Alice Cooper "Theatre of Death Tour"

NO ONE DOES DEATH LIKE ALICE!

Story By: Robin Roth

Photos by: Robin Roth

The father of theatrical shock, rock, and crazy will always be synonymous with ALICE COOPER! The hard rock veteran and legend hit the Orleans Hotel Oct. 23-25 with all the scare and music he could give. Cooper’s “Theatre of Death Tour” a revamped, OUT-OF-THE-BOX wildly insane and totally fun stage show amazingly WOWED his fans. They got everything they begged for and more. Most of the fans that I interviewed were at all three nights. Most of them even paid extra to have a meet and greet with the rocker. I understood that need and desire for more after seeing the show. It was amazingly fun and magically visual. Let me put it this way, what performer is gruesomely killed 4 times on stage each night with love for his fans? Which no doubt adds to the fact and proof that indeed, Alice is totally indestructible…

Alice says, "I ALWAYS prefer to play theatres because it makes the theatrics of our show so much more intense." I agree with you ALICE.

Don’t worry about all the fluff and stage effects as Alice is still pure rock 'n roll of course. Cooper performs many of his endless number of hits including “School's Out” and “Poison”, plus newer material from his 2008 ‘Along Came A Spider’ album... Alice Cooper's “Theatre of Death” is a unique and very different show from any of his shows that have gone before. What I have come to learn about this totally fun, unpredictable artist is to always expect the unexpected.

Cooper states, "It's Alice all the way, but the formula is totally upside down and backwards. It's a celebration of Alice stuff. There's no moral to it. It really is just sort of a celebration of different phases of Alice." He said. “I want to tell four stories” So there is the delinquent Alice, Alice in hell, in four different acts. At the end of each act he is killed…. They kill that Alice and introduce the next Alice. Sounds fun?  Well of course IT IS!”

Besides the deaths, Cooper is also throwing fans by starting with his usual show-closer, "School's Out", which is reprised at the end of the night.  He had them at “School’s”! When he just walked out on stage singing, you had to hold your ears from the screaming fans. OK, maybe that was me but, I’m just sayin’.

Cooper says he plans on filming and recording the “Theatre of Death Tour” at some point before it winds down in December. For those of you who haven’t seen it he also plans on taking the same show out again in 2010. Don’t miss it. “Theatre of Death” is really fun to watch, entertaining, exciting, enjoyable, and most amusing.

Alice, in his black leather with a black walking stick twirling around in the air, sang a shortened version of “School’s Out” and a few moments later he shot his stick out into the crowd and that was one very fine souvenir someone got to take home with them. I tried to follow that rat out to the parking lot at the end of the concert but they got lost in the crowd.

During the song, “I’m Eighteen”, Alice waved about a crutch made of bones, sporting a military hat and glided back and forth across the stage. Then a creature came out, fused with the equipment, and Alice impaled him with a metal rod.

Well, dunt, dunt, dun…Roll out the guillotine, chop off Alice’s head which falls in a basket and he then walks around picking the head out and sings to it. Isn’t that romantic???? I cannot tell you how many times I wanted to do that myself. But never mind me…..

Later on a hot girl who appears like a corpse and dressed as a nurse roamed the stage with an 8 foot hypodermic to do major damage to human bodies… IE Alice….

During the production of, “I Never Cry” a strapped in Rock Star, yet again a re-incarnated Alice was placed in a 5 foot box with his head out and tons of sharp spikes slammed through his body spewing liquids for effect. NICE ONE!!! I love that spewing part.

“Billion Dollar Babies” had reams of “Cooper Cash” being thrown about from his sword as he chopped off a baby dolls’ head and then sang to it sweetly.

AHHHH yes my favorite part. I hated Barbie anyway…

After courteously introducing the band by name, Alice brought us to the closing number of this ghastly musical adventure finishing out that first song, a shortened version of “School’s Out”, with Alice wearing an all silver mirrored reflection tux, mirrored top hat, and shiny chrome walking stick.

Super large balloons bounced throughout the Orleans Showroom and good ole Alice was there to pop them wide open with his fencing saber spreading confetti everywhere. Yeah, you go rocker!

After twenty seven songs (listed below) and fun-filled magical illusions (watch out David Copperfield), “Theatre of Death” and Alice Cooper brings his quest through zombies and death and reincarnation enabling him to do over again the next night.  Gosh, I am so exhausted just thinking about it…

SET LIST:

School's Out
Department Of Youth
I'm Eighteen
Wicked Young Man
The Ballad Of Dwight Fry
Go To Hell
Guilty

Welcome To My Nightmare
Cold Ethyl
Poison
The Awakening
From The Inside
Nurse Rozetta
Is It My Body
Be My Lover
Only Women Bleed
I Never Cry

Black Widow
Vengeance Is Mine
Devil's Food
Dirty Diamonds
Billion Dollar Babies
Killer
I Love The Dead
No More Mr. Nice Guy
Under My Wheels
School 's Out

With a stage show that includes guillotines, electric chairs, fake blood, boa constrictors, and baby dolls, it is clear that Cooper has drawn equally from horror movies, vaudeville, and garage rock to pioneer a grandly theatrical and violent brand of heavy metal that was designed to shock. It is not that horror-ble as much as good ole-fashioned fun…

Now, I must say that I have met Alice Cooper and he is like really a nice chap. He is sweet, humble, and a real down to earth kind of guy. He probably would not like that out there, but I have to tell the truth….

Furthermore, I have to talk about the fans. They are wildly true blue and loyal to the max. For example, there is Jennifer Schultz from Madison, WI, USA, who told me, "The live show in 2005 made me a fan. Alice, the music, the shows, and the friends I've made since then have made it more fun than I ever expected!"

She met Carrie-Anne Cathro from Preston, UK on an Alice forum. They finally met in person for the first time at the Vegas shows last year.

Carrie flew all the way from England just to see this show 3 times (talk about a loyal fan!) These girls really deserve to spend a day with the Cooper.  HINT, HINT!

For those of you not familiar with Alice Cooper (is this possible?), he is an American rock singer, songwriter, and musician whose career spans more than four decades.

He was born Vincent Damon Furnier in Detroit, Michigan on February 4, 1948 and the son of Ella Mae (née McCart) and Ether Moroni Furnier. He was named after one of his uncles and the writer Damon Runyon… His grandfather, Thurman Sylvester Furnier, was an apostle in The Church of Jesus Christ based in Monongahela, Pennsylvania. Vincent Furnier's father was an Elder in The Church of Jesus Christ. Alice FYI has a re-born faith in Jesus Christ. After a series of childhood illnesses, Furnier and his family moved to Phoenix, Arizona.

The  Alice Cooper Group was originally a band consisting of Furnier on vocals and harmonica, lead guitarist Glen Buxton, Michael Bruce on rhythm guitar, Dennis Dunaway on bass guitar, and drummer Neal Smith.  It came after his original three bands, The Earwigs, The Spiders, and The Nazz. The original Alice Cooper Group broke into the international music mainstream with the 1971 hit "I'm Eighteen" from the album Love it to Death, which was followed by the even bigger single "School's Out" in 1972. The band reached their commercial peak with the 1973 album Billion Dollar Babies.

Furnier's solo career as Alice Cooper, adopting the band's name as his own name, began with the 1975 album Welcome to My Nightmare. In 2008 he released Along Came a Spider, his 18th solo album. Growing from his original roots, through the years, Cooper has experimented with many different musical styles, including conceptual rock, art rock, hard rock, new wave, pop rock, soft rock, experimental rock, and industrial rock. Recently, he has returned more to his garage rock roots.  

Off stage, Alice Cooper is known for his social and witty personality. FYI, he is an avid golfer as well.

So Mr. Alice Cooper please, please do ROCK ON with all your magical rock AND exquisite horror …

WE LOVE YOU MAN!!