Cancelled due to Buck's stone - rescheduled for the 23rd Jan...

I was at that show. Cant remember many details, I was 15 at the time. I'm 46 now.

Ted Nugent seemed to play every concert that came to the Cap Centre. Rush was great, BOC was even better.

I do remember the Laser light show from BOC, I dont think many bands used that then, it was pretty new.

I remember all members coming out to the front of the stage playing guitars, awesome. Tickets were like $8.00 US.

By the way - BOC headlined!

I went to this one - It was general admission I believe.

All the bands were great. I was right up in front of the stage. Very loud - took my ears a few days to recuperate.

Leslie West did Mississippi Queen !!

Can you confirm that there were these other four bands on this bill: Ted Nugent, Rush, Leslie West and REO Speedwagon, and do you have any idea of the actual running order?

It was definitely those five bands. I've been telling friends about this concert for years.

The fella I went to the concert with moved to Texas after college and I haven't spoken to him in years but I may try to get in touch with him and see if he remembers more about the show.

I don't remember BOC as being the headliner but I would say they were the most well known of the five groups. The only band that I didn't know anything about at the time was Rush and I think (?) they were the last band to play. My memory isn't what it should be.

I went to the concert mainly to see Leslie West because I was a big Mountain fan, but all of the bands were great.

By the way, the Capitol Centre was torn down a few years ago and a shopping mall was put in it's place. I went to probably 20 concerts there including the Rolling Stones, Elton John, Three Dog Night, Grand Funk Railroad (In I believe 1973), Queen, Rod Stewart and the Faces, Grateful Dead, U2, Clapton, etc...

Those were the days !

BOC did indeed headline this all day show (must have been a Saturday or Sunday). However, for whatever reason they chose to have Leslie West close the show. There was a mass exodus to the doors which was too bad, because Leslie gave us a pretty good set - Mississippi Queen and Nantucket Sleighride being the obvious highlights.

Rush opened the show and was actually pretty horrible. I think Neal had been with the band less than a year. I saw them 2 years later at the same venue (the Cap Centre was a fantastic place to see shows - incredible acoustics for a hockey rink) and I couldn't believe it was the same band - they cooked.

Back to 4 Jan 76 - REO was up next, followed by Ted. We're relying on a 32 year old memory that's pretty shaky anyway, but I seem to recall that Ted tore the place up. Lots of loud, fast guitar for the whole set. Sadly, I can't recall anything about REO's set which is really too bad because I think they were recording these shows for their "You Get What You Play For" album - gotta be one of my all time top 5 live albums.

BOC, as usual, were stellar. Highlights for me were Last Days of May and Born To Be Wild with 5 guitars. Your Ears Will Melt And Then Your Eyes!

Somewhere in my parents' basement in District Heights, MD there should be a box with this ticket stub ("A Holiday Spectacular - 5 bands for 5 bucks" was how the show was advertised) and the review from the Washington Star. If I ever find them again, I'll scan & send your way.

Thanks for the chance to relive some great times!

This gig was apparently a make-up gig because the originally scheduled 1st Jan show at the Aragon Ballroom had to be cancelled due to Buck's "stone".

There is a show that I attended that is not in your 1976 lists. It was 27 January 76 also at the Palace Theater in Albany, NY.

Bob Seger opened the show.

What happened in February? Anybody know?

Did this gig take place?

What happened in April? Anybody know? Probably work on Agents of Fortune but what exactly?

May saw the release of "Agents of Fortune" but I don't know the actual official release date. Anybody know?

A gig I remember well! I worked as a stage hand for Cedric Kushner Productions. What a great show.

Southerland Brothers and Quiver had a hit "In the Arms of Mary". Styx had "Lady" and "Lorelei" and that's about it. No Tommy Shaw yet.

BOC did essentially the Live Album type of stuff. I got to talk to Buck before he went on. Many people - 7000 with a sell out being 7700. No real hits by BOC yet, but everyone knew every song! The closed with ME262. They did Born to be Wild almost every show then.

Notice the date on the advert above - "Sunday 3rd May" - the only problem with that is that the 3rd was a Monday!!

This gig took place on the 2nd May at Dutchess Community College (in the gym) - I know it was the 2nd because I have kept a diary of every show I've ever seen and May 2 is the date.

The opening act was The Beaver Brown Band, then Styx then BOC.

May 08 at Capitol in Passaic, New Jersey was definitely with Dr. Feelgood and Slade - I went to that show and as I recall DFTR was the second song in the set - and they did a great I Ain't Got You...

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

This was only my third concert, but I was already a huge BOC fan.

I remember that they played a lot of "Agents of Fortune" but as this was before the LP came out, I didn't know any of the songs.

"This Ain't the Summer of Love" stood out to me, but obviously DFTR became the hit. They did the 5 Guitars during Diz-Busters, if memory serves me right.

Styx were good, and I enjoyed Starcastle. They had a very similar sound to Yes. And their singer was Terry Luttrell(sp) who was the original singer for REO Speedwagon.

Just a quick note. You had the venue down as the "Stanley Civic Arena". This concert took place at the Civic Arena. The Stanley Theatre is a separate (and much smaller) venue.

OK - boc.com has this gig down as Duluth and Redcap's kindly sent me the setlist plus the info that the special guest was The Doors (blimey!!).

Plus, roadie Ricky Reyer's diary says "5/23 - Duluth Minn..." So far, so good. However...

Check out the contemporaneous clipping below, published in the "Lima (OH) News" dated Saturday 22 May 1976 (the day before the gig), which tells of a gig with Slade at the Handcock Recreation Center, Findlay OH "on Sunday". Now, logic would suggest that the "Sunday" they're referring to would be the next day - the 23rd - the Duluth date - otherwise, they'd have said "next Sunday" or else printed the actual date.

It's credible in that Slade were definitely around and had already played with BOC recently, so this whole thing is intriguing... and confusing...

Do you know anything about it?

Like the clipping above, boc.com has this gig down as Brown County Arena, Madison WI - but ex-roadie Ricky Reyer's diary has this gig down as "Civic Auditorium, Green Bay WI"...

Does anybody have any info on this gig that might help me nail it down one way or the other...?

Rush websites have this info down for this date: "29 May 1976: St Paul Civic Center Arena St Paul Minnesota (supporting Blue Oyster Cult / Reo Speedwagon)".

A Thin Lizzy site reckons Lizzy played this date: "29 May 1976: St Paul Civic Centre (with Rush, BOC, REO Speedwagon)"

Then a complication arrived in the following email:

A record store I frequent in St. Paul, MN (about 75 miles away) has an old BOC concert poster hanging in their back room. When I was up there today I checked it out to see where and when the concert was. When I got home I checked your list to see if it was on there but I can't find it listed. Just one problem, I don't know what year it was.

My guess is it has to be 1973, 1974 or 1975. I think it was held at the St. Paul Civic Center. I didn't pay much attention to this detail since I didn't think I would need it. My son seems to remember it as being the civic center.

Anyway, they have their picture on the poster and are the headliners. Also appearing with them were Steve Marriot's Allstars and REO Speedwagon. The date of the concert was May 29 (no year of course) and the ticket price was $4.00. I seem to remember my friends brother going to a BOC concert right about the time I started getting into them. That would be around 1975.

The more I think about it and looking at the "Giglopaedia" I think the year for the May 29 concert would have been 1976. They were in the area then and that would work out better for my memory.

Regarding the possibility of Rush being on the bill - it's quite possible that Steve Marriot canceled and Rush took their spot. Wow what a concert that would have been.

I was at this concert. It was the best show I've ever seen, great light shows. Blue Oyster Cult, Rush, REO Speedwagon, and The Boys all for $4 at the St. Paul Civic Center, May 29, 1976... 2 weeks before my graduation.

If I remember right, It was this line-up order... First band (and I could be wrong) was either The Boys or The Baby's, unknown, we'd never heard of them, they weren't very good. They're sound system was very poor, and we were anxiously awaiting the next bands to come on.

Next came Rush, again, fairly new, they were just starting to become well known. After The Boys/Baby's went off the stage, it was only seconds it seems before there was an explosion followed by red lights and smoke, Geddy Lee appeared with an organ/keyboard rising out of the center of the stage, playing the simple doodoodo do do do dododoooo. Chopsticks... There was an oriental theme to the stage. Again an explosion of red smoke and lights and the band was all standing on the stage and went into the 2112 overture and Temple of the Syrinx.

If you'd like to see what I mean you can check out this live youtube video... it's the same opening for them except this video didn't have the chopstick beginning with the red smoke and lights before the whole band appeared on stage. I would imagine the setlist was a little different at each show, but don't know why they wouldn't keep the red smoke and lights as that was amazing and the crowd went wild.

Their whole show was filled with spectacular light shows and at the end a holographic UFO flying above the audience.

Next up was Blue Oyster Cult, also pretty new on the scene at that time. They're light show was amazing as well, "Don't Fear the Reaper" was the only song we knew of from them at the time, but the rest of they're set was unbelievable.

Then came REO Speedwagon, but to tell you the truth, I was so blown away by Rush and BOC, that I can't remember much about REO playing, except that we knew none of their songs on the setlist. REO was also just becoming huge in the music world.

The bands appeared in pecking order, like is done at shows still, least known to best known, but all of them in the "just coming up stage". Either way, the best show I'd ever been to was only $4. Advertised as "Four bands, four bucks". Unfortunately, I don't have anything to remember the concert by other than my recollection, and discussions over the years that I've had with friends who were with me at the concert. I just found that youtube video tonight when I was trying to find the chopstick type of music that started off the concert.

Regarding confirmation of the date, the following site link states that Rush opened for BOC and REO and also lists the same date that I remember (which was important because it was 2 weeks before my graduation):

http://www.test4echo.net/rush_tour_dates.htm

I hope this helps. Sorry I couldn't tell you more or offer a stub or something more.

I wonder if Cindy's mention of "The Boys or The Baby's" as the opening act could actually refer to The Babys?

THE BABYS did not tour the US until April 1977, matter of fact they were still letting the ink dry on their recording contract, hadn't even recorded their debut album...

I am absolutely positive they didn't tour in 1976; however they did tour the US extensively with bands like REO and Rush during mid to late 1977 and 1978...

Check out my Babys sites:

www.thebabysarchives.com
www.myspace.com/thebabysofficial

I just checked with a friend of mine, he said it was Thin Lizzy, and that they were very "green".

Wow, to think I heard Thin Lizzy in the early days without even realizing it. And then to be part of the $4 bill...

Thin Lizzy did not play with BOC on 29th May 1976 - check out the following link on www.thinlizzyguide.com:

• http://www.thinlizzyguide.com/tours/dates/1976/760529.htm

Thanks for that Peter. Looks like the quest for that opening act continues...

• "Northwest Rock Festival"

Yes we played! Three day outdoor festival... BOC was a featured headliner, as was Rainbow and Bachman Turner Overdrive. Nazareth played before us on the first night. We were supposed to leave our lights on stage for the other two days shows... BOC was going to Oakland CA to do Day On the Green in the interim and didn't need the production support; i.e. sound and lights...

Then we found that the promoter had left with the money and from the booking agent in New York we learned that B.T.O. didn't even know they were to play! That's when Rick Downey and I took over the ticket booth. I had a 44 mag. hand gun a security guard lent me. We continued to sell tickets for the three day event not even knowing if we would get past that first day... trying to get the Cult's money. We counted nickels and dimes!!

We started taking down the light rig after our show... that started the riot... the kids had been ripped off by this promoter before and were ready to strike... first thing out of the ordinary I noticed was an ice cream truck tumbling down the grandstands... then some kids got in a Freightliner and started driving around the race track with kids hanging from the mirrors!!!!! There was a 100 foot crane to put up the top over the stage; the top was tied off to two empty forty foot trailers on either side of the stage... kids got in the crane and started moving toward the stage, jerking the boom from side to side!

A lighting guy attacked the crane with a large/big ass fork lift while we were struggling to get the equipment off the stage before the crane strikes (stage hands had left as did the horseback riding security guards)... we just got the lasers in the truck and as I was driving away, in the rear view mirror I saw the crane fall on the stage; the top came down and flipped the trailers that were supporting it!!!!... the kids then burned everything in site: four big genie's, about ten big Winnebagos (used as dressing rooms) the stage, grandstands and every building on the site... WOW!

One of the most dangerous scenes I've ever been part of!!!!!! The highway was on a rise and the state patrol had about ten cars up there (1/2 mile away) just watching the riot!

The poster above off eBay gives some useful info as to who else was on this bill.

BTO seem to have been the main headliners - and presumably were due to have closed the final night (6 June) - and then BOC and Blackmore's Rainbow were due to headline the opening two nights BOC (4th June) and Rainbow (5th).

Other bands due to play over the 3 days were:

• Heart
• Magi
• Trooper
• Earthsong
• Shy
• Bang
• Flash Cadillac
• Dave Rea (?) and Friends
• Freefall
• Nektar
• Season Street
• Salem Mass
• Big Horn
• Child
• Chris Jagger and Friends
• Stacy Heydon Band
• And More!!!

Here's a post I saw on the Pat Travers board [Link] - I did email to ask could I re-quote it here but got no reply so here it is anyway:

Randal on Tuesday, April 13, 2004 - 11:43 am:

I hitchhiked 150 miles to Stateline, Idaho in 8th grade to see a 3-day festival. BOC played the first night with Nektar and Bighorn. Allan Lanier was so blasted he nearly fell over on the keyboard! Eric looked extremely pissed off, and the band had a hell of a time keeping it together with Allan's botched playing! On the five-guitar jam, they were basically holding him up between their shoulders! The next day, the promoter split with the cash due to low ticket sales -- and quite naturally, a riot ensued! I watched some guys roll a milk truck down the hill, was issued a stolen doughnut from a guy who was passing them out, and saw a hot wired semi-truck doing brodies around the race track. It was when I was backstage looking around when I saw a guy whose head was busted open by one of the rocks people were hurling back there that I decided to leave. My brother showed up looking for me (he had arrived the morning after I got there) and we took off JUST BEFORE the state police shut the placer down! There was a column of smoke rising as we left -- quite a memorable scene for a 13-year old head like myself!

I was intrigued by this - there were a couple of discrepancies with Ricky Reyer's account - the name "Stateline" and the two named support acts for example - I asked Sam if he knew anything...

I've never heard it called "Stateline"... MSN has no listing for Stateline ID... but has several for a Stateline Road which is fairly near Coeur D'Alene..

Could Stateline Raceway possibly be the name of the track where this was held??

I think you're right about the racetrack name: State Line. I know Nazareth played before us, not Nektar, in fact Bobby Thompson and maybe John Hougdaul (sp?) (Bugsey) were there and there were other groups...

The milk truck was the before-mentioned ice cream truck I saw tumble down the concrete grandstands... that's when I knew the shit was going to hit the fan. You've got to remember that we were feverishly trying to get our equipment and production (sound and lights) off the stage, with NO stage hands!, before it crumbled...

Many people were hurt... especially the kids holding on to the Freight Liner cab doing burn outs in the infield... Wild and Crazy!

Don't remember Alan being anything but normal, you know... I'd like to hear what George Geranios has to say about it - have you asked?

I think it was Stateline Road, it was a track. Let's not forget the large crane that was tipped and burned!

As a matter of fact, I remember all the concessions on the top of the grandstand hill being looted and burned. I have pics of the milktruck going down the stands. I mostly remember convincing (not untruthfully) a host of angry rioters that B.O.C. was a victim too and they shouldn't trash our P.A. (we provided production), band gear and (I believe) our lasers. I'm pretty sure R.D. Reyer and I loaded a truck with all our stuff and R.D. drove it away, up the long road from the track to the highway and past the police who were sitting a mile away watching the festivities with what, I supose, was amusement.

I remember that column of smoke and being thankful that no one was seriously hurt and our gear remained intact...

It's funny how many of my recollections are almost word for word with the account above... the ice cream truck, the semi tractor, the guy that hot wired the crane that put up the stage...

I didn't think we were the first day but then again, so many bands pulled out (I think they were touting 30 live acts etc...) that we were the first and last day...

And yes, as I was talking to Wally Meyerwitz and or Steve Schenck back in New York, on the payphone nailed to a piece of plywood nailed to a pole in the backstage area, while watching the little dressing room trailers go up in smoke, a rock the size of a softball wizzed by my head, hit the board and at that moment I decided it was a good idea to get me and the band the f@*k outta there!

Re the venue - yes, it was the track name and the area, sort of like "tri state area"... I've been passing thru there every year for the past 10 years since I've been in racing....

Sam, it was the second day. We played the first day of what was to have been a three day festival. The only reson we were on-site the second day is that all our production was there and we were "minding the store." None of the bands showed up the second day and that's when the feces hit the fans. (I'm not sure any promoter production people were about either).

I will look for the pics. They may be in 35mm-slide form but I have a flatbed that scans now.

I found this site while searching online for any comments on the State Line Racetrack concert/riot in June 1976. I was 19 at the time and drove from Portland, Oregon to Post Falls for the concert with three friends in my car. BOC was the main reason we went, but were looking forward to three days of partying and music.

I remember the show seemed really disorganized from the beginning, and the Friday night show started late. But BOC rocked out and played late, and we had a great time that evening. We camped in little tents in a grassy field adjacent to the racetrack, and the parties in the camping area went late into the night, with a lot of noisy people keeping us awake half the night.

Then we finally got a couple hours of sleep and different noisy people in the morning woke us up. I think a lot of the people there were sleep-deprived on the second day. The concerts were supposed to start late morning, but nothing seemed to be happening, and then when we finally got back into the concert area, the band was packing up all the equipment. The news spread through the grapevine that the promoters had skipped, and we had gotten ripped off. All those peace-loving stoners became angry rioters pretty quickly, and there was a lot of talk about what to do.

Sometime in there was when someone got the idea to drive or push the ice cream truck to the top of the berm where the seating sloped to the track, and down it went, eventually rolling, if I remember right. That seemed to trigger the crowd, and a bunch of people raided the office and concessions stands, where the employees were packing up and getting out of Dodge. I don't think there was any money left, but someone found a ton of concert tickets and tossed them to the crowd. I went home with a couple dozen extra tickets.

All the food in the stands got grabbed, then someone yelled "Burn it down!" and things started getting torched. Some of us pushed a telephone booth over the top of the grandstands, where it bounced a few times and the glass broke before it came to a stop partway down.

I remember the semi truck careening around the field, and thinking someone was going to die. Eventually they kind of crashed it and then set it on fire. I remember seeing the crane going down, and then people were piling fence boards around the wooden light poles and setting them on fire. Eventually everything there was on fire.

In the meantime, the police were lined up along the raised highway as far as you could see, and everyone was speculating whether they could arrest all of us, or if the National Guard would be coming. As it began to get late in the day, things wound down, and we went back to camp to pack up and go home. We didn't have enough money to stay in a motel or campground, so we were going to drive the 8 hours back to Portland that night.

While we were walking back to camp, someone who was leaving drove their pickup up against a plastic outhouse and started pushing it over. We heard someone yelling from inside, and when it hit the ground with a big splash of water and other stuff, the door flew open and a cursing guy rolled out. We had been laughing, but cleared out, because he didn't think it was very funny and was loaded for bear. That night, I drove all the way home by myself, because everyone else was too tired and I didn't trust them with my car. At about 2:00 a.m. on the freeway about an hour from home, I fell asleep and weaved from the right lane to the center guardrail, then back to the right shoulder before a girl in the back who was kind of conscious asked me what I was doing and woke me up. Scared the crap out of me! I didn't get sleepy the rest of the way home.

Needless to say, a disappointing experience as far as music went except for Blue Oyster Cult, but a once-in-a-lifetime experience otherwise. It was weird watching the tv news later that day about the riot the day before and thinking about being there.

I was there this night. It was my graduation night from high school and my friend, Cliff Knutson, a fellow concert photographer and i were on top of a semi with Rick Downey watching the riot. It was ugly. The band was at the Red Lion Inn in the Spokane Valley and my friend Bob Salsbury worked there. The band left a huge tip that no one can forget. The cult was over the top cool. But the promoter, not John Bauer, called himself John Brauer and scammed with the loot. Very chaotic. Dave Riggs, Seattle

Wish I had been there when they raided the beer vendors! I have a blog recounting an experience at a Nugent show in Spokane. www.etherhuffer.typepad.com. Look for "Where the Cordite Blossoms Grow". Its all true...

I was there - 17 years old. turned into a 3 day riot/keggar. One of the most memorable events in my life. Unfortunately I didn't take a camera. This site was the first I've found regarding this event. Many of these accounts are word for word with my memories.

The friends I was supposed to ride home with took off when things got bad, so I was there for the duration,with no supplies. Some memories I have include cars and motorcycles racing around the track overnight; guys chainsawing down all the tall light poles around the track; huge bonfires made of large tires and sheets of plywood from the fence that had surrounded the track; a guy carrying two large garbage bags full of cartons of cigarettes from the concession stands who also had many feet of linked Kielbasa type sausages wrapped around his body like an ammo belt. There were keggars all night (kegs taken from the beer trucks).

By the 3rd morning a lot of people had left and the police cars finally came in saying we had to leave or we'd be charged with starting a riot.Me and a couple of friends had to walk to the nearest little town and use a pay phone to get one of the guys mom to come get us. (A couple of hours drive each way).

The concert would have been great but this I'll never forget!

I was 16 years old and at that crazy gig. The opening act was actually a band named Nektar who put on a fine performance. B. O. C. was stellar. it was a cold night however...

Recently talked with an old friend who was with me at this spectacle. Sad to note there were at least two fatalities at this event, one from a mushroom O.D. and another from one of the kids hitting his head on a lightpole while a passenger on the back of a motorcycle doing laps around the speedway Sat. June 5.

We were up from the Boise valley and my friend confirms that Nektar also played. He says he has his ticket purchased from the Boise area and I will try to E-mail you a copy when I get down to Boise.

Friday June 4th was a cold night and I remember Eric commenting to the audience that it sure is cold. You could see the frost on his breath. B.O.C. put on an exellent show.

Nektar was touring on their Recycled L.P. One other band opened that night I'll try to find out who it was.

Idaho experienced a manmade disaster on June 4th when the Teton Dam burst in southeast Idaho. Rumor had it that was why the National Guard wasn't called in and the State Police kept their distance managing outgoing traffic.

Although we didn't participate in the violence we did sneak home with a keg of beer in the trunk and more coldcuts than 4 of us could eat in a week!

Quite the experience for a 16 year old kid.

I was the guy who inadvertently started the riot ­ or struck the match to the already smoldering powder keg. Hopefully statutes of limitations are in effect 32 years after the fact. There were four of us who'd come to the festival together from Mountain Home, ID. Day one had been great and BOC was fantastic! (And I remember that it was Nektar as well, the other band was Big Horn) We were looking forward to day two.

Around 12:30 we headed over to the gate since the show was supposed to start around 1, I think. The gate was locked and there were a lot of folks standing around speculating about what had happened. We went back to our van which wasn't too far from the gate and watched for movement. When we saw the crowd going through the gate we headed in. If I remember correctly this was about 4 p.m. and everyone was pretty pissed off.

The bleachers sat on an earthen embankment. You walked from the gate up the embankment and then down into the speedway. The ice cream truck sat at the crest of the embankment along with the concession stands. When we got to the ice cream truck it had already been broken into and someone was passing out "free" ice cream. We looked down at the stage and saw the crew tearing down the equipment. "What the...?" A crowd was gathering in front of the plywood barrier at the front of the stage.

We went down onto the inner circle of the speedway and up to the barrier. At this point someone had started to rip the barrier apart and I slipped through the barrier with my 35mm camera and made my way onto the stage where I proceeded to take photos of the crowd and what was going on. More of what happened to those photos shortly. So I'm on stage taking pictures wearing a t-shirt from a Boise, ID music store wearing a civil war kepi hat, and I guess looking like part of the crew.

The crowd was ugly and yelling at everyone on stage to put things back and put the show on. Really, we all knew that we'd been ripped off and there was no way the show was continuing, but it made people feel good to vent. Some of the venom was directed at me personally, so I pulled off my hat and pulled out my ticket and waved it in the air to show that I was one of them. Mistake #1. The crowd got louder and some people started throwing things onto the stage. A piece of wood almost hit me and pissed me off. I picked up the chunk of wood and threw it back. Mistake #2.

Now everyone on stage ran for cover because the air was then full of rocks, beer bottles, and wood. A rock hit my leg pretty hard as I scrambled ­ I guess I deserved it. Unfortunately, as I've been reading some of these other recollections, there were others not as lucky. I never saw anyone with their head "busted open" as one commenter stated. I felt badly enough, that would have made me absolutely miserable.

My recollection of the balance of the riot is as it has been described here. I seem to recall hearing that someone was seriously injured by the semi running around the track but I didn't see it. I didn't feel responsible for the truck incident since that kind of crap had already started (with the ice cream truck) before I hit the stage.

Now for the pictures... Mistake #3. I had mis-loaded the film in the camera and I got NOTHING but memories!

• "Day on the Green #6"

Check out the BOC line-up as printed on the concert programme page above - it's hilarious...

Was this gig at the Seattle Center Arena?

This gig is not on Ricky Reyer's lists so although the poster above exists, it's possible BOC didn't actually play this show...

Does anybody know for sure?

I'd been invited to this gig by Sandy Pearlman when I met him with Helen Wheels at the 18 June Dictators' show at Club 82.

BOC were sandwiched between opener Ted Nugent and headliner ZZ TOP. BOC would be performing songs from their newly released Agents oF Fortune, including DON'T FEAR THE REAPER to their newly acquired laser show.

Sandy said they cult would talk to a fan all night, and they did!! I met my heroes, had backstage passes, saw a great show and met Ted Nugent, another guitar superhero.

I saw BOC twice at the Convention Center that year - this show was opening for ZZ Top's "Taking Texas to the World Tour" - the one where they had the steers on the stage and such.

That was the first time I saw the lasers and they blew ZZTop off the stage. ZZ was in their third song before people stopped screaming for BOC.

So, when they came around again in the fall as the headliner, we were there. Still the best two BOC shows I ever saw...

I know there was another band on the bill, but I don't recall Starz from that gig. They played with them in 1977 (I think) at Rich Stadium outside Buffalo, NY -- that show was Starz, Ted Nugent, Lynryd Skynryd and BOC.

Remember Starz from that gig because that song "Pull the Plug" was on the radio then and they all dressed in white.

My first show was at the sweltering Cape Cod Coliseum in MA (once owned by Vince McMahon of WWF fame - the coliseum, not massachusetts)...

Agents was either just out or due any day, but reaper was already on the radio - the first band was Starz (featuring rex smith's brother on vox), who used to open for everyone back then - i always thought they were underrated and their "violation" album is exceptional - guitarist richie ranno works record shows, sells Starz stuff and is a real cool guy!

Nothing could have prepared me for BOC, however - opened w/Stairway and ripped out one climax after another - thousands of brains visibly liquified during Last Days, as many had never seen a laser show before - the crowd, largely unfamiliar w/the boys, were completely floored!

What really struck me --- and maybe it was the drugs, but it also seemed to happen at later shows at the Music Hall in boston (w/be-bop deluxe and the band Boston opening different shows / tours) --- was that, the lasers actually appeared to fragment after hitting the mirror balls, so instead of a straight beam / reflection, there were these free-floating cylinders of green light, as if they'd "broken off."

i realize this is probably impossible under the laws of physics and whatnot, but i'd still swear under oath that that's what i saw - the music, of course, goes without saying - i saw one of the few performances of "morning final" at one of those shows, plus "kick out the jams" and "we gotta get outta this place." (eric had mentioned they were recording, but i guess none of those tracks made into onto Some Enchanted Evening) - friggin' to die for!

Headliners ZZ Top were an absolute snooze after this, and i ACTUALLY DOZED OFF during their set, something i'd have not guessed possible given the decibels but nothing could have come close to BOC at this point - i was Sworn For Life...

In years to follow, they always headlined and i saw them w/openers like Boston, Rush and Be Bop Deluxe - i most recently saw them in New Haven this year (1998) and the band is simply devestating - you guys keep playing, i'll keep coming!

• Despite it being a ZZ Top gig, BOC seem to have headlined!

I can confirm that BOC did headline over ZZ Top. ZZ top was billed as the headliner, the radio station that put it on (WMMS) said they were headlining and they were advertised as the headliner.

In fact, I remember talking to Kid Leo (the main DJ) and expressed my concerns over ZZ Top playing after BOC and he concurred, but said ZZ Top had it in there contract that they headline. I said fine. Just make sure they play before BOC!

Well any way, we planned our trip to peak just in time for the boys. Oh shit, here comes the band and it's ZZ Top. Cool someone actually took my advice.

Only problem, ZZ Top screwed up the sound system or something like that and BOC didn't take the stage till like 12:30 or so and played close to 2 hours. It was after this show they put in a curfew.

I was at the same show. Awesome. Didn't get home 'til about 4am. Lasers in boxes the size of large coffins behind the stage. Steer, buffalo, vulture and rattlesnake. And Seger's breakout tour.

BOC played at Wings Stadium, Kalamazoo MI on 7-26-76 - Mahogany Rush opened, Mott were on second.

I got the info from a master list of concerts directly from the stadium. Then I went to the Kalamazoo public library to look for any old newspaper articles on this show. This is where I came up with the opening acts. Its been about 3 years since I did this - I can't remember if I got the info from a actual concert review or a flyer. It was one of the two. I know the info was in old Kalamazoo Gazettes.

OK - I have this gig currently dated as 2 July so that's a discrepancy with Brian's account above.

Does anybody know for sure?

At the July 4th 1976 gig at Liberty Bowl, Memphis, the support acts were ZZ Top, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Outlaws...

I was there - I was 15. What I remember is being about the fifty yard line in general admission. I got my ticket for $10 from a guy and his wife sitting in a van in the parking lot - although I am pretty sure it was face value.

If remember correctly - it has been over 30 years - the bill was supposed to be Warmup band - never showed up. I was told it was going to be Point Blank. I had never heard of them, but since no one showed it could have been anyone

I remember seeing:

1. Outlaws
2. Blue Oyster Cult
3. Lynyrd Skynyrd
4. ZZ Top

I thought Skynyrd was better than ZZ. I remember I was bummed because BoC played and it was still light out so their showed seemed to be missing something.

I also remember they were selling beer in these plastic cups and people were making 20 foot towers out of the empties. The towers of course kept falling and people were getting hit with the glasses. Then eventually people started throwing them around. A friend of my Dad's got hit in the mouth with an Pony bottle - remember miller ponies? - and we left shortly thereafter during ZZ's performance.

On July 4, 1976 I joined 75,000 other Memphians for an all-day rock concert at the Liberty Bowl Stadium. For a mere $10.00 ticket price I got to see The Outlaws, Blue Oyster Cult, Lynyrd Skynyrd and ZZ Top. Hughie Thomasson's band The Outlaws opened the show. I'd be lying if I said I remembered their set as I was too busy making time with my date. (I wonder what ever happened to Teri Williams?) The third act, I do remember. Ronnie Van Zandt leading Lynyrd Skynyrd. Just over a year later that band's plane would crash killing Van Zandt, guitarist Steve Gaines and his sister, singer Cassie Gaines. Hughie Thomasson's Outlaws would continue to create southern fried rock for a long time.

Starz opened the show at Moody Coliseum. Moody is on the S.M.U. campus and tarps were used on the floor and it was usually general admission seating with no chairs on the floor. First come first served during a time when ones space was respected, and mosh pits were something where pigs wallowed. Being twelve at the time my memories are general but vivid. STARZ had big hair, posed a lot and were generally pretty cool.

RUSH was from another planet! I didn't quite get it and the silk pants and clogs were a bit much for my blue jean mind but they were awesome! I am still in love with RUSH to this day and wish I could hear a tape of this show. It was overwhelming. In all fairness about the silk pants thing, look at the 2112 album band portrait and I'll bet even Alex Lifeson(Guitar God) laughs.

B.O.C was a sight and sound extravaganza. The stage presence of Eric Bloom, all in black with shades on and Buck Dharma, all in white was a great start. They were just cool as sh--!! I am sorry to say all I remember musically is that they played well.

This memory is one that is forever branded on my mind. Watching Eric Bloom point out and have what appeared to be a laser beam come from his finger was one of the coolest things I have ever seen in my life. I believe this was the first time I had seen lasers used at a concert. I remember two lasers moving from the behind drum riser and a grid type laser hi-lighted by all the smoke... BUT... THE WRIST MOUNTED LASER THROUGH A SMOKY CONCERT HALL APPEARING TO ORIGINATE FROM A GUY'S FINGER KICKS BUTT!!!!

The show ended with every member of the band out front playing guitar, which was also very cool!

This was what concerts used to be like and how I wish they still were today. All this for less than ten bucks and all the bands appeared to feel as though they were the luckiest people on the planet to be playing for us. What happened?

Although I have some very vivid memories of the concert, my normally excellent memory for details fails me a bit for a very simple reason: I had only heard of Blue Oyster Cult a few days before the concert, and had never heard any of their music. Although I had heard of Rush, I was similarly unaware of their catalog. On the other hand, Starz was getting a lot of airplay on a couple of local stations (including "The ZEW") with their song "I Pulled the Plug", which was obviously inspired by the controversial Karen Quinlan court case.

My most vivid memory of the Rush set is the very intensely focused fellow standing next to me, shouting "Anthem, Anthem!", as if by force of will he could bring about the commencement of this tune. Starz was excellent.

BOC was definitely memorable - in fact, this was the best concert I have ever seen, by an order of magnitude. Unfortunately, other than the opening number, "This Ain't the Summer of Love", I can't tell you what songs played during what were, visually, the most memorable parts of the concert. Since BOC songs up to that point tended to lack hooks, I had no idea what the names of the songs were until the next day when I rushed out and bought "Agents of Fortune". They definitely played "Don't Fear the Reaper", "ETI", "Astronomy", and "Born to Be Wild", "Flaming Telepaths", and "Buck's Boogie". I'm not sure about some of the obvious others, like "Stairway to the Stars" and "Cities on Flame".

I'm not sure which song they used for the Texas Chainsaw Guitar Duel, but it was really cool. One by one, they added guitarists (Joe Bouchard definitely traded his bass for a guitar in this), and the crowd went slightly nuts when Albert Bouchard jumped out from behind his kit and bounced up to the front of the stage with the other guys. Each one stepped forward for a solo, then Buck and Eric, who were on each end, stepped forward, crossed axes, did a couple of back-and-forths, and then raised the guitars, creating a sort of "metal Doppler effect", punctuated by a perfectly timed explosion.

The opening introduction was perfect, too. Starting from total darkness, the announcer intoned, "This ain't the summer of love, it's the summer of Blue Oyster Cult!!", and the flash pot/explosion was timed perfectly with the first note. At the front of the venue, where I was standing, we were temporarily blinded. Our vision returned to see BOC all in position at the mikes just as the vocals began. The guy next to me said, "Cool, where did they come from!?" the first two songs, Buck kept nodding his head in rhythm, with that slight, wry grin of his. This brought on the comment from one of the nearby concertgoers, "Man, he's freakin' me out!"

Aside from the assorted lighting effects, another very cool moment was when Buck sprinted across the length of the stage with the strobe lights. Everyone there also will remember the effect created when lasers were combined to create "smoke trapped in glass" effect just a few feet over the heads of the people on the floor.

The lasers seemed to be working perfectly. They were positioned just to the left and right of Albert's head. One was aimed at a crystal ball in the middle of the right side of the Coliseum, the other was oscillating right to left, and aimed at a crystal ball just opposite the other. When Eric sang Astronomy, his wrist-mounted laser was working perfectly, and my brother and friends farther back later exclaimed, "Man, did you see when the laser came out of his finger!?" He pointed it at the crystal ball on the right side, which was totally cool. It was a truly unbelievable sight in 1976, not that long after "Pong", and before "Space Invaders".

The costuming:
Eric: All black, with leather jacket
Buck: All white, of course, with white coat jacket
Joe: All black
Allen: Black pants, white shirt
Albert: White shirt, black pants and vest

Right - this next bit of info might not be about this gig at all, but it seems the most likely.

I recall seeing B.O.C and The J. Geils Band at OSS, both put on rocking sets. Especially B.O.C. on "Dominance and Submission".

I also believe that was the show where the combination of herb and cheap draft beer got the better of me and I ended up in the upper bleachers "calling the bears", if you get my drift !

Unfortunately ( for whoever was below me ) the upper bleachers were located right above the walkways going to the bathrooms and conncession stands --- I'll just leave the rest to imagination !

In the midst of my misery I vaugely remember hearing a voice below exclaim "SonofaBITCH !!!". Got myself together just long enough to get my ass out of there before someone came up there looking to put their foot in it. My apologies to whoever! Hey, it was the '70s --- if you didn't party till you puked at at least one concert, you probably weren't having much fun ! :-)

Could the show you saw have been this one for which I don't have a venue listed?

If you have a listing for BOC at an "unknown venue" in Orlando in '76 it would have most certainly been at the Orlando Sports Stadium, formerly known as the Eddie Graham Sports Complex. That was the place that all the big rock acts of the day played at when they came to Orlando. ( Elvis Presley himself played there in Feb. of '77, six months before his death ).

I've been trying to confirm the date of the BOC/J. Geils band show that I saw there but no luck so far. Wish I'd saved my ticket stubs now ! I do believe it was a year or so before "Agents Of Fortune" came out.

I do recall that BOC was the opening act but I think the crowd dug them as much as J. Geils. They were definitely on the way up and "Cities on Flame with Rock-n-Roll" had gotten lots of airplay on local FM radio ( WORJ ).

I've been hoping to find some kind of site that lists all the concerts at the OSS but no luck yet, just an occasional mention here and there. It was as well known for holding professional wrestling tournaments as concerts. It was basically a big airplane hangar with stadium seating and the sound could be pretty dismal. If you didn't need to see the band it was some times better to just sit outside and listen ! But hey, who wanted to do that ?!?!?

In about '78 the more modern Lakeland Civic Center opened about 60 miles south of Orlando and all the bands started playing there. In fact, after years of not hosting concerts the LCC just started having them again and one of the first shows they did was BOC and Foghat ! (in Aug. 2005).

NB: There's another BOC gig in Orlando that you don't have listed...

This was at the Tangerine Bowl as it was known back then, but is now known as the Citrus Bowl. I believe it was briefly known as Orlando Stadium but it is a different venue than the Orlando Sports Stadium.

The T-Bowl, as the locals referred to it, did indeed host many big concerts and I do recall BOC playing at one of them. I didn't make it to that show but a bunch of people told me it was great !

I believe it was in the early 80s and for some reason I'm thinking Boston was the headliner. Our local papers online archives only go back as far as 1985 so I'm going down town one day and hit the library, chamber of commerce, historical museum and what have you till I find a list--- somebody's gotta have one somewhere!

The OSS was demolished in 1995 ---- too many code violations. The T-Bowl held concerts thru the late 80s until the Orlando Arena was built to house the Orlando Magic basketball team and all the concerts started playing there.

I saw a BOC gig at the Tangerine Bowl in the 80s... I can't find any mention of this anywhere. It was a line-up of a lot of bands, with ZZ-Top headlining I think. Cheap Trick might have been there too.

BOC was one of the groups on the bill but not the headline act. I'm not sure exactly when it was.

Regarding the 1976 Orlando show - Jim's gig with J Geils/BOC would crtainly seem a likely prospect.

However, here's another candidate - also from the WORJ board...

I saw them (Foghat touring with Blue Oyster Cult) together at the Orlando sport stadium back in the day. BOC opened the show. Probably not a good thing for Foghat cause BOC blew them off the stage. I remember going to the back of the stadium and sitting and talking with my friends while Foghat played. Normally I'm right in the front row if at all possible. I guess I'm not into slide guitar that much. At least not every song anyway.

Got any sort of date for this gig?

Ralph... I noticed on www.foghat.com that Foghat played at the Orlando sport stadium on 24 April 1976 - your site has no shows listed for BOC on that date. The fact that they toured together and the year and venue are close to the time and place I saw them leads me to belive that that is the correct date.

One thing I remember about the show was the second song of BOC's encore. The drummer did a flip over his drum kit, picked up a guitar and finished the last song with the rest of the band. I saw them again at Light Up Orlando 11/18/94...

So there you go - two possibilities for this gig.

Does anyone out there know one way or the other? Or about the 80s gig also mentioned above...

The show for 20 JUL 76 at Chattanooga, TN ,was supported by RUSH. It was held at the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Auditorium which seats 5,000. Sparse crowd of around 1200-1500. I still have ticket stub of the show, which was signed by Buck and Allen.

I recall that RUSH had equipment problems, which caused a short delay. During the time out Geddy Lee made a role call of US States asking if anyone attending the show was from the various locations; small attempt at humor.

Despite delay, RUSH was excellent. Look at the back cover of ALL the World's a Stage, and the pictures of RUSH performing in dim lighting with tan curtains as a back drop are from the this show.

BOC was also very good with full working laser show and Harley, and left no doubt they were the headliners.

Ticket cost was $3.50 advance, $5.00 day of show.

I vaguely remember that Mott's soundman couldn't make the show and I mixed both B.O.C. and them. That's why I have a Mott cassette of that show.

They jammed quite a bit in their set, something I had long ago forgotten. There's a Mondo Medley at the end!

BOC cancelled as Albert was sick - but ZZ Top still headlined...

Was Point Blank the support for this show?

The posters above give two different venue names on them - one says "Charger Stadium" and the other says "San Diego Stadium". Just to confuse matters, another source gives the venue as "Balboa Stadium".

If you know which - if any - is correct, please let me know...

Hi. The other bands on the bill on this show were 1. Point Blank and 2. Rush. Great site. Thanks.

Was Point Blank the support for this show?

OK - I have this gig down as 23 August 1976 - this is straight from Ricky Reyer's road notes from the period.

However, the poster above clearly says 21 August, so it's quite possible - indeed probable, that this gig did indeed take place on 21 August.

Does anyone know for sure?

This was a wild one. I remember there were thousands of crickets everywhere. There was some guy walking around with a baggy full of live crickets. Needing gas money to get home, he was offering to eat them for cash. Needless to say we scrounged up a bunch of change to make our donation, it was gross and funny all at the same time.

As for the show, well just as J Geils was setting up, (they had an all white stage, amps, piano everything was white) a lightning storm rolled in (of course). So now they start tearing down as the lightning crackles all around. The crowd started getting really pissed. They set up for BOC as the crowd continues to get rowdy and then all of a sudden, they take the stage as Eric proclaimed "We're not going to let a little lightning stop us."

After the show there was a show of force by the men in blue. They marched shoulder to shoulder in their riot gear to clear the people out. If I remember correctly, I think someone was even killed at this show.

It was my first big concert, I was 15 and spent most of the day in awe of the entire scene - a memory I never want to forget.

I am not sure about a death as mentioned above, but I do know where was a stabbing early on because it was close to where were sitting - also there was a baby born - it was on the news the next day.

I also remember lots of fires being started after the show in the dark - concession stands burning as the police cleared the place. My buddy only had his permit and the rest of were not 16 yet, so he stole his dads car and drove from Youngstown - then of all things he lost the keys and we had to call his dad to come out after the concert - what a day what a night

Cancelled gig: Morgantown NC

Note the date on the T-shirt image above which says "Aug 30th" - the gig was definitely on the 29th August!!

The BOC show 29 AUG 76 was at the Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta.

Bands performing in order of appearance were 38 Special (rumored to be their first ever show), Bob Seger, Edgar and Johnny Winter, BOC and KISS. Was poorly attended with about 17,000 due to bad weather and (besides BOC and KISS) weak line-up.

BOC had to stop playing at least once due to rain, and I recall Buck addressing crowd and stating he could not touch his guitar. Laser show did not function properly, yet despite these setbacks, BOC won the day musically.

I have ticket stub for the show, but only KISS is mentioned. Cost for show including parking was $7.50.

I have a strong suspicion that this gig might not have taken place. Here's why...

For a start - this gig is not on Ricky Reyer's lists so straight away that makes it a bit suspect, ticket or no ticket...

Now, I often check out eBay for ticket stub/poster info and I can confidentally predict that there will be at least two tickets from this show on sale at any given moment. Not only that, but they will never be used stubs. Always pristine full tickets.

Consequently, I think this gig was cancelled and somebody has since come across a wad of the unused tickets and is hitting eBay with them with a vengeance...

If you know the truth, please let me know...

I was at this show, what a night!! This was the Kickoff event for our senior year in high school. It was the final blowout of the summer. Anybody who was anyone was there. Even a couple of teachers! Hey, it was the 70s. The good old days...

Hara Arena is a dumpy, low budget hockey arena. But it was ours. We dominated that venue. General admission days. It amazes me when I look back at the bands that played at Hara. That night was fantastic. All three bands were really peeking at that time.

Rush was touring 2112, Styx was touring Crystal Ball and the ticket price was 6.50$ Are you kidding?

BOC was out of control. We were out of control. There was some rant about the government and smoking pot, worked everyone into a lather. We were screaming Dominance and Submission all night. it was a crazy night. I was a BOC fan for life.

My 1st BOC show was Sept. 4th, 1976. It was an outdoor show, with beautiful weather. The opening act was Wet Willie ("Keep on Smiling"). BOC opened with "Stairway to the Stars". The major highlight for me was the 1-2-3 punch of "Morning Final", "Then Came the Last Days of May" (complete with "true story" monologue), and the instrumental 5 Guitars/Golden Age of Leather.

I was 19 years old - it was 1976 - do I even need to say Major Party Time? During "Dominance and Submission" when Eric was doing his "pot/free speech rules! Government sucks!" rap, someone threw a joint onstage and... you can guess what happened next.

Eric got a standing ovation. Times are different now though, and I would caution you not to make the same decisions that teenagers made back inthe '70's.

Anyway, the encores were "Hot Rails to Hell", "Before the Kiss, a Redcap" which segued into "Bucks Boogie". My only disappointment was they didn't do "Astronomy". I had to wait until I saw them with Black Sabbath to see them do it. But thats another story...

OK - this is a strange one.

First off - the post above, which I got off the now deceased "alt.music.boc", doesn't mention a venue or location.

The offical site gives this date as:

• Mesker Music Theatre, Evansville Indiana

So I went with that, in the absence of any other info.

Roadie Rick Reyer's notes has this date down as:

• Hara Arena, Dayton Ohio

As the Dayton show seems to have taken place on the 3rd, I'm currently still with Evansville. Yet Mike Phelp's review says it was an outdoor show.

Is Mesker Music Theatre an outdoor arena? I'm guessing not.

So this date remains wrapped in confusion. Can you help?

Apparently, according to kissfaq.com there was "a minor fan riot" at this gig. I'd love to know more about this...

I was there, no fan riot.

9-15-76 - BOC, Rush, doing all of 2112, Angel. It was at an armory type venue I think.

Best show ever. Full BOC laser festival, and clear 4-way windowpane...

Well, Wally reckons this gig was Wednesday 15 Sept - I think it was Monday 13 Sept. Anybody know for sure?

I have some info to help with the BOC Gig lists. These come directly from my notebook where I kept records of all the shows I attended and sometimes the setlists also.

For 1976, Sept 20 is listed - Albany, NY. This show quickly sold out and another show was added on Sept. 19.

I attended both shows and have the setlists for each (in my old notebook from that time). Opener for both shows was Tommy Bolin. These shows featured the lazers heavily.

This is the setlist for the show on the 19th (although the order is probably wrong):

Stairway
Harvester
ME262/Dom & Sub
ETI
Last Days
Cities
Bucks Boogie
Born To Be Wild
Summer Of Love
Morning Final
Reaper

I have some info to help with the BOC Gig lists. These come directly from my notebook where I kept records of all the shows I attended and sometimes the setlists also.

For 1976, Sept 20 is listed - Albany, NY. This show quickly sold out and another show was added on Sept. 19.

I attended both shows and have the setlists for each (in my old notebook from that time). Opener for both shows was Tommy Bolin. These shows featured the lazers heavily.

This is the setlist for the show on the 20th (although the order is probably wrong):

Stairway
Harvester
Telepaths
ME262/Dom & Sub
ETI
Last Days
Cities
Bucks Boogie
Summer Of Love
Morning Final
Born To Be Wild
Reaper
Hot Rails

I still have my ticket sub but the date is torn off. It was in the fall of '76 in Oklahoma City at the Fairgrounds International Building (not normally a place for concerts)

I believe the Fairgrounds arena was being used for a rodeo or something. Bob Seger opened for them and they had the full laser show. Buck told me a couple of years ago that he remembered the show because of a limo and police escort to the venue. I do remember Bob Seger mentioning that we were hearing "Night Moves" live for the for the first time ever...

Please help me put a date on this gig...

I went through some other tickets stubs I kept and found one from 10/10/76 where I saw Nektar and BOC at Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis Mo.

I saw Blue Oyster Cult and hung out with them in the Autumn of 1976 at their gig in Philadelphia - this time they headlined The Spectrum and sold it out with Angel - on their previous visit in June, they'd supported ZZ Top...

I was at this gig...

Angel opened, then Manfred Mann. I actually went to see Manfred, so I don't recall much about BOC, but... The 5 guitar bit was very cool... had never seen that before, and haven't since!

The band lineup also confirmed in the Manfred Mann's' Earth Band tour archive:

http://www.platform-end.co.uk/html/1976.html

I would love to have a BOC setlist!!!

When I went to this show, I was only thirteen.

It was a big deal... not too many of my friends had attended a concert before. I didn't really know their music back then... I didn't even own any of their music at the time, but when someone presented me with a ticket to a CONCERT, I had to go!

They still had the laser show: I remember the lazers shining on the mirrors on the back of the guitar and into the disco ball above the stage, and Eric, who had one in his sleeve.

Put it this way, it was my first concert and I was hooked... even to this day, and whatever how many shows later, the concert experience is one that remains special.

All i can tell you for sure is the gigs all take place at the Music Hall, now called the Wang Center, in the 70's.

The show with Boston opening was also supposed to have Angel on the bill, but they didn't appear for reasons unknown. Pretty sure Boston's debut LP was just outta the gate.

I attended the 10/17/76 BOC show in Lewiston, Maine. The opening act was (at the time an unknown act called) Boston -- they rocked. Angel was scheduled to appear, but didn't.

As usual, BOC opened with "Stairway to the Stars," and closed with "Born to Be Wild." While I don't have a setlist, I know that they played "Astronomy," "Harvester of Eyes," "Buck's Boogie/Maseratti GT," "ME 262," "Hot Rails to Hell," and lots of tracks off "Agents of Fortune," including "ETI." "Don't Fear the Reaper" was one of the encores. Very much like the 1976 show that's on DVD.

The venue is a hockey rink, and not a large one at that. The concert set an attendance record for the state of Maine at that time, around 6,000 people. The place was absolutely packed! There was a local music magazine/paper called "Sweet Potato" that covered this and many other concerts in Maine at the time. It would be fun to find a copy...

At the Commack Show - BOC definitely headlined over J. Geils and Styx. That's when the boys threw in Kicks (Paul Revere & the Raiders for the under 45 set) into D&S. Cool.

J. Geils played a full set it seemed and were terrific.

Styx wore big boots, did "Lady" and we hated them.

The thing I remember most about this show was that we had trouble finding the arena. We were from Connecticut and had never heard of Comack, Long Island. I don't recall alot about the show, except it was my first exposure to the BOC light show. And back then, we thought Styx was pretty good too. (It was before they got all poppy in the 80's.)

October 23 1976 Providence. With J. Geil's Band and Mother's Finest. BOC was 2nd, J Geil's were headline In fact, I happen to know that BOC and J Geils played together the night before in Long Island NY and BOC was headline.

I did not go to that one so I have no more details as to venue etc. It may have been the Nassau Coliseum, but I am not positive.

At the time I hadn't the faintest idea of who Mother's Finest was. I remember watching their show from the side of the stage. They had a bass player named, I think, Wizard who was some kind of kiss-ass apparition and a killer babe singer. The band was half black-half white and they knocked everybody out!

i was at the providence show. mothers finest sucked. j giels was alright but boc stole the show. boc had a wicked laser light show and they sounded great.

i have seen boc about ten times in concert and never seen a bad show.

Seeing that ticket really brings back a lot of memories. My younger brother Dennis went with me to that show. I forgot that it was on a Sunday night, but remember that nothing was going to keep us away. It was general admission - which was the way most shows were before the Who played that gig in Cincinnati.

We headed up early and when we got to the convention center we pulled up to the booth at the parking lot and I told the attendant I was Councilman H****'s son and we signed a sheet and they let us park for free right near the entrance. (My father wasn't a city councilman, but that was how my older brother used to avoid the $2 parking fee when we went to Niagara University Basketball games, so I figured, why not?)

When they opened the doors, everyone headed right to front. I couldn't run because a year before I had broken both my legs and was still having trouble walking, so Dennis ran ahead and got a good space about 20 feet from the stage in what I guess would now be called the "Buck Zone."

First (and only) disappointment of the night was hearing that one of the bands (Styx I think, but not sure) had cancelled. Bob Seger was the opening act and two things I remember: Drew Abbott, (I think that is who it was). his guitar player (he played a cool-looking Gibson Explorer) sucked! (I later found out that Pete Carr played on the studio album!) And his sax player had on a harness that let him be pulled up from the stage and hang out over the crowd during his solo. They were OK, but not great.

In between the bands a guy sitting next to us showed us his tattoo and shared a joint and we got pretty high. He asked if we had any tattoos and I showed him the 13 month old open wound on my left leg and he thought I was pretty sick but he made a point of having me show it to all his friends for the next 20 minutes or so. He kept telling people "you gotta see this man! You can see the bone!"

We had beers - you could take anything into a concert back then - and traded a beer (Genesee Cream Ale) for another joint, which we saved for the show. When all the lights went off, everyone cheered because we knew the show was starting and the music started playing (Wagner maybe? flight of the Valkerie?) There was one maybe two giant kronos behing the backline and the big gong. All you could see was a dark silhouette or two and flashlights pointed at amp and then came the "NIAGARA FALLS NEW YORK ARE YOU READY! ON YOUR FEET OR ON YOUR KNEES! FROM NEW YORK CITY THE AMAZING BLUE OYSTER CULT!" followed by blinding flash pots and Stairway to the Stars. Everyone stood up and no one sat down for the whole show. We all pushed toward the stage.

The lasers were awesome and I think they started with Eric with a hand held laser on HOE - he shot it at a mirrored ball over the crowd at the end of teh song and people went wild! Memory is a little hazy about all the details, but a couple of things I remember were Hot Rails (Joe had a black fender P-bass and a black leather jumpsuit) (also think they did "morning final," Me262, Dominance, Buck's Boogie, COF, DFTR, BTBW) "Last Days" and the laser show during Albert's drum solo.

By the way - Dominance in that show, in addition to Eric's drug rap, features "Kicks" by Paul Revere and the Raiders.

We were stoned but I really think I saw the red and green lasers make all sorts of incredible patterns on the back wall of the hall including a checkerboard! I know I looked directly into the lasers on a number of occasions (I wear trifocals now btw) and can still see smoke going up into the light waves. Buck and Eric had mirrors on the back of their gits and used them to direct the laser beams at the crowd. they did five guitars (Joe played bass and Albert wore the black leather hot pants from the OYFOOYK album cover and played an Sg with p-90 pickups)

It was the best show of my entire life - best of all the 62 BOC shows I ever saw. Best of all the laser shows I ever saw. We had screamed so loud that we couldn't talk when we left and we drove home in a light rain that made the road seem black as ink. We almost got killed when we went to stop at an intersection - skidded on wet leaves and almost hit a car.

When we got home the car was on empty and the next day my father wanted to kill me because there was no gas left and his car wouldn't start when he tried to go to work in the morning! I caught Hell, but it was all right because the show was so great! I was 19 years old, supposedly crippled for life, unemployed and still living at home. I would start working again shortly thereafter and started college the following january. I would go to see BOC whenever I could from that point on, and in August of this year had the great privilege of being able to say that I had hired and introduced the band for a free gig (8/2/06) attended by thousands!

The Bob Seger show, we were right on the railing, getting crushed. Bob Seger's Sax Player gave us a can of coke in between songs, and the flash pods during Born To Be Wild blinded us for a few minutes. When we regained sight, Eric Bloom gave my friend, Robbie, a guitar pic, apparently to make up for the eye injury...

A memerable part of that night was that Styx canceled, and Bob Seger AND BOC agreed to play double. Bob Seger was Green and we got to be the first to hear most of "Night Moves" which I do not think was a hit album yet.

They both ROCKED!!

The Mid-South Coliseum show in Memphis, TN that you have listed for October 28th, actually took place on Saturday, October 30th.

Well, it could be considered having taken place October 31st. I never did hear confirmation of why the show started so late, but Bob Seger did not come on until almost 9:30. Wet Wille came on about 10:30. BOC finally took the stage a little after midnight.

I remember this well, as I was only 16 and this was my first BOC show! The set was identical to the Live 1976 recorded show without "Astronomy".

Regarding the date though: I am 100% positive it occured on the 30/31.

A friend of mine actually taped the show, and I can remember BOC's announcer doing this 90 second intro about "5 beings on stage with powers far more than those of mortal men" and mentioning that it was now "All Hallows Eve". So, on this I am positive.

Wow, I remember Wet Willie! Halloween 1976 Memphis Mid South Coliseum, Blue Oyster Cult was the headliner, with Wet Willie and a little known singer opening that night named Bob Seger. Bob BLEW US AWAY!!!! He was called back for encore after encore and no one wanted him to leave the stage EVER!!! We all forgot who we came to see! Wet Willie was an established act and I cannot imagine how they must have felt having to follow Seger. Ah memories of the good old days!

Correction: This show was definitely on Halloween October 31st, not October 29th (see above images for verification)

Blue Oyster Cult - Halloween October 31st, 1976 - Indianapolis, Indiana @ Market Square Arena

Band Performance Order:

1. Sammy Terry (Initial speech and then introduced bands between each set)
2. Starz
3. Styx
4. Blue Oyster Cult

Etched in my mind forever. Helium-Neon lasers were aimed at the audience and by using rotating mirrors, gave the effect of 3-Dimensional planes of light going up, down, sideways and everywhere. Absolutely Incredible! The technical know-how for these effects was way ahead of its time. It was amazing how everything worked so well because lasers back in the 70's were very prone to malfunctions.

There were a large number of people dressed up in Halloween costumes that evening which made the atmosphere very surreal. Walking around in the crowds in between bands was a real trip. Ghostly characters were everywhere.

A local TV personality was also on the bill that evening. His name was Sammy Terry (Sammy Terry = Cemetery) [website] and he was a very popular late night TV host and ghoul who showed horror films. He had quite a local following. At this concert he talked about Halloween being his favorite day of the year, etc and he did his TV show routine in which he talked to his pet spider, George. George always dropped down from an invisible fishing line onto Sammy's shoulder.

The act was about a 10 minute ramble and he was making the crowd cheer and laugh a lot! They would always go bonkers when he started talking! Most everyone in the crowd had been watching his TV show since they were little kids. After this opening slot, Sammy's subsequent appearances to introduce each of the bands in turn were much shorter, about 3 minutes long...

I would show up at local record stores and headshops the day after concerts and ask the cashiers if I could have the concert poster hanging in the window. It worked most of the time because I was quick to point out that the concert took place yesterday and they did not have any reason to keep it hanging up anymore. The ticket image above lists this as the 3rd Annual Halloween concert and the attached concert poster image says the 4th Annual. I'm not sure which one is correct. Of all the posters I have collected after concerts I attended, this is my favorite one.

Nov. 6, 1976. Blue Oyster Cult, Salem, Virginia. The opening acts were Mother's Finest and Starz. My partial ticket only lists BOC, though. It does give the date of Nov 6, 1976. You're in for a little extra luck on this one. Nov 7 was my birthday, so this concert ended on my birthday. So, the date sticks out extra for me.

I also recall that the bands arrived extremely late. The doors were kept shut forever. When we were finally let in, they were still setting up the stage.

Then, there were two opening bands, so it pushed the show to being extremely late. A friend took photos and let me borrow the negatives so I could get prints made. I found the negatives recently and still have never gotten them printed.

So, that's a little extra memory I have, plus some photo evidence which I don't actually have prints of. I have a negative scanner but don't have the software installed currently (compatibility problems with XP). Maybe I can get it working on my old computer.

I also remember that their laser show was messed up and wouldn't work. I think I took photos of this show but I'll have to look. If so, I should have prints of those.

Visit Mark's site.

This gig date has been the subject of some contradictory information in the past. Mark's stub and recollections seem definite enough and I'm reasonably happy that this 6 Nov gig was indeed at Salem VA.

However, boc.com has this gig down as BOTH Salem and Chicago! That'd be a good trick if you could do it! I know Phil Collins played both London and Philadelphia Live Aid shows on the same day but he had Concorde to help him!

The thing is - I have received anecdotal reports of a Chicago in this sort of time frame which also - reportedly - had Patti Smith guesting on "Vera Gemini", but I don't have one listed. I really do think there's a Chicago gig yet to be discovered for 1976 - the next one I actually do have listed is December 1977 so it doesn't seem likely that they would only play such a major city once in two years at the height of their popularity.

Indeed, Georg Cizek-Graf also had a mention on his pattismithlogbook.info site that on 6 Nov 1976, Patti Smith sang "Vera Gemini" onstage with BOC. However, I think this date might have been in conjunction with a Chicago gig rather than the Salem show it seems that BOC actually did play on that date...

So once again, I'm asking for your help: can you help me track down this mythical Chicago gig and can you help me find out any shows where Patti Smith guested?

I was kind of a runaway kid in 1976,found myself in Denver and was at the Nov. 11th 1976 show at McNichols Arena... always wondered the exact date and now I know for sure. Thanks.

The main reason I remember is because the opening band was none other than Tommy Bolin. Today I am a programmer at KKFI in Kansas City and am going to do a two hour special on his music next week Dec.4th 2006,the 30th anniversary of his passing.

Stormin' Norman at kkfi.org

According to boc.com, this date also saw Buck Dharma as a guest DJ on the "The Ron McCoy Show" on KNAC-FM, Los Angeles.

Dunno how this fits in with the San Diego gig later that evening - maybe the radio piece was recorded on a different day and broadcast on the 12th. Maybe Buck did it in the afternoon or something. Anybody know?

Be Bop Deluxe
The following review of this show (from Performance magazine - 24 Dec 76) is featured on the billnelson.co.uk site (Note: There's no mention of Angel in the review which seems strange if they did indeed play on this bill):

Performance magazine - 24 December 1976

LOS ANGELES: In their guest appearance with Blue Oyster Cult (Columbia) at the Forum (Nov. 13), Be Bop Deluxe (Capitol) delivered a superlative set received as enthusiastically as the headliner's presentation. At a time when concert promoters are struggling to balance bills with potent support acts, Be Bop has burgeoned forth as an artistic rocking force that can reinforce hard line rockers, as well as the more pensive progressive groups.

Bill Nelson, the guiding force behind BBD, approached the Cult crowd almost apologetically. Clad in a sharp three-piece suit and sporting closely cropped hair, Nelson wryly proclaimed, "I'm sorry our hair isn't quite long enough for the wind machines on stage, but we play good music that I'm sure you'll enjoy." The rowdy crowd appreciated the sincerity and from the moment the band launched into their classic "Fair Exchange" the act was sold.

Be Bop's music employs a curious, yet effective array of styles.While their tunes are based on rock progressions, most of the material showcases an intelligent dose of melodic and instrumental twists that works to give the overall sound of the group a sense of originality and diversity. Rather than letting itself get pigeonholed as a simple rock band, Be Bop has carefully introduced jazz and classical elements that shine richly through the songs.

On stage, lead guitarist/ vocalist Nelson assumes an innocent stance that augurs well with the group's persona. It is an unusual juxtaposition for an audience to see a conservatively attired and groomed gentleman delivering punky rock, but Nelson has utilized the gimmick to its fullest extent. Even a rough 'n tumble Blue Oyster Cult crowd rose to its feet during stunning versions of "Dancing In The Moonlight," "Modern Music," "Twilight Capers," and "Forbidden Lovers".

With Simon Fox on drums, Andrew Clarke on keyboards, Charles Tumahai on bass and Mick Close in a supporting rhythm guitarist role, Be Bop Deluxe is well on its way to headline status. For the present, Be Bop is ably filling in many guest slots in a most admirable and convincing fashion.

Blue Oyster Cult's headline appearance provided the anticipated measure of hard rock, with the exception of their lilting single "Don't Fear the Reaper." Their extended two hour performance earned them a standing ovation.

I can distinctly remember the opening group being announced as "Sasha." I don't remember the "Yuri" part, but that could be me - or they simply went by a group name - I don't know for sure...

Then it was Rory Galagher, followed by Bob Seger. BOC headlined, of course.

This line-up was confirmed by this rather useful link which lists all the Bill Graham promoted shows:

http://www2.cambridge.ma-usa.sugarmegs.org/billgrahm.txt

I did have anecdotal evidence that Patti Smith guested on "Vera Gemini" at this gig... however, I've been in touch with Georg Cizek-Graf from the pattismithlogbook.info site and he told me that Patti was playing the Bottom Line NYC that night (source: Bottom Line site).

For two years in a row 1976 and 1977 - Blue Oyster Cult put on two of the best shows I have ever seen in my life. In 1976 they were playing in the Seattle center Arena, with Bob Seger and Commander cody. This show featured more songs off of the on your feet on your knees album. I thought that Donald Buck Darma was the best guitar player on the planet at the time.

This agents of fortune show with seger is hard to remember, since I was on a half hit of purple micro-dot both shows..

I do believe that patty smith was there, but I only remember for sure that the guitar work was awesome. Reaper was the encore.

The show was more about Buck's guitar work as the laser show was not as smoky. The thing I remember about both the shows was not being able to look away for a whole show.

The agents of fortune show was some of the best guitar work I have ever seen whereas the spectres show in 1977 was that same guitar work with an incredible laser light show with laser projections on smoke.

I thought commander cody opened for the first show with seger. Both of them were horrible. You almost needed to call rampart and hook us all up to a respirator to revive us.

Seger put everyone to sleep then everyone came back from the dead to rock the place when blue oyster came on... Seger belongs with fleetwood mac or some other mellow back concert. Seger and blue oyster were not a good match at all.

Seger used Peavy sound system while BOC used Marshall. Random Peavy feedback sqelches were constant. Peavy seems to be less powerful so the piano doesnt get overwhelmed. Marshall seems to hold power chords and shake the building.

All of the Peavy groups - Journey, Lynard Skynard - were subject to random squelches. It seemed all of the piano/hammond g-3 groups used Peavy, while the Marshall groups used synth.

Anyway Peavy was ok but Marshall sounded better. Marshall also rang my ears for days.

John says he thinks this gig took place at the Seattle Center Arena, and not the Coliseum - but check out the poster above.

Also, he's not quite sure whether or not Commander Cody - with or without his Lost Planet Airmen - was on the bill... but there's no mention on the poster...

Do any of you folks know? And if you have any info one way or the other about the supposed appearance of Patti Smith, I'd love to hear from you...

Bob Seger opened for them, and he was awful!!! BOC was more than that.

I remember two things of that December 1976 El Paso show. The first one: the lead singer didn't sing any songs, not any word - he had some kind of problem with his throat. The drummer (Albert Bouchard?) sang all of the show and that was an incredible concert without the voice of Bloom( ?) ...I'm not sure of the names.

Second: The Finale was all guitars, five guitars on stage in one line and that was amazing (for a 17 years old teenager) - I wasn't a Blue Oyster Cult fan, but I can remember that they did a really great show.

BOC played at Ector County Coliseum in Odessa, TX sometime in 1976. Unfortunately, I don't remember the exact date but was probably during the Texas segment of the tour in December. Bob Seger opened.

I'm quite sure it was 1976. I was a senior in high school ('76-'77) when I went to this show and I've always remembered it being in 1976. The other tour dates in Texas that year certainly coincide.

FWIW, Odessa is midway between El Paso and Dallas (they played both of these cities), so it makes some sense. I generally save all my concert ticket stubbs but I don't have that one unfortunately. I am still in touch with a good friend who went with me. Maybe he can remember more details than I can.

Can anyone confirm this gig took place?

Reason I ask is that brand spanking new looking ticket stubs for this gig are continuously appearing on eBay - you never seem to see a ripped/used one. Something like that makes you wonder if the show actually occurred...

The alltime best concert i ever saw. riding on the success of their album "agents of fortune" the boys from NY kicked major ass.

The lazer show was stunning and the sound level was unbelievable

SET LIST
Stairway to the stars
harvester of eyes
Tattoo vampire
hot rails to hell
eti
then came the last days of may
me262
dominance and submission
bucks boogie
this aint the summer of love
dont fear the reaper
debbie denise

OTHER ACT(S) ON THE BILL: Bob Seger

The list of tickets on www.tickets.gogomag.com has this gig taking place at the Municipal Stadium (and gives the support band info).

The only basis I have f