Growing up in the Boston area, radio was more than just background noise; it was a cultural cornerstone. While WAAF had its place, stations like WCOZ, with their more adventurous playlists, and especially WBCN, truly shaped my musical tastes. WBCN was a revelation, introducing me to groundbreaking artists like The Ramones, The Sex Pistols, and Patti Smith. Their dedication to local music also opened my ears to incredible regional bands such as The Atlantics, The Neighborhoods, LaPeste, and Pastiche. Navigating the airwaves in the suburbs, however, presented its challenges. WBCN’s signal unfortunately faded out around central Holden. WCOZ held up reasonably well, but reception would become unreliable on drives to Paxton. This often led to defaulting back to WAAF. Yet, as you got closer to Paxton, the Hartford signals of WCCC and WHCN became accessible, along with WHJY from Providence and WGIR from Manchester, expanding the sonic landscape, even if not all these stations were equally compelling.
It was during this vibrant radio era that “Amanda” by Boston became inescapable. Starting around 1986, the song’s airplay was relentless. This culminated in Boston’s “Third Stage Tour,” which included an impressive ten-show run at the Worcester Centrum. To put this into perspective, the tour stops that came closest to matching this were four-show runs in East Rutherford, NJ, Detroit, and East Troy, WI. Despite the excitement surrounding these Worcester shows, a sense of disappointment emerged from those who attended multiple nights. Friends who went to four or five of these concerts reported a striking uniformity. Each performance was virtually identical, right down to the stage banter. One friend likened it to watching the same movie repeatedly. Another observation was that this iteration of the band “wasn’t really Boston” in their eyes, due to the absence of original members Hashian, Goudreau, and Sheehan. In essence, they felt they were experiencing “The Tom Scholz Experience” featuring Brad Delp, rather than the collective entity they considered to be Boston.
