With each passing tour Blue Oyster Cult somehow seem a hotter ticket. The days of struggling to fill places like the Mean Fiddler are long gone as they are packing larger venues, on this occasion a prestige show at the London Palladium. In fact they made a weekend of it as they subsequently announced a lower key date the night before at Islington Assembly Hall, under their Soft White Underbelly alter ego. Many fans enjoyed this double treat, but having bought a second row ticket for the Palladium I decided I would rather keep my powder dry for this one than take the edge off it.

There could be a variety of factors involved in this increasing interest, from the fact that mainmen Eric Bloom and Buck Dharma are 80 and 77 respectively, to their influence on modern bands (Ghost et al), though there were only a few younger fans present with the majority 60 or older.

A support slot was a further way for When Rivers Meet to widen their exposure, not that they need it on the evidence of the fact that their new album ‘Addicted To You’ debuted at No 4 in the national charts days afterwards. Oddly they did not plug any songs from it, instead sticking to tried and tested numbers, beginning with ‘Did I Break the Law’, with Aaron Bond’s rhythmic slide accompanied by a crowd clapalong. ‘Never Coming Home’ saw some impressive vocal melodies from Grace Bond, who commanded the stage before switching to her slide mandolin for the latter part of the set.

Bassist Adam Bowers made a significant contribution to the funky undertow of ‘Play My Game’, and both ‘My Babe Says That He Loves Me’ and ‘Trail to Avalon’, with Aaron and Grace sharing the vocal duties, got a good reception, suggesting they have the crossover appeal to a wider range of rock fans than just blues purists. However, after the usual medley of ‘Walking On the Wire’ segueing into ‘Free Man’, a ridiculously short set of under half an hour was over.

To a plain but well-lit backdrop Blue Oyster Cult opened with ‘Dr. Music’, run of the mill by their standards, though with a nice organ solo from Richie Castellano and ‘Before the Kiss, a Redcap’, with vocals from Eric and Buck respectively.

Eric’s opening remarks, asking who had been at the Soft White Underbelly show, got perhaps the biggest cheers of the night, before saying they would swap a few songs around (no less than seven in fact) beginning with ‘Career of Evil’, namechecking co-writer Patti Smith. The set was a good mix of old and new so, preceded by the usual raising of imaginary beer cans, ‘The Golden Age Of Leather’ was followed in rather more concise fashion by Eric’s ‘That Was Me’, from the recent ‘The Symbol Remains’ album.

At the start of the set a dapper looking Buck was playing a conventional and more aesthetically pleasing guitar, but had switched to his more familiar headless model with Swiss cheese-like holes by the time of ‘Burning For You’. It’s one of his trademark songs both vocally and with that fluently effortless melodic guitar style. Yet not even that, nor the efforts of bassist Danny Miranda, eyeballing the crowd with his wide-legged stance, managed to get anyone in the Palladium’s stalls out of their seats. It was not so much ‘On Your Feet or On Your Knees’ as ‘on your haunches’.

‘Cagey Cretins’ was one of a generous selection from probably my favourite BOC album ‘Secret Treaties’ and a very eighties sounding keyboard intro heralded one of the best receptions of the night for ‘Shooting Shark’, with prominent bass work and a superb guitar solo from Buck. It also appeared that he was taking the greater share of the lead vocals in the set. Eric’s voice has not aged as well and is thinner these days, but he still has plenty in the tank judging from a sprightly jog from one side of the stage to the other, and sounded just fine on ‘E.T.I.’ which was extended by some jamming between Buck and Richie as their guitars interwove very effectively.

The latter seemed to be straining to be let off the leash and on ‘Hot Rails To Hell’ he mixed lead vocals with careering around the stage like an enthusiastic puppy. Then in one of the surprises of the night, Buck led a lively ‘Dancin’ In the Ruins’ with some added drum fills from Jules Radino. As one of their more AOR moments, and with ‘Club Ninja’ the album this teenager jumped aboard the BOC train, it was a personal favourite that would not have been shared by many.

However in contrast it was followed by a relatively rare live outing of one of their very finest moments in ‘Astronomy’. It also took the slot usually occupied by ‘Then Came the Last Days Of May’ as a vehicle for a remarkable long solo from Buck, confirming he is not only playing as well as ever but is sorely underrated as one of the most lyrical guitar players.

Another from ‘Symbol Remains’ in ‘Tainted Blood’, sung by Richie, had a surprisingly good hook, and a further ‘Secret Treaties’ gem in ‘Flaming Telepaths’ led into the pair that traditionally end their main set. Eric theatrically invited us to hear the approach of ‘Godzilla’ and the song seemed newly energised as people sang along to the ‘history shows again and again’ line, then a lengthy Buck piece glided into ‘Don’t Fear the Reaper’, extended as a vehicle for more of that mellifluous soloing, though I was shocked to turn round and even now see only the odd pocket of people on their feet.

No song is seemingly off limits in their set, and the encores began with a real obscurity in ‘Teen Archer’, moving onto the more familiar ‘Harvester Of Eyes’ and the usual closer of ‘Cities On Flame With Rock And Roll’. Eric went to the side of the drumkit to help out before coming down to join a four man jam at the lip of the stage, where fans were belatedly stood up, concluding a near two hour set.

While many bands of their generation are badging their current tours as farewell ones, albeit of the extended variety, Blue Oyster Cult’s current slogan is ‘On Tour Forever’. Let’s hope therefore this wasn’t the last we see of this original and quirky band with a vast back catalogue to plunder.

Review and Photos by Andy Nathan

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