Written by Eddie Ferranti
If you are a true concert goer you can remember your first concert. Mine was Grand Funk Railroad smoking menthol cigs and driving to Cleveland from Youngstown, Ohio. Well my second was shock rocker Alice Cooper in 1972 and this past week he came to town still touring at 68 years old. I’ve lost count how many times I have seen his gigs since that time in the early seventies, but one constant is a down right enjoyable night of music and mayhem! AC is the consummate pro who always surrounds himself from Day One with outstanding musicians and tongue-in-cheek props a plenty. The three guitar army he brought with him featured hot mama Nita Strauss who pimped and posed to the crowd’s delight as she mashed incredibly on her bad ass guitar. The other two were Ryan Roxie and Tommy Henriksen who blasted away keeping the pulse of the evening smokin’ hot. Long time buffed up bassist Chuck Garric was solid and drums were armed and ready by Glen Sobel who has spent some time with Motley Crue also.
Alice invited us up front being the class act he is for four songs which got the night off major. “The Black Widow”, scorching “Public Animal #9”, “No More Mister Nice Guy” and a bombastic “Under My Wheels” ! The dude’s voice seems ageless and not only did he roll out the hits, but even took time to do a trio tribute to all his drunk friends with The Who’s “Pinball Wizard” to Keith Moon, a Motorhead tune to Lemmy Kilmister which I did not recognize and a stellar raise the roof “Suffragette City” to David Bowie. Cooper knows how to let his band play, but you never forget who is running this rock show with him wielding a bloody crutch on “Eighteen”, the straightjacket on “Dwight Fry” with his wife the naughty evil nurse and of course the guillotine chopping off his head to the henchman’s delight! It is amazing how he can coordinate a horror film around a heavy rock gig effortlessly like he does.
More rock nuggets included Strauss covering a lot of ground on deep cut “Woman of Mass Destruction”, “Poison”, all-time fave “Halo of Flies”, “Feed My Frankenstein” with transformation into a monster included, “Billion Dollar Babies” and an amazing version of “Only Women Bleed” where Cooper sat on a garbage can ballad style and the tune ending up soaring into a rock blitz! “School’s Out” complete with a bubble machine and encore of “Elected” with two people “disguised” as Trump and Clinton doing lewd acts was vintage Alice for sure.
What is rarely told is the kind and generous side of AC providing music for children. Check out his Solid Rock Foundation and you’ll be amazed by this guy. Bob Dylan once stated that Vincent Furnier was one of the most underrated and unappreciated American songwriters to come along. Judging how the Baby Boomer crowd stood all night like teenagers basking in the fun that this dude throws at ya he still has what it takes………Hopefully he’ll come back again.