LIVE: Blue Oyster Cult & Blotto @ Alive at Five, 8/6/15

Photographs by Rudy Lu, Stanley Johnson, Ed Conway, Tim Reidy, Richard Brody

The Blot & Blue Tour, back together again for one night only!

Blotto and Blue Oyster Cult originally teamed up for a tour that took place back in February and March of 1983. They reunited for one of the largest Alive at Five concerts in Albany’s Corning Preserve in August of 1996.

Earlier this month, the two bands shared the stage again, this time at Jennings Landing, wrapping up the 2015 Alive at Five concert season in front of the largest crowd of the summer.

From “Godzilla” to “Goodbye, Mr. Bond,” from “Don’t Fear the Reaper” to “I Wanna Be a Lifeguard,” the evening jam packed with rockin’ riffs, some hearty laughs and too much fun.

SECOND OPINIONS
Excerpt from David Singer’s review at The Daily Gazette: If nothing else, Blue Oyster Cult delivered their three hits with some skill, and the audience received them well, but nothing came close to igniting the crowd, or the band. They played ‘Burnin’ for You’ as the third song, a standard move for them and smart, since nothing happened with the first two. At first it sounded pretty cool, but soon enough it dragged into a cliché early ’80s sound, prompting the person next to me to mutter, unprompted, ‘They sound stuck in mud.’ Original member Donald Roeser, better known as Buck Dharma, was front man for most of the show, playing lead guitar and singing a majority of the songs, including ‘Burnin’ for You.’ The vocal range on these tunes are minimal, and Roeser’s singing sounded fine: the song asked for very little and he delivered the minimal amount needed.”

BLUE OYSTER CULT SET LIST
The Red and the Black
Golden Age of Leather
Burnin for You
Career of Evil
Harvest Moon
Harvester of Eyes
Buck’s Boogie
ME 262
Then Came the Last Days of May
Godzilla
(Don’t Fear) The Reaper
ENCORES
Hot Rails to Hell
Cities on Flame With Rock and Roll

BLOTTO SET LIST
Too Much Fun
I Quit
She’s Got a Big Boyfriend
My Baby’s the Star of a Drivers Ed Movie
It’s Not You
(We Are) The Nowtones
It’s Only Money
When the Second Feature Starts
It’s All Over Now (Bobby Womack)
Goodbye, Mr. Bond
Secret Agent Man (Johnny Rivers)
I Wanna Be a Lifeguard