• Soft White Underbelly gig (2 Shows)
• Last ever gig at My Father's Place

The warmup group for this Blue Oyster Cult show was a band called Duke Jupiter. At the time, I had never heard of them. Not a great band or anything. They were kind of cheesy when we saw them and we nick named them Duke Tomato.

• Buck jammed with Blotto on "Metal Head"

It was at PSU in early '83... from memory, the setlist was (not necessarily in order):

Dr. Music
The Red and the Black
Cities on Flame
Hot Rails to Hell
Fallen Angel
Joe Bouchard bass solo
Reaper
ETI
Golden Age of Leather
I Love the Night
Joan Crawford
Godzilla (complete with giant mechanical Godzilla)
Burnin' For You
Born to Rock (from Roeser's solo album)
I Ain't Got You
Born to be Wild
Roadhouse Blues

I had a great time, despite the fact that they performed the one BOC song I disliked, three cover songs, and none of my favorite BOC material (note there's nothing from Secret Treaties, nor any of the three Moorcock songs - Black Blade was my favorite BOC song at the time).

Oh, yeah, I was at this same show... and only remember "I Love the Night" (my favorite BOC song) and Godzilla. And the thing with the mirrors on the backs of the guitars. I thought that was to D&S, but that isn't listed in the setlist here.

I do remember the opening band was Duke Jupiter.

And I do remember freezing to death overnight in line for tickets at the PSU HUB, so it was definitely not too far off from mid-winter, my freshman year, 1982-83. I'd guess it was something like Mar., 83.

Yup, that sounds about right. :-) They didn't do D&S, nor anything else from Secret Treaties. That was the first concert I ever saw, so I remember it quite clearly. :-) I didn't remember the name of the opening band, but I do remember how the guitarist fretted his strings from above rather than below, and how the keyboardist's idea of a solo was to windmill his arm doing glisses on the keyboard...

I believe the mirrors on the back of the guitar was during Born to be Wild. Eric rode a big ol' motorcycle onto the stage at the beginning of that one. :-)

Incidentally, they were selling necklaces with the Saturn/Kronos symbol at that concert. Bolle Gregmar tells me that was a brief and rare occurrence!

It was Spring, so, judging by your list, I'm fairly certain it was March. It certainly wasn't later than April, because it was at least a month before I graduated high school in early May of that year.

Heh, nah, PSU is the Pennsylvania State University, located in State College, PA (technically it's in University Park, as Penn State has its own mailing address). Actually, a few months after seeing the concert, I began attending PSU, where I eventually received my English degree. :-)

My guess is that it was in between the concerts in PA on the 16th and 19th. This is no phantom concert... a lot of people were there.

And a day or so after the concert, the local newspaper ran a police report that people at the concert were caught with marijuana. I remember the quote, "The Blue Oyster Cult came here with a bad reputation, and they left with it." So there's definitely documentation out there.

This whole set of dates before the Finland gig on the 25th unfortunately got cancelled.

We were supposed to play with CSN, but either Stephen Stills or Graham Nash said they would never play on the same stage as a "Nazi Band" like BOC, so we were out...

Joel Peskin even has a tshirt from that show that has us on it...

With the German gigs cancelled, this Finland gig became a one-off... we were there 3 days and it never got dark... Summer Solstice... I have pics...

If it hadn't been for a piano falling on my foot the first day there I would have loved it... the hotel was beautiful... Lake and ground... when we got back from the gig a couple of us spent hours following a GIANT hare around the grounds... honestly I wasn't even that high...

Chasing a giant hare? Have you ever seen the James Stewart film "Harvey"? Just wondering...

We never ran after him... just kept trying to get close... he wasn't having any of it... he wasn't nearly as big as the one in the movie... you must understand... for a 3 day trip to Finland you ONLY sleep on the planes... not while you're there... you might miss something... like the giant hare... too bad I was out of film...

This was the only time I was ever in Finland... fucking great Cherry Juice in a box as well... they had it at the gig and I sent the runner for a dozen Liters... we drank it all day and night and on the flight back... American customs in NYC wanted to give me some schism about 1/2 a suitcase full so I let them have it rather than miss my flight to ATL... the saga of the cherry juice... my daughter found it in Russia when she was over there in 97...

• Soft White Underbelly gig (2 Shows)

• Soft White Underbelly gig (2 Shows)

• Soft White Underbelly Show

I remember, this was a quick show that was the first that did not sell out the MHCC, so they played UPAC the following year as SWU.

BOC on the Boardwalk. We used to hang on the beach all day and go to the show completely wasted. Man I miss those days.

The Zeppelinfeld is the HUGE field where Uncle Adolf and Herr Speer had their huge outdoor rallies... you know with the big banners and the columns of light with the huge searchlights pointing straight up... and on the field would be thousands of torch carrying Hitler youth forming a giant swastika rotating in a circle... that's the place...

It was also the "airport" for the bustling Zeppelin air traffic, but that never quite panned out... this was also where the famous footage was shot of the huge swastika over the grandstand being dynamited after the war... it's always used to signify the end of Nazi Germany in all the documentaries...

I always got a kick out of the fact that the podium where Hitler and his "inner circle" would stand is where they put the Sound and Light consoles... We joked about "BOC plays Nurenburg,starring Rick Downey as Adolph Hitler and George Geranious as Joseph Goebbels"...

It's actually just part of a huge complex that was "Holy Ground" for the Nazis and used for the annual party rally... there was a huge arena..still there, but used by a University I think... a smaller parade ground (this is where the very early rallys were held till 39... and also the "Marsfeld" which was 10 times the size of the Zeppelinfeld and used for demonstrations of tank formations and mock battles... I believe the Marsfeld has been developed now but the other stuff still stands...

I turned up with the rest of BOC crew for a big outdoor show in Nuremburg and while I was trying to eat breakfast a french guy came over and wanted to know if he could ask me some questions and I said sure... as the questions went on I began to figure out that he thought I was Meatloaf, who was also on the show...I never told him I WAS meat, but never told him I wasn't...

I went to Meat's dressing room later and told him what had happened so in case he read any interviews with some whacky answers he'd know what the deal was... we had a pretty good laugh and he said if I ever wanted to grow my hair some more he'd hire me as a "deception double"... the folks in his band always referred to me as "Meat's Big Brother" as there could be some resemblance I guess...

Here's a link to a great page about this gig which also explains the discrepancy between the posters and the band line-up that actually played that day:

• ilike2rock.net

Allow me however to bring your attention to some facts about the Zeppelinfeld gig which was played outdoors on two stages as part of the 'Monsters of Rock' tour of europe.

I vaguely remember Saxon playing on that bill (I think) but I can't remember Krokus or Survivor - not saying they didn't play mind, just I have no reccollection of them. There are bands that you missed though, namely - Twisted Sister, and Motorhead who certainly played sets that day.

Also the set list; From what I remember it looks about right but they did also play 'Shadow of California' from the soon released 'Revolution by Night' album.

BOC came on just as the sun went down that evening and they were superb, heavily supported by hundreds of servicemen from a U.S. base stationed nearby. A great end to a holiday for me.

The crew shot was taken in the parking lot as we were about to leave Nuremburg to travel to Lyon. The lineup from l-r is Tony Cedrone (former drum tech, acting as Band Valet), Dave (Zilla Dave) Thorpe, former Godzilla roadie and operator, acting as Stage left guitar tech (he would later serve as back up guitarist when Allen left... playing Allen's parts from behind the amp line), myself and Tommy Higgins (Former See Factor truss elf, acting as drum tech)...

This was one of the most fun tours ever, Europe in Summer, Nice rented Mercedes, lots of days off (the day trip to Marseille from Lyon was fantastic)...

Note also that the Mulhouse show on this swing shown in the "on the road" history on the offical site was actually cancelled. It was supposed to be this big outdoor fest, but a bad storm came in and destroyed the stage and production the day before we were to play, and it never happened...

We drove up there from Lyon on the 9th so the gig was supposed to be on the 10th or 11th I'm sure...

Had a great dinner in Mulhouse with the band, RD (le Nuveaux Batterien) and Lanier and I spent an entire day at an amazing car museum there and then the night before we left RD, Tom Higgins and I went over to a disco in Basel Switz around 2AM with some wild and crazy American girls we met at the Novotel and partied till morning and time to drive up to Frankfort Am Main for our flights home.... no details on our activities in Switzerland are available at this time.... or any other time....

Did Rainbow play this gig? Their name seems to be crossed out on the ticket stub above...

This was the last show BOC played at the legendary Cow Palace, where they had played twice previously in the last five years.

Rainbow was all over the radio that year with Stone Cold, and Street of Dreams, and BOC was supporting the Revolution By Night, with Shooting Shark being played on the radio as well.

This concert took place during the Thanksgiving break and I remember the Cow Palace parking lot looking like a scene from the movie, The Warriors. Lots of rock n' rollers, Ben Davis pants, Budweiser and other necessities. It was cold that night and all the garbage cans in the lot were filled with wood and set on fire, with pony kegs within reach. It truly felt like the Revolution by Night.

I remember taking my younger brother who was a freshman in high school and myself being 19 years old... just happy that we were able to make it to the arena safely. Rainbow was excellent and BOC had to come out strong to surpass Rainbow and they did, however future friends who attended that show think Rainbow won the battle of the Bands.

I realize looking back twenty four years later, that that was the end of an era. An era when the youth of San Francisco were tough, liked to party and loved Rock n roll... the Cow Palace today is a pink elephant with the occasional rodeo and Harlem Globetrotter show.

Today's SF youth is long gone, replaced with want to be American Idols who care how their ear ring looks against their bleached hair and think good music is Justin Timberlake... but that night was in a way, the Revolution by Night, an end of the city as natives knew it, and it was the beginning of MTV and the end of Rock n roll and the end of the City Ben Davis youth...

However when the Oyster Boys play their annual show at Slims... you may catch a glimpse of the past... and you might see the last of the Sunset Boys, the Native San Franciscan... wearing the Bens, steel toe boots or converse all star, the derby jacket... and you will smile... remembering how good it was... cause it was real.

Did this gig occur?

I do remember arriving about 20 mins late for this gig. Rainbow was already on stage, and all-in-all it was a wonderful performance by both bands.

A buddy of mine ended up getting the guitar neck from Ritchie's guitar that he busted up.

Blue Oyster Cult: "The Masters of Death"!!

I attended the December 10, 1983 gig in Houston.

Aldo Nova and Dokken were the warmup acts, which appears consistent with your other information from that time.

I wish I could recall the setlist, but after so many years the only song I can specifically say for sure was played was Hot Rails to Hell.

Before I got my hands on a jpeg of a used stub for this gig (Flickr link), I had put a question mark over it's existance due to reports of a Kemper Arena, Kansas City gig on this date...

However, the stub looks fair enough proof that it did in fact happen in Danville...

Did this gig occur? I have three candidates for a show on this date...

1. Indianapolis Convention Center with Aldo Nova/Dokken (check this link)
2. Checkerdome, St Louis, Missouri
3. Rosemont Horizon, Chicago

Pastor Brad of the guitarjams.net site swears that his date is the correct one as he has a stub...

Was this gig with Rainbow?

Another anomoly: the official site has BOC at Detroit's Joe Louis Arena whilst a poster exists with this info: Dec 18 1983: Louisville Gardens, KY, (Blue Oyster Cult, Edgar Winter's White Trash)

I saw the Dec 26 '83 gig at the Portland Coliseum. Aldo Nova was on for about 25 minutes and then we got a long BOC show.

It should have been about a 8000 seat show but only about 3000 could navigate the sheets of ice that were downtown Portland streets. It was freezing rain and ice on the road so many couldn't make it to the venue.

WE were lucky and were staying right across the street from the venue.

Please note that your listing for the 27 December 1983 Vancouver date has the incorrect venue information. They played the same venue as in 1982. It was called the Coliseum Concert Bowl because it had a reconfigured seating arrangement. This means the stage was setup closer to the center and so there was a smaller amount of tickets put on sale for the show.

NB: I should mention that it's possible that Canadian band Streetheart replaced Aldo Nova as support for this gig. I saw BOC/Aldo at this venue both on 22 August 1982 and 27 December 1983, as you can see by the ticket stubs. I guarantee you that Streetheart replaced Aldo at one of these shows but I am now unclear on which one.

I had previously thought it was the Aug 82 show but the fact that you don't have a support act listed for this 1983 show also makes me doubt myself. I was looking for these ticket stubs to help you clear up your questions about the August 82 show but by finding them I seem to have muddied the waters even worse and its bothering me now that there may be a chance that I am confusing these two dates.

It was Dec. 31st, 1983, I had tickets to BOC at the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma WA. The line up was Aldo Nova, BOC and Sammy Hagar, the tickets said, "One Way Ticket to Midnight" on them.

I worked in a busy nightclub as assistant manager and had asked for the day off months in advance. But the night before the show, my boss went back on her word and said I had to work. I quit on the spot and went out on a big partying binge. I was extremely hungover when my brother came to get me and I made him drive. I had a can of Schlitz Malt Liquor and it was noon when we left, I sat in the back seat obnoxious as hell and laughed all the way to Tacoma. He and his wife were annoyed with me, even though my partying was pretty tame in comparrison to theirs, they kept it together for BOC.

While we waited in line outside the dome, we saw BOC's truck of gear being unloaded. I saw them haul the Harley off the truck, I spoke to some roadie guy. I was not in shape for standing up so we took seats, I fell asleep as soon as Aldo Nova hit the stage. Passed out on my brother's shoulder, he was disgusted with me. When BOC was ready to come on, he woke me up. I can't remember much; Aldo Nova played on a song from RBN and Eric rode the bike on stage. This show would be the last time I saw BOC in an arena setting and the last time I saw the bike on stage.

BOC's show was great and I have never regretted quitting my job to be there for the 83' New Years show.

We watched Sammy Hagar jump around the stacks for a few minutes and decided to leave....we had a 2 plus hour drive home and it was around midnight.

On the way home from that BOC show, my Thunderbird headlights went "intermittent" on us several times. We'd be driving along, the lights would go out for a few seconds, but always seemed to turn on just before we crashed into something.

We laughed at off and called it the "suicide ride", made up some lyrics to "this aint the Summer" music and sang along. But, when the lights went off one time, and came on just in time to see we were gonna smash into the side of a huge rock bluff, a damn mountian if you will.

We decided, going to see BOC would be for nothing if we died before we got home. We parked overnight and slept in the car until first light, we froze our asses off... but we got home safe.

Cool Review!!! I was there and working (it was one of those nightmare nights for me with several keyboards deciding not to work)... I remember the punchline of the night for me was Hagar being so out of it he just yapped his mouth past the actual midnight count and went into a song... at the end of it, he made mention that it was midnight "a few minutes ago"... the Hagar camp was on a big power trip at that gig and made it a VERY long and cold day...

Glad you decided to "wait for the dawn" and are therefore still with us...

I think also that these date(s) were played in 1983 - if you have any info, please let me know:

With Aldo Nova in late Summer...

With Aldo Nova in late Summer...

Part of the 1983 MICHELOB CONCERT SERIES...