Seventies and ’80s rock band Blue Oyster Cult will headline the free 31st annual Our Hospice of South Central Indiana Concert Sept. 2 at Mill Race Park amphitheater.
The group is best known for hits such as “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” from 1976 and “Burnin’ For You” from 1981. The tune “Godzilla” from 1977 also is one of the band’s familiar singles.
The current band lineup includes two original members, guitarist Donald “Buck Dharma” Roeser and guitarist Eric Bloom.
Blue Oyster Cult’s most successful album was its 1978 release, “Some Enchanted Evening,” which sold 2 million copies. The 1975 album, “On Your Feet or On Your Knees,” sold 500,000 copies, and a year later “Agents of Fortune” sold 1 million copies.
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The band is currently on tour, with several California dates in the next week before about a dozen international shows in countries such as England, France, Belgium, Scotland and Switzerland.
Blue Oyster Cult returns to the U.S. in early July, when it will be playing at outdoor festivals, including county and state fairs, and several amphitheatres with artists such as Dennis DeYoung, former lead singer of Styx, and Ted Nugent. The day after its Columbus show, the band performs during the New York State Fair in Syracuse.
Its only other Indiana show this summer is July 7 at the Foellinger Theatre in Fort Wayne. The band will be performing with Mark Farner, formerly with Grand Funk Railroad, with tickets for that concert selling at $45 to $85 each.
“We anticipate a high energy performance,” said Laura Hurt, Our Hospice president of the show’s Sept. 2 headliner.
The name “Blue Öyster Cult” came from a 1960s poem written by manager Sandy Pearlman. In a 1976 interview published in the U.K. music magazine ZigZag, Pearlman told the story explaining the origin of the band’s name was an anagram of “Cully Stout Beer.”
The local concert that drew an estimated 8,000 people last year for Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Peter Cetera, formerly of the rock band Chicago, is the largest fundraiser each year for Our Hospice. Proceeds from sponsors, T-shirts, raffle tickets, food and souvenirs help provide end-of-life care for patients and families in a 16-county area.
Last year, the concert raised $120,000. In 2015, it generated more than $100,000.
The Labor Day Weekend concert opener will be the Indianapolis-based act The Woomblies Rock Orchestra. The ensemble played in Columbus as headliner for the Columbus Area Arts Council’s Biggest Block Party Ever downtown in July 2015. The group, featuring nine musicians including a four-piece string section, plays rock and Motown favorites.
