REVIEWS...
The concert:
03rd July 2003 - Wolverhampton Civic Hall
06th july 2003 - Liverpool summer pops - At the King's Dock/Albert Dock in Liverpool.
Set List:
Sun Arise (taped intro); Hello Hooray; No More Mr Nice Guy; Billion Dollar Babies; Long Way to Go; Public Animal no.9; Be My Lover; Lost in America; I'm Eighteen; Serious; Desperado; Halo of Flies; Welcome to My Nightmare; Cold Ethyl; Only Women; Ballad of Dwight Fry; Guilty and Schools Out.
Encores:
Poison; Elected; Disgraceland and Under My Wheels.
The Review:
The set list was the SAME at BOTH concerts, and the stage antics exactly the same - but the gigs were TOTALLY different! It certainly shows the difference that a Venue can make!
Don't get me wrong both shows were fantastic - I can't imagine an Alice Cooper concert to be anything but... they were BOTH great in their own right... But there is definitely something to be said about the difference between an all standing, crushed against the stage small venue... and an all seated 'where's the stage' arena!
Wolverhampton was superb... the atmosphere amazing! The support band rocked (The Darkness) and the crowd were crazy! Nurse Rozetta was at the front, Lunatic Billy was there too... even a few GOTHS who thought they were robots - wrong gig if you ask me! ;-p There were Bitches on leads, and the usual array of painted faces! Everybody crushed to the front! A few people carried over the fence through exhaustion - it WAS hot! But the atmosphere ELECTRIC! I was there at the front... I could almost touch the stage. 1 hour 20minutes of jumping around and screaming lyrics... by the end of the concert I was BUZZING! Definitely the best gig that I've been to in years - although I think that was down to the atmosphere and some of the other fans that were there!
As for the stage... well it was billed as the bare bones tour (which even had some folks wearing BEAR BONES! Weird - huh? :-) Obviously BLONDE and can't spell! Probably don't even know the difference between an 'M' and a 'W'!!! ;-))) ) And the stage was pretty bare! The back drop consisted of the 'Eyes of Alice Cooper' (hey what a great name for an album!) and had the 'Love it to Death' eye pattern covering the entire back of the stage. There was very little in the way of theatrics - although I will detail these later... and the lighting was okay - but nothing spectacular. Although the Lights shining out of the eyes in the back drop was a pretty neat touch! ;-)
As for Liverpool... well this was BIG TOP CIRCUS TIME! As part of the Liverpool SUMMER POPS festival season, which also witnessed Deep Purple, ZZ Top, Yes and quite a few other well knowns, this was a venue of four HUGE tents... And quite a spectacular beer tent at that! :-) HIC!
The concert here was more relaxed with people wandering around talking to each other before the concert. The heat was tremendous so everyone was gathering between the beer tent and out on the car park and toilet areas. In terms of meeting fans - this was the place to be! The support band (Trilby) were... well... not in the same league as The Darkness... although definitely worthy of EARLY Alice Cooper concerts - they nearly cleared the place in minutes!! :-) I'm sure there were more people in the car park than in the arena when they were on stage! I think the lead vocalist should have concentrated on his singing and maybe gave up on his stand-up comic routine!!! :-}
Again though... I will say one of the good points about Liverpool was the sheer SIZE of the bar/meeting areas. It enabled people to get to know each other, wander around admiring the different jackets, T-shirts and other Alice memorabilia! I met and talked to quite a few fans there - something that normaly doesn't happen too much at concerts owing to the noisy or cramped environment!
The other good thing about Liverpool... the Lighting set... which I suppose in some way made up for the lack of atmosphere! It was a pretty spectacular lighting set - so much so that Alice's 'EYES' didn't even shine! The guitar Solos and drum solos were made that little bit extra special with an array of lights flashing across the stage and lighting the crowd! Maybe not quite up to the Pink Floyd level but... pretty impressive non-the-less! :-)
So what about the show?
Well... having linked the fact that 'They're coming to take me away - Haha!' was the key phrase... having heard it play just before he entered the stage at Wolverhampton... I knew at Liverpool the lights were gonna dim and he was gonna hit the stage... the show started with a taped introduction of 'Sun Arise' before Alice burst onto stage to the sound of 'Hello Hooray' - LET THE SHOW BEGIN!
'No More Mr Nice Guy' and then 'Billion Dollar Babies' - the latter witnessing the first Alice trade mark as he extracts his sword and thrusts Billion Dollar Notes into the crowd. BUT - 'We've still go a Long way to go' as Alice did shout next before blasting into 'Public Animal no.9', 'Be My Lover' and 'Lost in America'! Then the crutch makes an apperance as another trade mark routine hits the stage - 'I'm Eighteen' blasts from the speakers as Alice wanders around, hobbling on his crutch and menacingly points it at the crowd! And then a surprise to the evening - a very welcome one at that... 'Serious' is next... and it also includes some VERY serious guitar solos! Wow - these guys can play!
'Desperado' has Alice wandering around swinging his gun belt... and then... CAN IT BE... YES IT CAN... 'HALO OF FLIES'! The FULL uncut version! ABSOLUTELY SUPERB! It has always been a favourite... but to hear it LIVE... and in such a way... with BOTH guitarists joining Eric Singer on the drums... It was absolutely SUPERB - and definitely the highlight of the entire evening(s) - it certainly had me rocking at Wolverhampton!!! And then as for Eric Singer - at Liverpool - he really came into his own... assisted with the spectacular light set - he really demonstrated just what a fantastic drummer he really is with the most amazing drum solo! OW!
And then my Prize... 'Welcome to My Nightmare'... Alice wanders onto the stage in a black top hat (missing at Liverpool - I think he threw it into the crowd at Wolverhampton!) and with a rather large Boa Constrictor wrapped around his neck and over his head!
And then, as no concert would be without... it's 'Cold Ethyl' - that old doll has seen some batterings over the years... and there she is again... really strutting her stuff as she is thrust about the stage, has her a*se whacked and dances the waltz - all in the name of showbiz of course! 'Only Women' is next and as Alice leaves the stage... the nurse comes to life... it's Calico! YEAH! Dressed as a nurse she dances around and jumps about, before dragging Alice back onto the stage in his straight jacket! A good clip around the head - HEY CALICO - remember... that jacket is gonna come off later and daddy won't be happy! :-)
'Ballad of Dwight Fry', 'Guilty' and 'School's Out'! The top-hat, the cane, the sword... and YUP - you've guessed it - the balloons filled with confetti! And that about wraps up the set!
A few minutes of cheering and the 'second set' begins... I don't think of them as ENCORES these days... Alice doesn't DO encores... he has two sets - and that is it! After the set is finished... there is NO POINT in waiting - he's half way back to his hotel! But... in a rather fetching 'BACONFOIL' suit - remind me NOT to ask who his tailor is - Alice blasts out the now classic 'Poison' and after a quick key change 'Elected' can be heard... and then... I suppose the strange one of the evening... and yes I KNOW it's done very tongue in cheek - it's that sort of song... but Alice comes back on stage dressed as Michael Jackson doing an Elvis Presley impersonation... and sings 'Disgraceland'!
And then he introduces the band... at Liverpool it got very personal throughout the concert as he kept mentioning Liverpool in his songs and stuff... but more especially in the band intros... where even Beatles riffs were the flavour of the moment! And then... the end of the concert... Under My Wheels' and you knew it was all over!
My comments on the concerts... Both shows were fantastic in their own right... and at 55 years old - BOY - can he still perform on stage! It WAS sad not to see the old guillotine, hanging or Frankenstein! BUT... apart from the major PROPS - he still had the old Alice up there... he STILL put on a show... it might have been called the 'Bare Bones' tour - BUT... it wasn't all that BARE! It was still more than just a band! Two guitarists, a bass player, a drummer and Alice... it WOULD have been nice to have had the keyboards there... but being a Special Forces/Flush the Fashion fan - I would say that! But in simple terms... give me the good old, small, crushed, stand-up type venue ANYTIME! Big venues are GREAT when you are watching something else... but when you wanna ROCK - you wanna really rock! And for that you need the correct atmosphere and the right type of people in the crowd! Wolverhampton had that and a whole load more!!! ;-)))
Davie Damnation !
