A packed house at the Bull Run on Route 2A in Shirley, Massachusetts witnessed a tremendous show from Dennis Dunaway, original Alice Cooper Group bassist, and guitarist Joe Bouchard – bassist with Blue Oyster Cult – and his brother, original Blue Oyster Cult drummer Albert Bouchard.
It was an enormous vibrations that cascaded from the stage, and a power trio that sounded more like a full five piece, the three of ten musicians (if you count all the members of the original Couper and B.O.C. bands) rocking out and, most key, having fun with all their hits.
They asked the audience if they wanted the long ending to “I’m 18” or the edited 45 RPM version and those in attendance demanded the long, drawn out cataclysm that some might remember from the debut of the old IN CONCERT TV series where the Alice Cooper Group did the original “I’m 18” with its eerie keyboard intro. Dunaway told us of the song’s evolution backstage in an interview for Visual Radio. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame bassist told this writer that the original “I’m 18” was a bluesy song – much longer – that producer Bob Ezrin heard and truncated, turning it into the Top 40 Classic that it is.
The three encores included “Don’t Fear the Reaper,” “Angel’s Well” from the CD Tornado on the Tracks, with exquisite guitar playing by Bouchard (in his interview he mentioned that it is Robbie Krieger of the Doors on the Blue Coupe release) and a great “Kick out the Jams” MC5 cover to conclude the show.
Along with the February 6, Beatles tribute at the Apollo Theater in New York (with Mary Wilson of the Supremes, Kitoto Von Hebb, Lloyd Price, Barbara Harris of the Toys, Margaret Ross Wilson of the Cookies) and Aerosmith on July 16th at Great Woods X-Finity Center in Mansfield, Mass., this was one of the best shows of the year so far. You have to see this group to feel the power.
Joe Viglione is the Chief Film Critic at TMRZoo.com. He has written thousands of reviews and biographies for AllMovie.com, Allmusic.com, Gatehouse Media, Al Aronowitz’s The Blacklisted Journal, and a variety of other media outlets. Joe also produces and hosts Visual Radio, a seventeen year old variety show on cable TV which has interviewed Jodie Foster, director/screenwriter David Koepp, Michael Moore, John Cena, comics/actors Margaret Cho, Gilbert Gottfried, Gallagher, musicians Mark Farner and Don Brewer of Grand Funk Railroad, Ian Hunter of Mott The Hoople, Ray Manzarek, John Densmore, Felix Cavaliere of The Rascals, political commentator Bill Press and hundreds of other personalities.
