Alice Cooper, "Raise the Dead" tour
I finally made a big dream come true which was to follow Alice Cooper on tour at least in part. I just saw the first four shows of the UK tour.
The first stop in this mini tour was
Cardiff. I flew the day before the show so I could settle a bit in the mood and
meet up with friends. What a fun evening that was.
I know the venue (CIA) as I've been there
twice before. So I remembered that the sound is always great in this hall and
also that security is really a bitch, there is no other term, sorry.
Some of you may recall a certain Tom Jones
concert and how security kept people from dancing and enjoying themselves. This
time we weren't even allowed to touch the barrier. What's the point of having
one if you can't use it? And how is the audience supposed to show their
support? Because that's what these show are about.
Not long ago Alice was at DragonCon in the
US. One person asked him what he thought about cosplay. His answer was that it
was great if it fueled people creativity, to make a costume and play a
character. And that he expected his audience to do this too.
If you know me you’ll know that I‘ve always
had a Steampunk “nature”, long before I even learned about the term at
the Utopiales in 2003. I’ve always been attracted to the period, more to
Edwardian times than Victorian, I always wanted to wear that sort of clothes
even as a child. So I was really thrilled when I first saw Alice perform in
1997 and he was in full Victorian garb.
So instead of a costume I was very happy to
go all the way and dress up in full Steampunk garb for these shows.
If the fictional character that is my
"Alice Cooper concert persona" was given the word here she'd only
have a long list of profanities to say about the above troubles. What ever happened to
"Freedom to Rock?" The thing you see, is that "Dirty
Diamonds" is back in the setlist and it's a personal favourite of mine
because the game is on full then.
I never even noticed the guy who apparently
warned me he'd throw me out of the venue because I was having too much fun. Someone
pulled me back and told me. To see the sad people kill the joy in the egg so to
speak was a huge let down.
This was the first show of the UK tour and
only the second time the new show was played. The fantastic part about this is
that they are still working on things and we had little changes each night. I
love it when that happens.
I was overjoyed to see one of my favourite
songs back in the show. “Devil's Food” is such a great song, the lyrics are
amazing. One day I will be able to put it in painting, it's one of these things
that need to be done before I die. So when a few days later Dali the snake made
his appearance during this song, I was over the moon, what a marvellous animal he is, and so lucky... I find the snake "works" even better with
this song than with “Is It My Body”
EDIT: oops, I assumed Dali was a she, my apologies to him! Hard to say with snakes sometimes.
EDIT: oops, I assumed Dali was a she, my apologies to him! Hard to say with snakes sometimes.
Three songs from the latest album made their
way into this set list although “Caffeine” wasn't in initially, too bad “Brutal
Planet” had to go to make way for it. “Welcome to the Congregation” is really fantastic as a live song and like “I'll
Bite Your Face Off” is very danceable.
In mid show there is a section that really
innovates from the usual shows and it didn't go down very well with some diehard
fans. Alice gets out of persona for a bit, not completely but kind of. While I
agree that I love nothing more than to see him “in persona”, I find this a
great idea, like time travelling, to my favourite period. “Time Lord” indeed.
It was rather moving too. Plus it's the music of my youth. Some complain that
there are never any changes to the show, and then others complain when they do
change it. I like change, and I enjoy whatever is offered, it will always fuel
my imagination.
In short, Alice tells the audience about the
drinking club he was in with John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison and Keith
Moon (the Hollwood Vampires) and how he’s the only survivor of the group. He
then sings one song from each artist. I love the idea and it’s always been a
dream of mine to watch Alice perform a full song by the Doors. On some
occasions he’s been known to almost channel Jim Morrison.
I also love that Ryan Roxie gets to play a
song by John Lennon as he’s a big fan.
Steampunk anyone? :)
Many find this a bit anti climatic and too
long, I didn’t find so but I understand the feeling. The idea was to split the
show in three sections and completely separate the tribute from the rest. Maybe
it would be better to actually weave the songs in the fabric of the show. And
have one iconic Cooper song after each? Something like:
Hello Hooray (explain the Holywood Vampires)
House of Fire
No More Mr. Nice Guy
I'll Bite Your Face Off
Be My Lover
Caffeine
Billion Dollar Babies
Revolution (The Beatles cover)
Foxy Lady
(The Jimi
Hendrix Experience cover)
My Generation (The Who cover)
Encore:
Maybe that would go down better?
One thing that struck me as odd is that the
band never got introduced it's usually the case.
For many reasons I prefer standing venues
and Wolverhampton was absolutely perfect. A lot like Swiss audiences, extremely
enthusiastic but never rowdy, at least not where I was, people kept a bit of
distance and everyone sang along and danced.
Some technical glitches, really minor ones
and I bet the audience in the back never noticed. Like for instance the strap
on the Frankenstein device that didn't want to stay fastened for the first two
shows.
For me it was
the best of all four shows. Everything fell into place perfectly, show was
great fun. Plus I got a little gift:
The pick went flying past and as usual I didn’t
catch it and couldn’t see it so I gave up. A minute later the guy behind me
taps on my shoulder and hands it to me as he had seen Ryan meant it for me. Now
that is pretty exceptional and very much appreciated, I made sure to hand him
some dollar notes later on, in exchange.
It was the same in Cardiff, people saw how
frustrated I was by the whole “Dirty Diamonds” fiasco (when I nearly got
evicted) and gave me one of the necklaces. I love that kind of thing.
After a day of sightseeing and driving
through the Cotswolds, having a drink in a pub with friends that evening we
were off to Bournemouth for another seated venue. Kind of handy to alternate
between seated shows and standing ones. But despite the stress and long hours
of queuing, I'll always prefer standing venues. Bournemouth was a great
show in all aspects, setlist was starting to make more sense, and the
musicians were even better too. But myself I wasn't into it at all. I almost
regretted that I had lent my camera to Rob who was on the balcony, because I
could have tried to get some good shots. Then again, Rob got some really unusual angles
and interesting shots:
I felt like attending a regular concert
which is cool in such but not what I expect from a Coop show, I want to
completely forget the whole world around me for the duration of the show. Can't
always win I suppose.
At least this time I had plenty space to
take out my mask and hide behind it during “He’s Back (The Man Behind The Mask)”
apparently no one noticed though. And I had these on as well:
Bournemouth is a pretty town, and our hotel
was really fun. Vintage 40’s-50’s complete with scary elevator:
The view from the room was excellent too:
Then it was time to head to Wembley, the
last time I was there was in 1998 to see Page and Plant and even if I had
remembered what the place looked like there would have been no way to recognize
it, the new stadium now stand right next to the Arena, and hotels have grown
out of the ground like mushrooms.
Sure enough the Wembley show was fantastic.
I was bracing myself for the worst as London crowds can be really violent, but
nothing at all. Everyone was well behaved, security was fabulous, and after a
horrible moment when some idiot sent us to the wrong end of the hall, which
made us lose all the advantage of having being queuing since 2pm, and after having a mini
nervous breakdown, everything fell into place.
It’s
a little sad that the last show for this year will also be seated, but it will
be a "home show" that's always extra special. Too bad I lost my
SickThings t-shirt in Wembley but I have new shirt that I can wear on Sunday. Stay
tuned.
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