Blue Oyster Cult Keep Fan Favorites First

Blue Oyster Cult may take their hits to South America in the not-too-distant future.

Although nothing is formalized, frontman Eric Bloom said the band is always looking for new opportunities to play and expand its fan base. The South American concert is one that seems likely to move ahead. As music lovers know, South America is filled with fans that love the heavy metal made popular in the 1970s and 1980s.

"I think we might be going to South America for the first time," Bloom told Ultimate Classic Rock. "We've had chances to go before and they've never worked out. I've never been there, but one of the best live DVDs I have seen was 'Rush in Rio.' It was a great live show and the fans were ecstatic."

Although Blue Oyster Cult keep up a fairly heavy tour schedule themselves, Bloom said they are always interested in hearing suggestions for collaborations or to rework the band's music. But even though many of those ideas are interesting, don't look for BOC to work on any of those projects soon. The main reason, said Bloom, is fans enjoy the classic tunes, something that Bloom, a music fan himself, fully understands.

"We play the best of what people want to hear," said Bloom, noting he'll change the band's set list frequently and sometimes even in the middle of a show so as to best suit fans. "We do a sprinkling [of newer album cuts] but people want to hear the main hits. If we don't do that, we haven't done our job. I went to see the Who a couple years ago and they have newer material that a lot of people aren't that familiar with. They wanted to hear the obvious stuff like [hit singles] 'Tommy' and 'I Can See For Miles.'"

The only time BOC play deeper album cuts off more obscure songs is during special events such as a fan-organized show a few years ago in New Jersey. In fact, the fans asked the band not to play any of their major hits such as '(Don't Fear) The Reaper' or 'Cities on Flame with Rock n' Roll.'

"That was one where we could play all of the more obscure songs that hard-core fans know," he said. "Of course we know most of  [those long-time] fans and a lot of them flew in from Europe, so it was great to see them."

Such longtime fans also keep Bloom and his band mates up-to-date on their own band. Just the other day, Bloom said with a laugh, a fan on Facebook asked him if they had every played the version of 'Astronomy' from the 1988 album 'Imaginos,' where Don "Buck Dharma" Roeser sings lead, instead of the version on the 1974 album 'Secret Treaties' where Bloom sings lead.

"I said 'No' and another fan said 'Oh yes you have!' I had wiped it right out of my mind," he said. "But they knew the dates and had it all down somewhere.  And they were right! I had forgotten."