BOC: Blue Oyster Cult at the Astoria

[Martin Roy Varley]

Well we all have a different perspective - I was there last night in London and thought it was excellent!

I've seen them 13 times before then (every UK tour bar the '75 one, my first time in '78) and this was up there with the best of them to me. I was up near the front and the band were clearly into it and enjoying themselves, as were the crowd - most of whom seemed to be singing along to most songs (or was that just me??? ahem!).

Setlist was good (Subhuman or Tattoo Vampire would have been welcome but I'm hoping for those at my other 2 gigs this tour - tomorrow & Wednesday) and Career of Evil was a nice surprise! I guess my only real criticism (as usual) was the ever-present drum solo - at least there's an opportunity to head to the bar/bog!

Well each to their own - hope you enjoy it the next time you see them!

Martin

>>> rich at BEERPOWEREDNOISEFRENZY.CO.UK 06/07/03 01:17am >>>
Hi all,

Just got back to Northamptonshire after meeting up with Chris Warburton and
Helen and then going to the Astoria to see the greatest band in the world,
ever.  I do, of course, refer to the mighty Blue Oyster Cult.

Hmm...

They're my favourite band ever, so I hate to write this...

For all you BOC fans, you know that track that Bonnie Tyler covered?

Hmm..  That's right...  "Goin' through the motions"

Great song isn't it?  Off "Spectres" I believe.

WHY THE HELL DIDN'T THEY PLAY IT?  TONIGHT, THEY MAY AS WELL HAVE DONE.

They played all the songs you'd like them to do - the big three, Harvester,
Career of Evil, Joan Crawford (Alan looked like he was playing in a pub in
East London somewhere), and encored with Astronomy.

Well, whoopee ****ing do.  They were just going through the motions tonight.
Dull as arse.

Watching the audience was more entertaining - throughout every song, they
all stood there, just watching.  No involvement at all.  Then cheered for
the end of each song.  And I don't blame them.  Tonight was rubbish.  I've
seen BOC every time they've played the UK since (about) 1983, and this was
the worst I've seen them - worse than the Club Ninja tour whan Girlschool
blew them away at Newcastle City Hall.  (admittedly Girlschool were
taller...)  :-)

Fantastic songs, played badly tonight - and when they played well they
played like they didn't give a rat's arse.  "Hey, we're at the end of the
tour, so we'll get the notes in the right order and then bugger off home to
the good ol' US of A".   (Buck didn't even have the decency to hit a bum
note during Buck's Boogie!)

I'm very disappointed.  Particularly as I pointed this out to a couple of
people who just said "Yes, but I've never seen them before and I've wanted
to for ages, I thought they were fantastic!"

No "Last Days Of May", no "In Thee", and the classics were done by rote.

Yes, I bought the T-shirt, yes it was better than, erm, something...

Richard's verdict?  One out of five.  V. poor.  And I'll go to bed crying,
because they're the greatest band in the world and they can do so much
better than that.  :-(

Cheers,

Rich.