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Blue Oyster Cult - 2024 - "50th Anniversary, Live in NYC. Third Night"

(136:00; Frontiers Music)


****+

In September of 2022, Blue Oyster Cult undertook a trilogy of sold-out shows, each dedicated to one of their first three albums. Founding member Albert Bouchard made a special appearance on all three nights, and now we have the final release in the series with third album 'Secret Treaties' performed back-to-back, alongside a load of other songs so we get a set which contains 24 numbers and a running time of 135 minutes. The 50th anniversary is that of their debut album, as the band was formed all the way back in 1967, with just Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser the constant throughout, although Eric Bloom came alongside in 1969. By now they are joined by Danny Miranda (who was in the band from 1995 for 9 years before returning in 2017), plus Richie Castellano and Jules Radino who have both been there since 2004 so although there was a near 20-year gap between albums these guys have been touring a lot, and it shows. I would expect most of the fans in the audience to have been there for the previous two nights as well, as no-one can get too much of "Godzilla" and that other song, while hearing classic albums back-to-back plus loads of other material is just too good an opportunity to miss, plus of course Albert Bouchard was joining in as well. Here are a band who have made their living on the road, with all their essential studio albums coming out in the Seventies, and with a gap of almost 19 years between their latest album and the one before, and they know what people want to hear as this set only includes three songs from "The Symbol Remains" and nothing from 2001's "Curse of the Hidden Mirror", but who cares? This is a load of fun, with classic numbers combined with rarities and everyone there that night had a blast, as did I when playing it. Is it as essential as "On Your Feet or On Your Knees?" or "Some Enchanted Evening"? No, of course not. Is it a load of fun? Definitely. They end the night with 1971's classic "Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll", which has everybody up and moving, but of course it was the picked intro to "Don't Fear) The Reaper" which had the biggest cheer of the night. To my ears it is not a perfect set, but if they tried to please everyone they would have been playing all night. What they have proved with this set is they are still a very fine band indeed, and any fan of their music needs to have this in their collection.

Progtector: April 2025


Related Links:

Blue Oyster Cult Frontiers Music


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