Blue Oyster Cult at Sony Hall — 9/21/2022
The first (and only other) time I had seen Blue Oyster Cult play live was at Convention Hall in Asbury Park, in 1978. I have no recollection of who I went with or how I got there, but I do have this vivid memory of five guys with guitars strung across the stage blasting out “Hot Rails To Hell”.
They were one of my faves growing up. I had a great collection of BOC albums. By far my favorite was “On Your Feet Or On Your Knees”, a double live album I bought when it was first released. Then I bought another copy when the first one wore out. Then I bought another copy when mine got stolen at college. Then I bought another copy when a friend borrowed it forever. I think I was single-handedly responsible for that album going Platinum.
The original lineup of Blue Oyster Cult was a bunch of guys from Long Island who were trying to be cool. And they were. Lots of guitars, led by a virtuoso who called himself Buck Dharma (real name Donald Roeser). The rest of the group included Eric Bloom (lead vocals, guitar, and keyboards), Allen Lanier (keyboards and rhythm guitar), Joe Bouchard (bass), and Albert Bouchard (percussion and vocals).
Over the past 50 years, there have some changes in the lineup, but Buck Dharma, Eric Bloom, and Albert Bouchard are still with us, and remain the nucleus of Blue Oyster Cult. These three guys were front and center tonight, ably supported by Danny Miranda, Richie Castellano, and Jules Radino.
Tonight was the first night of a 3-night gig at Sony Hall highlighting the first three studio albums in their collection. Tonight, the band played their first, self-titled album in its entirety, then took a break and played a ton of a other songs from their catalog. All in, they played for nearly three hours. Like a lot of us, they’re old, but they still have it.
Sony Hall is not exactly my favorite venue. It’s got dinner theater seating, which makes this more of a performance than a dance party, and gives the place kind of a Red Lobster or Las Vegas nightclub feel. Only the food is worse. But it’s probably an okay setup for all of us geezers who want to sit down. And, honestly, after two solid days of standing at the SeaHearNow festival in Asbury Park (my shameless review here), even I could appreciate the chance to sit on a real chair.
BOC’s first album features a handful of good songs. I like Then Came The Last Days Of May, Before The Kiss, A Redcap, and Cities On Flame With Rock And Roll best. You can see some short clips of each of these by clicking the hyperlinks. I thought the band did a great job on this set, even if their pace slowed down a bit from the 70’s.
The second set was a real treat. BOC played some new material, dedicated a song to the late Allen Lanier, and played some of their best-known stuff, like Burnin’ For You, Godzilla, and Don’t Fear The Reaper. Buck Dharma’s guitar work, in particular, was terrific all night, including solos like this. Again, click the hyperlinks to check out my shoddy camera work on these clips.
And they wrapped up their encore set with my personal favorite, Hot Rails To Hell, which you can see here. And there they were, five guitars strung across the stage, blasting away, just like that scene I remember from Convention Hall in Asbury Park.