What happened in January? If you know, please let me ...

I originally had this gig down as on the 10th Feb - but the stub I've been sent (thanks to Chuck Evans) is clearly dated Feb 11.

When I was stationed in Norfolk, Virginia in 1977, I saw Blue Oyster Cult play at the Hampton Coliseum in either Feb., or Mar., and Atlanta Rhythm Section opened up.

I've enclosed my stub for the Hampton concert. It looks like the date is February 13, 1977...

Well, I suppose it could be also be February 3. It could be a "1" in front of the "3" or else a dividing line - the stub isn't very clear... Anybody got any info on this one?

I attended the new orleans show on 19 feb 77 at the warehouse new orleans. boc put on the best laser show i have seen and i have seen quite a few. Also, they had a strobe light - it looked like a hand held rifle and it was pointed at a band member and put him in slow motion - cool!

Rush did open and they were awesome - this is one of my top ten concerts of all time and i have seen some of the best - well over 400 concerts in my 45 years...

I don't currently have a date for this show but maybe someone out there can help me. Here's what Helen Wheels aficianado BOC lyricist Ronald Binder says:

CBGB's management signed The Dead Boys to a recording contract. I introduced the band at many of their gigs around NYC and on the night they recorded their LP, "Young, Loud and Snotty" in Electric Lady Studios on W. 8th St. in NYC, I flew in from Atlanta, GA where I saw BOC at the Omni.

BOC headlined over Rush and Reo Speedwagon that night. We flew back to NYC and I went to The Dead Boys' recording session where at 3am, I did the scream over for "Down in Flames".

So - does anyone know when The Dead Boys recorded "Down in Flames"? That would give the date of BOC's Omni gig...

Prior to the show, I do recall a local contingent of concerned parents/zealots protesting the appearance of a band with Cult in its name, given the attendant diabolical implications, as well as the supposition of a pro-suicide message in the BOC song then receiving the most airplay ("Don't Fear the Reaper", of course). This is, after all, Columbus, Georgia - the buckle, as it were, of the Bible Belt.

Of course, the really big deal about the concert was the use of laser effects - BOC's light show was touted in radio-spots for weeks and weeks before the show, and our little, drafty 4,000-seat auditorium was sold out and packed to the rafters for the performance. My ticket was "General Admission", which meant that I was standing on a folding chair on the floor of the auditorium, forty feet or so from the stage... at least initially. In addition to the booze that almost everyone sneaked in (sloshing in past the very apathetic gate-attendants), certain very generous individuals were freely distributing other enhancements... these were lovely times, since even the cops, far from hassling anyone, were vigorously partaking as well. I can offer little in the way of recollection about the opening act, which was Rush. I wasn't a huge fan, and I suppose in 1977, the bulk of Rush's fame still lay ahead.

BOC's light show really was magnificent... none of us had ever seen any crazy shit like that. Eric Bloom, I think, had some kind of ring or something on his hand, and would zap a big, spinning disco-ball that had been suspended over the audience, so that laser beams were bouncing everywhere. I think there were other mirrors, disco-balls, whatever, situated at various positions, so that there would be a geometric blossoming of light all over the place. Just awesome, again, especially for the time that I'm referring to. I think there were other gags used, like a laser rifle or the appearance of beams coming from the instruments... unfortunately, the overall effect rather compounded some other effects that I was then experiencing - not altogether external, and on the final song, the opening guitar arpeggio of DFTR rather sounded as if it was coming from a very great distance... like maybe the other side of the planet.

I'm sorry that I cannot recall anything of particular note to highlight that performance. I know that it was just splendid though... a great lot of good will and friendliness in the crowd, nothing ugly, and aside from some lingering tinnitus, I was no worse for wear. I'm pretty sure this was my first, genuine rock-concert, and like all things recalled from our bright, healthy youth, it was just great. Apologies for rattling on so, and saying, in essence, nothing. Thanks for the chance to wax nostalgic though.

In the 1978 Euro tour programmes, there's a montage of stage passes and one appears to be from this gig which indicates that Rush and Piper were the support acts.

Does anyone know if Piper were actually on the bill that night?

3-4-77: BOC appeared with Atlanta Rhythm Section - Rick Derringer opened (Rick's band was actually called "Derringer" back then). It was my first BOC concert.

I believe they opened with Stairway to the Stars and I remember that they played Sinful Love. Eric also road the motorcycle out when they played Born to be Wild. I think they had the lasers that year and of course all the other pyrotechnics. Great show!

What happened in April? If you know, please let me ...

Here's a ticket stub from Jun 16, 1977. BOC, with Utopia opening, played the Kitchener (Ontario, Canada) Memorial Auditorium.

I can't tell you that I remember a lot of details about the gig. I had been a casual fan since a friend introduced me to "On Your Feet.." album a couple of years earlier, but "Agents of Fortune" and "Reaper" was a monster.

I was a student at the University of Waterloo (Ontario) that summer. The school pub and the campus record shop sponsored a pinball contest. First prize was a copy of "Agents" and a commemorative t-shirt. I won the contest. Somewhere, I have still have the t-shirt. I'll take a scan for you when I get a chance to look for it. I already had the record, so I traded it for something else.

I came across your site while searching for scans of Van Halen tickets. My Van Halen stub site can be found here:

• http://tommyv.fortunecity.com/

Please keep me in mind if you trip across any Van Halen items that I may be interested in.

The official BOC site has two shows at Rich Stadium on Sunday 19th and Monday 20th June, yet all indications I have seen would seem to suggest that it was only a one-day event.

If it was just the one day, then the question remains - on which day of the two alternatives did the gig take place?

If anybody knows for sure, please let me know.

I accompanied BOC to a huge outdoor show in Buffalo, NY. At this stadium, BOC headlined over Lynyrd Skynard, Starz, and Ted Nugent. During the set, I helped with the special effects laser coming through the 30 ft. high GODZILLA head as the crowd went nuts.

Forget James Brown. The BOC road crew was the hardest working guys in show business. Sam Judd, Rick Downey, Ricky Reyer, Eric "E" Factor, The Geranios brothers, George and Tony did a fantastic job at the shows and were always fun to be around.

This gig took place in a small town outside of Buffalo, NY in front of about 30,000 fans. After the show, Eric and I went for pizza in the limo and Eric was still in his stage gear. We stopped at a pizza shop full of fans coming from the BOC show. When Eric and I entered, the noisy fans suddenly saw their jaws dropping as the lead singer of the band they rocked out to less than an hour ago was ordering pizzas with extra cheese before their eyes. The place fell dead silent in awe.

I don't know if it was a 2-day event, but I highly doubt it. Rich Stadium looked too good when we showed up for there to have been a show the day before, and too trashed after the show for another performance the next day. And who would have followed that lineup anyway?

Only way it was a multiple day show would have been if there were some 'smaller' acts the day before. I'm virtually certain it was just the one day, but the show started in the early afternoon, and continued well into the night...

And, Rich Stadium isn't the kind of venue that would lend itself to this kind of gig. I'm assuming you're thinking it was some kind of 'overnight' show where one entered the grounds and camped out? If that's the case then it's absolutely certain to have been one day. The only way they'd have done a multiple day show would have been for everyone to leave the grounds and come back the next day--a logistic nightmare...

Rich Stadium used to stage mammoth shows like this in the 70s, maybe 3 or 4 huge shows every summer, depending upon who was available to play. There hasn't been such a there in many years [as far as I know] Too bad because my wife has relatives about 2 miles from the place...

As to which day it was - definitely a Sunday. No way would they schedule a concert of that magnitude on a work day, and the traffic tie-ups would have been impossible...

I was there, and have part of my ticket stub - just like the one shown above. On the stub it says "Rain Date - June 20, 1977."

So I'm pretty sure it did not rain and the concert was actually on Sunday the 19th of June. So I'm guessing the BOC site also lists the rain date because obviously that date was reserved in case. Definitely was not a 2 day event.

The official site has this gig down as the 23rd June - the stub evidence above says the 21st.

Also - here's an online blog by Paul Dorsey that also has this gig down as the 21st June:

• dorseylandmusicother.blogsome.com

It says: "With '(Don't Fear) The Reaper', the Cult seemed pretty cocky having someone like Todd Rundgren and Utopia open the show. Great double-bill."

He also has a master list of gigs he's seen which contains a stub from this show (also dated 21 June) here:

• dorseylandmusicmaster.blogsome.com

Obviously, until I know any better, I'm going to go with the visual evidence and the blog entry.

If you know any better, please get in touch...

Regarding the date - I can't offer any more corroboration than my ticket stub, unfortunately (and you already have one of those) - other than recalling only two or three shows I ever saw that were postponed, and BOC wasn't one of them..

I was surprised from your tour itinerary that BOC were taking days off between shows; otherwise it would have been a simple matter of jumping from Buffalo to Toronto, schedule-proof-wise. Obviously they found other stuff to do between gigs. Must have been costly in terms of hotel bills!

Memory of the gig: I was shaking when Buck started the riff on "Reaper". I'd been listening to that tune almost daily for months.

Or more likely, I only have a partial picture of that tour and I'm missing dates...

:-(

Hard to believe BOC found somewhere else to play between Buffalo and Toronto on that tour, unless they had a gig in Hamilton, Ontario, or Niagara Falls!

Lots of bands just rolled from Maple Leaf Gardens straight to Rich Stadium or vice versa.

I can only assume that Utopia were also the support on this gig as the T-Shirt included with the above two gigs refers to a "Canadian Tour". Two dates don't make a tour so I assume this show was a part of it, and I'm willing to bet there is at least one more gig to be uncovered - if not more...

NB:
Check out the stub for 15 July 1977 Lebanon Valley below. It's actually dated 28th June 1977 yet for the reasons stated below, I've attributed Lebanon Valley to 15 July.

July 14 1977 Bridgeport with UFO: This is one of my all-time favorites. Had the full laser show, testing it out before world tour. played Godzilla before Spectres was released.

I've sent you a copy of my stub from the July 14, 1977 show at the Bridgeport CT Jai-Ali fronton (possibly the weirdest place ever to have a rock concert) which also featured UFO (without Michael Schenker) as the opening act.

The weird thing about the Jai Lai fronton gig was that they were set up basically on the jai alai court, which, if you know about those courts, they are made of solid granite, including a huge granite wall at the back. I don't know how they ever managed to dampen the echo from it.

This was the first show where I heard them play Godzilla. In fact, I think they announced it as a brand new song before they played it.

This was the first BOC show that I went to and the first thing I remember about this show was that the Hells Angels were BOC's security that day guarding the line with motorcycles as the people went in!!! No one dared get near the bikes!!

The show started out with the same voice as the first live album saying to the packed house, "On your Feet or on your Knees", here they are from NYC,m the Amazing Blue Oyster Cult!!!! The lazer show was awesome and I also remember Eric saying that they had a new album coming out and then they ripped into Godzilla!! I KNEW that song was gonna be a big hit.

I also remember hearing them playing lots of stuff off the first 3 albums and most of songs off of Agents which was just released.

Songs I remember hearing were: Morning Final, Tenderloin, Cities, Hot Rails to Hell, Mazerati GT, Before the Kiss, Reaper, and they rocked on 5 guitars.I think Allen even sang True Confessions during this show.

All of the seats in the house were good and the show was one of the best I have ever seen in my life!!!

I even bought my two 4 inch diameter black Kronos pins during this show which I still have! This show still ranks as one of my top 3 shows.

I was also at this show. I had seats left of center on the aisle in row 3.

I was taking pictures when I felt a very large hand on my shoulder. Just as I thought my Minolta was going to get shoved where the sun doesn't shine, the Angel asked if I wanted to go right up front! Naturally I said yes and he took me right up to the rail and let me shoot almost a full roll.

I couldn't believe it! Absolutely one of the best shows I have ever seen!!!

I realise the ticket stub above - kindly sent to me by John Berry - would seem to be dated 28 June but Black Oak's Andy Tanas sent me a detailed list of every show they did with BOC on this tour and his information has proven to be so reliable that I'm willing to disbelieve the evidence of a printed stub date in favour of his notes.

Also - I now think that the 06/28 is the purchase date!! On this stub layout, the actual show date would follow the time (well, it would if it wasn't ripped off...)

If you know different, please let me know.

In reviewing your show list, I realized you don't have Lebanon Valley Speedway in Lebanon Valley NY from summer of 77, I was at this show and I know the Dictators played also, the reason I remember it is because they played a new song for us and shot the lazers off a huge mirror ball in the middle of the crowd. The song was Godzilla, Spectres wasn't released yet.

J. Giels also played at Lebanon Valley that night in 77, I knew there was four bands so it was Dictators, Black Oak Arkansas, J .Geils and BOC.

7-15-77: BOC, J.Geils, Black Oak Arkansas...

Some fat chick squatted down in front of me and whizzed on my foot, which I then placed at the base of her spine and helped her become prostrated in the pee-pee mud. Blue blotter...

7-16-77: BOC,REO Speedwagon, Argent...

My pal, also my lawyer's dad, Ernie the attorney, came along and began to act oddly after inhaling some ignited herbal substance from Acapulco, standing on his seat yahooing during 'Hold Your Head Up'. Heh, heh, heh.

Just stumbled upon your great gig and set list site.

FYI 7/16/77 - I attended this show at the Cape Cod Coliseum. Argent definitely did not play. Starz, then REO opened.

Can anyone confirm that it was indeed Starz who opened?

What happened in August? If you know, please let me ...

August was spent in the rehearsal hall (an old off line water treatment plant) in Brookhaven, NY.

We were getting ready to take the all new show on the road.

This ticket stub is for a different year. BOC was still in the rehearsal hall.

OK - thanks to Kenny's input, it looks like this show didn't occur - I must admit - it did look a bit odd having just the one show in September. Besides, Rush were up in Canada in Saskatoon on that date.

So - either the year is wrong or the gig was cancelled. If the year is wrong, then the next 10 September to fall on a Saturday occurs in 1983, and on that date BOC were at the end of a European tour.

Hence - it looks like this is a cancelled/phantom gig...

My source for this date is the WLS Musicradio playlist (dated Oct 15 1977):

• www.oldiesloon.com

Digging through my archives of Dictators shows, I came across one labeled October 12, 1977 at the Hammond Civic Center. The date may be off by a couple of days, but I'm sure the Dics, touring on their second album, "Manifest Destiny", opened for BOC.

No mention of the headliners in the 37 minute set, though.

I suppose it's possible - the WLS lists above could be out by 2 days, and the Dictators are down as playing Hammond on the 12th on this list:

• Dictators Gig List

Plus BOC shared a bill with them on 10 Oct at Rockland, so the two bands would be approximately adjacent, geographically speaking.

Does anyone know for sure?

21 Oct 1977 Brown County Coliseum Green Bay Wisconsin: the opening act was Lake, 2nd group was Cheap Trick! Cheap Trick was touring on their "In Color" album

BOC's laser show was SPECTACULAR!

It was my first ever concert... and you never forget your first.

Ken Welch's Hall Report for this gig has Black Oak down as the scheduled second band but Animaux's account above seems pretty certain that is was Cheap Trick.

I saw a gig not on your list. The date was Saturday, October 22, 1977. The concert was at the Riverside Ice Arena in Austin, MN (thats where they make Spam). The opening groups were Lake and Black Oak. This was my first BOC concert and was on the Spectres tour. This was also during the laser days.

I have the concert ad and review of them when I saw them two months later at the Civic Center in St. Paul, MN. It's a very good review of the concert.

I don't remember a lot about the concert except for the laser show. I had been a fan since OYFOOYK came out and BOC was one of my top 5 favorite bands at the time. All I remember about the laser show was seeing 3 dimensional squares and rectangles being rotated off the far wall. You could see all the lines of the box and watch it rotate.

The best part of the show was when shined one of the lasers on the prom ball. I had been to many concerts where they would shine a light at the prom ball and you would see all the reflecting lights rotate around the concert hall. This was different.

I don't know if this is because of the condition I was in but when the laser hit the prom ball you could actually see the reflecting light coming at you. It's hard to describe but it's like driving in a heavy snowstorm and you turn your bright lights on. You could actually see the ray of light coming at you before it hit you. I remember ducking out of the way a few times.

I had 4th or 5th row seats for this show.

First band up was Prism. I believe these guys were touring on the album "See Forever Eyes." Not a bad opening act that sounded pretty much like Styx. Not bad musicians, but nothing great either. Lead Singer, Ron Talbek, was dressed in black leather and looked pretty cool and delivered some decent vocals.

Then Black Oak hit the stage. These guys were touring on the "Race with the Devil" album. Jim Dandy Magnum IS Black Oak. Despite his great stage presence and great looks, Black Oak's musical delivery was somewhat disappointing. To make matters worse, Tommy Aldridge was no longer drumming for them.

Finally, BOC came out and played. They were riding high the success of "Agents of Fortune" and were touring on the musically strong "Spectres" Album. Excellent laser light show that must have cost them a fortune to take on the road!!

Their musicianship and songwriting capabilities were in fine form at that time. In fact, my opinion is that they never reached this performing and songwriting height again.

Unfortunately, I saw BOC several times after that and they just were never as good as when I saw them on both the "Agents of Fortune" and "Spectres" tour. I believe that this is due to the fact that both Albert and Joe Bouchard left the band and Donald (Buck Dharma) Roeser never really improved as a musician. After hearing people like Tony MacAlpine, Yngwie Malmsteen, etc, I basically thought Buck Dharma lacked serious technical abilities on the guitar.

Ken Welch's Hall Report for this gig has Lake down as the opening band but Rob's account above seems pretty definite that is was Prism.

Gig was rescheduled for 8 Jan 1978 - all tickets for this 27 Oct show were honoured at the 1978 show...

Ken Welch's Hall Report for this gig has Bliss down as the opening band.

November saw the release of "Spectres" but I don't know the actual official release date. If you know, please let me know...

Hey - went to this show when I was a 16 year old kid. My brother and two other friends piled into my old '59 Hillman (how many guys in Texas drove a Hillman, by the way?). The way I remember it was there were actually 4 bands on the show. Three bands were announced as the lineup but when we arrived there was a fourth band that no one had ever heard of blowing away the crowd. They were called Cheap Trick. I don't remember who was the supposed #3 on the bill, it might've been Ram Jam. But #2 was Black Oak Arkansas and then BOC was headlining.

Because of the extra act and laser show BOC did not exit the stage until about 1:30am. I thought we were going to be in deep trouble as we didn't get home until about 2am and it was a school day the next morning.

Fun times...

Looking at the handbill above, it seems Wishbone Ash were originally scheduled to be the support for this gig.

The best time I think I had at a BOC gig was at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas '77. When you are 17 and in Las Vegas for the 1st time, it's quite a thrill. There was Pot, Girls, Booze, Mushrooms and prolly coke. Hell I can't remember. LASERS!! One thing I will always remember is Eric introducing a song. He said "The next song is about a desert" and I thought for sure Death Valley Nights was coming but instead it was Golden Age. Love them both so no matter.

The official site has this gig down as "Tucson Arena" yet the stub says "Community Center"...

The name of the arena was called the Tucson Community Center. I was 14, and there, and it rocked!!!

For two years in a row 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.

I was looking for them the next time around the following year and they came with black oak, and rail for the spectres concert.

The part I will never forget was when Bloom kept pointing into the crowd during Harvester of Eyes, and hitting people with this laser light while the whole place had these dots on the wall spinning around. during Godzilla there was a Hologram of this big godzilla head and a red tongue.

During Born to be wild they crossed guitars. Golden age of leather was awesome and has since become my second favorite behind I aint got you, mazerati gt.

I will always remember having to go to the bathroom but I was afraid I was going to miss something, and it seemed as if they were never going to stop playing.

I waited until the encore was over before I finally went.

To this day those two shows rank as the best all time shows I have ever seen.

The following year they came with Pat Travers (at the Coliseum) and I was not as satisfied without the spinning dots and laser show.

I have never seen a better rock and roll show than the two I saw blue oyster cult perform in 1976 and 1977 in the Seattle Center arena.

The thing I remember about both 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. The Spectres show was that same guitar work with an incredible laser light show with laser projections on smoke.

Rail opened - Rail does a good sweet madam blue Styx cover, and some Nugent covers. The Spectres show had a lot more life to it from begining to end.

Black oak was a lot more rowdy with Jim Dandy displaying more character than musical talent. he was weak on the washbord, and they played everything in abreviated medleys...

Halls of carmen was diluted into a medley as was his washboard songs. Blue oyster always had something to look for. from crossing guitars to the whole band playing guitars to spots all around and on everyone you looked at.

I have always felt any other show I went to was sub par after that. I think I was treated to a motivated buck, for those two years. He seeemed endless and effortless.

After that he just seemed to fall off every year after those two. The guy was the best guitar player I have ever had the pleasure of watching, particularly those two shows.

BOC taught me a valuble lesson. Go to the bathroom before they start playing at all cost, even if you have to pee in a cup if the cans are full. The Godzilla cartoon projection on smoke was amazing

I wrote to David Infante, the laser guy to ask if what I'd seen was a Godzilla hologram and he responded: "No it was a scanner cartoon projection on smoke! Thanks for the compliment! Yeah, laser shows haven't been the same - Maybe I will do one more before I pass on! lolol..."

John says he thinks this gig took place at the Seattle Center Arena, and not the Coliseum. Given that BOC were at the top of their drawing power and that the Arena - apparently - has only half the capacity of the Coliseum, this would seem odd.

Does anybody else have any feedback on this?

The gig was in the Arena. The description of the concert is good though.

Black Oak supported BOC at Salt Lake City on 11/25 with Sammy Hager

I could have sworn it was REO Speedwagon rather than Sammy Hagar that was on the bill. A friend of mine and I were discussing this the other day and I am sure of Black Oak Arkansas, hell I even remember the girls name that I took to the concert, but I don't remember Sammy Hagar...

But then, like they say, "If you remember the 70's you weren't there". Class of 77 rules!

My wife Sue and I were married on April 6, 1977, and this was our first concert together - Sue had seen them previously at her first concert in San Jose in 1975 at the San Jose Civic.

Bought tickets at The Broadway, Ticketron. Black Oak Arkansas opened for BOC in Long Beach ...

I do remember someone throwing up a couple seats over from us and that the laser effects were awesome, I can still see the guy that upchucked just staring at the lasers, mesmerized... Ahhhh, great times...

I remember the Kronos being projected on the side of the arena as we were walking in from the parking lot, was cool. Can't recall the set, so must have been a good show but I remember that we were in the mezzanine on Buck's side. I know my ears were ringing afterward.

Go Jim Dandy Go!

What I remember is very similar to Jon's description. The date of the gig was Dec. 2nd, 1977.

Masses of people descended upon the Long Beach Arena. We were searched at the entrance in a rather cursory fashion, so they didn't find our weed.

We sat up just above the bleachers on the right-hand side of the stage. The view of the band was pretty good, but nothing like being right in the Buck Zone.

I don't know if they used this trick at this particular show, but I would witness it twice before the 70s ended: A dim light was shone upon Allen, who noodled with his keyboard at low volume. The idea was to get the audience to pay really close attention to Lanier both visually and aurally.

Of course, since the light was very dim and the sound low, every one of the 14,000 or so people in the arena strained quite hard to see and hear him.

All of a sudden--KABOOM! A startling explosion went off, melting both ears and eyes. As soon as the explosion was gone, the band was on the stage, the stage lights were all up, and the PA was at full volume.

They were blasting a song (either D&S or RU Ready 2 Rock, I think) with unbelievable ferocity.

They were really loud that night and lived up to a description that I would see years later of them: "Fast, heavy and loud."

I do remember the laser show, and it was great. Eric had his wrist laser. He bounced it off of the mirror ball, which was a great effect.

I am a little cloudy on the event as we smoked a fair quantity of weed during the course of the show.

I also remember Black Oak Arkansas opening the show. They were not too bad. I liked seeing U.F.O. as the supporting act the next year better, but I guess that is a matter of personal taste.

Overall, I give the show 5 stars (out of five) or two thumbs up, whichever you prefer.

My first gig was in December 1977 at the University of California-Santa Barbara. Spectres had been released, and they were playing the laser show. Not all of the lasers were functional, however. I know this only after hearing about some of the spectacular laser performances discussed by others, and specifically remembering NOT seeing certain diplays from such discussions.

I don't recall a setlist, I was a new fan. I do remember RU Ready, Zilla, Golden Age, Reaper, Hot Rails, Cities on Flame, ETI, and Tattoo Vampire. I would assume Born To Be Wild, they performed the cross-guitars, and the Five Guitars.

The venue was called "Robertson Gym". It's on campus. It was a college sports arena. Many other big name bands played there. I do remember it was a weeknight because I had class the next morning. Also it might have been Eric's birthday because I remember someone on stage joking about a birthday. At that time I did'nt know who was who name wise. But I remember a quip about a birthday.

If you cross check the open dates it would have been around gigs in Los Angeles and Bakersfield. They are in close proximity in the southern California area.

I think the opening band was named Hilltop. They had a guy who played trumpet.

Hope this helps!

Well, nothing to do with BOC, but until I began working at U.T. Austin I had never seen such a concentration of beautiful young women in one spot. The "dodgy boilers" backstage after the show were all 9 or 10's! Something in the water, I suppose.

Checkout the following forum link (4th post down) in which the guy reckons this show was 1976...

• www.bimmerfest.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-23137.html

However, Ken Welch's Gig itineries helpfully list this show as 4 December 1977, so hopefully that's sorted that out...

• The Runaways didn't play this show, despite the mention on the poster...

Ken Welch's Hall Report for this gig has Eddie Money scheduled as the opener, and then Detective...

Anyone know for sure?

• Only half of BOC's lasers turned up

For BOC's December 16th, 1977 show - I don't recall much. It was my first time seeing BOC and me and my buds and girlfriends were way into Agents Of Fortune and Spectres. This was the Spectres tour (obviously).

I just remember that they played most of their set with half of their laser equipment. They expained, from onstage, that the semi was stuck somewhere and this was only half of their laser show. If THAT was ONLY HALF - Holy Shit! I can't imagine what their "full-on" laser show would have been like!!!

I remember midway, someone had been dispatched to pick up a laser from some distributor in the Cincinnati area. They hooked up on stage left and it didn't do very much - it was not even close to as much as their one working laser could do. I was blind when I came out of there, not to mention DEAF!!!

It was one of those teenage experiences I will never forget. The lasers were just fantastic. They swept the audience, put us in a spinning box that was totally disorienting and kept on sweeping and changing and getting bigger and bigger and bigger and faster sweeps as they jammed along.

The music, of course, was awesome. We all knew just enough to get us around their set with a good deal of familiarity. It was a blast. I don't know how the band felt about their performance, but we in the audience loved it. It was exciting as hell, dynamic, loud and other-wordly (tongue-placed--in-cheek). I will never, ever forget that show!!! Nor will my friends.

BTW, it was freezing outside on the riverfront. Two years later I was almost killed at the same locale when hundreds of Who fans stampeded. That was the first time I ever saw a dead body up close - blue skin. I HAD to step over them to get into the damn Coliseum... but that's another story.

As for who else was on the bill - I really want to say it was "that other Casblanca band" called "Angel", but I could be confusing that show with another. Angel were an LA outfit who were the only other known rock band on the Casablanca record label besides KISS. It might be worth it for me to look up some info about them and to see whether or not they ever opened for BOC.

I also recall Todd Rundgren's Utopia opening for another major band - and perhaps this is the concert I'm confusing it with. So - it could have very well been either "Angel" or "Utopia." Sorry I can't be of more help. I mostly recall the exceptional performance from Blue Oyster Cult.

I absolutely love your website! Keep it going! Loads of great information...

I remember this show very well. The opening act was Edgar Winter and White Trash.

Out of the three trucks that carried equipment only the band gear did not show up in time. It seems that the driver (with the same name as a president) had hooked up with some babe and had other things on his mind.

Edgar had already played the entire set and was starting his encore when the truck showed up. Someone asked him to play an extended encore, he agreed with a really big smile and he then broke into a 45 minute version of Frankenstein.

It was amazing and not what he normally played with that band.

We the crew scrambled and took advantage of every available person around, I think even some of the band helped out too. We set the band gear up during the 45 minutes of Frankenstein and pulled the show off. I thought we did quite well knowing how long under good conditions it took to set up all the equipment.

Once the band started playing we were still setting up equipment. We set up what we had to have in the order of how it was needed in the show. It was truly a work in progress during the show.

All of the equipment was in the truck including all the lasers. It was a question of logistics as to what may have been excluded. It was always the goal of the band to never, ever leave anything out of the show - no matter what.

The truck was immediately replaced.

The only evidence I have for this gig occurring is that it's listed on Ken Welch's gig itinery for November.

Do you know if it took place or not?

On Christmas night in 1977 - the night before they were due to play the St. Paul Civic Center - they were going to have a free outdoor laser light show at Como Park.

The only problem was that the lasers were water cooled and the temp was about -15 below zero. We were on our way to the light show when we heard on the radio that two of the lasers had froze and broke. The show that evening was cancelled.

The next night they only had one laser at the concert. From my review clipping I have about the show there was one interesting fact. They sold 8,000 tickets the day of the show, a Civic Center record.

The review also states that Rockets opened the evening with a half-hour set and were followed by Black Oak.

Andy Tanas definitely has this show on the 27th as a Black Oak/BOC gig, and this is confirmed by Ken Welch's Hall Report for the show.

Here's a link that also definitely gives this gig's date as Dec 27 1977:

• www.oldiesloon.com

I was at this gig in Chicago. I was going to college in Los Angeles and also saw the show at the Long Beach Arena a month or so earlier. I remember the Chicago gig very well... Black Oak played a great set. We had great seats just to the right of the stage.

BOC came on and an entire side of the PA system blew out. It never came back! So the Cult played with half their sound system all night - every now and then, the "bad side" of the PA would bark and crackle and threaten to work... ... and then fall silent. IT WAS HILARIOUS!

I saw BOC many times in the '70s and there always seemed to be something wrong with their equipment - amps blowing up, missed taped que's, and such... . but their shows always a great time!

Long live BOC!

This second show and the band line-up is confirmed by Ken Welch's Hall Report for the show.

This show was only my 2nd concert, and I do remember that it was a birthday present (12th row!).

Rocket was a fairly 2nd rate band, too loud, but did a decent cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Oh, Well". Edgar Winter had a horn section, did a few good blues songs and a great "Frankenstein" to close.

Blue Oyster Cult came out and the sound was instantly more powerful and focused.

The highlight for me was the Golden Age Of Leather, where Buck played a beautiful solo over the ending (choral part), then a long jammed out Last Days Of May with the lasers decorating the back wall of the Ampitheater.

Hot Rails To Hell featured a Joe Bouchard bass solo. I remember (Buck?) someone pretty much ripping the strings off of their guitar at the end of the 5 guitar jam, or maybe Born To Be Wild.

I don't know why they did Going Through The Motions, maybe they thought it would be their next hit?

I don't recall Rocket , but I will confirm Edgar Winter was there in support. Edgar winter did a monster (sorry) rendition of Frankenstein as his encore. He played one of those keyboards with a strap over his shoulder like a guitar. It had a mirrored back which he used to reflect the spot back out around the arena and hit a mirror ball above the main floor. We didn't know it was a hint of the light show to come.

Actually - I know you're having a problem deciding about if this gig was the 26th or 27th - well I've done some investigating and I can tell you that apparently there were two shows: Tuesday 27th and Wednesday 28th. But, I'm not sure which was which.

Edgar Winter was DEFINITELY the act on before BOC the night I was there- although I don't recall a band before them, but there's a better than even chance I missed them. We would often spend the time before the main acts out in the concourse getting high, checking out girls, waiting for others to arrive, etc.

I think also that these date(s) were played in 1977 - if you have any info, please let me know:

I attended a BOC concert in 1977 in Bangor, Maine, at the Bangor Auditorium. Don't know the date, but I noted that this concert isn't on your list. Styx was the opening act. It must have been in the spring, since I was still in high school.

The gear arrived late, and the roadies were still setting up when we arrived. Styx went on without a sound check, and there were audio problems galore; they almost left the stage it was so bad. Guess they served as BOC's sound check! I'll see if I still have the ticket stub to determine a date for the gig.

This show was during the spring or summer of 1977 at the Bangor Auditorium, in Bangor, Maine. They were backed up by Styx. I remember that Styx had significant sound system problems, the vocals kept dropping out.

The band got really upset and almost walked off the stage, but instead credited the "great crowd" as being worthy of pushing through all the problems.

The sound problems were all fixed by the time BOC took the stage. I don't remember the set list, but it did include the highlight of the laser show with "Astronomy" which was very impressive within the smaller confines of the Bangor Auditorium.