Alice Cooper
Date: October 11, 2008 Really Came As No Surprise Alice Cooper has made a recent habit of touring Canada on even-numbered years; and 2008 saw him return to the Ottawa Civic Centre with his Psycho Drama tour, following visits in '04 and '06. As a result, I have gone from never having seen one of my childhood musical heroes perform to becoming quite familiar with his act. Cooper certainly takes a conservative approach to song selection, favouring the hits, but the fact is that those hits are genuine classics that stand up to repeated renditions. When coupled with a stage presence that defies his age, and a talented band, Alice Cooper continues to deliver fantastic shows. The night started with Econoline Crush, recently reformed and having released a new album seven years after its predecessor and ten years past the group's popularity. Singer Trevor Hurst sounded as I remembered; and he did his best to engage the early-arriving attendees. I believe that none of the other players are original members of the band, but they were certainly capable of holding their own on the big stage. Ultimately, though, the band made a sharp contrast with Alice Cooper, as their songs did not prove to have the staying power to justify the recent resurrection. "Welcome to My Nightmare" has been sending shivers down spines for over thirty years; "Sparkle & Shine" and "All That You Are" felt tired and flat in the large arena and could have been left to the memories of 1998. Alice Cooper took the stage with a nice bit of theatrics, with a silhouetted swordfight seeing Alice claim his first victim of the night before opening with "It's Hot Tonight." Having avoided reading any tour reviews, the choice of lead song was a pleasant surprise to me, although the course was quickly set for the expected. "No More Mr. Nice Guy," "Under My Wheels," "I'm Eighteen," and "Is It My Body" were presented with scant pause, drawing the fans on the floor out of their seats and to the front of the stage. Cooper mockingly limped around with a crutch during "I'm Eighteen," before defiantly tossing it to the crowd; and his excellent voice and active stage show for the balance of the night were a continual defiance of his sixty years of age. Cooper's longevity has afforded a deep catalogue of songs; and he turned to newer fare with "Woman of Mass Distraction," "Lost In America," and "Feed My Frankenstein." After "Be My Lover" jumped back in time, he wrapped "(In Touch With) Your Feminine Side" and "Vengeance Is Mine," the night's only representation of the new album, Along Came a Spider, around "Dirty Diamonds." Cooper took a lean approach to this segment of the night, with the songs following in rapid order and the theatrics kept mainly in reserve. "Lost In America" illustrated that he could command a stage with nothing more than a riding crop for a prop and a sneer inflecting his lyrics. The last half of the concert, on the other hand, was more musically sprawling and visually involved. The spy-themed "Halo of Flies" saw Cooper engage in a battle with his daughter, Calico, acting out the lyrics, before being taken from the stage. This led to a long instrumental stretch, including a terrific drum solo from Eric Singer, with new guitarist Jason Hook alternately trading riffs and manning the cymbals for extra percussive punch. The entire band, rounded out by guitarist Keri Kelli and bassist Chuck Garric, sounded consistently great, so it was fitting that they got to take the spotlight. Cooper returned with a journey through the 1975 release, Welcome to My Nightmare, covering the title track, "Cold Ethyl," "Only Women Bleed," and "Steven," with more stage involvement from his wife, Sheryl, and daughters Calico and Sonora, including another murder. "Dead Babies" saw him impale a baby doll in its carriage, leading to the strait jacket imprisonment and escape of "Ballad of Dwight Fry," before the mayhem caught up to him with a gallows hanging accompanied by "Devil's Food" and "I Love the Dead." Of course, Alice made his triumphant return for "School's Out," ending the show by popping giant balloons with his sword, showering the audience in confetti. An encore that began with "Billion Dollar Babies" and "Poison" wrapped up with "Elected," a fitting choice with U.S. and Canadian elections due within a month. Performers in Obama and McCain masks brawled and then made out during the song, with Bush also making an appearance. Of course, Cooper dispatched them all and was assured that he had the audience's support, despite campaigning with the declaration that "everybody has problems and, personally, I don't care." It was a thirty-year-old line delivered perfectly and it still worked, which is emblematic of the entire concert. While this Alice Cooper concert did not stray far from the two recent visits to Ottawa, it was still a tightly executed set played by a talented band and led by a legend who obviously remains passionate about the music and the performance. In other words, it was a blast yet again. Alice Cooper setlist Main Set
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