ALICE COOPER Concert Review

Alice Cooper

Sunday, July 14, 2013

State Theatre, Minneapolis, MN

Fresh off of a co-headlining run with Marilyn Manson, Alice Cooper brought his troupe to town for the first of two shows at the State Theatre. This was billed as “An Evening with Alice Cooper”, so I was excited to finally see an extended, full set from Alice since all previous times seeing him were part of a package tour (twice with Judas Priest, Dangerous Toys, Motorhead, and Metal Church) or as co-headliner (with Rob Zombie). It looked like I was going to have to miss this show, but a last-minute miracle enabled me to go so I wasn’t disappointed that I was forced to arrive late and hear “No More Mr. Nice Guy” and “Under My Wheels” as I found the way to my seats (the show was opened with “Hello Hooray” and “House Of Fire” prior to these two songs).

Slideshow of Alice Cooper pictures (20). These are screenshots of some of the video of the show, so the image quality is below my usual standards.

What I like about Alice’s show is that he doesn’t shy away from playing new songs, while also forgoing some of his hits to play some lesser-known favorites. The first hour of the set featured newer songs “I’ll Bite Your Face Off”, “Caffeine”, and “Dirty Diamonds” (including a drum solo) mixed in with old standards like “Billion Dollar Babies”, “Department Of Youth”, and “Hey Stoopid”. Rounding out the first half were other 70s-era classics: “Welcome To My Nightmare”, “Go To Hell”, and “Devil’s Food”.

Click here or on any of the pictures to see more photos of Alice Cooper (20).

Up until this point (from what I saw) the stage show made use of simple props and actors, but “Feed My Frankenstein” had Alice strapped to a spark-emitting machine that turned him into the fictional monster. Returning as Alice for “Ballad Of Dwight Fry” while singing in a straightjacket, a segment of “Killer” brought a roar from the crowd as he was executed by a guillotine before his head was paraded around during a short version of “I Love The Dead”.

Playing tribute to fallen rock stars, the band then honored Jim Morrison, John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix, and Keith Moon by playing spirited covers of their respective bands: “Break On Through (To The Other Side)”, “Revolution”, “Foxy Lady”, and “My Generation”. This part of the show was the only disappointment, only because I’m not particularly fond of any of these bands. Mandatory classics “I’m Eighteen” and “Poison” brought the show to a close, with “School’s Out” saved for the encore.

Alice Cooper never puts on a bad show, and this one was everything you would expect. The entire production was flawless and no time was wasted, not even to address the crowd – the lights dimmed for no more than five seconds between each song before launching into the next one. With three guitarists in the band for this tour, this was probably the heaviest and most lively performance of his band that I’ve seen. With a career now approaching 50 years, Alice’s quality of studio output has understandably varied at times, but there is no doubt that his live performances are better than ever. The man is a true legend, and Alice once again reminded the sold-out crowd of why he has remained relevant and endearing to generations of fans.