Also have opening band for 2/1/88 concert at the Iron Horse in Crystal, MN. It was Touched (have ad if you want copy).

It was in Crystal MN which is a small town (we call them suburbs in the states here) right next to Minneapolis.

Hi, the special guest was "Mama's Boys"...

• 2 Sets

I probably hold some sort of record for being the longest-time fan before seeing BOC in concert. I have been a huge fan since 1974, when I was an 18 year-old soldier in the U.S. Army. We used to sit around getting stoned on Oaxacan spears and Jack Daniels in the barracks, with our stereos cranked up with everything from Aerosmith to Zeppelin, but there were only two bands that really did it for us. A certain group called kiss, and another by the name of Blue Oyster Cult. We wore out our copies of the first album, T&M, Secret Treaties, and when it came out, OYFOOYK. I just loved this band from the first time my buddy Brian turned me on to them.

Well, for one reason or other, though I attended many concerts over the years, I had never seen BOC until March of 1988 at a bar in San Diego known as The "Rockin'" Bacchanal, where many past-their-prime rock bands made their tour stops.

The band was in town for two shows, one on March 30, and one the following night. I could only go to the first night, and I am so glad that this was the one I went to, as it was the better of the two.

For the occasion, I drew a large Kronos sign in permanent black ink on my left bicep. Then my friends and I got liquored up a bit, toked a few, then made our way to the venue.

The Bacchanal was a great place to see a concert. It held a couple hundred folks, so it was intimate, plus the added convenience of several built in bars, with waitresses bringing drink orders before the band came on. Unfortunately, the Bacchanal is no longer in existence, as it went out of business (I don't know why).

Anyway, it's time for the show to start. My friends and I are right up front, about 5 feet from the stage, which is only a platform about a foot off the floor to begin with, so we're right in their faces. No back-up band, just Blue Oyster Cult. Yippee!

It was really awesome is all I can say. It was great to see Eric, Buck, and Allen finally! Jon Rogers and Ron Riddle were also excellent as well (I missed seeing Albert and Joe, but what can ya do?).

As per usual, the started the set with R U Ready to Rock, Dominance & Submission, ETI, Buck's Boogie, and Flaming Telepaths. Very hot indeed.

We were all expecting Astronomy to follow Flaming Telepaths, as it has such a natural intro, but when we all started calling for it, Eric told us that the band was not performing this song in their set until the new version was released on the upcoming Imaginos album. Kind of disappointing, but they more than made up for it with the remainder of the program.

They went on to play 17 songs altogether, including 4 encores. This is how the rest of the songs came at us:

Take Me Away
Then Came the Last Days of May
Me 262
Joan Crawford
Harvester of Eyes
Burnin' For You
Godzilla
(Don't Fear) The Reaper
Encores:
Golden Age of Leather
Summer of Love
Cities on Flame
Roadhouse Blues

Wow, what a show!

After the show, we got to hang out with the band out behind the club, and got to talk to Buck and Eric. How cool is that? I was to say the least, really stoked!

I saw them again at the Bacchanal on May 5th, when they came back into San Diego. That night they rocked with a 16 song lineup, including 3 encores: Summer of Love, The Red & The Black, and Cities on Flame.

I am 51 now, and still remember those Army days partying to BOC just like it were yesterday. Where is that time machine when you really need it?

King's X definitely opened for BOC on April 6, 1988 at the Denver, Colorado - the gig actually took place in a northern suburb called Northglen - show.

I was there and distinctly recall being impressed by them. Of course, I was really there to see BOC and although I didn't note the setlist, I do recall loving every minute of the show.

The date for the Fort Worth show was 8th april 88. It was at a place called Tommy's.

Not a great deal of info from the show but here some points.

• It was a Rogers/Riddle gig.
• Managed to chat briefly to Ron Riddle, veru nice fellow.
• Kings X were exceptional.
• BOC were great, I think they played some imaginos stuff. (they may not have too)
• I was impressed with Allens guitar playing.
• Met a record company person who was there for Kings X, told me to put anything I wanted on his tab. Didn't which was lucky as I got pulled over by the cops on the way home and got a speeding ticket.

I don't remember the complete setlist at this show, but I do know they played 4 Imaginos songs: In the Presence..., I Am the One..., Astronomy (Imaginos version), and one I didn't immediately see in your setlists of that era, the song Imaginos.

I wanted to let you know that they, in fact, have played the title track live (you probably knew that already, but just in case).

I'm not completely sure, but I don't think they had an opening act then either.

if that's so, that would be a pretty unusual addition to the setlist - it's not been known to have been played in any other gigs.

Does anybody else know different?

Personally, I attended a BOC show not mentioned on your site: September 17, 1988 at West Warwick Civic Center in West Warwick, Rhode Island headlining with Robin Trower and Foghat in support.

24 Oct 88 was my return to stage right after leaving off 21 Sept 86...

Masi was deffo on the 29 Oct (Bulletboys in the Wiltern as well, bugger me if I can remember who played first) 30 Oct and 6 Nov shows... maybe more...

I finally found some notes that I had jotted down in a scrapbook I have that mentions most of the songs that were played at the Bremerton Washington show on October 25, 1988. I was mistaken about Baron being played. I was trying to remember why I thought Baron was played. I remember the refrain with Buck, Eric and Jon Rogers singing 'Your Master.....Your Master' and realized after putting on the Imaginos CD last night that it was 'In The Presence of Another World" that I was confusing it with.

Anyhow, here is what I have written down that was played. Unfortunately it is not the complete setlist (but close) and is not in the order played.

ME262
Astronomy (Imaginos version)
In The Presence of Another World
Cities On Flame
Flaming Telepaths
Take Me Away
I Am the One you Warned Me Of
ETI
DFTR
Dominance and Submission
Red and The Black
Godzilla

The 'support act' was quite interesting indeed! The band was 'Mother Love Bone'. Andy Wood was the self destructive singer that later died of I think a drug overdose just a few months after that show.

Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament as well as 1 other member of Mother Love Bone went on to become Pearl Jam less than a year after that show, picking up Eddy Vedder as the lead vocal.

I remember how well they played prior to BOC coming on and thinking, 'hey, these guys just might make it someday'. They certainly did.

I also seem to remember that Eric Bloom was sporting a Budweiser Logo Guitar that night for a couple of numbers. I think Budweiser was sponsoring the gig.

I was at the November 6, 1988 show at the San Jose Civic Auditorium - though Impelliteri was orginally scheduled to be there, they did not appear. The buzz in the crowd was that singer Graham Bonnett had a visa-problem and they were unable to get in the U.S. No idea if that is true. I was disappointed to miss them.

Masi did play, though.

Can't help with the set-list, though I do remember that they played Imaginos material - specifically "I Am The One You Warned Me Of", "In The Presence Of Another World" and "Astronomy (Imaginos version)".

Although this gig is supposed to have taken place in Highland IN, Sam's memories below place some doubt on this...

An important piece of info to bear in mind is that Roy orbison died on 6 December 1988...

On Dec 7 1989 we played at a club in Columbus Indiana (not in Mich) we had never played before... it was a hellhole and when we showed up the stage was only 6x12 ft and about 3" high (I think they'd play that today)... looked like a blowoff, but about 5PM this damn guy came up with a team of carpenters and a truckload of wood and built a damn stage and we had to do the stinking gig... I remember it vividly as it was the morning I found out that Roy Orbison had died the night before...

It was the scene of my famous quote (among certain BOC folk anyway) as we were sitting around during the endless hours of waiting to find out if we were even gonna work that day,

"Roy Orbison's dead, I'm out of cigarettes, and we're playing THIS shithole... fine..."

It was definitely a night that we finished the evening by playing Martin Mull's: "I've played some shitholes in my time, but this place takes the CAKE" thru the PA... (we always kept that tape handy for "special" evenings....

Are you sure it was Columbus?

We were deffo in Columbus Ind... Shenck and I got to meet some of the local constabulary after the show... we went to a White Castle and the girl behind the counter had on a most xcellent White Castle satin jacket...

We struck up a conversation with her, offering to buy it off her on the spot (she was big enought that it would have fit either one of us as well)... Shenck even pulled a C-note out of his pocket and offered it to her... all standard chit chat kind of stuff...

After we got our food and were eating, 2 cops came in and talked to the manager... they then came over to us, wanting to know who we were and why we were "causing trouble in here"... they demanded to see picture ID & ran our D/L #'s for possible warrants, finally leaving after they were sure we had seen the error of our ways and seemed to be no further threat...

We were glad that our motel was at least in a different county and considered this a perfect capper to a memorably shitty day, where we had once more won out over the Road Gods and could count our money on the plane...

I looked at the 1988 giglists and thought damn, did we play the same place exactly one year apart??...

Maybe we were supposed to play Club Dimensions in 88, but, for some reason, the promoter had to do it at another venue?? That would explain the scramble-fuck about the stage as well...??

I don't think we went back to that place in Columbus either...

The opening band was Circus of Power.

The opening band - Slang Girl - is confirmed at this url:

• www.myspace.com/slanggirlny

I think also that these date(s) were played in 1988 - if you have any info, please let me know:

There is actually a 1988 date in Phoenix that very few people know about. BOC "OPENED" a special outfoor concert for a very popular local radio station DJ's band.

Dave Pratt of 98.7FM-KUPD had a band called "Dave Pratt and the Sex Machine Band". My brother was the bass player for his band at that time. I have asked my brother to check with Dave Pratt (they still work together, my brother is his Morning Show Producer at the radio station they work at now) and see if they can get the date of that show.

It's weird, but the venue really isn't anything particular. It was outside for a Carnival like event that was going on during the week somewhere in the desert in Tempe, AZ... I think. Pratt's band was doing it's Anniversary show that night. BOC opened and played about 45 minutes, they did do a couple Imaginos album songs and I recall Eric mentioning they had the "new" album.

Regarding the date - BOC don't seem to have played any Imaginos tracks at any gigs BEFORE July 88 (the month of the LP's release) so as you mentioned them having played some songs from that and also you said EB referred to their "new album", it looks like we're talking about July-December.

I was there! For now you can tentatively put that it was at Tempe Diablo Stadium. I'm not sure about that, but it was definitely held at a baseball stadium that doesn't normally host concerts. We'll see what Mark's brother comes up with.

I vaguely recall it being Spring - I don't remember it being hot enough to be summer, and the show was before sundown.

Incidentally, as I recall the show at Big Surf (1989?) was also a Dave Pratt/97.9FM bash. Man-made beach scene, show was after dark, and whoever was drumming that night (I'm terrible...) donned the full-head Godzilla mask...