BOC: Binghamton Show 2/16

[Ted Jackson jr. EL84]

> From:          "ALFRED'S ON FLAME WITH ROCK 'N' ROLL" <halligbt at BIGVAX.ALFRED.EDU>

> I drove 2 hrs to see BOC in a snowstorm, but it was well worth it.  I arrived
> at the Strike Zone during the opening "'80s Metal" band's last number.  Thank
> you Torgo for the directions!  Sorry I didn't get to see you to thank you in
> person.  Here's the setlist:
>
Yeah, the drive down [and back] was something else.  I almost didn't
go, but I too am glad I did.  And I offer my thanks as well to Torgo
for directions.  If I hadn't had them I might not have made it there.
 I figured the drive for a little over an hour, so I could just as
easily have missed the show.  I called the bar, and they said BOC
would be on at 930, which was in fact the time the opening band went
on.  So by the time BOC was done, I didn't get home til 315am!

[set list ommitted]
>>
> I'm not 100% sure about the order.  The Strike Zone was an extremely small club,
> and there couldn't have been much more than 150 people there.  The good thing
>
The sel list was correct.  I'd estimate the crowd a little bigger
than you did, but not much.  Maybe 250 tops.  It WAS a shitty night,
and there was a concert at the auditorium with Marshall Tucker.  That
had to have kept the crowd down.  And because of the snow, it's
likely a lot of out-of-towners didn't make the trip...

 that came of this was that the sound was 10x better than at the Utica gig.  I
> could hear Eric more easily, and Buck's guitar sounded stronger (on the whole)
> than in Utica.  Eric mentioned the new album, but did not say when it would be
> released.  The Vigil and Golden Age came off extremely well.  I had never heard
> Golden Age live before, so that pretty much blew me away.  Live For Me sounded
> stronger than in Utica, and the response to the new songs was decent.  John
> Michelli filled in on drums again (as in Utica), and played really well with
> the group.  I like Michelli better than O'Reilly based on the recent gigs I've
> seen- I've never seen them play with Chuck Burgi.
>
> Theo, Torgo?  Anything to add?
>
> I want my BOC,
> Brian

WEll, let's see.  The opening act, Castle Black, were kind of
pathetic.  These were guys that were too old to be doing what they
were doing, basically.  And they were good musicians, very good
really.  They should be playing originals, or at least cool cover
material.  They played all this 80s bullshit heavy metal/hair band
stuff.  Really good guitar player, but he looked like an idiot, with
this big teased hair thing sticking straight up in the air.  Sad
thing, he obviously thought he looked amazing, but would've looked
like a putz 10 years ago.  His girlfriend's probably a hairdresser.
Anyway, as I said, after a couple of songs, I went next door and
enjoyed some peace and quiet and put myself in the mood for BOC.  My
timing was perfect, as I left the bar and went next door to find the
front band had finished, and BOC was ready to play momentarily.  So I
went outside and adjusted my attitude a bit and headed back in.  less
than 5 minutes passed, and the cool instrumental tunes came on.  The
band kicked off quickly instead of tweaking their gear for ten
minutes as usual.

The sound was pretty good.  Not as ear-splitting as Utica, and a
pretty good mix.  The club is small, and on one level, so all I could
really see was the band member's faces, as I didn't want to mosh it
out up front.  Still, I was only 15-20 feet from the stage.
Personally, I thought BD played much better in Utica, but he was
still excellent.  Could be the long time between gigs made my
impressions of Utica seem better than it really was.  Best news of
all:  EB seemed a lot better.  He was still weak, but showed a little
more vocal power, and his on-stage rap was much cooler, and he looked
healthier.  His beard is a different color than the hair on his head
[gray, I guess] and makes him look a little funky.  Ravages of age, I
guess.  Age seems to have no effect on BD.  He's disgusting:  in good
shape, has all his hair, and looks ten years younger than he is.  EB
played a lot of keyboards, not too much guitar, and still had BD and
Danny backing him up a lot.  Still, overall impression of EB was
good...

Danny IS a member of the band, and he's a fine bassist and singer
too.  Time will tell if he can make a contribution to the band's
songwriting.

The new material went over well, and sounded great.  It is a little
lightweight, I think, in the fine BD tradition of BFY and Flat Out.
Same two tunes as last time: Harvest and Live.  I'd have like to hear
some other stuff.  The crowd was into it.  AFter DFtR, the crowd
chanted BOC! BOC! and got a decent encore:  Golden Age is a song I've
only heard a couple times, and I loved it.  A fine rendition, as was
the Vigil, another surprise...

I don't see how the band can make any money playing gigs like this,
or the bar either.  There had to be twice as many people in Utica.
They charged 17 bucks a head, but there couldn't have been too many
more than 250 people there, if that.

Still, a fine experience, though I could've done without the shitty
weather and the front band...