PhillyCheeze's Rock & Blues Reviews: Blue Öyster Cult & April Wine

May 14, 2016 – Riverside, Iowa

By Phillip Smith; May 15, 2016

It was a great night for rock and roll as iconic rock legends Blue Oyster Cult and April Wine descended upon Riverside, Iowa to play a sold-out house at Riverside Casino. Canadian rockers April Wine took the stage first, rolling the show out with “Anything You Want” off their 1982 Power Play album. The band is guitarist/vocalist Myles Goodwyn (the only remaining original member left), guitarist Brian Greenway (who has been with the band since 1977), bassist Richard Lanthier, and drummer Roy “Nip” Nichol. After tearing through a very tight “Sign of the Gypsy Queen” and crowd favorite “Just Between You and Me”, they laid down the law with “21^st Century Schizoid Man”. It was heavy and delicious. Lanthier’s monster bass sounded so good alongside Myles Goodwyn’s mind-melting guitar. Lanthier later delivered a killer bass solo on “Crash and Burn”. Excitement filled the air as the opening riffs of “I Like to Rock” spill out. Playing hard and heavy, the band was totally in sync and sounded very nice indeed. Nichol peeled off a tremendous drum solo, part of which was barehanded. It was quite impressive. Winding things down, the guys played “Before the Dawn” and ended the show with “Roller”. I loved the sound of the dual guitar on this one. It was terrific.

Blue Öyster Cult hit the ground running with a fabulous convergence of guitars on “The Red and the Black”. Their two original members, front man/lead vocalist/rhythm guitarist Eric Bloom, and guitarist Buck Dharma are joined by guitarist Richie Castellano, drummer Jules Radino, and bassist Kassim Sulton. BOC delivered deeper cuts such as the medieval themed “Golden Age of Leather”, and the poppy “True Confessions” prior to cutting their way through a ripping and fantastically tight “Burning For You”. From their self-titled 1972 album, we heard the hypnotically heady “Then Came the Last Days of May”. The performance was mesmerizing and Dharma’s guitar was smoking. Of course, no BOC concert would be complete without the rock and roll anthem “Godzilla”. Dharma played this iconic song with precision while Bloom’s vocals fell right into the pocket. This was such a treat to hear. Without missing a beat, the set ended with a beautifully played “Don’t Fear the Reaper”, conjuring up memories of days gone by. Just when the show was thought to be over, BOC returned for an encore, blessing the audience with one more song, “Cities on Flame With Rock and Roll”. Sulton’s colossal bassline was played with true grit as this magnificent song and the evening ended with a barrage of guitar goodness.

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