REO Speedwagon was on the Cincinatti show... they played after us on this show and there were BIG arguments and schisms over it...

It was negotiated that we were NOT to use our flash pots, but management conveniently forgot to tell the BOC crew that little detail...

All of their crew pitched such a fit, that at one point in the set change I noticed all of them were back stage arguing, so I had the union crew remove most of their backline with ours and transport it to the rear of the arena...

It took them bozos about 15 min to figure out they were missing an ampline and they had about 15 min till they needed to start playing... aah such fun...

I have a partial set list for the Feb. 22, 1975 show in Cincinnati, Ohio:

Stairway To The Stars
Dominance and Submission
Flaming Telepaths
Astronomy
Buck's Boogie
Hot Rails to Hell
Cities on Flame
ME 262 (5 Guitars)

I'm certain they played these tracks but am unsure of the order. They were first on the bill that night, R.E.O. Speedwagon was second and Rod Stewart and the Faces headlined. I'm not 100% sure but I believe they also did 7 Screaming Diz-Busters that night too.

This was the first time I saw or heard anything by the band and I was an instant fan.

Madison Sq Garden, NY with the Faces; Played Garden - big party afterwards; left for Providence...

That party was really something... amazing food... there was even a separate Kosher serving line with all the Gifiltefish, Lox and Nova and stuff like that... mmm mighty tasty...

Always remember seeing Buck tell Andy Warhol "Hey have a big time Andy, Knock yourself out"... I also believe John and Yoko made a walk thru appearance...

New Haven, CT; Gave Rod and the boys their champagne...

BOC headlined... it was the first time we used our new See Factor Lighting truss... up till then all BOC lighting was done with Genie towers...

This show took place at Bergen Community College in Paramus, NJ, which is in Bergen County, New Jersey. As you also have listed, the James Gang with the Dictators opening were also on the bill. I would guess that's your "anecdotal BOC/Dictators 1974 date" because BOC didn't play BCC in 1974. I worked there and was the person who recommended bands to the student activities director.

Click this link to see some of my photos from that night (you'll have to scroll down to "Blue Oyster Cult" in the Gallery listings.

BTW - if you enter 16-006 in my site's search box, you'll get a non-related photo with a LONG story that has some details about the BOC Dec 31, 1973 gig lineup at NYC's Academy of Music.

Cleveland; Sold out; left that night for Indy...

Indy; Sold out; used the scrim; stayed overnight...

Blue Oyster Cult - March 8th, 1975 - Indianapolis, Indiana @ The Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum

Band Performance Order:

1. Babe Ruth
2. Styx
3. Blue Oyster Cult

The stage setup had really large white cloth banners about 14 feet tall sporting the Kronos symbol, one on the left and one on the right of the band. There was an even larger cloth backdrop directly behind the band which had the 1st LP cover on it.

I saw someone throw a lit road flare from the top row of the Coliseum into the crowd of people and hit someone below. It was equivalent to the drop from a 4 story building. Ouch! The set that evening was incredible and the crowd was real rowdy. I was 15 and it was my first look at the drugged out, crazy concert scene.

After the show was over, rowdy, screaming fans were exiting the Coliseum only to run into a long row of Marion County Sheriffs lined up outside the doors blocking our way forward and also blocking to the right. Each sheriff had their own German shepherd K-9 attack dog barking ferociously at the end of their leash. The crowd got un-rowdy really, really fast. People shuffled away to the left without making much noise after seeing the K-9 attack dogs. It was a very surreal moment and was like we were trapped inside a bad 1940's WWII movie.

Spokane, WA. Good gig but truss broke.

This refers to the fact that when the lighting truss was being lowered, one side was being brought down faster than the other and it hung up, then slipped about 5 ft...

This caused a flex near the center that broke some welds and the whole thing then came crashing down, kicking the large lifts out from under either end of it...

A very dangerous situation that could have meant serious injury had there been many people around on stage... just another reminder to NEVER stand under moving loads no matter how many years it's been since you've seen one fall...

This wasn't the only time something like this happened... I've even got pictures somewhere of essentially the same thing happening in Dijon France [1 Feb 1984].

It was March 13th 1975 at the Spokane Coliseum. It was my 19th birthday as well!

My Mother actually wrote me a note to get out of school to go see the show that was 100 miles north in Spokane, WA. I was living in Walla Walla, WA at the time. A little farm town with a population of only 25,000.

I left in the afternoon with two of my best buddies in a very beat up VW Bug that had dents all over it because it had been rolled. We got to Spokane in the late afternoon and secured our crash pad with one of my buddies friends who's girlfriend and he were complete Todd Rundgren fanatics. So I heard a lot of Todd Rundgren before the show at their apartment. I did get them to play the first BOC album which the had so we could all get in the grove before the show.

When we got to the show I found out there was a opening act. I think it was a band called Mann. Not positive on that and I have been trying to find out for sure ever since. Who ever they were, they were forgettable. I was there to see BOC! We then found at least four other of my best friends from High School who had drove up in another car. It was festival seating of course and we all found out spot on the floor about 30 feet from the stage. I can't remember what they opened with but they just exploded on to the stage like a bat out of hell.

Eric had the mirrored sun glasses with the cape with the red satin lining. I have to tell you it was very surreal because we had ingested quite a bit of weak Phycodelics and the band really had the mystique about them. I remember " Flaming Telepaths" coming across to me as if they were speaking directly to me with the chorus, "and the jokes on you", as a stay away from hard drugs message.

Another highlight was during ME-262 when the band started goose stepping and the audience all started marching as well. The sirens and explosions were incredible I am not sure if the had lasers in 1975 but the shot this beam of light at a mirror ball during "Astronomy" that shot stars all over the ceiling. This little farm town boy had never seen anything like that. Buck'e Boggie / Massarrati GT was also a highlight!

I also remember being very surprised to hear "Born to be Wild" as the encore. It seemed to be some kind of message they were trying to get across through a long geology of Rock N Roll. It jogged my memory backs because I don't think I heard that song since I saw Easy Rider in grade school.

At the end of the show I just stood in front of the stage in astonishment. The Coliseum had pretty much cleared out and my small band of friend had found me after we were separated in the rush and crush for the stage. There was all sorts of trash and bottles everywhere. My buddies were all snapping bottle caps and tripping on the tracers because they were all still tripping.

Then Eric mysteriously appeared on stage. He looked like a biker with leather pants and a leather vest. He kicked a few beer bottles off the stage and disappeared as mysteriously and he appeared.

I am 50 years old now and have been a die hard fan ever since except for a couple of years in the early eighties when I got into the Punk thing and so called "New Wave" thing. I was back going to see BOC every time the came to LA by 1984. They just keep getting better with age, despite the lack of lasers, flash pods and Godzilla props. The last show I saw at the Avalon Ballroom on Catalina Island has to be one of the best shows I've seen. That was just last Monday! [ 21 Aug 2006 ]

Salem, OR. Picked up Clair Bros. Semi, Played with Flash Powder... at this point we ditched our rented equipment truck and all our gear went into a semi with the P.A.

Jive gig on shakey stage at fairgrounds. Honest to God, the place has a dirt floor... Idaho is very rural... Deke Leonard & MAN opened this show... John Cippolina (of Quicksilver Messenger Service was also in the band at that time... Lost my ring. Rode overnight to Salt Lake.

By the way - I found that ring a few days later in a road case... Lost it for good in 1981...

Jive gig with front-door load-in and up ramps and small stage. Stayed over.

REO opened for BOC and put on a great show. They had a new singer named Michael Murphy. I thought he had a great voice with a lot of soul. He added a lot to the band. He had more hair (big hair) than Dee Snider and Peg Bundy put together.

It was Gary Richrath's custom to mingle with the crowd and did so during the BOC set. I was lucky enough to shake his hand and it did not take long to see that his focus on females had been disrupted by Buck's Guitar. He seemed mesmorized by Buck's mastery of the fretboard. I lost track of Richrath, but that did not matter to me.

BOC's use of Lighting and Fog was unlike anything I had ever seen. Eric Bloom commanded the stage like a Warlord. All five band members on guitar for ME-262 had driven the crowd to places they had never been sonically. It blew me away that the drummer could play a guitar, and they were all playing side-by-side, with great precision, at such an Ear-Splitting Level.

At the encore, they played Steppenwolf's "Born to be Wild". This performance by BOC became the standard by which I judged all further concerts I attended in my lifetime, and thus began my lifelong love-affair with Blue Oyster Cult.

Played Orange Festival on Fairgrounds. Broke scrim. Drove to LA...

Played gig at Shrine w/ Xenon's. Led Zep showed up. Stayed Over.

The Xenons were these very large xenon Lantern Projectors that took 31/4"x4" slide transparencies (Kodachrome and Kodalith) ... we used them to project BOC logos,(today people call them the Kronos, but nobody from the band ever calls them that) and copies of the Album Covers and pics of the band on the walls on the Shrine... the images were about 50x 50 and could be seen for miles...

They were the property of Jay Sloatman who was the guy that whipped most of Skynyrds ass in Louisville the year before when he was out with BOC working for Tychobrae Sound... Jay was Frank Zappa's brother in law, but the night before after eating that amazing dinner, Rick Downey and I accompanied Jay as he went by Franks house/studio to pick up the Xenons and test out the slides that we had picked up at the airport... I was very briefly introduced to Frank who was working in his studio on the lower level of the house...

Plant and Page were there driving their rented Ferrari's and they had Linda Lovelace (Deep Throat) with them, they were in LA doing a week of shows and staying on the entire top floor of the Sunset Hyatt (Riot) House... there were about 6 or 8 bands staying in that same hotel that week... they were at that show cause Pretty Things were on their Swan song label and Plant and Page went out and told the crowd what a GREAT BAND they were about to see and then intro'd Linda, who intro'd the band...

(Incidentally "Stayed over" refers to the fact that rather than leave immediately after the show and rolling to the next city (Standard R&R procedure) we stayed over in LA as it's a quick drive down to SD the next day...)

Wish I had a tape of my intro that night... I got inspired being where the doors had played so many times and even recorded live and so I borrowed some of Morrison's poetry...

We actually had a curtain that night and had one of those xenons projecting the Me262 and other album covers and stuff working back to the 1st album cover going up as the house lights went down and my intro began...

I started out howling and shit and then recited the beginning of "Celebration Of The Lizard":

Lions in the street and roaming, Dogs in heat... rabid, foaming...
A Beast Caged In The Heart Of The City...
The body of his mother rotting in the summer ground
He fled the town...
Went down south and crossed the border
Left the chaos and disorder back there... over his shoulder...
Is everybody in?
The Ceremony is about to begin...
Citizens of Los Angeles !!!
Allright you dogs, etc, etc,

The curtain opened, the flash pots went off and those people were never the same again I'd wager...

I actually remember little about the show except that I was vaguely dissatisfied with the sound that night (gee, that's unusual.) I was also put off about all the fuss being made over Pretty Things, a band whose subsequent history speaks for itself. But there was a lot of strutting going on that night combined with the buzz of Big Stars in the house.

What I DO remember tho' is returning to the Riot House that night. The lobby of the (then) Continental Hyatt House is not particualry large to begin with. Much wider than deep and not all that wide to begin with that lobby is quite underwhelming except for the fact that as I walked in the door that night I was greeted by what must have been 300 liggers jammed into that small space.

It was like a massively overstuffed club. You couldn't move or get to the elevators. The hotel staff were attempting to sort out who belonged and who didn't. Most didn't, but the hotel was filled with Rock Notables that week and the hangers-on wanted to be there. I finally waved my key at the right person and was admitted to the magic elevator. Safe at last!

I've stayed at the Riot House many times but have never seen anything like that mob in the lobby....Gpg

The only time I interviewed Eric, Buck, and Allen was the night before they played the Shrine Auditorium in March of 1975. They were staying at Hyatt House on the Sunset Strip and a friend of a friend worked for a newspaper who set-up the interview and he needed a ride to Hollywood. So I became the wheels and we went and did the Interview. It was so cool!

One thing I did notice was that you show Pretty Things opening and they did along with REO Speedwagon in the middle spot. One cool thing that happened that evening was having Robert Plant come on stage to introduce Pretty Things because they were the new kids on the Swan Song record label. Thus the intro from Robert Plant. That was an unexpected surprise.

Here's a link to some watermarked photos from that night:

• www.musikfoto.com

This was the gig where Moe Slotin hurt his leg... he just went out near the end of the show to tape down an effect box for Don & kneeled down on one knee & when he stood up he could NOT straighten his leg & it was hurting like hell...

He didn't get a new kneecap, they just had to lift his up & remove bone splinters from the joint & reattach it... ouch!

Weird gig where nobody showed up until right before we went on. There was maybe 200 people there when REO finished... by the time we started playing there were about 5,000...

Band played great and kids went nuts.

I had moved to Modesto, CA during the winter of 74/75. Thanks to Dean, BOC was already my favorite band but nobody I met in Modesto knew anything about them. I changed all that and they were soon the most played band when we were partying, which was pretty much when we weren't sleeping.

When we found out that BOC was playing in San Francisco, that instantly became the must see event for everyone in our group. At the time, I was working on a ranch in Chowchilla and was pretty much up all night watching over pregnant cows or pulling calves that were too big for the mama. I remember taking off for Modesto to meet my friends that morning. I must of had a bunch of candy left over from Valentines Day because I was eating these little pink hearts I kept in a tin. We stocked up on weed and alcohol and headed for SF. None of our crowd was 21 but we never had trouble scoring beer or liquor. We would just put our chicks in front of a liquor store to sweet talk some unsuspecting customer.

When we arrived at Winterland in SF, we had to stand in a long line waiting for the doors to open. Some guy was walking up and down the line advertising his windowpane for $1 a pane. Damn near everybody was a buyer. One guy had his taken away by a security cop or something, but it was quickly replaced since the seller didn't want any unhappy concert goers.

Pretty Things was the first band to take the stage. I had never heard of them and was greatly unimpressed. At the time it wasn't what I called rock and roll.

REO Speedwagon was the 2nd band. It seems about that time I learned that pink hearts and windowpane don't make a real good combination. I could of swore that my heart was going to beat right out of my chest. Right in tune to the bass guitar. I really thought I was going to od on life about then. I had read somewhere sometime that Winterland had an od crew to take of such idiots, so I went in search of them only to find out they had taken this show off. So I spent the majority of REO sitting on a can in the bathroom waiting to die.

When the Speedwagon was done and the bass had quit trying to take me out, I managed to make it back out and was standing in a aisle between seats not far from the stage as Blue Oyster Cult started playing. It was the most amazing thing I had ever seen or heard in my life. I'm sure I saw the rest of the guys in the band, but I just remember watching Buck Dharma with one foot on a monitor completely mesmerizing me. I know I was rocking out in that aisle, singing along with all the songs, but now I couldn't tell you a single song that was played other than astronomy. The solo seemed to last about 30 minutes and just when Buck really go into it, a light hit some mirrored ball hung in the center of the house that started spinning. It proceeded to reflect little white dots all over the place and the faster Buck played, the faster that ball spun and the faster the little white dots moved. Between my condition, the music and the little white dots, it's a miracle I survived that moment.

Well, that's about all of the sketchy parts I recall. After the show we discovered the car we came in had been broken into and the 8-track player stolen. The thief left all the tapes though. Somehow we made it back to Modesto without crashing or getting thrown in jail. (those are other stories)

The concert was a very memorable one. Winterland shows were mostly general admission, open floor gigs, where you could stand or sit anywhere you wanted. Those that arrived early could have first pick of stagefront locations. We being young impressionable musicians (all of 16), of course picked a stagefront spot between where Eric and Buck would be playing.

I don't remember anything about Pretty Things. REO played a strong set of American midwest rock n' roll.

Then came BOC.The Oyster Boys were not only in another league, but from another dimension! I don't remember the exact setlist, but do remember them playing the Red and the Black, Harvester, Bucks Boogie, Last Days, Cities on Flame, Hot Rails and Flamimg Telepaths.The Group was in top form, and the crowd was wild.

The Boys were very well received in the home venue of the Greatful Dead and Jefferson Airplane/Starship. Buck was in all white, Eric in his traditional black leather and mirrored shades. Albert was shirtless in shorts. I can't remember what Allen and Joe wore.

The Band was incredibly loud, I seem to recall, just the way they should be. One standout moment came during Telepaths. When the song starts to build up towards the end, Eric keeps repeating "And the Joke's on You", over and over, the music buliding, his maniacal laughter louder and louder, all of a sudden with the last "And the Joke's on You", he pointed towards us and a lightning bolt flies from his fingertip! What showmanship!

They played Born to be Wild as an encore, and did the 5 guitars. We left the concert that night totally impressed. This was the second time I had seen them in 5 months. We would see the group again at the Winterland later in the year on December 21. This was one of the best concerts I had ever seen!

This session was mainly to learn the single version of "Born To Be Wild", so that's when that song version was recorded...

The only sessions I attended were for an Albert song called "Sally" (which finally ended up on a re-release) and recording of some basic tracks for a Lanier song called "All The Hipster's Come From Puerto Rico"...the music for that eventually became "Searchin' For Celine"...

It was certainly an exciting time at the Record Plant with BOC on the bottom floor and Kiss and Aerosmith upstairs... with us sending them buckets of Hershey's Chocolate Kisses and them sending us buckets of oysters....once the gear was installed there was little for us to do so besides fetch the odd burger (Joe) or liverwurst sandwich (Allen)...

I was fascinated with being able to watch Pearlman, Krugman and the band at work... they would work for hours to solve a problem that I could only barely detect... I wondered for years about that Sally song and was sure thrilled when it finally came out....

Did jive gig at Ice Chalet; loadout was very cold; Blasted flashpots to bits...

Willow Spring, IL. Load in on ice; Everybody was late; mucho good playing...

I was at this show. front of stage in front of eric. was not "a mosh", in fact we weren't crushed at all. i was leaning on the stage when the "stairway" flash pots went off. that was fun. couldn't see for a couple of minutes. remember bloom sitting on baby grand during astronomy. lots of angel dust victims at the show. several laying in bushes outside venue before the show even started. ah, the seventies.

Albert wore a gasmask during born to be wild, as they had fogged the crap out of the stage. (chemfog, i remember the smell.)

They used the dry ice fogger for ldom, as i got covered with it as it rolled off the end of the stage.

Rodger moon totally sucked. someone hit him in the face with a t-shirt that had been used to wipe up vomit. i laughed. hard.

Vitelli's madmen were what was left of the band barnstorm after joe walsh left. i remember them playing rocky mountain way, and really missed joe.

They also played the rick derringer song "uncomplicated". (and it was).

I was on my first date with a babe named sandy, the first of three. (girls named sandy, not dates).

Eventually married the third one, and happily, still am.

And she likes boc. Which is a plus.

30 plus years ago, one of my older brothers was the first to turn me on to BOC, and we used to listen to the first 3 LP's daily. As it turned out, all the guys I hung around with were also in the BOC groove, so it all came to be a natural following.

When the boys came to our area (I believe it was only the 6th. time they had played in Illinois), My friend " Moose" (the worst juvenile delinquent you'd ever want to meet... AND, who coincidentally dragged me into a lot of his situations) had invited me to go with him to the show. We purchased our tickets at the local Head Shop " Swollen Head" records & tapes (&etc). I recall paying $4.75 General Admission.

So that afternoon, Moose and I, along with his cousin Eddie, drove to the show in Eddie's car, which was an old Chevy beater with 4 completely bald tires on it. The venue was only ~5 miles from home.

All my brothers friends showed up, but not my brother. He'd later said that he thought the show was for younger kids...???? So once we got inside, we hung with the older guys for the first opening acts. I remember seeing kronos's everywhere.

Some girl had must have spent days studding her pants and jacket with BOC logos. Everything seemed surreal, as this was my first concert, and the realization of the commonality had hit me.

After Joe Vitale's madmen exited the stage, Moose, Eddie, and myself started pushing our way up front towards the stage (Some things never change). Well, everybody else soon got the same idea, because during the entire BOC act, we were getting squashed nearly to death in the worst mosh I'd ever been in. It was so tight that I could have lifted my feet off the ground, and still not have slipped down.

The show sounded great. I remember getting goose bumps listening to what I was hearing. It sounded as well produced as their studio recordings, only the element of hearing it live, gave it a whole new feeling. Some of the things that really stood out were Buck in his white suit, and the 5 guitars. At the end of the show, Albert had tossed out a broken drum stick, which somehow I ended up with, but I gave it to Eddie after the show.

Re the "Willow Ice Chalet" venue name - us "homeboys" knew it as the Randhurst Skating Rink, since it's in Randhurst at the Randhurst Shopping Mall...

This was the first concert I ever went to. I was 14 and remember telling my parents I was going with a friend to the Ice Chalet and them telling me to have fun at the hockey game. I didn't bother to correct them. It's funny that Ice Dog was at this show. He and I had met that fall (getting into trouble with the ever-delinquent Moose!), but I went to the show with another friend and his brother. Since then, Dog and I have seen many shows together over the last 30+ years.

What an amazing show. Cities on Flame and the 5 Guitars during ME262 were highlights. I'd never been anywhere so loud. I thought my ears would melt... I was yelling for Wings Wetted Down, and recall wishing they had played more from the first album. But, I wasn't complaining! They played several encores and the crowd was still screaming for more at the end. There's a live recording of this show around which is very cool. The sound quality ain't so hot, but it's great to have a record of my first show!

It was a pretty rowdy crowd and we almost got crushed when BOC came on. I had to push for all I was worth to stay on my feet (probably saved the guy up front from getting squeezed). After the show, I almost fell in the creek near where we parked after we polished off the six pack of Schlitz Malt Liquor we had in the car.

As a side note, this venue was definitely not at the Randhurst Mall as another posted (sorry Sy). The Willow Ice Chalet is in Willow Springs, Illinois on Wolf Rd. out in the middle of nowhere and I don't recall them ever having more concerts there. They couldn't have topped BOC!

Late again; Power was off of generators (which presents it's own set of problems - see French Granny story for one later on) and the scrim was trying to fall...

The scrim was a huge 24x24 kodalith mask of the first album cover sandwiched between black scrim material in front and white scrim material behind (scrim is a "Gauzy" type of cloth that's semi-transparent) the effect being that it looked like a plain black backdrop till we hit it with light from behind and then the image was very bright...

It had two 10 ft velour curtains that had big scrim logos sewn into them that were lit at the same time... we had a really jury rigged little truss works to attach it to and a hydraulic lift to raise and lower it and numerous cables and turnbuckles to stabilize it...

The SLIGHTEST flex in the stage (plywood on scaffolding usually) would result in this thing swaying about wanting to fall... scary shit when you have to work underneath it all night and if it falls TOWARD the stage would take lighting system down and into crowd as well... luckily it never quite happened..

Late again but really good gig with good food and everything...

Sunrise: St Louis; Arrived Baton Rouge to find gig canceled... there was a BIG storm overnight and into the morning and the 2 basement levels were flooded (fucking Louisiana... worse than Holland for fecks sake)...

Unfortunately for us the lower of those 2 floors is where the electrical hookups were for our production...

Went to Warehouse and set up for rehearsal; the band came in and worked for the afternoon... went to Dungeon later...

The Dungeon was/is a bar that consists of about 5 very small stone rooms stacked vertically on the side of a building... the music gets louder and more intense as you go up the spiral staircase in one corner (one way only) or come down the spiral staircase in the other corner... god knows how they get around fire regs as the joint is always jam-packed... the owner was a big BOC fan and our money was no good there and he knew lots of "nice girls" too

The Warehouse was THE place to play in NOLA for many years... just a huge old warehouse down by the river fitted out with a stage and dressing rooms... it was run by Pace Concerts, the premier concert bookers in the south and had quite a history of top bands playing there... it was operated by Ray Compton and his younger brother K.C. and I knew both of them from my Hydra days....

This is also the place where I had a run in with the Strawb's soundman - the Strawbs wouldn't stop playing so Ray Compton cut the power to the stage and turned off the PA, leaving them with only a drummer making any noise... Ray then personally began helping the stage hands remove the Strawbs' shit from the stage while the band was still standing about with their instruments (Ray wasn't kidding about the curfew the city imposed and he wasn't going to cut OUR set), so their sound man stormed up onto the stage and got in Ray's face and then began wrestling him and crashed into my keyboard mixer/amp stack...

So Ray being a friend of mine anyway I snatched up this Strawbs breath fucker by the hair of his head and the back of his belt, took him behind the amp line and smacked him face first into the brick wall at the back of the stage a few quick licks till he calmed down and Ray escorted him from the premises...

The chump actually tried to press charges, but Ray had the NOLA police well bought by that point and it was determined that I was never involved and that he had somehow fallen in the dark and smashed his face against the wall... (at least 3 or 4 times)...

The Strawbs may have carried a grudge after this episode, but I sure as hell never had anymore trouble out of the sound man (I was very careful not to damage his ears... that would have been just mean)...

Yep I was young once and it didn't pay to fuck with me or mine...

This is where I had a wreck... I was driving the "people truck" (the green dragon APC that Moe Slotin and I are in that picture driving) van and as we got into Dallas during rush hour, I was a bit sleepy and driving too fast and slid right into a delivery truck, smashing up the front end of our van... we were in Rented station wagon till we came back to Dallas a few days later on the 6th....

Corpus Christi; Played jive gig in old broken down theatre called Ritz Theatre; Flash box didn't work

Columbia Records free concert... we played outdoors on the STEPS of the Cotton Bowl... also appearing Stoneground, Rusty Weir, Freddy King, Blood Sweat and Tears

There is a good quality video tape of the freddie king portion of this show out there in the world -- I had it in the late 1990s, but lent it to a friend who left the area. never knew BOC played this gig. Freddie was pretty wild, but he wasn't always playing along with the rest of teh band (or the other way around).

Also, for a few years now I have been trying to find information on two gigs BOC played at the Niagara Falls NY Convention Center. One was opening for ZZ Top's taking texas to the world tour (they blew ZZ Top Away), the later in the fall was them with Bob Seger and I think styx was on the bill but had to cancel. The convention center is now an American Indian Casino and when i visted the place in June, I asked if they had any of the history of the convention center but they said no.

San Antonio Tx - the first date of the ill fated Trapeze tour... these were Bloodrock, BOC, Trapeze in that order (they were headling as Trapeze has always been Gods in Texas...)... this gig was a small theatre... Jive gig, we couldn't get out till 1.00AM;

Odessa TX - Trapeze - Huge rodeo arena... played that same hall many time over the years... it was eventually cement, but in 75 it had a dirt floor (for the Rodeo dontcha know)... I almost got arrested for throwing a punter off the (4ft high) stage

Amarillo Tx- Trapeze - Got to gig at 15:45... usually the headliner is set up completely sound and lights and ready for openers to load in (not to stage yet) by noon... we were thinking ourselves late and nothing had even been started... and the semi was not being unloaded...

They tried to Jack us here by letting us close and then playing over to shorten our set... Pearlman ponied up the union overtime, we played a full set, blew the audience away and left town w/o telling Trapeze that we were blowing off the rest of their tour...

Trapeze had been fucking us over every way they possibly could... not letting us load out till after they were completely out and just any thing they could come up with... claimed BOC had stolen a drum throne from them somewhere in the past and they were taking revenge...

I've met Glenn Hughes a few time over the years and even asked him about this and he could cite no examples of what we might have done to piss him off...

One of the great mysteries of life I suppose...

Trapeze reformed around 94/95 for a bit saw them here in ATL and hung with Glenn and Mel as I had a good friend who was pals with them from the 70's... They played on a show W/BOC in Memphis in 72/73 time frame... I was not there but Hydra opened the show and creditors showed up to impound Trapeze's gear and the Hydra guys hid Trapeze's gear in their truck till the constables left....

The decision to cancel Lubbock was made before we even played Amarillo that these fuckers could eat shit and die... we didn't need the aggro...

Big Rapids, MI; This was the show where George Geranios missed the plane and I mixed the show... Bob Seger opened... After gig couldn't leave town cause of no gas...

The only show of thousands that I ever missed (was late to a couple, was deathly ill for one and stayed in the hotel in Europe). Screwed around at home, took a late taxi and I knew I would miss the plane. Just a strange moment in time.

Commack, LI; Played good gig and taped show for King Biscuit Flour Hour...

If you've heard the broadcast, that's me doing that "Citizens Of Long Island... yada yada, The Terror You've Spawned,etc. etc." intro... right before I took the band to the stage, Sandy Pearlman asked that I do a "special" intro... so that's what I came up with between the dressing room and the stage...

Still have a big ol' scar on my leg where I sliced it open on a case latch that day... REALLY should have gotten stitches, but when you're as young and dumb as I was then, not really a priority...

One other memory I have from that day is that we had a few odd pieces of gear that were spares/optional gear... horn for the Keys rig, xtra bass bin.. couple boxes of floor lamps that actually belonged to See Factor,etc., etc... but everything we left in the truck was STOLEN during the show... lock was cut off with bolt cutters and it was cleaned out... Welcome Back To Long Island !!!

Saratoga; 7.00 Am load-in; good gig with lots of people;

I was at this show. Freshman year of college.

Free concert put on by Columbia Records to introduce Pavlov's Dog and Journey.

Front row with 2 of my best BOC friends.

Pavlov's Dog was a violin based rock band pretty good.

Journey was awesome. Pre Steve Perry. Great set by Rolie, Schon, Valory and Dunbar. Met Dunbar and Rolie right before the BOC set at the bathroom. Very cool.

BOC was on fire and stole the show as usual.

The article clippings above mention "Myles and Lenny" as also being on the bill. Does anybody know for sure if they played - and, if so, what was the running order?

The worst...

By this I mean the fact that everything that could go wrong did during the show and it was ALL over E-Factor's head (have we introduced E-Factor yet?) I realized at this show when it took waaaay too long to get our stuff offstage and when I finally got down to the floor level our gear was scattered all over the backstage area, that I needed serious help and wheels were set in motion to add Pelican Hiltz for the drum Roadie and replace E-Factor with Ricky Reyer...

I can say for certain that Brownsville opened, but either BOC or Hogfat could have closed...

The ticket listed Foghat first but BOC was the headliner. I distinctly remember "Last Days of May" because the show was on May 31.This tour was a co-headliner in which they switched in different cities.

Memphis; Trucks were late and we played last...

There is a picture in my boxes somewhere of me on stage doing the set change... it was taken by my Sis as both she and my Mom came down to the show and hung out...

Ooh I believe there are even some pics in the dressing room of Mom hanging out with the band...

Charleston WV; Played gig with jive stage crew and proceed to Richmond VA

The best crew of the tour. Much celebration of the end of the Foghat section of the tour

Dayton OH; Played gig; Stagehands walked out but we were out in decent time anyway after waiting 1 hr for mirror ball...

Brooklyn Navy Pier was a 75'x50' building right next to the Navy Pier that we used a few times to set up the backline and work on EVERYTHING... we eventually got a lease on it and stored a lot of stuff there and used it for rehearsals till the wall for the Navy Yard fell over and crushed the building...

16 June was noteworthy as it was Ricky Reyer's first day "on the job"...

• "Carney Rock III"

Ricky Reyer's first gig with BOC...

No Flashpots or organ... it was not unusual in those days for our Hammond not to work (it was one of the first "Cut Down" modifications and had been a really OLD unit to start with)...

The promoters were supposed to furnish one, but sometimes that didn't happen either... they would just work around it... just like nights when we had no piano....

The Hammond had been cut down and modified by a company in L.A. This was the hot mod of the day since the original C-3 was a bear to haul around. The company was run by some wiz-bang humheads who had done mods for all the big bands.

I remember that it cost a fortune (in those-days dollars). The original tone wheels system was maintained but all the original tube electronics were replaced with solid state, potted amps. They were fitted with octal sockets. The only problem was that they would stop amplifying at inconvenient and regular intervals. The damn thing NEVER worked.

The company swore we were the only band who had a problem with these amps. Perhaps the Curse of The Cult at work...

We opened for ZZ Top... supposed to be outdoors at the State Fairgrounds but tornados wrecked the stage we were supposed to play on just after dawn that morning... the heavy rain saturated the ground, getting trucks and equipment stuck in mud... they moved the showe indoors into a small hot (115 degrees!!) rodeo arena (also on the fairgrounds) with a dirt floor and a jury rigged stage...

Because of the mud, a long trail of plywood was laid down to roll our gear to the building and the stage hands destroyed the casters off most of out gear on the gaps between the sheets of plywood... it was so hot that ZZ's bass player passed out and was ambulanced to hospital and a roadie finished the show on bass... there was no second show as promised (the little gig would only hold 1/2 the ticket holders) and we had to wait behind police lines till the crowd was dispersed... all in a days work eh?

It was supposed to be a outdoor show at the Red River Valley Fairgrounds. Heavy rains in the days before the concert had flooded the racetrack where it was to be held. There was a arena... The Stockyards Arena I think it was called on the fairgrounds. They decided to move the concert indoors but because of it's small size they said each band would do 2 shows that day. ZZ Top, BOC and Sugarloaf). You went to the afternoon or evening show depending on your ticket number.

I went to the afternoon show. It was over 100 degrees outside that day with high humidity. The arena was for livestock shows, it held about 3000 and it was packed, there was no ventilation. Had to be well over 100 inside. Sugarloaf never showed, BOC opened and they were drenched in sweat after one song. People in the audiance are passing out from the heat.

BOC make it thru the set OK, ZZ Top comes on and after about 3 songs, Dusty the bass player passes out from the heat. A roadie comes out with a bass, joins Billy and Frank for La Grange, show ends after that. We leave the arena and there is already a crowd outside for the second show. I don't think that show ever did take place, it was too freakin hot! But anyway I believe the unknown venue you have listed wastually the Red River Valley Fairgrounds Stockyard Arena.

The article clipping above mentions "Sugarloaf" as also being on the bill. Does anybody know for sure if they played?

Fixed new pots; used new Fog machines; Split for Redding...

I'm 99.9% sure that the arena BOC played in Fresno was the Selland... there's really no where else BOC could have played - if you have ever been to Fresno you'd know what I mean...

This was my first BOC show. Redding was a fairly small town back then, and rock concerts were rare or even non-existent. I heard about the show a week beforehand, when a buddy from L.A. called to tell me he had seen BOC's tour schedule in Rolling Stone. I frantically called the Civic Auditorium box office to see if there were any tickets left.

"Why, yes sir, there are tickets left", I was told.
"Good seats?"
"How good do you want?"
"How good do you have?"
"How does second row center sound?"

That's to demonstrate that in Redding in 1975, no one had heard of this band from New York. Those who did show up did so because they didn't care that they had never heard of the band, they went because live rock in this little Northern California town unheard of. And those who went have probably not seen any show that even comes close in the 31 years since, no matter where they may have gone.

I drove over from the California coast, never really believing that BOC would actually be playing in Redding. It made no sense. It wasn't until I arrived at the small auditorium and saw two huge Ryder semi's parked in the back that I started to think it would really happen.

Well, I hate to disappoint you, but the details have faded from my memory. I remember that there was absolutely no talking by the band members. It was just one song after another from BOC, T&M, and Secret Treaties, without a single introduction.

I think the only thing said that night was, after some wild song (I don't remember which), Eric said, "We're going to slow things down a little", and the boys launched into Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll. Two things stand out - a stellar 5 Guitars that I can still hear in my head; and a cool cowbell-strobe thing Albert did that I won't try to describe.

The sound was perfect, the band was incredibly tight, the setlist was the best you could ever ask for, the evening was enchanted. I've seen BOC many times since, but to see them at their peak in a small venue is one of the great memories of my life.

Robert in his acccount above mentions BOC's schedule was published in "Rolling Stone" - if you have any old copies in their attic/cellar, then I'd really appreciate it if you could have a check through and see if BOC have any gigs advertised...

July 3, 1975, Redding Civic Auditorium, Redding CA
Blue Oyster Cult
Journey
Ace Jet - Local act warm up band

The auditorium was packed near the stage during BOC. I was standing in front of the PA column on the audiences left stage side. I remember the show vividly. I have seen BOC quite a few times through the 70's and early 80's and the last time was in Warren Michigan this year for the 50th Anniversary Bash. BOC and Foghat this year.

I was 16 years old and this was one of my first big rock experiences. I was blown-away by the heavy sound that the BOC had. I had listened to the first two albums and dug the sound on them. When the live show came, I was there. I still can hear the ringing in my ears from that show today. That was definitely the best BOC show I have seen to date.

The all band members ME262 guitar only jam was really memorable. The Cities on Flame loosened all my fillings too. I can't even remember what Journey played that night... It didn't matter. When BOC finished up, nothing else compared.

The feeling I had when the lights in the auditorium went on was only surpassed by the echoes of the amplifiers in my ears. I looked around and as I focused on people, I noticed that nobody was really moving much at first. I'm sure they must have felt the way I did.... that surreal feeling you have after witnessing a car crash at night, the lights of the cars shining through the steam and the sparkle of glass in the lights as it settles to the ground in slow motion and everything comes to a rest.

Standing there slack jawed wishing the show would go on for just a bit longer. Not ready to leave just yet. But finding my brother and our girlfriends standing near by I decided to make the first sound. "Fucken eh"!!!, I said to my brother as I made my way past a few other souls standing between us. The look in his eyes was all I needed see, as he too was blown-away.

The intensity has only been matched one time since. That was a Danny Gatton show in a small club venue known as Sully's Blue Room, in Dearborn Michigan around 1991 supporting 88 Elmira St.

Thanks for the site, Thanks for the memories!

Neal Schon or Steve Perry, Journey could never kick out the jams like BOC (imho). One hell of a show that night.

The very first note of "Stairway to the Stars" was accompanied by semi-nuclear flashpot explosions. Many people found themselves a couple rows back! There was a dozen or so of us in the front of the balcony. Many were first timers. All of us blown away. Myself it was BOC show #4.

Seattle WA; woke up late and then van broke down and we had to fly;

The Paramount was one of my favorites in those days. It sounded (along with the Fox in Atlanta) damn fine. Put a good system in there and you could paint-a-picture.

5 July 1975 was my first ever concert of any kind.

I was 18 and in the U.S. Army. I remember the line all the way around the block outside of the Paramount NW. I had 100 hits of LSD on my person... eating, selling and dropping some on the ground. I was as high as a kite... but in tune with every single note that was played by BOC.

The Paramount was the perfect venue for BOC... you could hear a pin drop from the top row. I remember Albert's little shorts... Buck's white suit. It was a scene straight out of the inside of the OYFOOYK album cover.

It was the most amazing thing that I had ever seen.... and nothing has ever come close since. Eric shooting a 6 foot long bolt of lightning out of his finger at the end of Flaming Telepaths.

I remember watching spec5 Hough inhale a whole freshly lit joint down his throat as the flashpots went off at the start of born to be wild. I remember being amazed at AB's drum solo and Buck's solo that went on for seemingly hours.

By far.... the night I would go back and relive if I had the chance. And for 20 years after that night... I preached what I had seen... until I found BOC on the internet.

After the show the trip back to Ft. Lewis involves a broken down Honda 500 (550?) stuffed in the trunk of a 66 Chevelle with 6 U.S. servicemen packed inside.

Amazing post Bob... mainly because even without the LS-Crazy I was trippin during that show because the band played better than I'd ever heard them play... I remember soooo much about that night so vividly that it's like it happened last week.... of all the shows in 75, I think I remember that one the best... cause it just might have been the best... I think of that night almost every day, cause the "bird" finger on my left hand was crushed between two cases during the load-out and it's still quite crooked....

I could write a small book just on shit that happened on that day, from the van breaking down leaving Portland and having to fly up to Seattle with the band, to the activities that went on post-show at the fine damn Edgewater Inn...

Not to mention waking up that morning in Portland and realizing I had left Lanier's Les Paul sitting under the stage ramp to the loading door and having to frantically find someone to let me in to see if it was still there.... (it was...phew)... quite a day allright... Glad you enjoyed it too...

That was my third. Most of the songs on "In The West" were recorded that night.

I'm so glad Journey cancelled and we got an evening with BOC!!! Also the only time I ever saw 'em play "Be My Baby"!

Yakima WA; 105 degrees outside bummer gig; Stayed over...

Great gig until Joe's bass rig caught on fire... When transistorised amps blow and the output transistors dead short, the DC operating voltage is passed directly to the speaker (around 80 Volts DC, but at 10 amps or so current available), this will burn out the voice coil windings and in some cases actually catch the glues alight and then the speaker cone, the grill cloth, then the baffle board of the cabinet... this was caused by the hose popping off a fog machine and a solid stream of water gushing into the back of Joe's Sunn Coliseum amp...

The amp was actually fine after it dried out and I remember repairing the cabinet and replacing the speaker in Pekin Ill.

Corpus Christi; we got jacked around all over the stage...

I could write a book on this day... War decided early on that they just didn't like us for some reason and did everything possible to ruin our day...

They wouldn't let us onstage till the last second, wouldn't let us use ANY of the union crew all day... wouldn't let us load out till AFTER they were done...

They DEFINITELY got annoyed with me hanging round their lasers all day as they had the first big water cooled ones that I had seen and wanted all the info I could snoop... The SHOWCO techs running them were being HIGHLY secretive about their rig and told me to get the hell away from them several times... , but I was still able to get most of the info I needed from the local electrician they were using...

Pekin IL; Hot gig in Ice Arena; early loadout...

It was fun seeing my old Hydra mates again... this was the place where I finally had everything I needed to repair Joe's speaker cab...

Colorado Springs; Jive outdoor gig and truck broke down in Des Moines NM...

Oklahoma City; Arrived late and Richard was real late getting everything set up; Richard was our lighting guy: Richard (Ho Chi) Holtz... not to be confused with our drum roadie, Robert (Pelican) Hiltz

Tulsa; great outdoor gig B.C. was at the hotel when we arrived; we hung out overnight;

Not sure of band order but can deffo say that Diamond Reo would have opened...

Really untogether gig - they couldn't make up their mind when we could load in, when we could eat lunch, when we could put our gear onstage, when we could wipe our ass etc.... openers are really at the mercy of the headliners in most cases, but we eventually got along great with the Heepsters...

But we had a great food fight in the dressing room later...

Arrived Saginaw 1.00 PM and Heep wasn't even there... I remember they showed up in plenty of time to do the show, but again, we had hurried for naught..

It's one hell of a long way from Buffalo to Saginaw... whoever booked it was a sick fuck...

Jive gig on showboat. It rained all day so we cancelled, REO played and there was a riot...

• "1st Ohio River Music Festival"

Worked spaced act gig with 11 bands and 6.30AM stage call...

This was the last show for Ho Chi Holtz... (not sure why he was even there, as we were using Aerosmith's lights)... he got roaring drunk and when he decided to leave a nice shiny new Corvette had parked at the opening of the alleyway that held his truck... not to be outdone he put the truck in reverse and began smashing into the vette, hoping to knock it out of the way... took at least 10 tries, but he got it out of the way... when he got to the hotel, he was still fired up and when the bar cut him off, he wrecked the joint whipped the hotel security and the first 2 cops that showed up until he was finally subdued...

We had some time off after that and don't think I saw him again till the 80's... he was dressed in drag at the time... But that's another story...

I can tell you that the August 3, 1975 festival they played was called the "Ohio River Music Festival" and it was held at Nippert Stadium on the campus of the University of Cincinnati. It was an all day gig and the bands in order of appearance were:

1. The Outlaws
2. Mahogany Rush
3. Status Quo
4. Bobby Womack
5. Foghat
6. Blue Oyster Cult
7. The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
8. Black Oak Arkansas
9. Aerosmith

The article clipping above has some differences in the artists listed on the bill - namely no Bobby Womack/Status Quo, instead there's Styx. Does anybody know for sure?

I was at this gig! Great concert! My first exposure to BOC which was awesome for a 19 year old!!.

Any pics available?

Cedar Rapids; Jive gig in smelly hall with Zinn Audio; Leave 1AM for Fort Wayne...

Cleveland; Mahogony Rush, BOC, Aerosmith, Heep, Faces; Big gig with lots of people...

I can't remember the exact year but I think it was 1973 or 1974 in Cleveland Stadium. The event was called "The World Series of Rock" and consisted of several bands playing over the course of the day. BOC didn't headline (obviously) but played somewhere in the middle. I can't even remember any of the other acts.

A few years previous I got hooked on them after hearing their second album and they have been my number one band ever since. I've probably seen them over 30 times since, going to where ever they played within in about a 20 mile radius.

I regret that I've missed them several times in the past 10 years because I can't find anyone around my age (50) that will get off their dead ass and go anymore. Anyway... I was with 2 other diehards at that concert (which are the same 2 that have gone with me to all the other shows).

We were initially in the upper nosebleed section (stadium seated about 86,000) but when they came on we worked our way to within about 50 feet of the stage. The temperatures and women were very hot, we were very buzzed and for about 30 minutes I thought I was in heaven. To this day that type of setting gives me the most happiness.

If I only had a time machine that worked...

I saw BOC a bunch of times in the 70's, but I believe it was the summer of 75 that they played Cleveland Stadium at "The World Series of Rock" in front of about 80,000 people along with Mahogany Rush, Uriah Heep ,Aerosmith and Rod Stewart.

I remember Joe's bass amp blowing up in a puff of smoke during Dominance and Eric pacing back and forth saying "we ain't got no bass" over and over again as the band kept playing the same riff over and over . Finally he says "we're going to try to get out of this song without the bass" and just then Joe jumps out from behind the amps plugged back in and rockin and the crowd went nuts!

The old stadium, summer of 1975: opener was Uriah Heep (not quite Stone's Angel moment, but pure rock camp nevertheless), followed by Blue Oyster Cult (pre-Reaper but still way cool), Aerosmith (right after "Toys In the Attic" came out), and the headliner was The Faces, with Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood, Ronnie Lane, and the great Ian McGlaglen all there.

Needless to say, a memorable evening. Talk about Memorywood--I still had all my hair. Later skaters!

Whilst BOC were playing in Davenport, Iowa I was in New York checking out out lasers in the fog and Pearlman turned them down... went to Szechuan and then to Taters Rehearsal...

By the way - by Szechuan, I am always referring to the one on the N.E corner of 2nd Ave and 6th St (across from the old Fillmore East) in NYC... it's still there... my daughter checked for me just last summer...

They used to have a picture of Sam on the wall!! "Very good customa"!!

NB: there used to be an internet link (from a domain which is now gone) containing info on a supposed BOC gig on a page professing to offer info on "Concerts and Events in the Denver area from 1965 to 1976"

• Phantom Gig: August 27 1975: Mile HI Stadium, Denver CO [ with ZZ Top/Rod Stewart/Blue Oyster Cult ]

Arrive in time to unload and work gig; truck wouldn't make it out of town...

Arrive gig and let truck run all day; Stage hands began dismantling The decking and scaffolding of the back 20 ft of the stage during show... union hands... what can I tell ya... Aerosmith probably put them up to it...

I almost killed Joe Bouchard with a flying flash pot... I believe this was the very last time the band asked ME to do the pyro... it was the damned English Flash powder I'd gotten from Heep's crew...

Arrive Des Moines A.M. and did really incredible gig with Slade... great pro crew, easy load in, lunch provided for us, no aggro from Slade, right out the door after we had finished, our shit in the truck & back door closed before Slade even started playing & we could party down with a big birthday party for Pelican later... just a really fun smooth day... you're bound to have one of those sooner or later, no matter where you work...

We weighed the equipment and did gig and stayed over that night...

The weighing was for the Carnet paperwork we were going to need for customs in Europe... each piece had to be weighed, measured, serial number of each piece in each case recorded... took a while...

This was Larry Miller's FIRST show working for BOC...

Left for Houston A.M. and truck ran out of oil...

Fort Worth; Left for Fort Worth A.M. and truck broke down; we arrived not too late & went to big S/P party; Later left for Atlanta...

Columbus; Did gig and cruised with baby Carriage and French Connection later...

Boston; Stayed at airport all night and spent 1.5 hours looking for the gig...

BOC only played about a 1/2 hour before some nitwit tossed a bottle out of the upper deck that hit Alberts drum kit and exploded into shards all over him... I'm still amazed he only had a few small nicks and got none in the eyes... I remember helping him pick the shards out of his hair so he wouldn't get any splinters in his hands... could have blinded or killed him or anyone else on that stage...

There was a very evil vibe coming from that crowd that night and that wasn't the first bottle that hit the stage... I had one hit my foot and the stage deck at the same time and shatter... I jumped like I'd been shot...

At first I was pissed that he walked off and refused to continue, but after thinking about it later I was I was proud of him and glad he had the sand to do it (he took a lot of heat) for everybody else... including me, as the next bottle might've had my name on it...

The night wasn"t a total loss. Because we had an early evening Rick Downey and I went to a club after and saw the Tubes in full regalia. Great show...

I was there, too. Bunch of rednecks wanted to see Lynyrd Skynyrd. I have a copy of a ticket that says The ZZ Top and Lynyrd Skynyrd. BOC was a fill-in because Ronnie and the boys couldn't make it to the show. Too bad it was pre-laser! Eric could have "lit 'em up" with his wrist unit.

It's funny how many people I have run into in my life who attended that show.

Duke and the Drivers played Check you bucket and What you got sure's good.

BOC played 3 songs and left the stage. I have no idea what ZZ played because I didn't stay.

The original bill had ZZ Top/Lynyrd Skynyrd/Duke and the Drivers on it but for some reason Skynyrd didnt show - Blue Oyster Cult came on stage and blew me away. Then some idiot threw a bottle at the band - I'll never forget watching it fly threw the air from someone who was there. I'm very sorry...

Arrive Akron in time for loadin and had weird gig with Sound & Lights that we never had used before or since...

This was Karl Kuenning's very first show... detailed in his book "Roadie", but he got a bit of it wrong... click here to see his account of this gig...

I was lucky enough to see them at the Akron Civic Theater. It is a beautiful place for a show. It had clouds that seemed to float across the ceiling.

We scored some really good trips before the show and this might have had some thing to do with my buddy that went with us, as he freaked out when Eric was singing Flaming Telepaths. The Strobes were flashing, Eric pointing to the crowd (my buddy thought at him) with that sinister laugh of his as he sang the jokes on you, my friend proclaims he's pointing at me, he's talking to me as he leaps up and runs toward the doors. This is one of my all time favorite show. I think they played Secret treaties in its entirety

Dayton OH; Spent all day trying to get the van running. Miller & Bolt missed gig; Party later...

In oct 9 1975, BOC opened for Uriah Heep (with J Wetton). I was a UH fan at that time but I had to recognize that BOC played better than UH.

Salt Lake; Wild drive to Salt Lake; Hired drivers and sent them out...

As best I remember we had 3 days between the show in Salt Lake City, Utah (with Uriah Heep incl. one of my favorite musicians, John Wetton... I used to continually bug him to play me some King Crimson during Heep sound checks) and our departure date for the UK. In the interest of making things better for the crew, the band agreed to hire a driver to bring the equipment back to NYC, giving us a few days to get ourselves sorted out before leaving the country.

Great idea that just didn't pan out...

The next day we had a rehearsal scheduled at the Manticore rehearsal theatre of ELP... We were met there by the folks from the production companies we had hired for lights and noise...

After assembling with our Lites and Noise at the Manticore I went on a run across London with Colin Waters to a company called ILS where we picked up the Hammond Organ for the tour as we needed one that would run on 240v/50hz... this was quite an interesting trip as I was able to view quite a bit of the city (NO clue which parts... don't even know where the Manticore was) and we made a stop at some friends of Colin's who were squatting in a big old house... quite a deal...

Arriving back at the Manticore and getting the band settled in I promptly fell asleep in a foam-lined case for a Genie hoist... woke up several hours later shivering and deaf as the case was in front of the PA which was now on and quite loud... the case was now also closed and latched which led to a few exciting moments getting someone to let me out...

In Glenn Cotita's pic: in the foreground are Rick Downey [ Left ], John Watkins, Eric Bloom [ w/stun guitar ], in the background - under the influence of massive dose of Thai Stick - is myself (20D) and Joe Bouchard (17D)...

Now the fun began as we loaded our band gear into the semi (Artic to you Euro types) followed by sound and lights, only to find we were about 15 feet short of truck space.... several very laborious re-trys later another truck was summoned and we were finally done around 4AM and headed for Hammersmith.

I don't have many memories of that first gig except for all the GLC rules that almost kept us from using any special effects, but I do remember Motorhead as I was already a big Hawkwind fan and was anxious to see just what Lemmy had cooked up... as you mentioned, the crowd had no idea what to make of them except that they were too loud to enjoy...

My all time Motorhead memory is from that night though... as I was helping carry off the drum kit, the first cymbal stand I picked up slipped right through my fingers to the floor, it was then I noticed that the metal stands were all covered with a thick coating of what looked to be motor oil, upon inquiring "what the feck" I was informed that the drummer liked the smell of the oil on the metal stands as the stage lights heated them up... I remember thinking "these boys have got a bad case of Heavy Metal"... Little did I know the history that Motorhead would compile...

We always had fun working with them as they were interested in little else besides how loud, fast and high they could play... no politics involved... gotta play that Ace Of Spades from No Sleep Til Hammersmith every so often on the old home stereo ... just to blow the cobwebs out of my Carver pwr amp.... Ahhhh the memories....

The sound company for this tour was Electrosound (later to become Electro-Tech in the U.S). It was the famous "Rod Stewart" system and was quite compact and well put together. The only problem was the system engineer was fearful of "Full Cult Level" and I spent the entire tour fighting a rather sluggish compressor that was strapped across the mains.

The system engineer, Colin Somebody I understand later went on to mix Def Leopard for awhile. I apparently held some kind of record for sound level at the Hammersmith (2nd or 3rd loudest ever). This was a later Anthrax show.

I remember at the time I was quite sure I didn't like beer. My feeling was changed radically when introduced to Newcastle Brown Ale by some lads at the Electrosound. They had a closet full in one of their offices. Ah, the English...

Let's get things in perspective before we go any further. The Blue Öyster Cult's performance at Hammersmith Odeon wasn't the aesthetic nightmare portrayed by some reviews, but on the other hand it wasn't the mind-wrenching experiences that reliable witnesses in the States had promised us.

Part of the fault lay with the Cult - the pacing of the showwith the aural and visual climax coming after only four numbers in "Harvester of Eyes" and "Flaming Telepaths" left something to be desired, and the persistent dissipation of energy in twiddling guitar solos(and I mean solos) gave the performance a constant feeling of coitus interruptus - but part of it, I felt lay with the theatre itself.

Rock'n'roll isn't meant to be taken sitting down anyway, and when you're perched in your comfy armchair halfway up in the circle, it's difficult to get truly involved with what's happening far below you onstage.

You tend automatically to lapse into an objective, critical frame of mind instead of letting yourself roll with the flow. From the point of view of the band - especially a physical band like the Cult - it's not easy to bridge the gap when faced with an enforcedly static audience.

Consequently, although the sound was OK and the musicianship solid, after the rather ropey first two numbers, and although the lighting and staging were effective, at times stunning, there was an automatic slickness to the whole show where I'd anticipated a somewhat higher speedo spontanaiety quotient.

Still, I got the impression that given an environment more conducive to honest-to-God rock'n'roll insanity - a nice, impersonal hockey arena, let's say, or good ol' Friars Club, Aylesbury, somewhere to really bring out the animal in an audience - then the Cult could be the definitive sonic assassins of which we'd been forewarned.

Coming across this site was a stroke of luck as I was looking for something else. I'm glad I did as it has reminded me what an excellent gig this was.

Me and my mate Goody travelled down to London from Derby for this gig. We went based on about two hearings of On Your Feet and reading a gig review in some rock mag.

Motorhead were first up. They hadn't really been formed for very long and it showed. After a couple of songs Lemmy announced "We may not be the best band in the world, but we're certainly the loudest" which just about summed them up. Disappointing really as was devout a Hawkwind fan (still am). Anyway, they eventually cleared off and it was time for the main event.

I think this was BOC's first ever UK gig, so the atmosphere was electric waiting for the band to kick off. When they finally started up the wall of sound almost caved your chest in. Motorhead were just loud, BOC was loud and powerful. The set looked pretty good with the BOC drapes and most of the band looking suitably menacing in black, contrasting with Buck in white.

I don't remember the exact running order of the playlist but a couple of highlights for me were Flaming Telepaths and the Last Days of May, both of which allowed the musicianship to shine through. Bucks Boogie was excellent too, with Buck in his guitar hero role showing what an excellent musician he is. The song that really got the crowd going though, and the one I consider to be the absolute best one of the show, was Dominance and Submission. Wow.

I left the Hammersmith half deaf and wholly happy. An excellent gig, that I will remember fondly for years to come.

As a footnote, the band returned to the Hammersmith about a month later, so I went to that show too.

Just to say that Lemmy's exact words to the crowd were "We might not be the best band in the world but we are the fucking loudest." and on that note most of the audience hit the bars or the loo to avoid a truly terrible performance.

It was a great night for the BOC, so different from anything that had been performed at Hammersmith before, enough to forgive them for the guitar hero histrionics.

Flew to Stockholm and did gig in beautiful hall... it was all very nice wood paneling & perfect acoustics, with a full recording studio board and tape machines built in... I believe it was used for Orchestra & Opera and we were told that Robin Trower had recently recorded a live album there... and I believe I even have the album...

I love the boc, and saw them here in stockholm, sweden in 1975 and 1978. Therefore I'm afraid I must correct you.   [ I originally had the gig down as at Grona Lund. RW ]

The gig in '75 was indoors at Konserthuset (The Concert House, I was on row 10, in the middle, I still have the ticket. If I find it, I'll scan it for you), not Gröna Lund, which is a sort of a luna park, where they played outdoors (so the laser show wasn't that much to see), in '78.

Lund Sweden; Long ramp for loadin; Gravy met up with NELA; travelled to Copenhagen...

I believe that the warm-up band must have been the Danish band Lollipops who were quite popular in Denmark and Sweden in the late sixties.

Lollipops dissolved in 1971 but were reformed in 1973 achieving new success, now singing in Danish instead of English, then performed on a less frequent basis in the eighties. Lollipops ended in 2004 when one of the founding members died from kidney problems.

The other Danish opening band, Gnags, originally (1966-69) sang in English. In the beginning they called themselves Those Gnags and their first release (1969) was sung in English. In the seventies and eighties they were among the most popular (If not the most popular) of all the Danish bands.

They still exist although their live performances have been much less frequent as has their recordings.

I contacted the lead singer of Gnags, Peter A. G. Nielsen, to see what he remembered of this show and to find out the venue name:

"Blue Oyster Cult played at Holstebrohallen. The program was: "

• Lollipops (Misplaced, and that was a pity for the band).
• Gnags (Just worked - also due to the fact that we had a large audience in Holstebro and environs).
• Blue Oyster Cult

"Blue Oyster Cult traveled with the biggest production we till this date had experienced."

Adding a little info on Holstebro Hallen, Denmark concert 25.10.75

667 tix were sold at D.kr. 30,- (aprox. £3,- ). Concert arranged on a split deal with ICO A/S and Holstebro Hallen. No review of concert in papers, but small pre-add.

Info comes from archive of Holstebro Hallen.

I didn´t see the concert. I'm checking the archive for book release and stumbled over your page. I talked to a concertgoer who told me that it was the loudest concert so far I Holstebro Hallen and that the warm up Lollipops was so mis-billed, an embarrassment. He couldn´t give any detail on BOC show, sorry.

667 tix is approximately a half filled stadium. Same arranger did Bay City Rollers same place the day before BOC and made 803 tix sold so it was nice enuff for a relative unknown orchester with no hit records in Denmark.

Played Tivoli and Larry got arrested for having Flash powder... I guess it was some sort of crime in Denmark... wish Larry was around to elaborate.. I just remember some aggro about the pyro even being in the building was a fire reg violation...