The gig tonight is at the Hellfest Festival at the Val de Moine Sport Complex in Clisson, France.

Last night Blue Oyster Cult played a gig in Bochum, Germany so to get to Clisson, France they will have had a 10 hour drive. (Obviously this tour was descigned by somebody not doing the driving!)

The Hellfest Festival is a 3 day festival which has been running for several years and the organizors say that they expect 10,000 people there!

There are five stages at the festival and Blue Oyster Cult are playing on the Main Stage at 6.35pm (12.35pm in NYC). They are followed by Motley Crue at 8.45pm and Ozzy Osbourne at 11.10pm.

The gig tonight is at a venue called Zeche in Bochum, Germany. This is another late booked gig to replace a festival.

The gig tonight starts at 8pm (2pm in NYC) and doors open an hour prior to that.

On Thursday they played in Spain so to get to Bochum, Germany they would have had a 15 hour drive but luckily they have flown here.

Again (partly because I don't read German) this venue was difficult to find much about but most German venues are all standing with people gathering around the doors up to 3 hours before the gig starts in order to get to the front of the stage. German have no concept of queuing so it tends to be a race when the doors open!

Also, unlike most gigs in the US and UK, at German gigs they usually have a policy of returning drink glasses for a deposit (Germany is very enviromentally conscious) so after the gig the floor is not awash with discarded glasses or bottles. Bread-like pretzels are also usually sold at German gigs and guys walk into the crowd selling them (not when the band is on stage) and at some places vendors have portable drink machines on their backs which dispense beer!

The set list and photos will be added soon.

The gig tonight is at the Azkena Rock Festival in Vitoria, Spain.

On Tuesday evening Blue Oyster Cult played a gig in Nuremberg, Germany so they would have had a 17 hour drive to get here but thankfully they flew it.

This is a three day festival and today is the first day. Blue Oyster Cult are due on stage at 7.30pm (1.30pm in NYC). They are followed by Twisted Sister (who are the headliners) and then Status Quo. All the other bands today are Spanish acts.

This will be Kasim's first gig in Spain since 1996!

The gig tonight is at Hirsch in Nuremberg, Germany and is another gig which cancels a Rock The Nation festival gig so was only added less than a month ago.

Last night they played in Aschaffenburg so they will have only had a 2 hour drive in a south easterly direction.

It is difficult to find out much about any of these German gigs but they are almost always all standing. The gig tonight starts at 8pm (2pm in NYC).

The gig tonight is at Colos-Saal in Aschaffenburg, Germany.

On Saturday they played in Montereau Fault Yonne, France so they will have had a 7 hour drive east for this gig.

Originaly tonight Blue Oyster Cult were due to play at a festival in Berlin before all the Rock The Nation festivals were canceled by the promoter so this gig was only added a few weeks ago.

The gig tonight starts at 8pm (2pm in NYC).

Tonight they play in Aschaffenburg, Germany followed by a gig tomorrow evening in Nuremberg, Germany. On Thursday they play in Vitoria, Spain and then on Saturday they are back in Germany to play in Bochum. On Sunday the final gig of the tour is in Clisson, France.

The driving distance for this week is 2,664 miles which will take 1 day and 19 hours by road. (Hopefully Kasim may fly some of it!)

The gig tonight is at the Festival Montereau Confluence in Montereau Fault Yonne, France which is just outside Paris.

Last night they played in Sweden and Solvesborg, Sweden to Montereau Fault Yonne, France is 905 miles which will take about 15 hours to drive.

Originaly they were booked to play today at 2.30pm but now their set has been moved to midnight (6pm in NYC) which may be because of the long drive (or hopefully flight).

The other big name on the festival bill today is Lou Reed who is scheduled to take the stage at 10.45pm.

This is a two day festival and Blue Oyster Cult are the final act to play on the main stage.

The gig tonight is at the Sweden Rock Festval in Solvesborg, Sweden.

Blue Oyster Cult are scheduled to play between 4.30pm and 6pm (10.30am and 12pm in NYC) on the Festival Stage which appears to be the main stage at the event. Following them are The Darkness and later Twisted Sister.

The first gig is on Friday and the tour consists of seven gigs in four countries in ten days (plus flights to and from US).

This week they play the first two gigs which are in Solvesborg, Sweden on Friday and in Montereau Fault Yonne, France on Saturday at midnight (so technically Sunday).

This is followed by Kasim singing lead vocals on I Saw Her Standing There by The Beatles!

There is very little detail online about this gig but the gates to Arms Park open at 1pm and tickets (from the gate) are only $5. There is a firework display at 9.20pm so Blue Oyster Cult (who appear to be the headliners) will have finished playing by then.

The address of Arms Park is 10 Arms Street Manchester, New Hampshire 03101 and it is right beside the river.

WGIR-FM Rock 101 appear to be planning to broadcast from the event so possibly Blue Oyster Cult's set may be broadcast.

The most exciting part was that Kasim wrote:
"Me teaching TR one of the songs from my new CD to play at tonight's show... Wish you were here!"

The address of the venue is SPACE, 1245 Chicago Avenue, Evanston, Illinois 60202.

This venue only holds about 250 people so consequently tickets sold out again for this gigs very quickly, certainly way before it was announced that Kasim would be part of the band. Tickets were $40 for Standing Room, $65 for General Admission Seats and $85 for Reserved Table Seats.

The address of the venue is SPACE, 1245 Chicago Avenue, Evanston, Illinois 60202 which is about 30 minutes north of Chicago (if there is no traffic).

On Sunday evening they played in State College, PA so they will have driven for over 10 hours to this venue (past Cleveland, Ohio where they played on Saturday evening!) in a west and then north direction.

SPACE stands for Society for the Preservation of Art & Culture in Evanston. The website venue describe SPACE as "SPACE was created by musicians for musicians. Our venue was designed to offer superior comfort, elegant aesthetics, and sophisticated audio and lighting technology, all in service of great creative expression. The sound is fantastic, the sight lines are perfect, and no seat is more than 40 feet from the stage."

This venue only holds about 250 people so consequently tickets sold out for the two gigs at this venue very quickly, certainly way before it was announced that Kasim would be part of the band. Tickets were $40 for Standing Room, $65 for General Admission Seats and $85 for Reserved Table Seats.

Tomorrow and Wednesday evening he plays the final two gigs of the VERY short tour as part of Todd Rundgren's band. The two gigs are both in Evanston, IL.

Then on Saturday evening Kasim switches bands to play a gig as part of Blue Oyster Cult in Manchester, NH.

According to the venue website "The State Theatre is a community-owned theatre dedicated to serving the Centre County region. We’re a mainstay of the State College community and a proud hub of local culture, featuring artists both homegrown and nationally renowned."

The venue opened on 15th October 1938 when Warner Brothers built it for $70,000 as a test market for new films. Back then general admission was 30 cents for matinees, 35 cents after 5pm and children’s tickets cost just 15 pennies. The venue remained open until 2001 but was re-opened in 2009.

Tickets for this gig (from this link) are $49 and are selling well as a few days ago the best seats available were in the 21st row at the side.

Last night Kasim played a gig as part of Todd Rundgren's band in Cleveland, Ohio so they will have had to drive for about four and a half hours in an easterly direction for this gig.

I believe that this will be Kasim's first appearance at this venue.

The gig tonight is at Jacobs Pavillion at Nautica in Cleveland, OH. This venue is an open-air amphitheater, located on the west bank of The Flats. The venue is operated by the Nautica Entertainment Complex (hence its name). The amphitheater opened in 1987 as Nautica Stage and was renamed Scene Pavilion in 2003 following renovations that included the addition of a canopy. In 2006 it was renamed The Plain Dealer Pavilion (after the local newspaper) and in February 2009 it was renamed Nautica Pavilion which lasted until March 2011 when it was renamed Jacobs Pavillion at Nautica (Nautica Entertainment Complex is owned by Jacobs Investments Inc.).

The venue usually holds 15 to 20 events a year with the concert season beginning in early summer and ending in early fall.

The address of the venue is 2014 Sycamore, Cleveland, OH 44113 and Todd is due on stage at 9pm.

The gig tonight is an all ages / all weather event. Gates open at noon and Todd Rundgren will appear as part of the Marc's Great American Rib Cook-Off!

Tickets for this gig (from this link) are $36 plus $12.50 charges and a few days ago the best seats available were in the thirteenth row. There are also some General Admission gigs (outside of the pavillion) for $10 which includes entry to the ribfest.

The new gigs are:
Saturday 1st September - American Music Festival, Virginia Beach, VA
Saturday 6th October - Resort at Marina Village, Cape Coral, FL

As always, it is not guaranteed currently that Kasim will play both these gigs but KasimInfo.com will post nearer the time whether or not he will be playing.