alice cooper

Alice Cooper and Primal Scream Utilita Arena 16th October

Halloween is on the horizon and the most suitable musician to capture the essence of the festival is the rock legend Alice Cooper and his macabre pantomime.

For this tour, Alice has brought in the more than capable hands of Primal Scream and their inimitable style of psych, rock, americana and dance. You couldn’t ask for a better support act, Bobby Gillespie woos the audience in his sparkly suit as the band blast through a well constructed set of their most popular hits and a couple of new tracks from their upcoming album, Come Ahead. It is a spluttering start as they correct the key for their recent single Love Insurrection, but after the restart the funk groove kicks in. The new songs blend in well with the likes of Jailbird and Crying that demonstrate the gospelesque backing singers talents as well as the blues keyboards.

Gillespie’s vocal range has stood the test of time and Movin’ Up is testament to his craft. Both Loaded and Movin’ Up, have a weight and depth when you hear them live compared with recordings as Innes’ guitar resonates especially during the breakdown of Loaded with those stabbing chords. By this point, the majority of the audience were up and dancing and Gillespie was milking their enthusiasm. He had everyone singing along with Country Girl, beautifully dedicated to the late Dave Kusworth, to the point where he was conducting the band to quieten down so he could work the crowd ready for the song to kick back in. With only 50 minutes allocated, Primal Scream end a mini set with Rocks. A perfect finale to a fabulous and concise set, proving that even after 40 years Primal Scream are still bringing it and have set the scene for the next living icon.

After nearly 60 years of live performance, it is not surprising that Alice Cooper remains at the top of his game and the new show Too Close For Comfort is in town to quash any doubts. Cooper lays down his intent as the performance begins with two plague doctors walking across the stage swinging incense as if to cleanse the arena and as they exit, a curtain displaying a newspaper headline proposing “Banned in England, Alice Cooper”. The unique silhouette for Alice Cooper is backlit and he slashes through the curtain and holds his arms aloft, wielding a sword, commanding the arena’s attention. The hour and half set begins with Lock Me Up and Welcome To The Show, as Cooper struts the width of the stage controlling his guitarists with the movement of his sword or cane. The three guitarists, Nita Strauss, Tommy Henricksen and Ryan Roxie, rampage around the stage, pulling fierce rock poses and playing a critical part of the marionettes to Alice’s puppet master whilst creating a roaring wall of sound. This is enhanced by the rhythm section of bass player Chuck Garric and Glen Sobel on drums who produce the weight behind the squealing guitars.

The set list is a collection of songs from Cooper’s recording career including the 1970s classics of No More Mr. Nice Guy and Billion Dollar Baby which illustrate how Alice’s vocal performance is as mighty as ever. If you have ever seen Alice Cooper live before, you know what to expect during certain songs, for example Billion Dollar Baby sees Cooper brandishing a foil and throwing out fake money to the audience and the oversized monster flailing about in Feed My Frankenstein. Some might claim this makes it obvious yet, I find this fore knowledge adds to the joy and fun of the event. The shock rock drama never gets tiring, every member of the audience is loving each song for its simple rock sensibilities and onstage antics whether it be Snakebite that sees Cooper draped in a live snake or Hey Stoopid where Alice stabs a photographer with a microphone stand. And then the classic opening riff to Poison which raises the atmosphere even higher with the whole arena singing each word with utter conviction.

The end of the set leads towards The Ballad Of Dwight Fry that sees Cooper in a straitjacket shrouded in white light, singing the mournful salute to the horror star before he is led away by Marie Antoinette to face the classic pinnacle of any Alice show – the guillotine. Despite losing his head, Alice returns fully rejuvenated for Elected. Enshrined in the stars and stripes flags, dressed in a white top hat and jacket at the top of a podium, Cooper delivers a political call with utter conviction and pomp that could challenge Trump! Despite a brief bow, we all knew there was one song that hadn’t been played and Alice Cooper asks “One more?” just before the genius opening riff kicks off School’s Out. This song epitomises teenage freedom and beautifully segues into Another Brick In The Wall as Alice bursts ticker tape filled balloons and the audience reach fever pitch. A superb ending to a truly show stopping night.

Review: Toni Woodward

Feature photo copyright-earMUSIC credit-Jenny-Risher courtesy of Atom Splitter PR

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