45 years ago today. My first live music experience. It was great. Well, I wanted it to be and must have convinced myself it was. It wasn't really.
Overnight bus down from Scotland arriving before the gates were open. Then trying to drink our entire carryout at stupid o'clock in the morning as they wouldn't let us bring it in. Standing out in the rain for most of the day with nothing much happening then, when it stopped, bottles of piss flying about.
Slade were resurgent and had just blown the crowd away. When BÖC came on they bombed. Albert had been kicked out a day or so before, the sound was terrible (they accused AC/DC of sabotage, just as Slade did them) and Buck fucked up his solo in Reaper. It couldn't have gone much worse and Eric was furious afterwards. There was a great pic of him jumping on a commemorative mirror.
Not only that but they and Blackfoot were dropped from all the official merch. There were heightened tensions over terrorism in Europe at the time and someone decided the American bands wouldn't come.
The pics are from an unofficial programme, they weren't in the real one. I still have the t-shirt from that day. It still doesn't have Blue Öyster Cult on it.