BOC: Utica concert review

[John Halligan]

Captain Trip's Rainforest Preserve
Utica, NY  Dec. 28, 1996

Setlist:
Stairway to the Stars
O.D.'d On Life Itself
E.T.I.
Before the Kiss
Harvest Moon *
Buck's Boogie
Cities On Flame
Upstate NY (We drove 6hrs From York, PA) Blues
In Thee
Live For Me *
Last Days of May
Burnin' For You
Godzilla
Reaper

Encore:
Summer of Love
Red & the Black

* = songs on upcoming album

        Like the killer disease "Captain Tripps" in Steven King's "The
Stand", Blue Oyster Cult came to Utica and infected everyone in the house.
People of all ages (over 21) packed the Rainforest Preserve to the maximum,
sharing memories of BOC shows past and waiting to be blown away once again.
The BOC didn't let them down.  "Stairway" opened the set as usual, with
Eric back on vocals since the completion of Ezekiel's Wheel.  This
continued uninterupted into a guitar crunching, skull hammering version of
"O.D'd".  After a short delay due to Alan blowing out his amp, the band
picked up where they left off with the crowd favorite, "E.T.I."
        After Buck whipped the crowd into a frenzy with "Before the Kiss",
he introduced a song from their new album called "Harvest Moon".  This song
is reason enough to buy the new album!  It's right up there with
"Astronomy" and "Reaper" as one of BOC's best.  Call up your local Classic
Rock station and tell them to play this when it comes out in March!
        "Buck's Boogie" was spectacular as usual.  John Micelli filled in
for Chuck Burgi on drums, as he has in the past, and sounded like he's been
touring with the band for ages.  He kicked the boogie into overdrive and
was firing on all cylinders for the rest of the show.  "Cities On Flame"
was slower and more menacing that I remember hearing it before.  The crown
sensed this and growled along with Eric to "Rock aaaaaand... ROLL!"  Buck
and his evil-looking Steinberger screamed out the lightning fast run, and
everyone in the place went wild.
        After leaving the crowd raving with "COF", the Oyster Boys decided
to slow things down before bringing the house back up with the big three.
Alan showcased his acoustic guitar work with Buck on a short blues jam
before diving into an interesting, if a bit light, version of "In Thee".
        The pop stylings of "In Thee" were a perfect introduction to
another new song from BOC, "Live For Me".  This tune has an extremely
catchy guitar hook and is in the same vein as other Buck power-pop songs.
This song would have fit in well with Buck's work with "The Red & The
Black" in the early '90s.
        The extended solo song that they chose for this night was "The Last
Days of May" with Buck providing some background info on the story.  Buck's
solo gradually gained speed until it couldn't go any further, then slammed
on the brakes, leaving the crowd gasping while the band finished the last
verse.
        Of the big three, "Godzilla" came across the best.  Micelli is a
great drummer, and I've been extremely impressed with what Danny Miranda
has brought to BOC.  Their solos in "Godzilla" were fantastic.  Hopefully
Miranda's busy bass lines will not be buried in the mix of the new album.
        When the band played "The Red & The Black" in their encore,
Micelli's high-energy drumming turned it into a kind of supersonic version.
Since I was standing towards the front, I didn't see anyone leave after
"Reaper" like Theo did.  The people around me seemed to really enjoy the
show, and the new songs got an excellent reaction from the crowd.  This
definately has me psyched to hear the rest of the new album.  I even have
hope that BOC might get some airplay for one or more of these songs.

Brian


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Brian T. Halligan           "Halligbt at bigvax.alfred.edu"
Alfred University
Communication Studies- '97

"Free is when you don't have to pay for nothing or do
 nothing.  We want to be free, free as the wind."
        -Frank Zappa
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