Day 2 of the UK leg of the Blue Oyster Cult 1975 European tour saw them play the City Hall in Newcastle. NB: It is arguable of course, as to whether this is actually day 1 or day 2 of the tour as there was a month and 18 European dates between the opening date at London Hammersmith on October 19th and tonight's show.
I've taken the same view with this tour as I did with the 1978 tour - which was also split into two parts - and classified it here as day 2 as all the dates were part of the same European tour.
Whilst setting up for the show a chap informed us that there was a fire smoldering in the ceiling near the stage & that we would have to leave the building.
One of our lads named Larry Miller (A fellow Atlantan...there was even one more for a total of 3 @ this point... more about Larry later) had once served as a fireman & went squirming into the attic & began frantically calling for us to pass any & all extinguishers up to him as there was now a healthy blaze going....
He managed to hold it at bay till the Local F.D. showed up & began praising him as a hero for his quick work... headline in the paper next morning"Rock Hero Saves City Hall" & a big photo of Larry's Smiling facade.....the local paper may actually have it on archive...
My day went fine,found a great record shop round behind the gig & a fine steakburger,chips & beans (don't be stingy w/that H.P.now...)... until during the loadout I rolled my ankle over a fat power cable & took a header off several steps of the choir section behind the stage...
I went to stand & the ankle said NO! in definite terms... ambulance ride to hospital... no break only a bad sprain... as I'm leaving... ambulance arrives w/Larry who has had load shift onto him in the truck OBVIOUSLY breaking his arm.....
Someone on the tour took a picture of Larry & I in the Hotel lobby next morning, me in a wheelchair, Larry's arm in a sling & we're holding up the paper w/Larry's pic.....
I finished the rest of the tour & flite home on crutches & we got extra locals to load the trucks... big fun....
Larry is at this moment in time battling inoperable cancer & has only JUST retired from the road & gone fishing.... he actually lives only a few miles from me these days & I think of him often with a smile......
I'd never heard of BÖC until '74. I'd got heavily into Sabbath (still am) the previous year after hearing the Sabbath Bloody Sabbath album and had bought all the Sabbath back catalogue, and then my friend introduced me to BÖC by lending me On Your Feet. I then went out and bought the first three BÖC albums.
So I was quite heavily into both bands by the time gigs were announced at Newcastle City Hall late '75. First Sabbath in October and then BÖC in November.
The Sabbath gig was great. Everyone stood as soon as the band came on and remained so for the rest of the gig. The BÖC gig was great too but different. They started with Stairway to the Stars. Twice! The guitar started and then when the rest of the band were supposed to come in somebody didn't. They stopped, stared at each other and then started again. I'd never seen anything like it but then I thought, having not seen that many gigs, that maybe sometimes this happens. I've seen a thousand gigs since and I've never seen it happen again!
The other thing that was different was that before the first song was finished I'd been told by a bunch of old hippies behind to sit down. It seemed strange to me then to watch a whole gig sat down - and it still does. Great show though that got better and better as it went on. Maybe they were nervous? I think it was the first night of their first UK tour.