1983: On the face of it, a bit of a slow year for BOC... a few dates with Blotto, a cancelled European tour with CSNY, and the release in October of "The Revolution By Night", after which followed a couple of short tours with Rainbow and Aldo Nova to promote the LP.
As usual, this page, as with a great part of the rest of the Hot Rails site, would not have been remotely possible without the help of ex-BOC roadie, Sam Judd, and it is his notes which inform many of the facts contained herein...
So, have you got anything to contribute to this page? Reviews, missing info (such as support acts etc), ticket stubs, posters etc etc - if so, please let me .
Miracle of miracles... I found the official Blotto gig and set list book buried under piles of popular culture items that are part of the clutter in my attic. (I was up there looking for a guitar receipt from 1990...I found it!)
Here's the itinerary from the famous Blot & Blue tour of 1983:
Feb. 25 - Purdue U., W.Lafayette, Ind.
Feb. 26 - Memorial Auditorium, Joplin, Mo.
Feb. 27 - Bicentennial Ctr., Salina, Kan.
Mar. 1 - Civic Ctr., Decatur, Ill.
Mar. 15 - Stanley Theater, Utica, NY
Mar. 16 - St. Vincent's College, Latrobe, Pa.
Mar. 19 - Susquehanna U., Selingrove, Pa.
Mar. 20 - Univ. of Maryland, College Pk., Md.
Mar. 21 - Memorial Hall, York, Pa.
Not a cross-country several month extravaganza to be sure, but a fun couple of weeks nonetheless.
Visit the Blotto site:
March 1st, 1983--Trans MC, Born 2 Rock, All Tied Up, GAOL, ILTN, awesome show with Rick Downey... I bought the front two rows. Blotto opened.
The warm-up 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.
It was at PSU in early '83... from memory, the setlist was (not necessarily in order):
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.
Blotto opened, duke jupiter was listed on all flyers and radio advertisments... this is the show that buck played on stage with blotto during metal head and road on sargent blotto's shoulders - there is a pic i took of this on line somewhere... best boc show out of 140 i ever saw
Setlist from my notes:
Wow - OK, that's somewhat different to the setlist I have already - which is actually from a Dime download of the show which was unfortunately incomplete.
I think it's fair to assume that the fact that the ending wasn't recorded wouldn't have an effect on the running order of the songs that went before, so this is a bit of a mystery.
I'd love to get some feedback from any other attendees that night...
Just wanted to let you know that the March 20,1983 gig by BOC was actually at Richie Gymnasium on the University of Maryland campus, not Cole Field House... I wish I still had the ticket stub to prove it, but it was in a wallet that was stolen from me in 1986...
You are correct that Blotto opened... that was the tipping point that made my friends and I say "sure let's do it"... I'm sorry I cannot provide a set list... but what I do remember was there was a Godzilla head in the corner of the rafters that raised a huge ruckus when the song was played...
Thanks Matt - I've changed the venue...
This show was at St. Anselms College in Manchester. This place was SMALL.
It was weird too. When the doors opened everyone rushed to get a seat in the bleachers on the sides.
So my friends and I just walked up to the front of the stage and hung out there and had plenty of room all night.
I have the board mix cassette of that Mar 22 83 N.H. Show... been trying to put a date to it for several years... now it can be told...
Set List (and I kid you not):
And, of course, I've been asked by the "powers that be" not to circulate any board mixes... and so far I've kept to that...
Sam, thanks for the Manchester set-list!!! I don't even remember them playing I Love the Night.
It was a strange venue... a gym. Here's a little more info... Rock Fever Prod did the show, it was a Tuesday, the ticket cost $10!! Those were the days! This was the only show I saw there. This may have been the one big gig they had 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...
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.
I went to this show. I remember the opening act was Uriah Heep.
I was at this show, sat in the bleachers, the one thing I remember is the lighting for Feel The Thunder was real cool.
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:
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)...
It was the first time I saw BOC on stage. Coming from Paris with my girl-friend, we stopped in Lyon at the beginning of the summer to buy tickets and at the end of the holidays we came back with also a friend of us. This was a good concert. I can't tell you whether it was better or not than another one because it was the first time. Twisted Sister did a good show but you can see the big difference between several good rock and roll bands as them, and the one and only Blue Oyster Cult who takes you in another dimension.
They started with "Cities On Flame". This is a very good song but not for starting a gig. I would preferred something with more speed such as "ME262" or "Stairway To The Stars". At this time, no You Tube so except photos we didn't know anything about their way to play live. I realized that Allen often played guitar and took second half of the solo of "Harvester Of Eyes" with Buck. At this time, "Revolution By Night" wasn't yet released but they play "Feel The Thunder" and"Take Me Away". Eric explained us that they just have selected the two best songs of the album, the two songs he wrote:-)
But the best part of my memories take place before the gig. We were sitting in the street of the theatre, talking and waiting for about one hour. We should be one hundred I guess. Just at the corner, a cab stopped and four guys went out in the street on the left side of the theatre. My friend told me "Look at this guy, he really wants to look like Buck Dharma". "Yes, I said, and look at the other one, he looks like Eric Bloom". Five seconds later, we realized that it was them ! We got up and ran to the rear of the theatre but it was too late ! They already disappeared ! The fourth guy was not a member of the band. We recognized the third one once the gig started: it was Joe but we had never seen him with beard before this time.
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...
Rainbow was there - that's who I wanted to see. BOC played a good gig!
Wed Nov 23, San Diego Sports Arena. Dokken did not end up playing. The stage got moved to mid arena so my previously kick ass seats were gone and I had to sit in the terrace on the side of the stage.
Rainbow was on first (approx 90 min set). BOC played almost a 2hr set.
All members were visible. Buck wore a sleaveless baby blue muscle shirt and white pants. I later sported that look at a party. 1st boc show out of 10.
Out of order but pretty darn sure these were the tunes:
They possibly also played Hot Rails To Hell... 4th or 5th - not sure.
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.
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"!!
This was DEFFO the LAST Rainbow show as there was BIG aggro since Blackmore saw fit to play thru 1/2 our set time too and fuck us into only having about 45 min for set change and show.... and he only did it since it was the LAST show so therefore would get NO payback...
Not only did Rainbow play long, they started way late because their equipment was delayed because of weather... someone said it came by ground through Utah or Wyoming?
Most of us were in McNichols Arena for over 5 hours.
Presumably Dokken and Aldo Nova opened this show...?
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.
Presumably Dokken and Aldo Nova opened this show...?
The only indication I have that this gig ever took place is the above stub off ebay...
Presumably Dokken and Aldo Nova opened this show...?
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 and poster above look like decent proof that it did in fact happen in Danville...
Until I came across the stub - and poster - above, I actually had three candidates in total for a show on this date:
I already had some anecdotal evidence for an Indy show - Pastor Brad of the guitarjams.net site swears that his date is the correct one...
The stub and poster hopefully have put the matter to rest - although, I must mention that the stub isn't torn so there's no indication it's actually been used, so it's not proof positive that the Indy show definitely took place...
If you have any info, as usual, please let me know...
The concert took place.
At the time I was a Jr. in H.S. and just went on Christmas break. It was "festival seating" and I remember standing outside freezing my ass off until they opened the doors an hour before.
Regarding the date - I just looked at a 1983 calendar. Based on getting two weeks for Christmas break, I do remember finishing finals right before the concert. We started school right after the start of the new year. Therefore 16 Dec 1983 would appear to be the correct date.
Presumably Dokken and Aldo Nova opened this show...?
This date actually had three gig candidates:
I originally had this gig down as Detroit, in keeping with the offical site and in the absence of evidence to the contrary. Then Mike Becker got in touch...
I have a tour date you do not have listed, there is one small problem. Unfortunately the date is ripped off my ticket stub and I used a process of elimination. I looked on B.O.C. official site and there is no record of it.
I seen them on a Sunday in December of 1983 in Davenport Iowa at Palmer Auditorium, they squeezed this show in between Detroit and Portland which would make it Christmas Day.
The opening bands were Dokken, Aldo Nova, then the Amazing B.O.C. This is only 1 of about 3 concerts I have seen over the last 25 years that I do not have an actual date on the stub.
The stub is chopped right where the date would be, all it says is Sunday, 1983. I do remember it was around Christmas. I was there, it did happen!!
Anyway, I've sent you a scan of the stub - it says Sunday. By a process of elimination from the dates listed on your website this concert was in December right near Christmas.
The only free Sunday on your lists is 25 December, but Christmas Day does not sound right to be jamming on. For some reason December 23rd sticks out in my mind. I think they might have moved this show up a couple days after the tickets were printed. That is an open slot on your listing for that time period.
Dokken and Aldo Nova were the opening bands as I see they just started touring together with them a few weeks before. Anyway I remember it was a very good concert, Aldo came out and jammed Take Me Away with them, quite cool.
Wish I had the rest of the set list but I was too young to worry about such a thing at the time. Hope this info helps in your search to figure this missing show out.
We DEFFO played Davenport at about that time... remember it vividly as it as the LAST show before Xmas break... AND it was the day we got word that our former bus driver Warren "Wiggly" Bryant had been found dead at his home of an apparently accidental gunshot wound.... AND it was soooo cold after the show (about -20F) that the busses wouldn't run cause the fuel had congealed.... we finally got one running... piled everybody onto it and off we went thru a blowing blizzard to an airport 30-40 miles away at MAYBE 5 mph so that everyone could get home for the holidays...
... about 2 hrs later, ended up getting the bus into a truck stop with a heated repair bay to thaw the fuel and replace filters to make it actually go... we had to fake that we had the band on board as there were about 50 trucks ahead of us and we bribed the mechanics with AUTOGRAPHED photos of BOC... I signed both Bloom's and Lanier's names...
Most likely the Davenport gig goes where Joe Louis gig is because we most deffo did NOT finish that swing at Joe Louis arena... we DID play Joe Louis with Rainbow on that tour though as that was the only time I ever actually talked with Richie... I repaired his little 50's reel to reel tape machine that he used as a pre-amp and actually made him smile...
I'm in the midst of reading and listening to everything Joe Meek I can get my hands on... Blackmore was one of his regular studio musicians as he lived just a few blocks away down Holloway road... would LOVED to have asked him about 'ol Whacky Joe... I'll bet the 2 of THEM got on famously... maybe Joe is what made Richie so crazy...
But the Joe Louis gig was mid tour as I remember, but will try to clear some cobwebs and find detail... I CAN also tell you for pretty sure that the Denver show was the LAST Rainbow show as there was BIG aggro since Blackmore saw fit to play thru 1/2 our set time too and fuck us into only having about 45 min for set change and show.... and he only did it since it was the LAST show so therefore would get NO payback... but when the Joe Louis gig was I can't begin to say...
Though I'm pretty sure this Davenport gig can slot into that last Sunday (18 December), cause the Joe Louis arena Rainblow show would have deffo been BEFORE Denver.... no Blackamoor after that one for sure...
Also - Aldo would have come out and jammed cause it was the last show of the tour... that's when we did shit like that...
Latest news: I was talking to a buddy of mine at work and he dug thru his photo albums and I think this might solve the mystery of the concert date of the Davenport Iowa show which would back up what Sam Judd said.
This ticket stub is different from mine it actually says day of show on it, it is a dollar more and you can see the full 18 on it. Me and buddy were laughing how we are all trying to be super sleuths about a show that happened 25 years ago. Sometimes I wish those day were still here.
Once again I love your sight and I hope this second stub helps figure this mystery date out which seems to have some confusion surrounding it.I saw the Dec 26 '83 gig at the Portland Coliseum. 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.
Aldo came out and he opened with 'Monkey On Your Back', his cold was immediately apparent as he apologized for not being able to sing very well. He just said 'hey, I just think i'll shut up now and play a little guitar, okay?". He wasn't on long and we all felt sorry for him, being sick and all.
But he played on for about 25 minutes of instrumentals. He jammed. He could have just cancelled or called it real short, but he hung in there and played. He kicked ass. The guy is up there in Buck's league as far as lead guitarists go IMHO. Not better than Buck, but definately in his league.
After Aldo, we got a long BOC show...
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.
Presumably Aldo Nova opened this show...?
Exhibit Hall in Eugene, Oregon is unlike most American venues. It's a concrete and steel box that looks much more like Leeds Hall than the LA Forum. It has a low ceiling where lighting rigs made for tall American arenas dangle just fifteen feet above the heads of the band, a general admission crowd surges in waves against a creaking barricade with bouncers waiting to beat the heads of anybody who climbs over in pure exhaustion, and the sound ricochets around in bizarre tones of distortion at variously deafening levels.
Judas Priest (1982) and Scorpions (1984) played here and never came back, rumor has it due to damage to equipment. Def Leppard played here on Joe Elliot's birthday show in 1983 in what became a total bacchanal on stage. Dave Mustaine overdosed at this venue in 1992 on the Youthanasia tour and was revived in a hospital emergency room a few miles away.
Major league rock acts came few and far between to Eugene in the 80s, so a ticket like Blue Oyster Cult and Aldo Nova (at the peak of his career) was a major draw, especially on a weekend which allowed for the 'extended draw' of central Oregon to drive to the show. BOC was at the end of its globe-trotting, arena-headliner days with The Revolution By Night tour, but despite an album that had only reached about 300,000 (less than half the sales of Fire Of Unknown Origin a few years earlier), the band had currency in Eugene.
They headlined Oregon Jam '80 in Salem, and played high on the bill of the state-wide, stadium rock event in 1981 and 1982 at Autzen Stadium in Eugene (see reviews on this website) for 40,000 fans each year. BOC had also headlined in 1979 at McArthur Court, selling out the basketball arena at the University of Oregon.
The 4,500 general admission tickets sold out at the door the night of the show. Aldo Nova was well-received and at the peak of his career with hits like Fantasy and Monkey On Your Back. "Take Me Away" was the opening song for BOC and led into a set that included "Cities On Flame," "Godzilla," "The Red and The Black," "Born To Rock," "Feel The Thunder," "Veins," "Burning For You," and "The Reaper." BOC seemed to enjoy the in-your-face element of the convention hall and intimacy with the crowd.
It was 1983, so with the low ceiling you can imagine the air being thick with smoke, as the spotlights and three trusses of par-64 cans set the air alight with their beams. This was particularly cool with "Joan Crawford," where BOC would employ the old pin-spot-on-disco-ball effect.
They did three enchores: The first was "Roadhouse Blues" with Eric Bloom riding onstage on his Harley, and this was followed by "Hot Rails To Hell." The group was coaxed back for a third enchore (which oddly enough I don't see listed by others who have posted memories of this tour) of "Let Go!" from the Revolution By Night album, complete with "B - O - C... You can be whatever you wanna be" sing-along.
It was the last time I ever saw the forklifted Godzilla monster blowing fire-estinguisher smoke across the band. Like I said, it was the last time BOC ever strutted the Northwest as a big time headliner.
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:
| 001 | Mayo Civic Arena | Rochester | MN |
With Aldo Nova in late Summer...
| 002 | Red River Valley Fairgrounds | Fargo | North Dakota |
With Aldo Nova in late Summer...
| 003 | Pine Knob | Detroit | MI |
Part of the 1983 MICHELOB CONCERT SERIES...
| 004 | Joe Louis Arena | Detroit | Michigan |
This gig is listed as 18 December on the official site but if you check the entry for that date listed above, you'll see why I discount that.
... we most deffo did NOT finish that swing at Joe Louis arena... we DID play Joe Louis with Rainbow on that tour though as that was the only time I ever actually talked with Richie... I repaired his little 50's reel to reel tape machine that he used as a pre-amp and actually made him smile...
I'm in the midst of reading and listening to everything Joe Meek I can get my hands on... Blackmore was one of his regular studio musicians as he lived just a few blocks away down Holloway road... would LOVED to have asked him about 'ol Whacky Joe... I'll bet the 2 of THEM got on famously... maybe Joe is what made Richie so crazy...
But the Joe Louis gig was mid tour as I remember, but will try to clear some cobwebs and find detail...
| 005 | Civic Center | Baltimore | MD |
I think it was 1983 at the Baltimore Civic Center. After performances by local faves DC Star and Pat Travers Band I saw an encore with Buck and Pat. They played "Sunshine of Your Love" (Cream).
What a cool surprise ending to an otherwise mundane show.
It was to benefit Baltimore's unemployed steel workers and tickets were only FOUR dollars.