Alice Cooper Live At The Palais
Alice Cooper is a living legend. For whatever reason I do forget this at times. Considering how highly I rate his albums Welcome To My Nightmare and Trash I'm not sure why this is. Frustratingly until now I've always missed out on seeing the Godfather of Shock Rock live. Thankfully there was no missing out this time as I was off to see his Theatre Of Death show
I arrived to see one Electric Mary song. They were not bad without being spectacular. I am glad I didn't see their whole performance, which is probably harsh. After they were finished I went out to the foyer to see a girl I knew at high school who works there. She said she thought Alice would be to soft for me, which was a compliment.
Soon enough School's Out starts up and my view is obscured immediately. While I missed most of theatrics I didn't care as this was as perfect as it gets. At this point it's performance of the year.
This was the all around complete show that I crave, which not many bands deliver. There were not standards Department Of Youth, and Poison, more recent offerings like Wicked Young Man and Dirty Diamonds and some obscure stuff like Devil's Food. And I was captivated throughout.
What set this apart from other concerts for me was how well I knew the songs. When it came time for "my pain, your thrill" during Poison you better believe I screamed it loudly and proudly.
The magic moment though was when I saw Alice throw a doll. I thought I knew what was coming but didn't want to jinx it. Then the familiar riff of Cold Ethyl kicked in and I couldn't contain myself. To hear my favourite Alice Cooper song, when I didn't think he'd play it was truly memorable.
Bizarrely the night ended as it started with School's Out (this time in full). Still this was as content as I've been after a concert. Sure another song from Trash would have been nice but with so many from Welcome To My Nightmare, I left ecstatic.
Alice Cooper was well worth the wait although I do wish I'd gone the night before as well. I am praying he'll return soon.
Set list:
School's Out
Department Of Youth
I'm Eighteen
Wicked Young Man
Ballad Of Dwight Fry
Go To Hell
Guilty
Welcome To My Nightmare
Cold Ethyl
Poison
The Awakening
From The Inside
Nurse Rozetta
Is It My Body
Be My Lover
Only Women Bleed
I Never Cry
Black Widow Jam
Vengeance Is Mine
Devil's Food
Dirty Diamonds
Billion Dollar Babies
Killer
I Love The Dead
No More Mr. Nice Guy
Under My Wheels
Encore:
School's Out
