A Fistful Of Alice Weekend: Three Shows In Three Days!
10/22-24/2009
By Leah Burlington
Living in Las Vegas has its perks. There isn't just gambling and drinking here, there are also a ton of live music events that happen all the time in Sin City. This last weekend was one of those weekends when there was just so much going on that you had to pick and choose what to go to. U2 was in town as was the Steve Miller Band and UFO.
But this was the weekend of Alice. Cooper that is. The last two years the man who created shock rock has been playing for an entire weekend at the Orleans Hotel. This year he is on the road doing the ‘Theater Of Death’ tour which has our host of horror being killed in more ways than one, like he usually does.
This time, his being in town had created a few exclusive events that I have never seen from him in all the years he has come here. Thursday night, the 22nd, he was scheduled to perform at a new rock n roll clothing store in the Hard Rock Hotel called John Varvatos Bowery NYC, named for the designer, which is actually in the Bowery in NYC where the old CBGB’s was. This is his second store in Vegas and what a way to kick off a store. Cheap Trick did the first in-store and I missed that, but this one was a must see event.
As soon as I got the e-mail I RSVP’d for this show. They sent out tons of these but the store only holds about 250-300 people. When I got to the event at about 6pm, there was a line forming that eventually went all the way down the hall to the parking garage. I slipped into the red carpet line and people started coming out at about 7:30 and the only person I knew was Jimmy Crespo from Aerosmith fame and the designer John Varvatos himself. The rest were just people sporting Varvato’s clothes. As we waited my room-mate and fellow reviewer jumped up in front of the stage.
Unfortunately we found out later that “Coop” wasn’t doing the red carpet, so I watched him come in from another way and as they had him make his way through the crowd, I crammed myself in to try and get closer to the small stage. I got the distance of about 3-4 people from the stage so I stayed there. Alice and his newest band line up consists of guitarist Keri Kelli, bassist Chuck Garrick, Drummer Jimmy De Grasso, and guitarist Damon Johnson. They cranked out eight of Cooper’s greatest hits to a crazy crowd of Cooper fans!! They rocked this small store down and it was a really cool vibe! They handed out “Coop” masks that we all held up during the show and the crowd was small but enthusiastic!
The set-list was:
No More Mr. Nice Guy
Billion Dollar Babies
Be My Lover
Eighteen
Is It My Body
Poison
Under My Wheels
School’s Out
It was an intense and quick set but I was grateful to be in the store as there were a couple hundred that didn’t get in to see it. I love living in Vegas...
Friday night I was going to stay in and rest and then go to work, but I get a call from fellow “photog” Jerry, and he asks if I want to go see the Cooper show at the Orleans. I was a bit leery as I was tired but I said yes as it was free and I wanted to see his show anyway on Saturday. I might as well see it now. Thanks Jerry!!
So we get there and it’s general admission and we just jump right in front of the stage behind a couple of crazy “Coop” fans from the UK. I brought my camera just in case, and was really glad I did because everyone and their dog had a camera. Alice's personal “photog” Matt gave me a bit of shit last year and was about to do it again, and then he just joked around with me. What a relief! Thanks dude!!
So the big red velvet curtain came down and there was this HUGE stage with the giant letters ALICE in red glittery letters and the stage went back forever! The “Coop” comes out and starts the show with "School’s Out", he usually ends with that song but not this time...or so we thought then. He came out and did a stellar set with so many costume changes and he died in so many ways that I thought, this guy keeps getting better and better!! He just keeps doing newer and more creative things, all the while keeping with the same format. He will always sing to “Cold Ethyl”, have a dead baby on-stage, try to get out of a straight jacket, throw out Cooper cash and pop huge ass balloons full of confetti. But him getting killed in more ways than one was really cool. He even killed the nurse behind a curtain at one time. This was indeed a “Theater of Death”. “Coop” is a trip and loves to shock.
The set ended with “School’s Out” as a reprise and he came out in a crazy silver top hat and coat that was all shiny like a mirror, and he used his trusty sword to pop those huge balloons. The show was amazing and one of the best I have seen him do as I have seen him several times in the past. I really enjoyed it and it seemed that the crowd agreed with me.
His band was very energetic and came out a bunch of times right in front of the crowd just jamming like crazy! “Coop” even looked to be having a great time. I really can’t believe that this guy has been doing this for 35+ years and is 61 years old. I don’t know any 60 year old people with this much energy and ability to rock! I love that you get goodies when you go to a Cooper show too. Coop money, diamonds, and canes are all coveted gifts from the “Rock God”! This was one show that had me all pumped up for the night!
The set-list was:
School’s Out
Dept. Of Youth
Eighteen
Wicked Young Man
Dwight Fry
Go to Hell
Guilty
Welcome to My Nightmare
Cold Ethyl
Poison
Awakening
From the Inside
Nurse Rosetta
My Body
Be my Lover
Women Bleed/Never Cry
Black Widow(Instrumental)
Vengeance
Devils Food
Dirty Diamonds
Billion Dollar Babies
Killer
I Love the Dead
Mr. Nice Guy
Under my Wheels
School’s Out(Reprise)
Then, on Saturday night, was supposed to be a hush-hush private show at Kerri Kelli's new bar that he co-owns with some friends of mine (including Doug Osborne, owner of Tailspin) called Aces & Ales and I was invited. I asked my friend..."Hey is this really going to happen?", because I was skeptical that “Coop” would even do something like this. He was like "Would I lie about something like this?" So I trusted that he was telling me the truth, and Don and I loaded up the cameras and drove across town to this bar.
We arrived early as to get a good spot in front of the stage. I only saw a couple of people I knew which was strange but we stayed put and waited about 3 hours to see if “Coop” would show up. Some band called 86 Octane played a set of straight up rock and I became antsy as I was ready for “The Coop”! The girl from the UK was there also as she is a die hard fan.
About 12 am Kerri and the rest of The Cooper band of rockers hit the stage and played some cool covers and we held our breath awaiting the arrival of the “god of shock” himself. After about 6 cover songs out comes the man himself in a jean jacket and jeans, no make-up, no frills, just Vincent Damon Furnier, Aka Alice Cooper!! The small crowd of maybe a couple hundred went insane! I couldn’t believe it!
He was there at a regular guys bar, on-stage, rockin’ a small crowd of beer drinkers!! Sweet!! He sang, hand in pocket most of the show, all down toned from his normal stage persona, but still a presence to be reckoned with. He and his band jammed out "No More Mr. Nice Guy", "Eighteen", "Under My Wheels", and "School’s Out". On the last song he said, "Hey guys doesn’t it seem like we just played this two hours ago??" to much laughter from the band! Kerri Kelli is a crazy guitar player, all over the place, and full of piss and vinegar. And the other guys are pretty laid back, but still energetic as well.
“Coop” looked to have a good time again and chatted with the crowd in between songs. After the last song he was taken out and we were left wanting more but truly grateful for what we just experienced as a once in a lifetime thing! We walked out of the bar to, like, 7 cops standing in line, looking to be checking out what just happened at this tiny bar...I don’t think they had a clue.
Set List:
No More Mr. Nice Guy
Eighteen
Under My Wheels
School’s Out
All I can say is that this was an incredible weekend of fun with “The Coop”! At age 61, there is no slowing our “master of the macabre” down!! He puts on an insane show and still shocks us!
Thanks to Ryan Johnson at Aces & Ales, Jerry Adler for the ticket, Ryan Tino at John Varvatos, Don Brown for the help, and Alice for such a good weekend!!