Well, a special night tonight at Bannermans in the shape of original Blue Oyster Cult members Joe and Albert Bouchard AKA The Bouchard Bros for a night of stripped-down BOC tracks and their own solo tracks but first up Cold Weather Company whom I had not heard of before.
The boys are all acoustic, along with a keyboard and I have to say they were a revelation. They start off with a new unreleased track, “Traditions”, before getting to the “Golden Hour” from last year’s phenomenal Coalescence album which opens with both Brian Curry and Jeff Petescia on acoustic guitar before Steve Shimchick comes in on keyboards along with his floating haunting voice; a stunning twin song start to the show. We go back to the Find Light album next for some laid back “Reclamation”, incredible nevertheless, before another unreleased song with “Letcha Love Last”.
We head to their A Folded Letter album next to hear “From Rest”, opening with Steve’s soaring vocals with some excellent acoustic playing from Brian and Jeff before we enter the “Garden” from Somewhere New which opens with delicate guitar work and Steve’s vocals joining in along with the boys’ subtle backing vocals. I absolutely loved the guitar work on this track, a real favourite from their set tonight. The boys treat us to a couple of covers that merge into each other with the Dave Matthews Band’s “The Stone”, followed by a touch of Elvis with “Can’t Help Falling in Love”; lovely reworking of them both. We end a short but fantastic set with “Do No Harm” from Find Light, again some amazing guitar work intertwined with delicate keyboard work, the song reminded me a touch of Muse as it has that laid back vibe of their track “Bliss” and Steve’s voice has that slightly similar haunting lilt. I have to say, not having heard of the boys before, myself and the crowd thoroughly enjoyed their set and I would love to see the boys again. If you get a chance, go and see the boys live, you will definitely not be disappointed and I now have their albums on my playlist on rotation.
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We have the main event now with the Bouchard Bros who head straight back to the beginning with an astounding version of “Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll” with Joe on acoustic electric, Albert on electric and, joining the boys on tour, the exceptional Joan Levy Hepburn on electric guitar and backing vocals. We head back to 1981 now for one of my all time favourite albums, Fire of Unknown Origin, for a fantastic stripped down version of “Burnin’ For You” before we get “OD’d on Life Itself” and i’m in Blue Oyster Cult heaven along with the crowd, grinning from ear to ear and singing along, such is the quality on stage tonight. We get the first of the boys’ solo tracks now with a tremendous rendition of Joe’s “My Way is the Highway” from his new album American Rocker before we look through Alberts “Black Telescope” from his 2020 Re Imaginos project with its almost sea shanty rock vibe on the go, fabulous pair of tracks from the duo.
We rock through “The Red and The Black” and a brilliant version of “The Revenge Of Vera Gemini”; definitely a highlight for me tonight. These were followed by an inspired version of “Astronomy” before we get “Independence Day” from Alberts Imaginos 2 which really suited the semi acoustic version tonight. We head back to the Spectres album now which was the album that got me into BOC as a 15 year old back in 1977 as we meet “Nosferatu”, minus the haunting keyboards but it was truly stunning nevertheless and took me right back to hearing the album for the first time – definitely my favourite tonight. A rare outing for the “Shadow of California” from The Revolution By Night before we meet the “Renaissance Man” from Joe’s 2017 Playin History, again a track that benefits from the style of playing tonight. The groove-laden “Morning Final” takes us nicely into an amazing version of their “Career of Evil” which had the crowd singing along before we get a touch of their Blue Coupe band with “You (Like Vampires)” from the Tornado on the Tracks album with its Tom Petty-like groove, really nice to hear tonight.
There is no introduction needed for the next track as the unmistakable “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” opens up to end the main set again with the crowd singing along as they have done for most of the night. The encore begins as we meet “Godzilla”, followed by a surprise cover with an alternate version of Motörhead’s “Ace of Spades” which went down great with the crowd. We end an absolutely amazing night with and truly fantastic version of “Joan Crawford”, the crowd tonight loved every minute and sang along with gusto, this was a truly amazing night of classic Blue Oyster Cult mixed in with chosen nuggets from their own albums. If you missed this gig then you missed something truly special. The band were obviously enjoying themselves from the start with lots of laughs and stories in between songs, Joan was fantastic on guitar and added just the perfect background vocals, Joe was in tremendous vocal form as was Albert, resplendent in his kilt.
The night was a perfect show from a band absolutely comfortable in playing the older classics that they helped create and I for one hope they come back and do it all again. Go and catch them live while you can as you will definitely have Some Enchanted Evening with them.
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Photos by Gary Cooper
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Setlist:
- Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll
- Burnin’ For You
- OD’d on Life Itself
- My Way is the Highway
- Black Telescope
- The Red And The Black
- The Revenge Of Vera Gemini
- Astronomy
- Independence Day
- Nosferatu
- Shadow of California
- Renaissance Man
- Morning Final
- Career Of Evil
- You (Like Vampires)
- (Don’t Fear) The Reaper
———- - Godzilla (short version)
- Ace Of Spades
- Joan Crawford
