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BLUE OYSTER
CULT LIVE IN OKLAHOMA |
Blue Oyster Cult
First Council Casino
Newkirk, Oklahoma
September 10, 2009
By Jeb Wright
Setlist:
The Red & The Black | Burnin' For You | Buck's Boogie | Cities
On Flame |
Shooting Shark | Godzilla | Don't Fear the Reaper
Casino gigs can be an odd duck. Bands don't ever seem to get to
play long enough, or loud enough. However, they seem to be the
venue of choice for dozens of classic rock bands out on the
road, making the trek from town-to-town, night-after-night. On
September 10th, it was Blue Oyster Cult's turn to take the stage
inside a giant tent, outside of The First Council Casino. The
band put the pedal to the metal and played an amazing, albeit,
short set, consisting of seven songs that lasted just over an
hour.
While this is a short set, even by today's standards, the band
was on fire from the opening notes of "The Red & The Black" to
the final chords of "Don't Fear the Reaper." They averaged
nearly ten minutes per tune, which means there was a ton of
jamming onstage. The interplay was precise, and by the looks
and smiles between band members, Blue Oyster Cult was having
fun.
Long-term fans have dubbed the current lineup "Two Oyster Cult"
as BOC features only guitarist/vocalist Donald "Buck Dharma"
Roeser and guitarist/vocalist/keyboardist Eric Bloom from the
band's beginnings. Guitarist Richie Castellano, drummer Jules
Radino and, journeyman bass player, Rudy Sarzo round out the
rest of the group.
Playing a short set, in a tent, in the northern outskirts of
Oklahoma, is not nearly as exciting as playing Madison Square
Garden yet Blue Oyster Cult played with energy and attitude,
despite their surroundings. Buck Dharma is an extreme lead
guitarist, who is not afraid to let loose and improvise after
replicating his famous vinyl solos, note-for-note.
The first musical improv of the evening occurred while the band
was playing "The Red & The Black" and it was clear that this was
going to be a special evening. During "Burnin' For You," Dharma
played a note perfect rendition of his classic lead and then
blasted out a few minutes of unbridled furiosity. During "Buck's
Boogie," the bearded axe-man went for the throat, squeezing out
every note he could from his fret board.
"Cities On Flame" is a classic song from the band's self-titled
first album. While Dharma stole the show on this number,
guitarist Castellano was able to show off his wares, both during
an extended lead break and during the end of the tune, where
both he and Dharma played a killer solo in harmony. As talented
as Castellano is, "Cities" belonged to Buck, who swirled his
guitar
in air, manipulated his whammy bar and fretted his way to Guitar
God status.
Next up was "Shooting Shark," from BOC's 1983 album The
Revolution By Night. BOC's stellar musicianship was proven
during this tune. For starters, drummer Radino was daunted with
the task of being one hundred percent on the money throughout,
as even one slight glitch in the rhythm of "Shark" would shoot
this song out of control. Sarzo handled the complex bass line
with ease as Dharma, and Castellano, shared solos. The
relatively unknown BOC song ended up being the musical highlight
of evening.
Eric Bloom, who acted as emcee throughout the set, warned the
crowd of a beast who was closing in on our location. The Cult
faithful know this spiel all too well. It was time for the
crowd pleasing "Godzilla." Bloom belted out the lyrics, the
chorus and the Japanese spoken part as the crowd yelled for
more.
When it came time for the guitars to phase out and the grooving
bass line to take over, Rudy Sarzo took his place at center
stage. Bloom addressed the crowd as Sarzo kept the groove going.
"You may recognize bass player Rudy Sarzo from when he was the
bass player in Quiet Riot." With that, the band jumped into the
opening bombast of "Bang Your Head" for a few moments, before
returning to Sarzo's "Godzilla" groove. Bloom continued, "Or
maybe you remember him from when he was in Whitesnake." The
song quickly changed to "Still of the Night." Again, the band
backed out and Sarzo returned to his slinky bass line.
Bloom stepped up to the microphone one last time and said,
"Maybe you remember him from when he played with Randy Rhoads,
as a member of Ozzy Osbourne's band." A millisecond later,
"Crazy Train" was blasting throughout the tent. This time,
however, when the band backed out, Radino and Sarzo kept the
beat going. Rudy performed a bass solo that proved he
deserved every bit of fame and fortune he earned while a member
of those other bands.
Eventually, everyone jumped back in, and it was, once again,
time for more guitar solos. The evening ended with "Don't Fear
the Reaper." Bloom played air cowbell at the beginning of the
song, bringing loads of smiles from the audiance. At the end of
the classic tune, the crowd cheered for more, but it was not to
be; their time was up and Blue Oyster Cult left the stage.
Seeing the band perform only a few songs may seem like it would
be a disappointment but nothing could be farther from the
truth. While it was odd having "ETI," "Then Came the Last Days
of May," "Astronomy" and "Dominance & Submission" left out of
the performance, given my druthers, I would rather have seen the
elongated pure rock 'n' roll jamming then to see
the band rush through as many songs as they could in the small
amount of time they were given to perform. At the end of day,
it is clear that Blue Oyster Cult is a band "in the groove" and
is performing at a high level. The onstage chemistry is there
and the band is taking full advantage of the good phase of the
moon of which they are under.
Classic Rock Revisited highly recommends visiting
www.blueoystercult.com and
searching the tour dates. If the band is coming you way, then
by all means, go see them. If this is what they can do in just
over an hour, imagine what they could do during a full set.
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