Concert Review - BLUE ÖYSTER CULT

Blue Öyster Cult

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Minnesota State Fair Bandshell Tonight!, St. Paul, MN

Here's the first of a batch of overdue concert reviews...

This was the second of two nights for the legendary BOC at the Minnesota State Fair, and it was primarily an older crowd that turned out on this hot summer night. The band immediately dug back into their early black-and-white era (the first three albums, for those uninitiated in BOC lore) with a fired-up, fast version of boogie rocker “The Red And The Black” from 1973’s Tyranny And Mutation. A slightly different set from the previous night was promised as “Golden Age Of Leather” was introduced before launching into the 1981 mega-hit “Burnin’ For You”. The catalog was mined further with “O.D.’d On Life Itself” and “Harvest Moon” (from the more recent Heaven Forbid album). Further surprises were revealed when Eric Bloom took over for an extended version of “Black Blade”, and the band stretched the set even more with 12-minute versions of “Then Came The Last Days Of May” and heavy classic “Godzilla”. Bassist Kasim Sultan had his extensive non-BOC work noted during “Godzilla” when the band delved into snippets of “I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll” “Bang The Drum All Day” and “Paradise By The Dashboard Lights” before letting Jules Radino launch into his drum solo. By this time the crowd had been worked into a frenzy, so when the guitar strains of “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” started the audience left the benches and rushed toward the stage, overwhelming the security that had been keeping everyone at bay all night. This brought huge smiles on the faces of everyone in the band, and it made for a grand closing to the set. An encore was expected at this point, and BOC were in no rush to leave, so a long version of “Cities On Flame With Rock And Roll” put an exclamation point on to what seemed a relatively short (85 minute), but powerful show.

Despite brief filtrations with mainstream success, BOC built their fortunes on the strength of their live shows back over 40 years ago. That fan loyalty remains to this day, and the full turnout at the State Fair was a testament to the band’s working class ethics. Eric Bloom and Buck Dharma still remain as the core of Blue Öyster Cult, and the entire band was a natural fit for the group. I got the feeling that the band was limited to 90 minutes for their show and that they would have played longer if they could have, but it’s hard to complain when the show was free with the fair admission. The only downer of the night was having to listen to the strains of Sheryl Crow coming from the Grandstand on the way out. I also need to give thanks for the kind people in the front row who graciously offered to make room on their bench to make room for me so that I could take pictures - I'm grateful for this type of kindness!

BLUE ÖYSTER CULT Pictures

In my effort to get caught up on some concert-related posts, here's some pictures from Blue Öyster Cult's show on Sunday, August 25 at the Minnesota State Fair in St. Paul. It was a fantastic set that included plenty of material from their earlier (black and white) albums. A full review of the show is forthcoming, as well as a killer audio recording of the concert.

BUCKCHERRY To Support SAMMY HAGAR At State Fair, Tickets On Sale Today

Hard rock band Buckcherry adds another area appearance as support to Sammy Hagar (performing together with Michael Anthony) at the Minnesota State Fair Grandstand on Saturday, August 24. Tickets go on sale today, Saturday, June 15 at 12:00 noon for $35. There is no festival seating on the floor area—the floor (actually, the ground) now has all reserved seats in addition to the grandstand area, so buy your tickets here through etix early for the best seats. Unfortunately, the 7:30 start time will make it impossible to catch Blue Öyster Cult that same night since they play on the Bandshell Tonight! stage at 8:30.

In Concert This Week - August 23, 2012

For once in a long time it seems there’s not an overload of concerts this week, but there’s some good ones!

Tonight, Thursday, August 23, local nü-metal crew Blue Felix plays a free show at Neisen’s in Savage.

It’s been a while since Canada’s Into Eternity has visited, but they are back with new singer Amanda Kiernan (who has replaced Stu Block, now the singer of Iced Earth) at Station 4 in St. Paul on Friday, August 24 with support from locals Cold Colours, Climactic, and Northsky.

Saturday, August 25 is an awesome night of death metal at Station 4 in St. Paul as Canadian heavyweights Kataklysm headline an impressive bill with Origin, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Vital Remains, and Rose Funeral. Origin leveled Station 4 back on May 17 (review with pictures here), so don’t miss then this time!

Click photo to see more pictures of Origin (56).

I’ve never counted the number of times Poison frontman/celebrity Bret Michaels plays solo dates here in a year, but it’s a lot. He’s back again for a solo acoustic show at The Pourhouse in Minneapolis on Sunday, August 26. Bret is performing as part of the Breathe Easy Music Fest II, also featuring the Tim Mahoney Band, Cole Allen Band, Crankshaft And The Gear Grinders, Saving Starz, BKS, and Clifton Wales, which is a benefit event for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. According to a great article in the Stillwater Patch, this festival was originally scheduled for last month outdoors at the home of organizer Rob Olson in Lake Elmo but was cancelled after he mistakenly killed his 40,000 square foot lawn with a grass-killing herbicide! Not only did The Pourhouse offer the venue free of charge for the event, but Scott’s (the lawn care company) offered to restore Olson’s lawn for next summer’s festival and provided the money to book Bret Michaels.

Christian metalcore outfit Mychildren Mybride play an all ages show on Tuesday, August 28 at The Garage in Burnsville with Betrayal, Lions Lions, and Famous Last Words.

If you’re willing to suffer the parking and crowd at the Minnesota State Fair, Kiss and Mötley Crüe have sold-out co-headlining concert at the State Fair Grandstand in St. Paul on Wednesday, August 29. Support will come from England’s The Treatment.