's the first (from the 22nd August 1974 edition):

"A rock concert by the Blue Oyster Cult will be held as scheduled Aug 29 at the Arena Building since the promoter already paid the required deposit, signed conditions of use and has the entertainer under contract, City Park Superintendant Donald R Horlacher said today. Dates for five other rock performances will be canceled, he said. The city made the decision because of the use of drugs and alcohol by youths attending such previous performances at the Arena Building, City Manager WG Lawley said."

The second was a "review" of the gig which appeared in the 30th August issue which confirmed that BOC turned up for the show, but that the power requirements were not met for their show to take place, so they didn't take the stage, despite the two supports acts (Osage Lute and Bat Jack) playing.

Apparently, attempts to hire additional genrators during the day met with no success, and the newspaper article hinted at the possibility of skullduggery in this regard as the gig was not wanted by the city officials...

I was at this show. I had never heard of BOC but became a fan after the show. Aerosmith was the band everyone came to see and they blew the roof off the Coliseum, which was a hockey arena. The acoustics sucked but where I sat, I could hear pretty good.

I saw Johnny Winter there about two months before - I was down front and couldn't hear his singing. That was a long time ago.

This was my very first BOC concert. I don't recall much in the way of details except for a few that stick in my mind. I do remember watching Tom Rush and I was a big Weather Report fan at that time and was excited to see them. Their drummer was to the right and facing in towards the rest of the band which I thought looked cool and gave a better view of his playing from the seats.

So they were very good and then the anticipation for my new favorite band, Blue Oyster Cult. By the time of their set it was dusk and they were the first band to have a really visible light show. I remember them standing in a sea of dry ice fog at one point. All very impressive to this then 19 year old.

The final segment of the mini KISS/BOC tour resumes.

Running order: Rush, KISS, Blue Oyster Cult

My first show was in the fall of 74, BOC at Thomas Fieldhouse on the campus of Lock Haven State College in PA. It was, like, a $5 ticket (a whole week's worth of earnings from delivering newspapers!. Treaties was released earlier that year. The place was packed to the rafters, probably 2,200 rowdy kids. My friend Bill and I sat in those bleachers and rocked as only a couple of 16 year olds can.We didn't get to see many big name rock shows in Central PA.

When the guys played Harvester, I remember they had a Roland synthesizer that was having a problem with itself. I think it was Eric who banged on the side of it to get it working. A display of brute force against the technology of the era, brilliantly executed in full leathers. A few years later, Bill and I played in a R'n'R band that covered Death Valley Nights with a female lead singer.

My recollection of BOC's set is rather fuzzy, unfirtunately. It was a very busy night. Bearing this in mind, here is what I remember (no particular order):

The Red and the Black
ME262
Harvester of Eyes
Career of Evil
Hot Rails to Hell
Astronomy
ODd on Life Itself
Bucks Boogie
Flaming Telepaths

The show was on a school night, my friend and I had an 11 pm curfew, and it was taking the crews forever to reset the stage between acts. BOC was headlining, natch, and we had to pack it in and head home at 10:45. Anything that happened past that time would have been relayed to us by a non-musician 3rd party. We were told that Cult's set wasnt much over 90 minutes.

And that's pretty much what happened that night, to the best of my knowledge and recollection. Sorry I couldnt be any more help than this...

The final gig of the mini KISS/BOC tour.

Running order: Rush, KISS, Blue Oyster Cult

I just wanted to post a comment about BOC's 1974 gig at the Tennessee State Fair. I was there, and it was the first time that I had ever seen them...

The show was utterly fantastic and shaped me and my musical taste and style for the rest of my life.

The most amazing part of this experience is this... imagine yourself in Nashville TN in 1974... BOC opens for Lynyrd Skynyrd (who are riding a big wave about then). After BOC's set....most of the audience starts to get up and leave (I did... I mean who the hell could top BOC) after they did about 2 encores... and Skynyrd had to come out and OPEN with Free Bird just to keep the audience there.

I don't know about you, but that to me was just amazing...

I saw a T-Rex torrent for this gig on Dime but it looks like the original taper unfortunately didn't record BOC...

I attended this show, travelling with a friend by bus from my hometown of Glens Falls, NY to New York City to see the band play at the Academy Of Music.

This show is rather infamous in my memory as I had a bit of a mishap during the intermission. Seemingly the entire crowd filed downstairs outside of the restrooms to ingest various substances.

We soon found ourselves passing the bowl of a fellow concertgoer around and around. I started to feel a bit funny and leaned against a nearby pole. Then the lights started to dim but it was not for the band. I couldn't see and I started telling my friend, "Ed, I can't see. I can't see!". I was told that next I slowly slid down along the pole until I was out stone cold on the floor. I recall still being able to hear everybody talking: "Some of that bad acid" etc.

Next thing, I awoke with a start as I was being carried up the stairs by 4 guys. They took me outside to get some fresh NYC air and i felt much better. When BOC came on, I was feeling great and enjoying myself greatly but my friend kept a nervous eye on me fearful of a recurrence.

T-Rex's participation as support for this gig must be in some doubt. Check out Cliff McLenehan's note below - it doesn't mention this gig.

It looks like Marc Bolan was having some personal problems at this time and a number of performances were cancelled whilst he got straightened out.

For some insight into these personal problems, check out the 13 Oct 1974 Golden Hall show below...

Thanks to Cliff McLenehan, author of "Marc Bolan 1947-1977 A Chronology" [www.helterskelterbooks.com] for confirmation of this gig...

Hi Ralph,

Here are some corrections/additions for you. This is pretty much authorative as I had access to T. Rex tour manager Mickey Marmalade's tour itinerary.

• 11/10 - Warner Theatre, Fresno (probably just a small spelling mistake by you)
• 14/10 - Show Palace, Phoenix
• 23/10 - Stampede Corral, Calgary, Alberta
• 24/10 - Kinsmen Fieldhouse, Edmonton, Alberta
• 26/10 - The Gymnasium, University Of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Everything else was correct. I know that T. Rex and BOC shared the same US booking agent at the time. Of course, the name now escapes me. Hope I've been of some help,

Best wishes
Cliff

Regarding the spelling of the "Warner Theatre" venue - I have a jpeg of this theatre and it is clearly spelled "Warnors", so that's why I've gone with that...

• OYFOOYK recording
• T-Rex didn't play

In 74, I would again see BOC, this time at the Long Beach Arena.The arena was sold out. T. Rex was scheduled to open for the boys. T. Rex (Marc Bolan) was either a "no show" or too fucked up to go on stage. They made the announcement that T. Rex would not be performing, the crowd was not pleased.

They sent some guy out on stage with an acoustic guitar, now the crowd was really not happy. He tried to play a few songs, but the crowd would have any of it. So he ended with a song that had a chorus that I remember to this day.

It went like this " so fucken what, I gotta get out of this rut, it's a pain in the butt, so fucken what."

And this is how it ended up:

guitar guy: So fucken what
the crowd: FUCK YOU!
guitar guy: I gotta get out of this rut
the crowd: FUCK YOU!
guitar guy: It's a pain in the butt
the crowd: FUCK YOU!
guitar guy: So fucken what
the crowd: FUCK YOU!
guitar guy: fuck you!

The crowd was now ready for someBOC and they came out and played their ass' off. A number of the songs from that evening appear on the "On Your Feet Or On Your Knees"album, that's CD for you youngerfolks. Yes, the amazing Blue Oyster Cult.

I've never been able to find out who the guitar guy was, poor guy.

The Long Beach arena gig on Oct 12 '74 was the first time I had seen the Band. I was 15. My best friend Rusty and I had heard about them some months before. We thought the Band's name sounded really bizarre & cool, so we went to our local record shop to pick up a couple of their albums.

Rusty bought "Tyranny & Mutation"; I purchased their new album "Secret Treaties". We both instantly dug the band, the music and the imagery, so went about telling all our friends & schoolmates about them. We became responsible for turning on most of Orange County to the band that year!

T-Rex was supposed to play first, but for some unknown reason cancelled at the last minute. Rusty & I didn't care. We were there to see BOC! When the band came on, we were totally blown away! The set list is chronicled elsewhere, as I cannot remember the exact song order.(it's been 33 years!) Eric made mention that the show was being recorded, and the crowd went wild!

The Band was great. Standing about 6 feet from Buck, we witnessed some the best guitar playing we had ever seen. Some of that show made it onto the "On Your Feet Or On Your Knees" double live album. It was a privilege to be in the audience for that moment in BOC history! I have been a fan of the Group ever since, and have seen them many times throughout the decades. BOC On Tour Forever!

I hadn't seen the Long Beach Arena that full since The Grand Ol' Opry was in town... seriously! I saw Johnny Cash on the very same stage. The vibe from the crowd was intense! You could tell there were many, many hard-core BOC fans in attendance. I wish I could remember the opening soundtrack to these shows... as I somewhat dimly recall, it was quite majestic and doomy, and I could feel the bass in my chest.

The band was so hot! So cohesive, so spot on in their renditions of songs I already knew by heart, and those I would come to know intimately later on. Buck's white suit took on an ethereal quality as his guitar mastery sought to hypnotize. Eric, who was my major heartthrob back in the day, appeared tall, lean, and handsome in black, with a voice that could melt any girls heart... not to mention other anatomical areas of pleasure.

The renderings of Hot Rails to Hell and Dominance and Submission stand out in my memory as being captivating and haunting. Still being a silly girl who preferred studio recordings to live performances (I know! It's hard to admit to even now!) I remember being stunned at the quality of musicianship of all the band's members, and for the first time in my until-then-sheltered-life, I loved me some live rockin' and rollin'! BOC was the catalyst; I would forever more appreciate the fact that a tune could be different from the studio version, and be absolutely wonderful!

Cities on Flame! Oh! My! God!! I screamed along with that one until my little girl voice cracked! And Last Days of May... this tune became the ultimate road trip song for me and my pals... the sky was bright, the traffic light, now and then a truck... and we hadn't seen a cop around all day... we were into riding dirt bikes out in the Mojave desert, and when you hit town, there was this one lonely traffic light out in the middle of nowhere. We just knew that tune was meant for us, exclusively!

October 1974. Long Beach Arena. After listening to their first 3 albums over and over, I was ready for this.

As I stood in line outside the Arena, "The Symbol" suddenly lit up the entire wall of the Arena. Crowd went wild. Seen them over 50 times since. Is there anything better than the right frame of mind, a bean bag chair, headphones, and Secret Treaties' "Astronomy"? I didn't think so. BOC, the Light that never warms...

I went to that show with my then girlfriend (later wife...). It was awesome! The crowd was so pissed off when they heard T-Rex wasn't gonna make it. When the lonely guy came out on stage to play his solo song, I though the crowd was going to rush him and beat him to death with his guitar.

Buck was incredible. Someone else mentioned his white suit. When he played "Last Days of May" it was hypnotizing. Hmmmm... maybe the hits of acid had something to do with it... Nah... he really was awesome.

We all had a big bag of Colombian Red weed. I remember rolling a joint as they played the song "Flaming Telepaths". I was sitting and rolling and by the time they got deep into "the jokes on you" part of the song, there was nobody sitting down. They played it long and hard and it built in intensity until I not only lost the joint I was rolling, but most of our weed...

Didn't matter. And when they announced it was being recorded for a live album, that blew everyone away.

The "Five Guitar Boogie" was really wild. It's the picture they used on the inside of the album cover.

That show was recorded by KNAC in Long Beach. They used to play songs from that concert, like "Buck's Boogie" and "Last Days of May". I think it was filmed too. Somewhere, in a vault, is some of the best music ever played live. I'd give my left nut to get my hands on that recording!

I thought it was kinda bunk that they only put 3 of the songs from Long Beach on the live album. Although the 3 were great, "Flaming Telepaths" should have definitely been on there...

I've met and partied with many that were there that night, although we didn't know each other at the time. I doubt there was a single person there that night that left disappointed...

I think I saw somewhere that Marc Bolan had laryngitus and that was why T-Rex pulled out of this date, but then I saw the link given below for the San Diego Golden Hall show...

At 15 years old This was one of the best Live Rock Shows ever. The Long Beach Arena is and will always be the best place to see a Rock Band Live.

KNAC was in the F&M Bank Building then. KNAC is the place to be on your Radio. If you remember that you were there. I remember the Fuck song and The BOC LOGO outside on the Arena wall.

But most of all back then NO SEATS ON the floor. General seating. Sit where you please. Those days are gone FOREVER. As I remembered it not to many people cared that T-Rex was not there. I remember a cheer for them not showing.

Check out this link, featuring an interview with Marc Bolan which took place on November 9, 1974 backstage at Roberts Stadium in Evansville, Indiana (so that's maybe a month after this show):

• www1.shore.net/~natalie/nov74-1.htm

In case the above link disappears or changes, here's the important bits. When asked if the American tour is going to revitalize T-Rex, Marc Bolan says: "Well, everywhere we've been we've sold out, and we've only done two gigs with other bands."

Hmmm... only two gigs, eh? He later added "we've played nothing less than 7,000, and we've been sold out everywhere... what happened was that everywhere we were advertised it sold out, which is really nice, really pleasant."

I suppose the corrollory must be that everywhere T-Rex weren't advertised, they didn't sell out... I think Marc Bolan must have been living in some Marc-centric dreamworld...

Then Bolan says the following: "In fact, we're all a bit sick, there's some flu thing, I don't know, have you got it here? I was a bit croaky tonight. The only gig we had to cancel was Los Angeles, and that was terrible because we were playing a thing with Blue Oyster Cult, and we were headlining. It was our show, and we sold 17,000 seats, and I had such a bad sore throat that I couldn't open my mouth, which was a real drag, 'cos it's such a good city, you know."

"We never thought we'd sell out, we thought we'd get about 12,000, which is enough people, and Zap, just like that [croaking sounds], you know [croaking] "Ah, the Light of Love"... Randy Newman's old man is a doctor... he came down and said, "Don't sing for six months," so we did after two days."

"So then what happened is that the night before we went to San Diego, and I had a bad sore throat then, I went and I really sang too hard, you know, and the show was great, but I came off [gasping sounds]... Have you seen "Day of the Dolphin"? Well, I sounded like the dolphin."

I don't know where to start with this load of old bollocks. For a start, I have to assume by Los Angeles, he means Long Beach which definitely wasn't a T-Rex "headline" show and which they didn't sell out. Also - San Diego was the day after, not the day before, and they cancelled that also.

Don't get me wrong - I like Marc Bolan - I grew up listening to a lot of his stuff, but he does seem to be a bit of a self-important tit...

• T-Rex didn't play
• Gig recorded for OYFOOYK (but no tracks used)

Here's some text from an article on the San Diego Reader website, entitled "50 Historic Local Concerts 1956-2006" that sheds some light on what happened to T-Rex during these gigs with BOC...

So - does anybody know - did Little Feat definitely play that night?

I was 15 at the time and to this day this show remains one of the most iconic memories of my youth and literally transformed me into a fan of heavy rock that is still with me today.

About 6 months before this show I was introduced to BOC by a friend who had a cousin who lived in New York. He had a copy of Secret Treaties and I can still remember the first time I heard it. I remember being completely mesmerized by the BOC logo and the album cover with the plane and dead dogs. There was a since of evil and illusion that just seemed to rattle my cage.

Each day I would return to my friends house and we would crank that record through his Pioneer amp and JBL speakers. That album became our soundtrack and we literally wore the vinyl off that record. So when we heard that BOC was coming to San Diego there was absolutely no way we were going to miss this show.

My friend had just got his drivers license. He picked me up and we drove to Mission Bay park where we drank some beers and smoked some reefer to get fired up for the show. Our seats were to the left of the stage about 5th row. There were empty seats next to us all the way to the end of the row (remember this as it's important to what I'm about to tell you).

I can remember them announcing that Styx would be playing a show in a few weeks as they played the song "Lady". After what seemed like a long wait someone walked on stage and announced that T.Rex would not be playing. He then went on to say that because of this, BOC would be playing an extra long set. My friend and I could not have been happier.

BOC hit the stage with "Stairway to the Stars" and didn't let up until their second encore which I believe was "Born to be Wild". I know this is going to sound far fetched but during "Bucks Boogie" we were smoking a joint when all of the sudden Eric was sitting right next to us and wanted a hit.

He had left the stage and took a couple of hits before returning at the end of the song. We were absolutely stunned by what had just happened and to this day we still talk about it when we get together.

The highlight of the show was "Flaming Telepaths" which led into "Astronomy". The "jokes on you" line seemed to go on forever and the energy and vibe of that moment is hard to describe.

After the show it was hilarious because we forgot which floor we had parked on and literally had to wait until every car was out of the 8-story circular parking structure before we could find our car. I guess that¹s why the call it "Dope".

PS: Little Feat did not play that night, only BOC.

Also, as with the Long Beach Arena show the night before, Eric Bloom announced that they were recording this show for a live album which would become "On Your Feet or On Your Knees".

Matter of fact when they announced BOC that night they said "On your feet or on your knees, here they are the amazing Blue Oyster Cult". Not sure if any of the tracks from the Golden Hall show made it on the record but I believe the liner notes from the double album mention San Diego.

By the way your website is amazing and can't believe all of the great information here.

To sum up my feelings on BOC I would have to say what made them unique and different was their creative blending of Science, illusion, magic and metal.

I'm really excited because in 2 days I get to see BOC at the San Diego County Fair [ 5 July 2010 ]. Can't wait!!!

• OYFOOYK recording

The ONLY gig involved in the recording of "On your Feet" that I don't have a date for is the "Phoenix Show Palace"... it's mentioned on the back of the record, but nobody seems to know about that venue.

Do you?

I know for a fact that BOC played in Phoenix, AZ on October 14, 1974. It is listed on this site: http://www2.cambridge.ma-usa.sugarmegs.org/billgrahm.txt

T-Rex and Golden Earring opened the show, seems to be a Bill Graham sponsored event. This also coincides geographically with the tour schedule listed on the BOC website. I'm also 99% sure the venue would be Celebrity Theatre in Phoenix, AZ. They were hosting many shows there in the mid 70's. As far as I know, there was never a place called the Show Palace in Phoenix.

I have run into people who say they saw BOC play at the Celebrity Theatre in the mid 70's... hope this sheds some light on the mysterious OYFOOYK reference to Phoenix, AZ.

Visit Mark's vegas4boc site...

As for the Show Palace venue, I can say for certain that it was not the Celebrity Theater (the Celeb has been called the Celeb since it opened in 1963).

I want to say, and I have nothing to base this on but my questionable memory, that the Show Palace was at 33rd Avenue and Indian School Road, later becoming a Graham Central Station, and then Graham's. I'll try to verify this and get back to you.

The stub above I found on eBay is both helpful and unhelpful. It does confirm the date supplied by Mark but the lack of a venue name is a bit of a pain.

However, it does give a partial address - "38th Ave and Indian School Road" - and this chimes with what Russ was saying about the address. I googled "Celebrity Theater" and it seems that is on Van Buren so it's doubtful that this was the venue for this show. Obviously it may have changed locations - like Graham Central Station - but Russ doesn't think so...

This Golden Earring fan site gives the following info for this date: "Phoenix Show Palace (Cow Palace?) - T-Rex and Golden Earring opened the show for Blue Oyster Cult - Source: ad Rolling Stone magazine USA October 10, 1974"...

It looks like "Rolling Stone" can't have printed a venue name in their ad as the Earring site only said "Phoenix Show Palace (Cow Palace?)"... and yet, where did the Earring site get the info they did have? It's all very odd...

If you have any old copies of "Rolling Stone" lying around, please check this out for me if you can...

Anyway, for now, it's back to the drawing board on this one... I'll switch the venue name back to the mysterious "Show Palace" that may or may not exist - as mentioned on the "On your Feet" LP cover...

As usual, if you know anything, please let me know...

I only heard of this gig's existance when I noticed a mention on the mylespaul.com forum in a post from the bass-player of the opening band, the Morgan Blackwood Group. I contacted him to see if he had a date or any other info (my best guess would be Tuesday 15th, Wednesday 16th or Thursday 17th October, seeing as how Portland OR was on the 18th...

It was in the Fall of 1974, the gig was T-Rex and Blue Oyster Cult, not sure the exact date, but it was at the Armory - it's a huge armory by the way. A lot of times places like Medford, or where I grew up in Chico CA bands didn't have their concerts listed.

The name of our band was Morgan Blackwood Group, and our management was Superstar Attractions, manager Harry Arnold in Ashland Oregon.

I would imagine the concert was Oct 16th or 17th, I do believe it happened on a week day Medford is a medium sized city, probably wasn't thought of as important.

I remember a lot of big concerts in Medford that never show up on Concert Schedules when you look them up. We also did Fleetwood Mac Triumvirat concert there that also doesn't show up on the old Schedule but I do have a flyer and Back Stage Pass from that one for reference.

• OYFOOYK recording

Ever since their first album came out I was dying to see BOC. A bunch of us headed up from Eugene - all U of O students - to see what live BOC was like. We were all blown away! The setlist was pretty much like OYFOOYK (different running order tho.) I do remember that they didn't play The red and Black - to our disapointment.

Also remember Marc Bolan from T Rex rising out of that star and endearing himself to the crowd: "So this is effing Portland Oregon!"

• OYFOOYK recording

I saw Blue Oyster Cult with T-Rex on 19 Oct 1974 at the Paramount NW in Seattle, a sellout event. This was the second time I saw BOC at the PNW that year. Trying to recall events after 30+ years is difficult. Both concerts seem to blend together now. This is how I remember it.

Many in the crowd were dressed up like glam rock stars. They looked like a cross between Gary Glitter and David Bowie, colorful clothing, platform shoes, dyed hair, makeup, glitter, etc.. T-Rex was the first to play that night. The only T-Rex song that I remember was "Bang A Gong (Get It On)". The up and coming BOC was the headliner. They played most of the tracks from their new "Secret Treaties" album, plus many from earlier work. The band now had three albums, enough stuff of their own for extended concert play. A young Buck Dharma had already developed the skills to become one of the best hard rock lead guitar players ever. Eric Bloom had a stand out performance with his stage theatrics and vocal skills on tracks such as "Dominance And Submission", "Flaming Telepaths" and "Career Of Evil".

The 4-5 deep line of people, waiting for the theater doors to open, wrapped around the side of the building and up the block. Waiting in line, I noticed many large cables coming out of the stage entrance and going into a semi trailer. I believe this was so BOC could record tracks for their next double live album "On Your Feet Or On Your Knees" (ca. Feb 1975). OYFOOYK album notes listed PNW as one of the venues where music was recorded.

I was there also!! It was my first concert ever... 15 years old. 33 years and I remember in a haze (it was the 70's after all). I went to see T. rex and remember that he started on his back on an illuminated lift that raised him to a vertical position with pyrotechnics, and had him outlined in a star with lights. He played Bang a Gong and most of the the songs from "The Slider".

What I remember about BOC is that they were loud! Remember this was my first concert. They were very theatrical. I wasn't really a fan before, but was after and still get nostalgic at "Don't Fear the Reaper". So cool I found the date for this show.

Saw a mention on a site that T-Rex were the headliners for this gig and BOC only opened. Does anybody know for definite?

My first concert - B.O.C. backing up T.Rex, I was 14 years old at the time and can remember that B.O.C. came out and put on an AMAZING show - strobe lights, flashpots, dry ice, blacklights might seem old hat now but bear in mind this was my first concert so It was pretty intense.

Not to slag T.Rex but the Blue Oysters sorta blew them off the stage - I remember seeing some dudes throwing bottles at Marc Bolan - not very cool but that's how bad they wanted a second encore.

I saw this show at the tender age of 12 years old! My friend and I must have been the youngest people in the place - it was my second-ever rock concert -- I had seen a Queen concert a few months previous.

I didn't even know who T-Rex was at the time, and I don't really remember their show. We were there to see BOC and I can remember being blown away. It definitely was a formative event from my youth.

Since I was not yet smoking pot or doing any other drugs at concerts, I was later able to remember a lot of what I witnessed that night -- lots of smoke, strange smells, denim everywhere, long hair, and everyone taller than me.

Most of all, an awesome performance from the band!

Went to this show, I was actually there for T Rex and it was my first exposure to BOC.

BOC opened and really got the place going, the crowd was really into it and then T Rex came on. It was like letting the air out of a balloon.

To be honest, T Rex sucked but BOC was well worth the price of admission.

Those were the druggy years, you're asking alot of my faded memories!

I don't remember whether BOC headlined or not, they may have been the warmup, I have a vague memory of walking out before T-Rex was finished, which would suggest they in fact headlined.

I really doubt that Holy Smoke appeared, third acts were usually local bands, so HS wouldn't have travelled cross-country with BOC/T-Rex.

I have no degree of certainty about the 26th date, although I do remember perusing the BOC official site a few years ago and somehow extrapolating that date from the geography/travel possibilities. If the bands went west to east, Edmonton Alberta, Calgary Alberta, and Regina or Saskatoon in Saskatchewan would have been likely dates as well. The U of Manitoba show was in the gymnasium, with probably 1500 attending. Edmonton and Calgary were both about the same size as WPG, about 500,000 population.

I attended this concert in the University of Manitoba East Gym. T-Rex headlined, although I remember there being some controversy about who would play first.

A local band, Steel was added as an opening act. BOC was the crowd favorite, many people left before T-Rex finshed. Can't remember the set list, although Cities on Flame stood out.

This gig saw the start of the BOC/Aerosmith feud...

My friends and myself are psyched up all day, we're going to our first Blue Oyster Cult concert.

The lineup for the show is Hydra, BOC and Aerosmith so we know its gonna be along night and we have an hour drive from Pittsfield down to Springfield. We had all of our goodies ready and some Old Grand Dad to smuggle in and mix with our cokes.

Hydra opened up and was good but we had never heard of them, I think they were from Georgia.

Next is BOC and were all pretty buzzed at this point, finally the lights go down and the announcement is made " On your feet or on your knees, here they are from new york city, the amazing Blue Oyster Cult" . Well off went the flash pots and out comes BOC playing stairway to the stars, the whole band was rocking out the civic center with a vengeance.

Next was OD'd on life followed by Career of Evil. We just keep looking at each other, what a show, next was Harvester of Eyes followed by Cities on flame then Flaming telepaths.

Next it was Buck's boogie and then ME-262, we're singing along and having a great time. The regular set ended with Hot rails to hell, everybody in the civic center is screaming for more and the place is lit up with everybodies lighters.

Out they come and blast into Born to be wild with the blue strobes going off, the scraping guitars and a hell bent for leather intensity that can't be beat.

All the way home we talked about Eric's boots with the kronos symbols on them, the strobes and the scraping guitars and Buck's guitar work.

Aerosmith came on next did some great songs, my favorite was Seasons of wither, but it just wasn't BOC.

Oh yes - I was there with several great friends in high school. I had read about Hydra and even purchased their first recording prior to the show. I didn't know they were even on the bill and I recognized them as they took the stage. A few really good songs, especially "Land Of Money".

BOC just destroyed the place. The "feud", I believe, relates to Aerosmith pulling the plug on BOC's use of FX as their warm up act. Then, quid pro quo, Aerosmith's entire sound and power mysteriously vanished mid set for them. Joey Kramer, Aerosmith's drummer did his solo acoustic, which was lame - I remember he goofed, grabbing his own head of hair and slamming his head into a drum while simultaneously using his kick pedal. Funny... but not as amusing as when singer Steven Tyler lept on stage after power resumed wanting to know "who was the cunt who shut us down."...

I remember that the set was very short after the power outage... It was a magical night in rock & roll.

That was the first time that Hydra played "Land Of Money" for people... it was worked up on the way to Springfield... and that was the name of the second album... I was happy as a pig in shit that night as the band played fucking great and I had a big ol PA to mix on and they didn't even sandbag me that I could notice...

I even got the PA company to give me a separate mic for the cowbell!!... the song they were opening with at the time featured very prominent cowbell and it was really hard to get it if I didn't have a separate mic on it... most PA companies would just laugh when I handed them the mic list with a cowbell mic listed on it...

Aerosmith didn't leave BOC much room, wouldn't let them use the lights they wanted to put up for their set, wouldn't let them use any lights on the main trusses and I believe didn't let them use any effects (fog/flashpots)...

Then during the Aerosmith set one of the see factor guys touring with BOC (Richard "Ho Chi" Holtz) slipped into the power distribution room and lifted the neutral on the power distro...

That fried most of the PA and lighting system... they finished their show with next to NO lights and sound... I was hip to the whole thing as it went down... Ho Chi had come up to me as I was standing on the side of the stage watching Aerosmith and told me to watch closely cause the show was about to get really interesting...

As he slipped away, I followed him and saw him go into the power room and figured he was gonna sabotage them in some way... as soon as he did it he left the building... nobody else with BOC had a clue what was going on...

Once the feces hit the fan, I was the one that took Downey and E.Crowe off to the side and told them that Richard had done something to the power, so they wouldn't be totally clueless...

11-10-74 - Aerosmith, BOC, Hydra

Well, Wally reckons this gig was Sunday 10 November - I think it was Sunday 3 November. Anybody know for sure?

November 17th 1974 is an important event from my teenage years. This event was billed in the local trade papers as ( dig this ! ): "Heavy Metal Sunday"

Obviously the advertising push was effective in getting the message across to a passionate rock and roll fan. I was the first person in line to buy tickets downtown at the Baltimore Civic Center box office... I don't remember many people being there to get seats. I was a high school senior at the time, and I cut school to be there the day the tickets went on sale.

The orchestra floor was standing room / general admission and the raised sections on the sides were assigned seating. My ticket was Lower Concourse Section 2 Seat 1. I sat in the first row on the corner of the first raised section at a 45 degree angle to the right of the stage.

The show running order went as follows:

1. Opening Act: PFM
2. Ruth Copland
3. Blue Oyster Cult
4. Aerosmith
5. Steppenwolf

(If I had to second guess my memory, Ruth Copland went first then PFM but the 3-4-5 slots are correct.)

Among the things I remember...

• PFM playing "Celebration"...
• Ruth had some knee-high hippie-style buckskin(?) leather boots... perhaps a red or cranberry wool-type stretch beret... she had it goin' on...

This concert was the first of two or possibly three BOC shows that I attended in the 70s-80's (thumbs up)... The most striking thing that I recall about seeing BOC for the first time was how cool it was to watch Eric Bloom (?) (aviator shades) during an instrumental climax to one of the songs.

He was standing sideways looking out to the audience, and leaning back while a power fan blew dry ice and smoke effects against him... - Not unlike the classic Maxell tape advertising concept, except he was standing not sitting in a chair

The spotlight was on him as he spun a pocket watch from the end of a watchfob chain in a 360 degree circle while strobe lighting emphasized the stuttering forward/reverse/stop/go visual eye candy--OH YEAH!!! The visual was a nice complement to some great rock and roll Cities on Flame, The Red and The Black.

Aerosmith were dynamite and the selections from their first two lps like "Mama Kin" and "Train Kept A Rollin'" were great. Steve Tyler was doin' the physical-front man / cartwheel-type stuff with his scarves providing visual flow from the mike stand.

We left early to midway through Steppenwolf because our ears were shot and we were exhausted from all the rock and roll fun.

I saw BOC several times. The first was at "Heavy Metal Sunday" at the "Civic Center" in Baltimore, MD Nov. 17, 1974.

Your band line-up is correct, but Ruth Copeland opened, not PFM. BOC came on third, followed by AEROSMITH, and STEPPENWOLF headlined.

I remember the crowd was very rowdy, beat up a security guard, and threw him off the back of the bleachers towards the rear of the main floor. I'm sure it was a long way down, and he was injured.

All I seem to remember about the BOC show is that they went down very well, and they had some sort of flame pyro onstage.

I was a fan of the Airplane and Starship but I was worried that the B.O.C. vibe would not translate very well to what certainly would be a rabid Starship home audience. I felt we might go over like the proverbial "lead balloon." As it turns out we were fairly well received and my fears were unfounded.

The Sensational Alex Harvey Band opened... eventually. In the roasting hot, badly oversold Aragon (which was a hellhole even in the best of conditions), SAHB finally sauntered onto the stage, at least one hour late. Not a good way to endear themselves to the notoriously surly Aragon crowd, who usually had little patience with the first band on the bill.

So SAHB finally gets onstage... and Alex Harvey promptly refuses to begin the set without his cheesy, pre-recorded trumpet fanfare. The Sensational One walked offstage again, for several more minutes, while his "fanfare" was cued up.

Finally the set starts, but the damage had been done. Harvey could have given a twenty dollar bill to each member of the 4,000+ crowd, it wouldn't have helped, Harvey had lost the audience before the first note had been played. Idiot.

The booing, verbal abuse, and garbage and beer-tossing intensified as the set went on...and on... and on. Finally, after spray painting some gibberish on a fake wall on the stage, Alex & his droogies finished up... luckily escaping without being lynched.

Manfred Mann's Earth Band played their usual excellent set (I'd seen them several times), then BOC finally hit the stage, and, as always, blew the roof off the Aragon.

I could never decide whether the Raspberries (subbing for the Stooges) at the Auditorium Theater (December 1973) or SAHB got a worse reception as an opening act for BOC. But the Raspberries really did nothing to deserve the abuse heaped upon them that night, they simply weren't the Stooges, absolutely the wrong band to open for the hellfire and brimstone of BOC. SAHB asked for the abuse, and Harvey egged the crowd on.

It took many years for me to realize the Raspberries were actually a pretty good band in a thankless, no win position. While the SAHB just asked for what they got, and they weren't all that good to begin with.

This date is confirmed by the Aragon venue website.

Here's a quote from an interview with the Sensational Alex Harvey Band that appeared in the NME on 18 January 1975:

The actual point of this encounter is to let you know how well The Sensational Alex Harvey Band did on their American Tour. Those of you who can recall the epic pelting they received at the hands of Uriah Heep fans at Alexandra Palace may be amused to know that similar occurrences were devised by the colonials.

"Aye. They gave us some stick in Chicago," Harvey recalls fondly. "The guy from the record company was nearly in tears - but we got some unbelievable press of it."

They were supporting Blue Oyster Cult and Manfred Mann. The furore erupted as Harvey pulled out the opening lines of Jacques Brel's "Next". He reacted by grinning broadly and blowing kisses.

"It's the sixth time it's happened to this band. That particular point in the set is very much touch and go for people who've never seen us. I mean, I think a lot of them get really distrubed by 'Next'. They think it's a piss-take..."

"It is, after all" added Cleminson "almost corny."

OK I have two gigs vying for this date - the Omaha one comes from adverts kindly sent by Art Liming and Peter Nielsen advertising the upcoming gig at the Civic Auditorium.

As it's such a contemporaneous piece of dating evidence, I tend to place a degree of faith in it.

The second gig contender is the Palmer Auditorium, Davenport IA with Premiate Forneria Marconi and Foghat.

This date is confirmed by the quadcitymusic.com venue history website here and the Foghat site here...

It's a tricky one. As usual, if you know for sure which of these is correct, please let me know...

The only evidence I have that this show even existed is the above stub off eBay - and the only evidence I have that BOC was on the bill is the fact that the guy wrote it on his stub.

Can anyone corroborate?

I have been looking for years and can't find my FIRST time that I saw BOC live. To this day they are my favorite band. The date in question is 6 DEC 1974 (at least that is my recollection). They played with Bob Seger and BTO was the headline act. This occurred in Utica NY.

This was important because the Utica paper ran a headline in the inside section a day or so later stating that 7400+ people showed up for the show. This is still the record for any event in the Utica Memorial Colusiem because this was more than 800+ over the fire code. Looking on the Giglopeadia page, it doesn't list that they ever played with BTO, so it should be relatively easy to authenticate.

Well, if it DID take place on that date, it's an unknown gig I need to document. I'd be interested to know what makes you say THAT date and year specifically? Is it memory alone?

> 7400+ people showed up for the show

According to the various websites which give info on the venue, it's max capacity is 4000 and that rises to 5200 for concerts. Have you still got the newspaper clipping? That would obviously help date the show...

> it doesn't list that they ever played with BTO

Well, they've played with them in 73 and 74, but all the Bob Seger gigs take place during 1976 - some early in that year, but most of them from summer through to December 76.

Any info that anyone can offer that might help me to help place this show for sure would be very gratefully received.

Ralph, It was December of '74 and the 6th seems right. That would have been a Friday with no school the next day and I know I would have had grief from parents if there was school. It was cold and snowing that evening.

I do not recall attendance, but the Utica Aud was packed. Bob Seger played first and no body around me knew who he was, but he rocked the house.

BOC played next and was even better. BTO was a let down and after the show when the house lights came on the place seemed about only 1/2 to 3/4 full.

BTO was not very impressive, but BOC and Seger gained many fans that night. I'll look for my ticket stub, but fear that one is gone.

I cannot confirm the date, but I do remember attending a BOC concert in Utica, NY! I also know it was before I graduated high school in June 1975 and I'm pretty sure in was cold and snowy when we went which makes the date that has been suggested (6 Dec. 1974) very plausible. In fact, I was trying to recall the details of the concert after other of my friends started posting "the first concert I ever attended" on Facebook.

I contacted one friend that I remember going with and she confirmed that if her parents drove us to the concert as I remembered the venue HAD to be Utica. She couldn't remember the exact date, but suggested I contact her brother because "he is good with dates".

Here is a snippet from the e-mail I received in response when I asked him if he remembered going with us: "I actually remember it well! The only way my parents would let Deb go was if I went. I took Pam Richmond, who I was dating at the time, and was in your (high school) class. I'm pretty sure you were all 16 and I was 14.

I'm also fairly certain it was in December or January of 1973 or 1974. There were 3 bands and the opening band was Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band! I don't think any of us had ever heard of him at that point. BOC was the second band, BTO headlined. I remember that my parents drove us there. Hope that helps!"

So, while I can't find a ticket stub or a newspaper clipping, I clearly remember attending the concert. As my friend (above) and Brian Carrier have both pointed out - few had heard of the two "warm-up" acts before the concert - most of us came to see Bachman Turner Overdrive. I knew Blue Oyster Cult had played second but I had initially forgotten whom appeared first, until Gary jogged my memory.

But, now I am sure it was Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band. The date that has been suggested (6 Dec 1974) also seems to fit with my friend's recollection.

OK - I've re-dated this gig now to the 11th December, thanks to a clipping kindly sent to me by Jill Atwood from the 12 December issue of The Observer Dispatch which talked of "last night's gig " and gave the crowd as 7460, breaking box-office records. Hence, the gig would seem to have occured on Wednesday 11 December 1974, and not the 6th as I had earlier labelled it.

This date is confirmed by the motorcitymusicarchives.com website.

Saw this show (12/20/74) at old Municipal in KC. ZZTop headlined, BOC was actually the second of three bands, but we got there a bit late and didn't pick up on who opened.

I've seen BOC quite a few times over the years, but this remains the best show - musically - that I've seen them do. A lot of Secret Treaties stuff, Red and the Black, Last Days of May, the usual pre-Agents of Fortune setlist (but no Astronomy.)

They were on top of their game that night, and the entire set absolutely kicked like nothing I'd seen to that point. ME262 was particularly memorible. ZZ Top was good, but BOC was - as they say - "amazing." I'd have hated to have been the headliner that night.

Well it was my first time seeing BOC, I went with my friend Andy Baum who had played some BOC on his radio show at Albany State U (I think) and thought it would be cool to see them.

I remember Carmen was booed throughout their set (except during one really nice tune with the lyric "I fought now I think I won") which actually got some radio airplay. Camel was a British Prog-Rock band and were OK.

I truly don't recall much of the BOC set (early show) but they did "Subhuman" and I thought they might have done a song called "Hansel & Gretel" but I'm probably wrong.

When they did "Buck's Boogie" a small fire broke out by some seats near us but was quickly put out and when they took too long between songs some guy yelled out, "Hey,you're not THAT good."

I wish I could remember more of that gig but it was my first (of 100+) and just six weeks later I saw them open for Rod Stewart at Madison Square Garden and that one I remember like it was yesterday.

I went to see BOC on New Year's Eve, 74-75 at the Academy of Music in NYC. Went with a bunch of friends, all UTI of something or other, but I still remember the show. Top ten.

A flamenco-rock band ( presented by David Bowie ) named Carmen opened. Ha Ha - they were not my cup of sangria. Then a rock band named Camel, I dunno if they had Peter Frampton or not, they were ok. Guess it wasn't Frampton cos I liked Humble Pie.

Then the lights went out and we heard some big screen drop down behind the drumkit's shadow. We figured it was the eyeless kid from the ad for the show, but it turned out to be the 1st BOC album art.

The sound guy was playing "I'm Just a Singer in a Rock and Roll Band". The lights came on and BOC came out, behind them was some sort of Nuremburg Rally thing with long black banners with BOC logos on them.

They opened with "Stairway to the Stars". They were very, VERY LOUD! Still one of the loudest shows I've seen and I still go to many.

Saw a few of the local music scene there, Patti Smith and some of the Dolls. They did a great set, some of it is on On Yer Feet, I think. Eric shaved himself with an amplified razor for his New Year's resolution. That was cool. He was in Black leather, Buck in white and Al in boxing shorts.

At the end of the encore Buck stood there pulling the strings off his white SG, one-by-one.

I think also that these date(s) were played in 1974 - if you have any info, please let me know:

I don't really have much to contribute, because I can't find any details.

I went to a BOC concert that was held at the Marion County International Raceway which is outside of a really small town called LaRue, Ohio which is close to Marion, OH. I believe it was the summer of 1974, probably August because it was incredibly hot.

It was an outdoor all day concert with the sun beating down on us and about 98 degrees out. It was brutal, but we still had a blast. There was a small pond right in front of the stage in which many got a cool down, most without clothes.

The NY Dolls played and there was another band there which I can't remember at the moment...

My first BOC gig was in Cleveland Ohio fall of 1973 at the Agora.

Sometime before or after that, during summer, I saw them in a field on a motocross track around Columbus. The stage was a heaped pile of dirt, with plywood on top of it, in a field with a forested area behind the stage. There was a pond that was chicken wired off from the crowd in front of the so called stage, and big old generator ran power to the stage.

Just came to me... Marion County Raceway... a car raceway. but we must have been in a field used for parking...

It was hot as hell humid and that fence didn't last long. People drug logs out of the woods so they could float in the water and hang on.

The Dolls opened, the cult played next and then the generator went down, and Aerosmith never made it to the stage if my brain serves me well.

Everyone was tripping, stoned and swimming in the pond that was fenced off. Logs were rolled out of the woods to hang on and float in the spring fed pond.

The following link has a Dolls gig chronology:

• www.fromthearchives.org/nyd/chronology.html

Under July 1974, there are two unknown Ohio gigs listed - maybe this was one of them...?

It was at the Decatur Armory. I don't know the date, but I think it was in the Summer. My brother and I were the first in line, and when there was a delay opening the doors, we asked the ushers what the deal was, and we were told that BOC blew the power grid, downtown, and the armory didn't have enough power to run their sound and stage show. Rather than play without it, BOC chose to not play, and when we found out about it, we scalped our tickets for face value and left the venue.

I heard that Pavlov's Dog and Frigid Pink went ahead and played, because they were offering a reduced rate refund, to a few people, then decided that that was a bad idea, since everyone wanted refunds. I heard that the show was enjoyable, but obviously my decision to cut and run was never regretted.

Pavlov's Dog was ran by a dude named David Surkamp, who, on March 6th, 1996, opened for BOC at KSHE concert cafe, in St Louis, where Surkamp is from, (The David Surkamp Band) and told the story of what had happened... it was ironic that I was in the audience, because when he mentioned the venue, I told him that I was at that show, and he told me and the rest of the crowd that we missed a jam session at the Decatur Ambassador Hotel, after hours. Too bad, too, cuz I may have gotten to meet Buck way back then instead of on March 6th, the night of the KSHE show.

I went with a friend to Columbia SC to what is now known as McGuire Auditorium (or Coliseum) at the University of South Carolina. It was the summer after Secret Treaties, and would be on the southern leg of the same tour that this show is on.

I know Lynyrd Skynyrd was the band just before BOC, and I remember during "Free Bird" the now-dead lead singer screamed "we're gonna play all night, we don't need no Oysters!" Grrrr. It took me 33 years to buy the album (CD) that "Free Bird" is on.

I still have a couple of photos, but nothing that documents just when this show happened.

The following post was off the old altmusicBOC newsgroup and refers to a 1974 Binghamton show which I don't have listed. Any help dating this show would be - as usual - gratefully received...

In early 1972, I was living in Queens, NY and the FM station WCBS started playing "Cities on Flame" from the self-titled debut. When that LP got a rave review in Rolling Stone, I bought a copy at Alexanders dep't store on Queens Blvd, with money from my afternoon job.

I wasn't blown away at first... but after about the 5th playing I was totally hooked. My friends at school just kinda said "Blue Oyster who?" My favorites were "Transmaniacon MC" and "Workshop of Telescopes".

When the second album, "Tyranny and Mutation" came out, it was the hardest, loudest, fastest thing I had ever heard and I was mesmerized. To this day that album for me DEFINES heavy metal, and nothing since then has ever come close to it; every song, every word, perfect.

It was that album that had a short blurb on the inner jacket about sending anSASE for Cult lyrics; they came back on white/green computer paper, probably printed out from some IBM mainframe somewhere. That offer was repeated on the next 3 or 4 albums and they always included the newest lyrics plus the old ones. I blame my slight hearing loss on the left side to "Tyranny".

The next few years brought "Secret Treaties" and the live "On your feet...". In 1973 I was supposed to see BOC opening for Black Sabbath at the newly-built Broome County Arena in Binghamton. The show was cancelled that afternoon, Ozzy was sick...wimp! Finally saw BOC for the first time a year later in the same arena.

High point: meeting the band in 1976 when I worked at the hotel they were staying at. Got all but Albert's signatures in the fold-out of "On your feet". Never met a nicer group of guys, and I met a bunch of famous '70s musicians at that job (that's a book unto itself).

All through the '70s I was a huge fan, saw them a few more times. My tastes started changing in the '80s but I always kept tabs on BOC and their progress.

As you might have gathered I know nothing about this gig except:

• BOC were supporting Jeff Beck
• It was in the rain
• Jeff Beck threw some sort of fit with BOC over something or other...

So - does anybody know what gig this could have been?