1999: This page is a preliminary document - a placeholder if you like - for some text entries for the BOC history for this year.
I have some more images to add to this page when I get the chance - so if you've sent me stuff for this page and can't see it yet, please be patient - I'll get there in the end.
The reason I'm posting this page before it's even remotely ready to go online properly is that as soon as a new History page goes up, people start sending me stuff for it. So my logic is this - I'll put this up quick and maybe you kind folks will get typing and scanning and start sending me info for this year...
Have you got anything to contribute to this page? Reviews, missing info, ticket stubs, posters etc etc - if so, let me .
OK show however, Alan was sick that night and so they brought in a replacement player. I am sorry but they are not the same band without Alan. He is a very important part of BOC!
Our first non-UK show was a spur-of-the-moment decision in the middle of a frustrating house sale; I noticed on one of the bulletin boards that BÖC were due to play Las Vegas the following month and we decided to go. We arrived in Los Angeles four or five days before the show, and spent our first night with Doug (The Snowman of J&A's fame) and Anita - I'd been exchanging e-mails with Doug for some time, but we'd never met. We arrived late afternoon, feeling pretty much knackered after an 11 hour flight; but to cut a long story short the prospect of another BOC show that night was just too much to resist...
The drive to the show included a detour to the Museum of Cult. We couldn't stay long, but had a chance to scratch the surface of some of the weird and wonderful things that Bolle has collected over the years. Not to mention one of the toughest questions I've ever had to face.. "What do you want to hear?"!
And on to Yucaipa - the Crossroads Bar & Grill, a biker bar with possibly the smallest stage I've ever seen - smaller even than the Robin in Bilston. The show was well-attended by AOL-ers, and much of the night was spent in a bewildering whirl of screenames. It was very strange to suddenly meet, in the flesh, so many people who were previously just names on a computer screen. You build up mental pictures of people and they're always completely different face to face!
On to the show. We picked a spot close to the soundboard. The lights dimmed. The familiar strains of "End Titles" began. This show came during the period when Allen was ill, and his place was filled by Al Pitrelli of Savatage (and later Megadeth) fame. He's a very different type of guitarist to Allen, and his presence seemed to inspire Buck to another level - the highlight of the night, for me, being "Last Days of May" .. which, until recently, was the best version I'd ever heard.
After the show we hung around for while, and after nearly 25 years of following the band, finally got the chance to meet Buck and Eric in person. They seemed quite impressed by the fact that we'd flown all that way, that day, to see them but were probably less impressed as two mature, well-educated, professional people were reduced to the incoherence of 14-year-olds.
One last point. We finally got to bed some time after 3am local time, having been up for around 30 hours, flown 6,000-odd miles and crossed 8 time zones. We woke up less than 5 hours later, feeling absolutely wonderful.
Blue Öyster Cult. The perfect antidote to jet-lag!
Next stop: Las Vegas!!
The Schooner's gig was a lot of fun. The techs had broken the headstock off of Al's '62 Les Paul Jr. the night before in San Diego.
That night he played a rented guitar. Once we got to Lancaster, Al was wondering what he was going to play, when one of the techs discovered they'd mistakenly loaded out an SG belonging to the previous night's openers.
Spent the better part of the afternoon at the bar with Al tweaking this guy's guitar into proper playing shape, Al played living Hell out of that guitar that night and then the crew got the owner's address and mailed it back to him the next morning (Al's Jr. was fully recovered by then).
I wonder if the guy ever figured out why his guitar actually sounded right when he got it back.
There are pictures of the Schooner's gig with Eric and Donald playing the SG at www.alpitrelli.com.
I was at The Edge in Palo Alto on 3/3/99 (my last night on the tour). Al definitely played there, and I have a few photos from the show and after the show as proof. I do know that Al went on to play his final show the next night in Las Vegas.
There are pictures of Al in Palo Alto (backstage with Tour Manager, Artie Ring) at www.alpitrelli.com.
This was a truly magical evening, for reasons which will become obvious!
The venue was the Ra Nightclub, in the Luxor Hotel and it was scheduled to be a late show. The evening started around 6pm, when I'd arranged to meet up with Mark (Vegas4BOC) to pick up and pay for our tickets. We were sitting at the bar, having a beer, when a familiar figure wandered past... Eric Bloom. Mark, who'd met him several times before, called him over. As they started to talk, he suddenly turned to me:
"Hey! It's the Yorkshire dude."
Now, I'd heard all the stories about how Eric could be .... shall we say, somewhat reticent; but I have to say that for the 10 or 15 minutes that we spent with him, he was truly delightful. Finally, I plucked up the courage to ask him the question that had been burning all evening.
"Any chance that you might do "Astronomy" tonight? It's our favourite, and you didn't play it at Yucaipa on Saturday "
"Well, we might. It just depends how things turn out..."
Cut to later, that same evening. The Ra is a smallish, intimate club, most notable for the fact that on either side of the stage was a large cage, each containing a scantily-clad young lady, whose job was to girate in time to the music. And to distract Bobby....
Sue and I were in early to stake our place at the front - about 3 feet in front of Buck, in fact. We'd never been so close to BÖC on stage before, and it was mind-blowing to be able to just spend an hour-and-a-half watching a master at work. I don't recall the setlist from that night; but with Al Pitrelli guesting, I don't think it changed much from night to night - it was basically the Yucaipa set that we'd seen the previous Saturday. There was, however, one major change. Cue Eric:
"We have a couple of folks here tonight who've come all the way from England just to see us. Whereabouts is the Yorkshireman? This one's for you..."
- and into the familiar opening bars of Astronomy ..
What can I say? That was one of those defining moments; something that I'll never forget, as long as I live. Here was my favourite band who we'd both followed for well over 20 years giving us a dedication for our all-time favourite song! The rest of the show passed in a blur.
It was the last night of the West Coast swing, and after the show the band came into the bar and settled in for a long session. I have to admit that we did all the besotted fan stuff - the photographs, autographed CD covers and all the rest. What did we talk about? Who knows?! I really don't remember.
The only downside to the whole evening was that I've never been able to track down a tape of that show. But the show, and that one little bit of it, will live in our memories for many a long year...
Important: C'mon folks - anybody got a tape of this gig? Let me and help do your bit to make a Yorkshireman's day....
I was at the 17 March 1999 (St. Patrick's day!) gig in Albuquerque. While it technically was at Bennigan's, it was not inside the building; it was in a huge tent set up in the parking lot.
Even though Spring was less than a week away, it was FREEZING that night! There were portable heaters set up, so we split our time between them and as close to the stage as we could get.
Playing email tag shortly thereafter, Buck observed that "it's not THAT cold in New York!"
Show at Shakey's with "Zero Gravity" opening...
Evening Star 1999 - April this time so a bit later and no snow. Good setlist. At one point the PA just dropped out (I think they blew a breaker) and the only thing you could hear was the drums, bass amp, and Buck's stage stack. His guitar stayed pretty much at the same volume as when the PA was on so he must play louder than hell on stage!! Opener, Animal Planet is a fellow named Michael Lee Jackson's band who recently worked on Ian Gillan's retrospective CD project, Gillan's Inn, much of which was done in Buffalo.
Letchworth Pines - had a bunch of friends at this show as it was near where I grew up.
The Pines is a small bar (which often has live music) attached to a bowling alley. They bring in National acts a couple of times a year and cover the lanes with playwood or whatever and the bands actually ON the bowling alley!
Pretty big crowd if I remember and a good set with an extra encore from when I saw them 2 nights before, but I was lamenting that I had heard on the night in between which was further downstate they played Veteran of the Psychic Wars which would have been great!
Firehouse opened.
For what it's worth, I also saw BOC at Beckley, WV a few years ago. Maybe five or six? A friend videotaped a lot of the show. It might actually be considered to be Bradley, WV which is a mall town that butts up against Beckley. They played at a little dirt racetrack with some other bands.
The main band was supposedly the Doobie Brothers. When they came out, I didn't recognize a single one of them, and I've seen them several times over the years. I immediately checked their website and they didn't list that show.
Also the website listed the real members that I was familiar with. Perhaps some minor past member was making use of the group's name. Also at that show was Jefferson Airplane. I think they were using "plane" rather than "starship." No Grace Slick, though. Some sound-alike girl. I have photos of BOC from this show.
Also, I previously mentioned seeing BOC with the supposed Doobie Brothers and Jefferson Airplane at Beckley, WV. You do have that show listed as June 19, 1999. Prosperity is the corrected "city." It's a little area that is immediately beside Beckley.
There were other bands that played that day, too, but they played earlier and I missed them. If I were you, I certainly wouldn't list the Doobies because they were certainly not the real band.
The "Doobies" closed the night and followed Jefferson. Jefferson just kept playing and playing and many of us were getting bored and hoping the Doobies would come on soon.
I remember one of the band (Kantner?) saying something to the effect that the crowd was going to regret it. Not an exact quote but he apparently knew the "Doobies" were a scam and everyone would be disappointed. When the "Doobies" started playing, most everybody started walking out.
Anyway, BOC played before Jefferson Airplane. I think one or two other bands played before them. Recognizable names but nothing of interest to me, as I recall.
Got a set list for you
June 25, 1999: Waterfront Park, Louisville, KY
Content is correct but unsure of proper order for songs 4 through 9.
It was a beautiful night on the river, gentle breeze, mild temperatures and the best rendering I've ever heard of Harvest Moon.
This was the second time I had seen them in 1999 (the other time being April 15th in Cincinnati) after not seeing them since 1980 on the B&B tour and I was amazed at how different the set lists were between the two shows. I wish they would mix it up now like they did then.
Two bands opened. I don't remember who the first act was. They were some local people that apparently got together for this gig, just played cover songs.
The second band was a three piece metal unit from Lexington, KY called "Supafuzz". They were very good, and to this day are the only unknown band that have opened for BOC that actually inspired me to buy their CD. When I first saw their name on the bill I thought they were going to be some sort of soul or funk act, not the loud, thrashy surprise they turned out to be.
BOC made a rare appearence in Knoxville opening for Styx. They played the outdoor World's Fair Park (not the ampitheatre).
They played just under 1 hour, before the sun set. They were great and so far the only time I have seen the band.
Setlist:
On Tour Forever - and apparently, they really mean it.
Blue Oyster Cult blew into town last Sunday for a one-night performance at Houston's own Surfside Sally's as part of the club's summer concert series.
Currently on yet another tour leg promoting their latest album, "Heaven Forbid", veteran rockers Eric Bloom, Don "Buck Dharma" Roeser, and Allen Lanier have been joined by newer members Danny Miranda on bass and Bobby Rondinelli on drums to round-out a new phase in the legendary group's activities.
This new offering, a long-awaited release for every true cultophile, is a truly worthy addition to the band's already long list of previous recordings. One need go no further than the first cut, "I Want To See You In Black," to know that the band is back with a vengeance-notwithstanding the tens years that have passed since their last record.
I was a little surprised that the new album wasn't showcased nearly as much as I thought it would be during the performance. Not that I really minded that too much though, because that just meant that the band had more time to play from the classic rock pieces that they've stock-piled down through the years. In fact, they actually played three songs from their 1972 debut album, including a guaranteed crowd-pleaser, "Cities On Flame With Rock And Roll."
Buck Dharma's guitar-playing ability was spotlighted early-on in the show during "Buck's Boogie," which really brought back memories for me of when I first saw the Blue Oysters Boys at Winterland in San Francisco in 1976. If anything, I think that their talents have increased with experience over the years. And yes, I still think that they're one of the best live bands on the market today. That seems to have always been their real talent, live performance. And somehow, they are still able to do this well, even without all of the pyrotechnics and laser light shows that they used to have in the past. All in all, I think that getting audiences involved with their shows has always been one of BOC's strong suits. That they are able to carry this off even more in the intimate-sized crowds that they are playing for as of late is of no surprise whatsoever. All of the band members simply enjoy performing live. And it shows.
Of course, the other part of Blue Oyster Cult's success equation is their unswerving commitment to write and play the kind of music that they want to do. Eric was quick to point out that their new album doesn't represent a totally new musical direction for the band. He said, "It's meant to be more 'hard rock' sounding. That's the kind of music I like. I like hard stuff. You know, really, what it was...was Buck and I got together and wrote some tunes. And, you know, when it's us writing, it's going to sound like us. You know, we're not going to start doing hip-hop. We're not going to write surf music. It's going to sound like BOC."
The group's refusal to be governed strictly by commercial interests has produced yet another unique phenomenon-the Blue Oyster Cult fan. These folks aren't merely dyed-in-the-wool; they're diehards as well. Let's put it this way. If loyalty is a virtue, then BOC fans are some of the most virtuous people on the face of the planet.
As expected, the concert went through the famous standards, "Godzilla", "Joan Crawford", and "Burning For You." They closed the show with their signature number, "Don't Fear The Reaper."
I asked Eric Bloom how the band is able to hold up under a touring schedule that includes at least 120 shows a year. "It's just what we do," he said. "You know, like other people do what they do to get by. This is what we do to get by. We like it. Yeah, this is the best job I've ever had! We had a lot of fun here tonight. It's a great place to play. We'll be back."
I'm not quite sure exactly just what it is that makes a band keep going and touring like this year after year, or keeping all of these fans coming back year after year. All I know is that, whatever it is, Blue Oyster Cult's still got it-in spades.
The state fair gigs in Alaska happened as one set the first night and both an evening and afternoon set the following day - that's three shows in two days and they played a total of twenty three (23) different tunes.
I do remember they ended with Veterans of the Pyschic Wars and encored with The Golden Age Of Leather AND Born To Be Wild at the last set (big Motorcycle crowd there).
They also played Career of Evil, Unknown Tongue, Joan Crawford, Summer of Love, Harvester of Eyes, Take Me Away (all of which I felt noteworthy at the time).
9-19-1999 was an outdoor gig at Nissan Pavillion...
Running order for bands: Roger Mcguinn (Byrds), Marshall Tucker, BOC, War, Mark Farner