I put on the tape from the early eighties, when Deep Purple opened and then covered for BOC not showing up in central Texas. Despite beer bottles and soft drink cups flying their way at first, they stuck it out and played a few covers to appease the crowd. After the more scummmy Blue Oyster Cult fans walked out it was a great night.
The band played a Steppenwolf medley that included Born To Be Wild and Rock Me, Sookie,Sookie and The Pusher, a couple of Cheap trick songs (don't know the titles), Maggie Mae (Rod Stewart will never touch Ian on this song! I don't care who co-wrote it.), Bad Motor Scooter (Montrose) and Back In The Saddle Again (Aerosmith). Then it was back to their roots, with stuff from "In Rock," "The Book Of Taliesyn," "Shades Of Deep Purple" and "Fireball." This is partly why I play No, No, No all the time.
These guys were old pros who just did their jobs and supported the fans, yet they were humbled by a headliner not showing, when in reality, they should have been the headliner, but they were a dead band trying to re-form after about five years of doing their own things, losing a key member to drugs, giving up, re-grouping, etc.
They could easily have done an hour set and left, like most bands would have, leaving everyone mostly fine with them and all would have remained pissed at BOC. Instead, they stayed, braved it out and kept the door kitty for themselves. It turned out to be an awesome night of heavy rock!
Now since I've been typing, running it back and forth and reminiscing for half an hour, I'm starting it over. I need to edit and rip this one.
