The event
This is part one of two posts about the Alice Cooper gig I attended with my son on June 1st 2022.
Please bear in mind that the images are pics taken on my phone.
1972 was a defining year for me. I moved up to grammar school having passed my “eleven +” but more importantly I first heard “School’s Out” Prior to that the only music that I had really heard was the sanitised pop heard on the radio. I had literally not heard anything so raucous, so anarchic, so gloriously decadent. Something that was mine, something my parents hated, almost as passionately as I loved it. And at those tender years that was something to revel in. I’ve been a lifelong Alice Cooper fan ever since.
School's Out
Being turned on to music by Alice Cooper (the band) I discovered other music that I’d not heard of - ZZ Top, Skynyrd, Led Zeppelin, Sabbath, then The Pistols, The Clash, Kiss, Rory Gallagher, Hendrix etc etc and then later Metallica, Testament, Rancid, Misfits and the list goes on. But first there was Alice Cooper.
The grand finale
Sadly I never got to see the original Alice Cooper band. The first time I saw Alice was on the Welcome To My Nightmare tour in 1975. At Wembley Empire Pool. For the grand total of £2.50. Me and a mate went down on the train. It was a fabulous concert and the first time I really felt part of something. So many people there in Alice’s trademark make up, all there for one thing - to lose ourselves in Alice's weird world. Support came from the Heavy Metal Kids which featured Gary Holton on vocals, he later appeared as Wayne Norris in Auf Wiedersehen, Pet (for those Brits old enough to remember it) . After Holton died John Altman (of *Eastenders *fame) briefly took the lead vocals role. Anyway I digress. Cooper was fantastic, Nightmare was such a theatrical show. A brilliant introduction to arena concerts.
However, we didn’t consider the return train times. And missed the last train back to Lincoln. We decided to just kip on the station. We got talking to this guy on the station. He lived locally and invited us back to his place to kip for the night. Back then it kinda seemed normal and we went. Looking back, thankfully his wife was there and he really was just a genuinely nice bloke and not some psychotic axe wielding serial killer. They gave us a good breakfast in the morning, took us back to the station with us completely oblivious to the fact that it really wasn’t something we should have done. Hey ho, all’s well that ends well.
Alice Cooper and Nina Strauss
The Band
Alice Cooper - Vocals
Nita Strauss - Lead & Rhythm Guitar, Backing Vocals
Chuck Garric - Bass, Vocals
Ryan Roxie - Guitar, Vocals
Tommy Henriksen - Rhythm & Lead Guitar, Backing Vocals
Glen Sobel - Drums, Percussion
Set List
| Song Title | Album |
|---|---|
| Feed My Frankenstein | Hey Stoopid |
| No More Mr. Nice Guy | Billion Dollar Babies |
| Bed of Nails | Trash |
| Hey Stoopid | Hey Stoopid |
| Fallen in Love | Paranormal |
| Be My Lover | Killer |
| Go Man Go | Detroit Stories |
| Under My Wheels | Killer |
| Guitar Solo | |
| Roses on White Lace | Raise Your Fist And Yell |
| I'm Eighteen | Love It To Death |
| Poison | Trash |
| Billion Dollar Babies | Billion Dollar Babies |
| Black Widow Jam | Welcome to My Nightmare |
| Steven | Welcome To My Nightmare |
| Drum Solo | |
| Steven | Welcome To My Nightmare |
| Dead Babies | Killer |
| I Love the Dead | Billion Dollar Babies |
| Escape | Welcome To My Nightmare |
| Teenage Frankenstein | Constrictor |
Encore:
School’s Out
The setlist is as close as I can remember it
Video Of "School's Out" taken on the night can be found here
About me:
I can mostly be found shooting models, aviation, motorsports and, when I can, wildlife. But I enjoy most aspects of photography. You can find more of my work on the links below.
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