The man on stage has died this fashion earlier than. The blade catches the highlight on its approach down and a dull head tumbles right into a basket, able to be paraded in entrance of the baying crowd. In Alice Cooper’s world, execution by guillotine counts as taking part in the hits.
Kicking off this co-headline tour with the Cult – who, because of Ian Astbury’s aggro charisma, stay a muscular, thrilling rock band of their finest moments and a meat-and-potatoes one the remainder of the time – Alice doesn’t skimp on crowd-pleasing gimmicks.
At a juncture when most individuals wish to be reminded of how issues had been, it’s a canny, secure transfer. He hits the stage, which is decked out as a polystyrene citadel, to the punchy riff of Feed My Frankenstein, performed up in his trademark prime hat and eye make-up, cane twirling. The response is strictly as you may anticipate – every costume change and macabre set piece is welcomed like fan service in a franchise revival.
It’s a disgrace, although, that the spirit of Alice’s 2021 album Detroit Tales – a tribute to the MC5-launching late-60s storage rock scene in his residence city – hasn’t left a lot of a footprint. Simply because the guillotine is on the street once more, so is the glam metallic aesthetic that has been his bread and butter for the previous thirtysomething years.
Poison, Hey Stoopid and Teenage Frankenstein are dispatched with most bombast, divebombs flying from the fretboard of guitarist Nita Strauss. However, accentuated by the pyrotechnic chops of the band, who seem like motion figures from a toy line based mostly on the mid-80s Sundown Strip, the staging of older numbers reminiscent of I’m Eighteen and No Extra Mr Good Man grinds their psych and powerpop parts into homogenised sleaze-rock.
With solely 25 minutes at their disposal, openers Creeper race by their Jim Steinman-meets-AFI set, urged on by puckish vocalist Will Gould. They're heading in Alice’s route, with a love of theatricality trumping their roots in Southampton’s hardcore scene, however they nonetheless carry out with the center and desperation of a punk band. They're unpredictable, one thing the headliner may be aware of.
Alice Cooper is on tour within the UK till 1 June, then in Europe.
Post a Comment