Concert Review: Alice Cooper

Regardless of the weather, if you’re in a venue with Alice Cooper in front of your face, It’s Hot Tonight.

The macabre stage suddenly goes dark and the only illumination is the backlit curtain with his name on it. A silhouette appears and it can only be Mr. Cooper in a top hat and dancing with a cane. A twin shadow appears, a struggle ensues and the whole mess comes crashing down to reveal a stunning band and the man himself looking and sounding oh, so fine, even after all these years.

"It’s Hot Tonight" is the opening song and you will know, my friend, you are on a roller coaster ride that does not end until two hours later when the last note of Poison is left echoing in your ears for some time to come.

The old favorites are there: Alice’s rag dolls, straightjacket and climaxing execution. This tour he is dying by gallows which makes for a nice change from the routine of the beheading. How many times can you watch someone cut off his own head before you’re bored, right?

You won’t be bored at any concert of the 2008 tour and if you sit down, you must be having a coronary because you’re going to miss everything from that position. There are no pauses or letup; it’s a nonstop hard rock experience.

But know what you’re in for unlike the corporate suits that were sitting nearby who were, shall we say, a bit dazed. When Alice pounded the stake through the baby doll’s heart, they could not get out of the arena fast enough. The only thing slowing them down was tripping over their own jaws which had hit the floor previously.

The Psycho-Drama Tour, in support of the new album Along Came a Spider, is a show that cannot be missed. Yes, the usual theatrics and spooky horror are there but it’s fresh. The acting cast, most of whom have the last name of Cooper, is enthusiastically bizarre. The band is very tight as they should be; they’ve toured and recorded with Alice for years. Former Kiss drummer Eric Singer, bassist Chuck Garric, guitarists Keri Kelli and Jason Hook produce a clean, crisp sound that captures the urgency and potency of the original recordings of songs that were probably written years before they were born.

The talented band even produces an excellent drum solo during Halo of Flies that includes the two guitarists on either side of Singer banging away on their own sets. It can be seen on YouTube but it’s designed to be seen and heard live.

The sets, the props, the ongoing drama entertain but there is no doubt that the captain is the lead singer. Alice has the energy and stamina of a man much younger than the 60 years he claims to be. He prowls, he stalks, he taunts, he swaggers, he struts; but most of all, he commands and the show reflects his obvious work ethic. There are no false notes, no miscues, no oops.

When you’re working with someone comfortable playing with swords, knives, guillotines, snakes AND golf clubs, it’s best that there be no oops.

While it would take many hours to play every hit song Alice Cooper has ever had (which I think would have be fine but no one ever asks me,), the concert playlist included "No More Mr. Nice Guy," "I’m 18," "Be My Lover," "Dead Babies," "Is It My Body?," "Woman of Massive Distraction," "Cold Ethyl," "Steven," "Department of Youth," "Desperado," "Muscle of Love," "Lost in America," "Welcome to My Nightmare," "I Love the Dead," "Only Women Bleed," "Feed My Frankenstein," "Ballad of Dwight Fry," "Under My Wheels, Killer," "School’s Out," "Elected," "Dirty Diamonds" and "Billion Dollar Babies."

Elected was accompanied by two actors in costumes meant to resemble Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Their encounter ended violently and weirdly. Alice urged us to elect him as he was the representative of The Wild Party and his campaign slogan was “He Doesn’t Care.”

We could and have done worse.

Alice Cooper may not care about politics but he does care about his music. By the end of the show in Redmond, Oregon on July 31, the audience was bowing in supplicant fashion declaring that they were, indeed, not worthy.

But for an evening, it was fun to pretend to be.

by Lynette Sheffield
Date of review: August 5, 2008