Blue Oyster Cult, Jefferson Starship to play double bill

MORRISTOWN — Two classic rock bands — Blue Oyster Cult and Jefferson Starship — perform a double bill at Mayo Performing Arts Center on Thursday, Nov. 9, at 8 p.m.
Tickets are $49-$79.
For over four decades, Blue Öyster Cult has been thrilling fans of intelligent hard rock worldwide with powerful albums loaded with classic songs. The Long Island‐based band is revered within the hard rock and heavy metal scene for its pioneering work. Blue Öyster Cult occupies a unique place in rock history because it’s one of very few hard rock/heavy metal bands to earn both genuine mainstream critical acclaim as well as commercial success.
The band is often cited as a major influence by other acts such as Metallica, and BÖC was listed in VH1’s countdown of the greatest hard rock bands of all time.
Upon the release of BÖC’s self-titled debut album in 1972, the band was praised for its catchy-yet-heavy music and lyrics that could be provocative, terrifying, funny or ambiguous, often all in the same song. BÖC’s canon includes three stone-cold classic songs that will waft through the cosmos long after the sun has burned out: The truly haunting “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” from 1976’s Agents of Fortune, the pummeling “Godzilla” from 1977’s Spectres and the hypnotically melodic “Burnin’ for You” from 1981’s Fire of Unknown Origin. Other notable BÖC songs include “Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll,” “Then Came the Last Days of May,” “I Love the Night,” “In Thee,” ”Veteran of the Psychic Wars,” “Dominance and Submission,” “Astronomy,” “Black Blade” and “Shooting Shark.”
Jefferson Starship rose from the ashes of another legendary San Francisco band, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees, Jefferson Airplane.
Founder Paul Kantner (who died in January 2016 at age 74) knew that combining powerful creative forces, personalities and talents could create something far greater than the sum of its parts. Between 1974 and 1984, Jefferson Starship released eight gold and platinum albums.
Today's Jefferson Starship remains dedicated to breathing new life into the living catalog of the Jeffersonian legacy, going to the edge, pushing the sonic boundaries and staying true to the original spirit of the music.
Featuring original and historic members David Freiberg (also a founder of San Francisco luminaries Quicksilver Messenger Service) and drummer Donny Baldwin, along with longtime members Chris Smith on keyboards and synth bass, Jude Gold on lead guitar and GRAMMY Nominee Cathy Richardson anchoring the female lead vocal spot made famous by the inimitable Grace Slick (who invited her to sing in her place as Jefferson Airplane accepted their Lifetime Achievement Award at the GRAMMY Merit Awards Concert.)
The music that defined a generation and spanned decades is alive and well and more relevant than ever in pop culture, Songs such as Volunteers, White Rabbit, Wooden Ships, Somebody to Love, Today, Miracles, Count on Me, Fast Buck Freddie, Jane and Find Your Way Back continue to reverberate throughout the collective consciousness today.