Monsters of Rock 2006: Alice Cooper 3rd June 2006
Setlist: Department Of Youth / No More Mr. Nice Guy / Dirty Diamonds / Billion Dollar Babies / Be My Lover / Lost In America / I Never Cry / Woman Of Mass Distraction / I’m Eighteen / You Drive Me Nervous / Is It My Body / Go To Hell / Black Widow (instrumental) / Drum Solo Eric Singer / Feed My Frankenstein / Welcome To My Nightmare / Years Ago-Steven-Only Women Bleed / Ballad Of Dwight Fry / Killer/I Love The Dead (instrumental) / School’s Out // Poison / Wish I Was Born In Beverly Hills / Under My Wheels
And so we come to the Master of the Rock Theatre: Mr Alice Cooper.
He may not have invented rock theatrics, strictly speaking (Screamin’ Jay Hawkins was playing around with smoke, blood, and skulls on sticks, long before Alice) but the Arizona boy with the big nose sure as hell made it what it is today. And, having seen the opposition, he still does it better than anyone else.
And so we come to the Master of the Rock Theatre: Mr Alice Cooper.
He may not have invented rock theatrics, strictly speaking (Screamin’ Jay Hawkins was playing around with smoke, blood, and skulls on sticks, long before Alice) but the Arizona boy with the big nose sure as hell made it what it is today. And, having seen the opposition, he still does it better than anyone else.
There is little I can say about an Alice Cooper show that I haven’t said in one of my many earlier reviews. I have grown up with Alice and he has always been there for me. I have everything he has ever recorded. I love each one of those CDs, even the ones he doesn’t remember recording! If there is one person that I would still like to meet, it is he.
One of my earliest memories, as I think I have written before, is listening to Alan Freeman’s Saturday afternoon radio show in the early seventies, relishing the prospect of hearing something from Billion Dollar Babies.
As far as the music business is concerned, Alice runs a school for musicians, the way that John Mayall did in the UK. You know that anyone who is in his band is going to be shit hot. You also know that the show you are about to see, be it a fully-fledged spectacular or a straight rock and roll gig, will be nothing less than the best that there is. Alice is the consummate professional showman and nothing less than 100% is going to cut the mustard. For Milton Keynes, Alice had a stage-full of assorted sharp, pointy props, and Madame la Guillotine stood, ominously, stage right, awaiting her moment of glory.
One of my earliest memories, as I think I have written before, is listening to Alan Freeman’s Saturday afternoon radio show in the early seventies, relishing the prospect of hearing something from Billion Dollar Babies.
As far as the music business is concerned, Alice runs a school for musicians, the way that John Mayall did in the UK. You know that anyone who is in his band is going to be shit hot. You also know that the show you are about to see, be it a fully-fledged spectacular or a straight rock and roll gig, will be nothing less than the best that there is. Alice is the consummate professional showman and nothing less than 100% is going to cut the mustard. For Milton Keynes, Alice had a stage-full of assorted sharp, pointy props, and Madame la Guillotine stood, ominously, stage right, awaiting her moment of glory.
No matter how many times I see Alice lose his head, it is still one of the most impressive stunts there is. You know it is an illusion and, if you’ve watched as many of those ‘Magical Mysteries Revealed!’ programs as I have, you know exactly how it is done, yet it still keeps my attention focused on the stage, marvelling like a child at the enchantment of it all. The magic is in the performance, not the knowing how it is achieved. I know it’s a trick but, unlike Elton John’s wigs, I can’t see the join!
Snakes, swords, sluts, straightjackets, bling, blood and booty are all in abundance as Alice works through a setlist that is as close to perfection as any artist could wish for. The thing that amazes me about him is how, even now, he can still amaze me by playing a couple of songs that I never expected him to exhume in a month of Sundays. But, that’s Alice Cooper; he never does what you expect, and that is why he is here co-headlining Monsters of Rock, and there can be no doubt that he is as much on top of the bill as Deep Purple. The beauty of this bill is that the two acts at the top are not competing, and Purple is one of the few bands that could actually follow Alice and not feel threatened. Hats off to the organisers. (And if you can find that phrase anywhere else in the million or so words on this website, I’ll eat your shorts!)
One other thing about The Alice Cooper Show, in the middle of the ‘noughties’, is that there is quite a family atmosphere to the proceedings. Alice’s daughter, Calico, has taken on a much larger role, than even the last time I saw Alice live, and it has added a great deal to the overall performance. It is both weird and wonderful that Alice Cooper has turned into a family affair but, at the same time, you sense the proud father in Alice coming out. And how much pleasure must it give Calico to whip, stab, and guillotine her father a couple of hundred times each year?
Snakes, swords, sluts, straightjackets, bling, blood and booty are all in abundance as Alice works through a setlist that is as close to perfection as any artist could wish for. The thing that amazes me about him is how, even now, he can still amaze me by playing a couple of songs that I never expected him to exhume in a month of Sundays. But, that’s Alice Cooper; he never does what you expect, and that is why he is here co-headlining Monsters of Rock, and there can be no doubt that he is as much on top of the bill as Deep Purple. The beauty of this bill is that the two acts at the top are not competing, and Purple is one of the few bands that could actually follow Alice and not feel threatened. Hats off to the organisers. (And if you can find that phrase anywhere else in the million or so words on this website, I’ll eat your shorts!)
One other thing about The Alice Cooper Show, in the middle of the ‘noughties’, is that there is quite a family atmosphere to the proceedings. Alice’s daughter, Calico, has taken on a much larger role, than even the last time I saw Alice live, and it has added a great deal to the overall performance. It is both weird and wonderful that Alice Cooper has turned into a family affair but, at the same time, you sense the proud father in Alice coming out. And how much pleasure must it give Calico to whip, stab, and guillotine her father a couple of hundred times each year?
Alice , now in his 60s, still rocks as hard as he ever did. It is not so long ago that 60 year olds were old. They dressed and behaved like old people. Nowadays, getting older does not mean that you have to become a boring old fart, or that you have to stop doing what you enjoy, just because you have reached a certain age, which is just as well, given that pensions are FUBAR and we will all have to work longer than we ever envisaged. Rock and Roll has not only given us over 50 years of pleasure and enjoyment, it has changed the world and lengthened our youth. Next year, it will be 25 years since I first saw Alice live. Back then, it never even occurred to me that I might be going to see him in 2006 and, judging by his performance at Monsters of Rock, I see no reason why we shouldn’t be seeing Alice perform for many more years to come.
Thank God for Rock ‘n’ Roll. Or me. I accept PayPal. Last time I looked, God only took Mastercard or Visa!
Mark L. Potts
The God of Thunder
10th June 2006
Thank God for Rock ‘n’ Roll. Or me. I accept PayPal. Last time I looked, God only took Mastercard or Visa!
Mark L. Potts
The God of Thunder
10th June 2006