Blue Oyster Cult

A-Ha are headlining the main stage and sound like a mellow version of Muse and are doing covers of ‘Crying In The Rain’ so I run away to see Blue Oyster Cult. A band I’ve not heard of in years other than the one song about a certain fear of death.

The crowd is less than I’m expecting and consists of a high proportion of your ‘older’ festival goers. But it’s still a decent sized crowd who cheer as the band take to the stage and deliver ‘The Red & The Black’ and there’s a fair few of us cheering “It’s Alright!” As the band members flourish their musical skills with mini solos and played at such speed. Lummy, we’re in for a good night of metal rock tonight! The basslines by Richie Castellano are so fast, gunning through the tune as Eric Bloom's distinctive vocals reverberate around us. And god can Jules Radino hit the skins, then there’s Buck Dharma's screaming fizzing guitar.

These New Yorkers are a real band able to play at a frenzied pace and sounding not too dissimilar to that other band who have collaborated with Michael Moorcock, the UK’s own Hawkwind. I really wasn’t expecting them to be this good! Clearly the newer members have injected a bit of power into the original Cult And we’re promised “A night of Rock and Roll!” Before launching into ‘O.D.'d On Life Itself’ followed closely with ‘Burnin' For You’ and the rather fabulous ‘E.T.I’ with yet more solo and some distortion, mindbending.

‘Shooting Shark’ is a great tune and really has the band in the groove, there’s more opportunities for solos by the band. But before we had time to draw breath they battered our senses with ‘ME 262’ and ‘Cities On Flame’ has a fair portion of the crowd singing along to. I wasn’t expecting such a greatest hits set. Then there was ‘Godzilla’ with the band doing jaw dropping solo work and Jules doing a rapid drum solo, Richie and Jules previously jammed while the band took a breather and they all return to tell us they are doing one last song.

Yup, ‘Don’t Fear The Reaper’ is a huge song to play and they do it superbly, I’ve seen a few acts over the years cover this but for the first time I see Blue Oyster Cult play it and boy can they play it. To huge applause the band leave and I’m wiped by the end of the set. Chooing to get back to the tent instead of heading again for the silent disco.

Still singing ‘Don’t Fear The Reaper’ I meet the A-Ha crowd heading out of the arena, I’m certain I watched the better act. For a band over 30 years old the younger musicians on bass and drums add new power to them and they sounded fantastic. An excellent choice of headliner by Guilfest.

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