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“those four people with too much time on their hands”. So for those four guys, the band breaks into the tour premiere of ‘Golden Age Of Leather’, a song that Bloom describes as about “beer, music, motorcycles and partying” before adding “so raise your beer!”. This is then followed by some gorgeous harmonies as the band lines up for the ode to beer… “Raise your can of beer on high, and seal your fate forever, our best years have passed us by, the golden age of leather…” With the criminally underrated Buck Dharma on lead guitar (as well as co-lead vocals), ably assisted by Bloom and Richie Castellano (who steps out from behind his keyboards to strap on a guitar), this is a guitar heavy night. Dharma is a pleasure to watch. Ever smiling, he pauses in between songs to lift his dark glasses and soak in the atmosphere. Bloom is no slouch either; wielding a gorgeous black Gibson SG he helps form a formidable front line. Throw in the joker in the pack that is bassist Danny Miranda, add drummer Jules Radino, and you have Blue Oyster Cult circa 2019. Still bringing it, every night, forty-seven years after their debut album. Bloom continues to play to the die-hards, with a teasing question: “what song would you rather hear? Shooting Shark or Harvest Moon?”, before joking that they would play “what we want”. They then launch into the former, with Bloom behind the keyboards. If you were one of the “four guys” following the band on this tour, then you were getting your money’s worth. The latter half of the set of course features the heavy hitters, ‘Bucks Boogie’, ‘Godzilla’, ‘(Don’t Fear) The Reaper’ as well as the stonking versions of ‘Dancing In The Ruins’ and ‘Hot Rails To Hell’ that appeared during the encore. Castellano takes the lead vocals on ‘Hot Rails To Hell’ and the guy is clearly having a blast unleashed from behind his keyboards. Blue Oyster Cult celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of their debut album in 2022. I bet they will still be touring then, and still knocking them dead. Review – Dave S Images – Dave J [gallery type='flickr' user_id='132278830@N06' view='photosets' photoset_id='72157705565459251' media='photos' columns='3' tag_mode='any' sort='date-posted-desc' per_page='48' layout='square' caption='title' thumb_size='s' main_size='z' ]]]>
