BOC: Albert/Rick transition in UK

[Hardman DK]

>
> I was at the London Venue show (they played as Soft White Underbelly
> both there and at Norfolk, as 'secret'(ish) warm-ups for Donnington).
> Albert played at London for the entire set.
>
> I also saw them at Donnington (Rick's first full show) three days
> later - that was a Monsters of Rock thing and they were about 3rd on
> the bill so it was a shorter set anyway. Nevertheless the difference
> between Donnington (poor show) and London (excellent) was
> interesting! I remember a picture in 'Sounds' (now-defunct Brit music
> paper) of Eric being annoyed after Donnington and jumping on a
> silver disc award or something similar!
>
> Martin
>

I was at the London show also, which was an absolute stormer. I was right
at the front and just missed out on getting Eric's bottle of beer that he
handed out during Roadhouse Blues.

But it's not surprising that Eric was annoyed after Donnington, as this
really was an important moment in BOCs career. FoUO had just come out and
was doing well, and a good show at Donnington might have really built up
the BOC fan base in Britain. But for whatever reason, it all went
pear-shaped, what with Albert getting fired (why?) and the sound at
Donnington being so bad (in the press, Eric said it was sabotage). Things
never quite recovered after that.

Dave