BOC: Big Hair Night At Letchworth Pines

[Ted Jackson jr. s2h2]

>
> I managed to catch the last of the Trolls set.  "Dirty Deeds" and
> another classic rock staple whose name is on the tip of my tongue.  It
> must not have been that great if I can't recall it.  Then the crowd
> pushed and shoved its way to catch a glimpse of their ticket back to
> Jr. High School, Firehouse.
>
I missed the Trolls, thankfully, but didn't manage to time the long
trip well enough to also miss Firehouse.  But I saw a 30-ish woman
wearing a Trolls t-shirt, the back of which proclaimed:
"Buffalo's Best Band" and under that:
"'89-90-91-92"   Apparently they won some poll, probably by a local
paper.  Hmm, well a lot of people like Barbra Streisand too...

> Firehouse was professional.  That's all I can really say.  I got the
> feeling that if I had seen their previous show or their next show, it
> would have been the same.  Never the less, the crowd was in their
> fist-pumping glory.

'Course you could almost say the same thing 'bout BOC too, or any
number of other bands.  Firehouse is one of that pathetic legion that
includes Tesla, Great White, Warrant, Slaughter etc.  The most
tragic thing is that these guys can play their instruments very
well.  Their drummer was amazing--but it's all wasted playing such
utter ---GARBAGE.  How come nobody can manage these groups, and put
them in touch with some good lyrics?  With some decent material,
Firehouse could be listenable, but obviously, a bunch of guys this
clueless never will get the message.  Sometimes best to just keep
sowing the same furrow, witness Dokken's last couple of albums, where
their pitiable attempts to reinvent themselves fooled nobody...
>
> I expected a lot of the crowd to leave before BOC hit the stage, but
> there was still a very healthy mob of BOC fans, and the BOC curious.
> A man saw my Cult T-shirt and asked me what the opener was going to
> be.  (He had two beers riding on it with his buddies.)  I guaranteed
> that it would be "Burnin' For You."  Oh well....
>
No, they stayed en masse.  This place was packed to the rafters.  I
have no clue how this joint, a good hour from any city, could be so
big, and so full of swarming farmers!  There is a state college only
a few miles away, so I expect this was a factor.   But these people
attending didn't look anything like college students to this old dude
[who happens to work at a university]  But I guess that college
students going to S.U. look a lot different than those attending
Hay Seed Tech? There also were a lot of folks in their 30s.  And
these folks were hammered!  Lots of beer spilling, stumbling,
fumbling etc.  Couples exploring the insides of each others mouths,
and any projections from their bodies that they could get their hands
on!  I felt like a voyeur...

> The night's stangeness reached its peak with BOC's setlist:

You forgot Flaming Telepaths!  Great set, but they omitted Last Days,
which I would've liked.  But a good tradeoff, seeing that they did
Career of Evil, which I haven't heard in years, and Unknown Tongue,
not a fave of mine, but always a gas to hear something different.
And, of  course, Astronomy was amazing.  Haven't heard that live in
ages...

> It took the band a couple songs to get their energy up.  (The fact
> that the keys were too loud and Buck was too quiet didn't help.)

Buck is never loud enough!  But overall, the sound was great...

> After "Kiss" the levels were straightened out and the sound was
> excellent.  I could hear Eric clearly for once, and the keys and
> guitar mixed well- especially on "Buck's Boogie."  "Career" was a
> shocker and it was definately heavier than on the record.  "Unknown"
> was a real treat.  I love the spooky keyboard break.  The crowd began
> calling for Godzilla, however.  One person even had little plastic
> Zilla-God they waved in front of the band.  "Astronomy" was introduced
> as being a tune that Metallica covered.  It sounded very close to the
> version on "Cult Classic," only a little more reved up because of the
> live setting.
>
Eric was really pumped for this gig.  I think the huge crowd may have
had a positive effect on the group.  Bloom was rapping to the crowd a
lot, and he was in great voice.  He did a great intro to Godzilla,
about the big guy swimming up Keuka lake, etc...[EB went to college
in the area--Hobart, I think]

Buck's playing was a little sloppy in spots, but it was so much fun
seeing the band enjoying itself, that it didn't matter.  Some gigs
the band looks a bit sluggish, but not this night.  I think BD might
have had a cold, as his voice was giving him trouble at times.
And they played a decent long set, about an hour and 40 mins.
The encores were great.  Golden Age is in the set from time to time,
so it wasn't a complete surprise--they've done it twice in the past 6
times I've seen them.  Both musically and vocally, the song rocked.
They followed with a kick-ass D&S--a real treat.

Unknown Tongue worked very well.  It seems to be well suited to the
current lineup.  Allen played a lot of keys tonight, and overall
seemed to be having a gas.  Maybe the time off did him good?  Career
worked very well too.  Sounds like the group is having fun dusting
off the old tunes.  Maybe they've regained some confidence since
releasing HF, and I expect that Astronomy's presence on the Metallica
disc has jazzed them somewhat.  Hope they keep tossing in surprises
now and then.

Danny continues to amaze.  Great work in Recap and groovin' solo in
'Zilla.  Danny is a great drummer.  Does as good a job as possible in
replacing Al.  More traditional metal drumming that AB, more
predictable, but he's got chops galore


> I think having the big 3 back together at the end is a mistake.
> Because the radio fans need to hear something familiar to keep their
> attention.  They seemed a little out of it for the songs they'd never
> heard, especially "Unknown."

Agreed.  I think they should separate the 3, and use them to keep the
crowd on its toes.  Still, no matter how many times I hear it, Reaper
gives me goosebumps.  BD did an incredible intro to it, solo.  Damn,
I wish I had that on tape.  He kind of meanders around the fretboard
in the same key, then finished witha downward progression that puts
him right at the intro to Reaper.  This was killer!  Really pumped up
an old tune...


>
> So, 4:40 of music in a ten year time warp in the town that time
> forgot.  It was strange, but I'm ready to see BOC again soon in Olean,
> NY.  I think I can handle the big hair.
>
> Brian
I hope to make that show too, but I tell ya, this last one almost
wasted me.  Didn't get home til 415!  I'm too old for this shit.  I
got followed by a cop car for a couple of miles through the
throbbing metropolis of Nunda and it blew my mind.  I was driving my
little car like it was a 747!  Hard to drive so slow and keep your
sanity.  I hadn't had a single drink, but I didn't feel like having
my car searched either!  Sorry I didn't stick around to hook up with
ya, Brian, but I knew I had over 2 hours of driving to get home.

Overall, a great BOC show!

theo