Through the hurricane of new Blue Öyster Cult releases and while we are waiting passionately for “The Symbol Remains”, the band’s first studio album in almost 20 years, I lgot my hands on this show in New York city from 2012, which took place to celebrate the box set that was out then.
In their home town, in front of a small crowd of 200 lucky fans and within almost one hour they play a few songs spanning their entire career, including the inevitable classics that they play on every show, but they also have a few surprises up their sleeves, with more obscure tracks for the fans pleasure. When you have a vast back catalogue and a band that’s so capable on a live environment, I think the sky sky is the limit. So, just because we rarely get the chance to listen to them live, I’d say that “Shootng Shark” from “Revolution By Night” and of course “Black Blade”, which back in 2008 I at their gig in Athens I was running like hell to listen, as I happened to be in the toilet when they played the first note, are those that stand out.
However, you can’t leave outside the highlights “Career Of Evil”, the songs that opens the iconin “Secret Treaties” album, or “The Vigil”, from “Mirrors”, which happens to be one of my favourite Cult records. You should pay attention to that song, not only is one of the most beautiful songs they’ve written, but also it contains the band’s identity with a lot of changes, solos, an unearthly character and killer riffs. It’s worth mentioning that none of those song has been featured in an official live release until the live at Cleveland show from 2014 was released.
In general, the band sounds fresh with Kasim Sulton on bass and Buck Dharma in great shape. The only negative thing about this release is that the set is rather short. Why can’t they play for 6 hours straight?
The fans of the Cult have already purchased the album, good job! For the rest who are thinking which one to buy from the new live releases I’d give a little headstart to this one, only because the band sounds just a tiny bit better than “Hard Rock Live Cleveland 2014” and “45th Anniversary – Live In London”.
For video lovers note that the visual part of the show is also available on DVD and BluRay.
