“The Godfather of Shock Rock” himself made a stop at the arena during this, his 40th career tour. There was no opener, an unnecessary requirement with this level of horror laced theatrical artistry. Cooper’s six decade career has spawned thirty studio albums, and his
robust twenty-two song set touched on twelve of em.
A floor to ceiling banner, flanked on one side by a skeleton demon and the other by a jigsaw inspired clown, was emblazoned with a newspaper, The Connecticut Times, headline that read: Banned in Connecticut! Alice Cooper, Trial Set: For Deeds Against Humanity. The band kicked into gear and a spotlight shone on Alice’s silhouette, adorned with top hat and cane. When he finally split the banner and showed himself the crowd erupted. And the place was
fukin packed from the front row floor to the rafters, it was a full house. “Lock Me Up” from Raise Your Fist And Yell and “Welcome To The Show” off of Road were the openers. There was a sound issue that occurred at least four times, where all the audio cut out with a glitchy static. The issue was rectified and forgotten about when we were fed fan favorite hits “No More Mr. Nice Guy” (Billion Dollar Babies) and “I’m Eighteen” (Love It To Death). Cooper’s signature raspy vocals were on point as he belted out “Under My Wheels” (Killer) and “Bed Of Nails” (Trash). A cannon shot out streamers and confetti over the crowd like a
cumshot during the title track “Billion Dollar Babies”. Cooper then emerged from a costume change, including a giant ass live snake wrapped around him, to perform “Snakebite” (Hey Stoopid). The talented musicians that Alice surrounds himself with delivered a flawless well-rehearsed production. The pageantry and sound were on point, the arena was full of enthusiastic fans and the guy sitting next to me sang nearly every tune word for word. Another track from Killers was on deck with “Be My Lover” followed by “Lost In America” (The Last Temptation), and “He’s Back (The Man Behind The Mask)” (Constrictor). Images
flashed on huge screen backdrops tailored to each song. Title Track “Hey Stoopid” led to a quick drum solo and then staircases were added to the left and right of the stage. Alice appeared on one for another title track, “Welcome To My Nightmare”, where he conducted his players like a maestro while smoke billowed from his feet. The dramatic way the musicians played off of each other was impactful. Alice carried and tossed around a mannequin made to represent “Cold Ethyl”. “Go To Hell” (Alice Cooper Goes To Hell) had Cooper interacting with a scantily clad actress while he swung a whip around. One of my personal faves “Poison” (Trash) sounded superb and segued into the guitar solos. I appreciated the original Vincent Price intro to “Black Widow Jam” as each axe wielder took
their turn before they lined up together, flaunting their mad skills.
The house lights went dark before Cooper emerged in a straitjacket led by an imposing caped guard who tasered him. The stage stayed dark with only Alice basked in an eerie green light while he performed “Ballad of Dwight Fry”. He finally escaped his bonds and stabbed the guard when a Marie Antoinette look alike appeared and quickly seduced him before she led him to a readied guillotine. She awaited proper crowd response before she gave the signal for Alice to be beheaded as the entire crowd rose to their feet. She cackled and carried around the dead head, the band performing “Killer” and “I Love The Dead” during
the festivities. A resurrected Cooper appeared in white top hat, cane, and tuxedo jacket with tails while a blaring loud alarm clock sound reverberated through the venue, the tell-tale opening to the title track “School’s Out” which held a special surprise exclusive to this show. Massive inflatable blue, yellow, green and red balls were dropped onto fans as Alice Cooper addressed his masses. “Alice Cooper is finally speaking to you. You’re probably asking yourself who these people are. Ryan Roxie on guitar, Chuck Garric on bass, and on the other bass Dennis Dunaway!” This was a jaw dropping bombshell, to see Dennis, the original bass
player and co-writer of the hit song. “The number one drummer, Glen Sobel! Tommy Henriksen, guitarist, producer, part time vampire. The incredible Nita Strauss! She’s deadly boys, dangerous, delicious and all mine. And playing the part of Alice Cooper tonight……” The fans lost their shit and he bowed in gratitude. “ME!” The band merged Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick In The Wall” into the “School’s Out” ending and took a well deserved bow. They barely
exited, didn’t even wait for the encore to be earned, just went right into “Feed My Frankenstein” where Cooper sported a maroon ringmaster type coat and a seven foot tall version of Alice materialized on stage to antagonize the band. He signed off with “May all of your daydreams become nightmares!” Alice Cooper was born Vincent Damon Furnier in 1948. This mofo is 77 years old and is fit as fuck. Can you imagine your parents or grandparents up there doing that?! Night after night?! I’ll have what he’s having. He just announced a tour with Judas Priest, dates run through October. Cuz the guy never fucking stops rocking. Need a dose of ageless shock rock? Alice Cooper has your fix.
