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Saw Blue Öyster Cult Last Night


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Blue Öyster Cult played the Variety Playhouse in Atlanta last night. 

The opening act was The Pinx.  Someone in that band was in a band named Stone Rider that opened for Uriah Heep a few years ago, and they impressed me then.  The Pinx call themselves a stoner rock band, but to me it is straight ahead rock and roll like we grew up with in the 70's.  They were good enough to get me to buy a CD after the show, and they were a good selection for an opening act for Blue Öyster Cult. 

The Variety Playhouse has been remodeled.  The stage looked taller, but they actually took the concrete floor down about a foot.  After standing in line for about an hour, most people were going for the new seats while only a few people went for the floor in front of the stage.  I am just guessing, but with the lower floor people in the seats will no longer have to stand up to see over the people standing in front of the stage.  The only downside to being up front is not being able to hear the bands as well as the people back in the seats. 

The trade off of view versus sound was OK with me.

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Buck Dharma was playing through his amp cabinets.  So was Eric Bloom.  Richie Castellano, however, could barely be heard down front, so I am guessing everything was in his in-ear monitors and out front.  Everyone had in-ear monitors.  Having worked shows doing monitors years ago I saw some people want loud stuff on stage even when wearing in-ears.  Buck had a pair of Marshall JCM 900 heads that were on even though we have seen his using an Axe-FX processor for shows.  Buck's wireless unit says "Don" on it.  Eric Bloom had a pair of Mesa heads.  I think they were Dual Rectifiers.  Richie Castellano...  I never looked for his rig.  Both Richie and Buck had pedal boards.  Kasim Sulton had something on the floor. 

Last night I did not care about gear.  It was my chance to absorb the show.  Even though I had a camera with me, it never came out until the last four or five songs. 

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Richie got to do a long solo on Then Came The Last Days Of May, and he did the most wonderful combination of shredding and keeping the solo interesting.  He only gets to do a few solos during the show. 

Weird alien energy surrounded Eric Bloom as he sang. 

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As long as Eric and Buck want to keep doing shows they are going to fill theaters.  The crowd had some kids and people in their 20's, but as expected the audience was mostly older people in their 40's through their 60's and maybe older.  Buck really dominates the show musically.  He gets to do the majority of guitar solos and sings the radio hits.  Eric talks to the audience.  If either one of them goes it will not be Blue Öyster Cult to me anymore. 

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The setlist was similar to what they have done for the past couple of years with enough changes to make it a new show. 

 

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Richie is an old pal of mine and I always love to see him doing so well.

An amazing player and a stellar human being. :)

He's just recently made the switch to going all direct using the Line 6 Helix.

He's made a few videos about it and it's really interesting, sounds great.

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Thanks for the review. I would have gone but was sick in bed all day and night. I used to play in an earlier incarnation of The Pinx: same drummer and lead singer/guitarist. It was fun band, though loud as hell. Glad you had fun!

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19 minutes ago, it's me HHB said:

So the one guy going direct couldnt be heard?

Richie was in the mains, so he was heard by everyone facing the stage from a few rows back.  Right at the front of the stage I could not hear him through any of the speaker cabinets on stage. 

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8 minutes ago, Steve Haynie said:

Richie was in the mains, so he was heard by everyone facing the stage from a few rows back.  Right at the front of the stage I could not hear him through any of the speaker cabinets on stage. 

Surprised they didn't have some front fill on the edge of the stage carrying his sound.  Maybe they're still sorting that out if he just switched over. 

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Great review!  BÖC is my all-time favorite band.  Pretty cool setlist too

considering they're now a 'nostalgia' act.  They used to  hit a couple of

big bars around here every year, but now not as much.  Sucks that only

2 original members are in the band, considering that Albert and Joe are

alive and well and could--and should--be back in the band...

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Wished I would have known, we were also there but up on the second floor balcony, would have been good to see you. My third time seeing them, both previous times in the 80's. Memory may be a bit fuzzy from that time period but I actually thought they sounded the best this time. The drummer, bassist and second guitar/ Keys were awesome! The musicianship and vocal ability they brought really filled it in nicely. Interesting perspective differences on the sound based on our location to where you were. From our seats I could hear Richie better than Buck and boy can he play! Always thought Buck had unique phrasing all his own which I really like but Richie shure could burn it up, was not expecting that at all. Much better show than I was expecting going in and I figured they would be pretty good. Great pics Steve! My only disappointment was no Astronomy, unless we missed it at the encore.

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On ‎10‎/‎30‎/‎2016 at 3:43 PM, it's me HHB said:

So the one guy going direct couldnt be heard?

I saw them about 6 years ago at an Indian casino and I could barely hear the guitars. I guess the band is somewhat at the mercy of the venue though I wonder if they don't need a better sound guy!

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The no sound in front of the drums still freaks me out. They know not to ever give me anything but a wedge speaker at work lol. Rodney said the guy soundedgreat in back so sounds like some kind of side fill or under the drum riser cabs are in order

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