Alice Cooper – Detroit Muscle Rolled Into the Stifel Theatre Wednesday

 

–by Randy Thompson and Vicki Lee

–photos by Sean Derrick

 

We saw Alice Cooper perform at the Stifel Theatre in Saint Louis on Wednesday night. There was no opening act, this night was all about Alice and his band.

Alice Cooper came out on the stage with “Feed my Frankenstein” as the ultimate showman, a spry, engaging, 74-year-old rock star. He was not the 1975 bloody, goth version that we had known. Instead, he performed all the familiar songs with a wink and a nudge, but he had the same energy and macabre joy as he did in 1975. It was a pleasure to behold for the 13-year-old kids that we once were, as the show progressed through some of our favorite songs.

We got to meet Alice the musician as he displayed his skills on the harmonica in “Fallen in Love”, as well as the raspy voiced Godfather of Shock Rock in classic black-eyed makeup. The stage show was a slimmed down version of the hyper theatrical, blood fest shows of the seventies. But it still included the expected, engaging, and horror inducing characters.

There were giant, eerie babies, big Frank, the murdered bride from “Roses on White Lace”, the dominatrix, Michael Meyers and the unobservant “audience members” for “He’s Back”, and the hunchback servant bringing props to the ringmaster, Alice; they’re all relevant aspects of the story telling. There were also special effects and props galore that included syringes, whips, confetti cannons, streamers, confetti filled balloons that Alice popped with a sword, a straitjacket and the big finish with Alice being beheaded by a guillotine.

The music was presented with Alice’s typically strong and reliable vocals. The band was guitar heavy with Tommy Henriksen, Ryan Roxie and Kane Roberts all taking turns as lead. Driven by the excellent agile drumming of Glen Sobel and with Chuck Garric on bass and Sheryl Cooper as actress/dancer they were a cohesive unit who flowed well together with Alice serving as conductor.

The musical selections included many songs from early albums such as Hey Stoopid, Trash and Billion Dollar Babies.  There was a pleasant surprise during the encore when the band was playing “Schools Out” and drifted into Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in The Wall”. This was a concert that met all our expectations as well as the rest of the clapping, singing and cheering audience.

Alice himself noted with Halloween coming soon and spending the evening with Alice Cooper was a very special thing. Thanks Alice, for welcoming us to your nightmare.

Alice Cooper Setlist:

Feed My Frankenstein

No More Mr. Nice Guy

Bed of Nails

Hey Stoopid

Fallen in Love

Be My Lover

House of Fire

Under My Wheels

He’s Back (The Man Behind the Mask)

Go to Hell

I’m Eighteen

Poison

Billion Dollar Babies

Roses on White Lace

My Stars

Devil’s Food (band only)

Black Widow Jam (with drum solo)

Steven

Dead Babies

I Love the Dead (band only)

Escape

Freedom

School’s Out (Encore)