I Was There When: Tommy Bolin Left the Blue Oyster Cult In the Lurch at the Palace Theater in Albany New York – 9/20/76

Tommy Bolin had become one of my favorite musicians in roughly the year prior to his appearance with his group as openers for the Blue Oyster Cult at Albany’s Palace Theater.  The September date at the venerable venue in the state’s capital venue was part of a tour in support of the guitarist’s Private Eyes record, out the very same month, some time after the release of the BOC’s  Agents of Fortune, the album that catapulted that group to mainstream success via “Don’t Fear The Reaper” issued as a single the prior spring.

It was hardly a surprise, but no less reassuring from a true fan’s point of view, that Tommy Bolin indulged in no overt showmanship during the course of his abbreviated set, either when he soloed or when interacting with the likes of saxophonist Norma Jean Bell on “Post-Toastee;” as ideal a closer on stage as on record, the vaguely derivative riff of that tune elicited no little panache from the entire ensemble, perhaps because it was the final tune but more probably because the musicians were channeling their leader: he radiated that rare charisma that, in hindsight, only seems to arise from such tragic figures (more about that later).

As high a level of intensity as the Bolin and company brought to their short set, the elevated decibel level had to force attendees to wonder if the excessive volume was the preference of the house, as techs dialed in the sound for the night or the headliner utilizing a deliberate means to drive people out of the room rather than risk losing the audience. Regardless, the concert opening with “Teaser” and “People,People,” effectively showcased material from both Bolin’s solo albums, and, in keeping with the ensemble’s moniker, contained  solo spotlights for keyboardist Mark Stein (once of Vanilla Fudge) and drummer Bobby Berge. Neither, however, detracted from the frontman’s display of expertise or, more importantly, the momentum of the set, the resounding impact of which which left a crowd densely populated with Bolin fans clamoring loudly and extensively for an encore that never came.

As a result, Blue Oyster Cult took the stage to less than rapturous acclaim, many concertgoers continuing to yell for Tommy to the extent that the Long Island band seemed more than a little rattled as they began to play. Seeing some of the audience leave their seats no doubt did little to calm their nerves, but their departures, like my own approximately twenty-minutes in, was simply a practical decision: having had the chance to see Tommy Bolin in the flesh, I could hardly be more satisfied.

Fortuitous as was that instance, the occasion only deepened my despair some weeks later when I learned Bolin had died of a drug overdose. It wasn’t an altogether surprising demise for an artist who had assumed a gargantuan workload: having continued his promotional road work that fall with Peter Frampton, Tommy had also appeared on some bills with guitar icon Jeff Beck, this touring in the wake of studio and live work, with the James Gang and Deep Purple in addition to solo stints beginning with the star-studded Teaser album. Those multiple and varied transitions followed in fairly short order his collaboration with Mahavishnu Orchestra drummer Billy Cobham on Spectrum ( of the benchmarks of jazz-rock fusion).

The whirlwind of activity certainly constituted what James Gang co-founder Joe Walsh himself once described as ‘burning the candle at both ends… twice the life in half the time.’ Such resigned consolation didn’t make the loss of Tommy Bolin any less of a poignant reminder of his best work on record and, luckily for me, on stage as well.

******

From Setlist.com

Teaser; People, People; You Told Me That You Loved Me; Wild Dogs; Shake the Devil; Post Toastee.