BOC: Binghamton

[Ted Jackson jr. s2h2]

> From:          "<Nick English>" <nick at THECAMPUS.COM>

> Sadly, I must report that Sat. nite's show in Bing was probably the
> worst BOC gig I've seen. That doesn't mean it was necessarily
> bad...or that it was ALL bad...it just didn't live up to other shows
> I've seen.
>
Sorry that I have to agree.  BOC are great, but this show was
somewhat less than the others I've seen.  I saw them  acouple months
ago, and they were boffo, so I'm thinking this was just a bad night.
BOC on a bad night are still better than most other mortals on their
best night, but it was still disappointing...

> The club was packed, but it's tiny. We're talkin' a couple hundred
> people tops. I thought the acoustics were total crap.
>
Actually, it was more crowded the last time, and that was a horrilbe
snowing night in the middle of winter.  Acoustics ARE god-awful.
Don't know what's going on, but you can never hear Buck's guitar
solos.  It actually sounds better further back.  I'm thinking BD
keeps his stage amp turned down a bit to save his hearing, then has
them crank it through the mains...

> Eric is singing everything differently than he used to. I haven't
> seen a show in about two years, so this took me way off guard when I
> first started trying to sing along with him. Since I have absolutely
> no grasp of musical terminology, this may not make any sense, but it
> seems like the variation in his voice comes at the points where he
> would normally be belting it out...like he's trying something new to
> lessen the strain or something...I don't know. I suppose I could get
> used to it...maybe eventually like it better...but on first listen it
> just sounded weird.
>
I heard it too.  Esp. during Flaming Telepaths.  He's starting out
lower on some passages so he can curl into them.  Standard practice
for singers.  Maybe EB's voice was the reason they played short?

> The worst part of it all was that the show lasted just a tad longer
> than 60 minutes! When I heard Reaper I couldn't believe it!

Yep.  They started about 1140pm and the encore was done by 1am.
Notice how they truncated certain parts to cut time too?  Like BD's
silly routine before the solo on CoF was cut way down.  Drum and Bass
solos [thankfully!] were shortened.  Nothing against Bobby and
Danny--they're monster musicians, I'm just not a big fan of that sort
of stuff...



Then they
> only did one encore...D&S. And again, Eric's singing just didn't do
> it justice.
>
I thought he was okay on it.  And I'd rather hear D&S than TRatB,
the other usual encore.  Actually, they shortened D&S a bit too, but
BD made up for things with some smokin' lead playing.  In fact, even
though they played short, Buck's gtr playing was amazing all night.
Incredible soloing in Telepaths, Buck's Boogie, TCtLDoM and D&S.

> I'm not really sure what this has to do with the length of BOC's set,
> but it's pretty interesting: The opening band, Triple-X, were doin'
> their thing...getting closer and closer to 11:30-ish. Then, after
> they finished a song, the PA promptly cut out on them and started
> playing that "in-between-bands filler music". The guys looked a
> little surprised, and the singer announced, "Okay, I guess we're
> done. Stick around for BOC". I don't think there were any hard
> feelings or anything, because the rest of the band also stayed for
> BOC and seemed to be really enjoying it.
>
Well, one small glimmer of luck for me.  I couldn't leave here til
almost 10 o'clock, and I was worried I'd miss part of the show.  And
rte 81 was a bitch as it was pouring rain here in Syr, then got real
foggy , down to single lane for construction etc.  Then the weather
lifted, and I hammer-downed and made it to the bar to see them
striking the set, so I didn't have to hear one note from the opening
act!  How were they?  Anyway, it's a big pet peeve of mine to have to
hang around waiting for the main band, so this worked out great for
me.  I think this is another reason BOC played short--they never play
past 1am.  Maybe in the contract, who knows?  I could tell early on
that they were gonna play short, 'cause they played Cities...second,
and there are usually a couple songs between the opener and CoF, like
BtK, or OD'd...

> Anyway, enough of the negatives. Here's a couple things I liked:
>
> Flaming Telepaths. Great to hear this song live. Love the strobe
> effect during the "Joke's on you" part.
>
Yeah, they did it up real nice.  Better at the New Hartford gig, but
this one was fine...

> Joan Crawford is back in! Also of note: They didn't play that little
> sound FX cluster with the car crashes, trumpets, alarm clocks, etc.
> They did, however, play the whispering "Christina...mother's home!"
>
Not a big fan of that tune, so I could've lived without it.  Also I
think they could drop ETI--they've been playing it nonstop since
AoF...

> Bass solo during Godzilla:  Danny's good! It's nice to see him get to
> show off a little...although the back-to-back bass 'n' drum solos
> were maybe a bit much.
>
> HF tunes in the show were the standard SYIB, HM, LFM. Eric was funny
> introducing Live for Me. He said, "You should be hearing this one on
> the radio right now...if not, call up the station and say, "Hey, let
> me hear that new fuckin' BOC song!" BTW, when I was pulling into
> Binghamton Friday afternoon, I heard it on KGB : )
>
Really liked the HF tunes.  SYIB really rocked.  HM was superb--this
tune deserves a place in the BOC 'greatest hits' status.  Instant
classic, and they rave on it live...

> THE NEW HEAVEN FORBID T-SHIRTS! I wasn't planning on spending, but
> when I saw it, I had to buy it. Wearing it right now, in fact! It's
> cool. Black, of course. The front is plain except for the left
> breast, which has a picture of the lady screaming from the HF cover,
> and it says "Blue Oyster Cult, Heaven Forbid Tour 1998". The back has
> a big picture of an eye, with the symbol in the middle. Has the same
> words as front, only bigger, obviously.
>
Damn!  Didn't see 'em.  Probably wouldn't have had one to fit me
anyway.  This is good news that somebody's behind the new album
enough to have the confidence to print up new shirts.  A good sign...

> In closing, not a total waste of a night or anything...but a slight
> let-down in comparison with other shows. I sort of got the impression
> that their hearts weren't really in it. I'm still totally psyched
> about the new shirt, though!
>
> --  Nick

My sentiments are the same as yours.  I'll still go see BOC any
chance I get.  Beats sitting home.  And really, this was the first
lame show I've seen in the last 3 years, so I'll give them the
benefit of the doubt...

theo