Alice Cooper @ The EnmoreTheatre, Sydney (26/9/11)

Thu 29th Sep, 2011 in Gig Reviews

Alice Cooper’s title as the undisputed king of rock theatre is under no threat. On Monday night he invited every fan at the Enmore inside his nightmare. Slicing, dicing and sacrificing, before finally beheading all present.

A blocking sheet with an enormous ghoul-like Alice head ominously glaring at the audiencewas raised so the audience couldn’t see the preparations for Alice’s set. The lights dropped and after a short Vincent Price introduction the first few bars of Black Widow exploded from the speakers. The blocking sheet fell, dramatically revealing a busy stage set-up that needed a few minutes to take it all in. In the back-right corner the drummer plays on a platform a couple of meters off the ground. In front of the drum platform are two of Alice’s three guitarists for the evening, Tommy Henriksen playing alongside one of Alice’s original guitar players Steve Hunter. On stage left is bassist Chuck Garric with Australian guitar virtuoso Orianthi (Possibly better known as the girl from the Michael Jackson movie). As the dry ice dissipates, Alice is revealed atop a staircase dressed as a sort of spider king, complete with movable extra limbs, and flanked by two heavies dressed as executioners. With sceptre in hand he commands his band members around the stage. He then strikes a Jesus Christ pose arms outstretched, and with palms to the sky fire starts to burn in both hands. First song in and it was pure indulgent rock fury at its finest, what else was to come?

Alice descended the staircase for Brutal Planet before kicking into the classics I’m Eighteen and Under My Wheels. The spider costume has gone, replaced by a leather jacket with heavily studded arms. Alice walks over to what appears to be a large pile of rubbish strewn in front of the drum riser and takes his first prop from it. It’s his trademark cane, which he proceeds to spin with skills that would leave the purple ninja turtle dizzy.

The cane is thrown to the audience who fight for the souvenir of the night. Meanwhile Alice has picked up another trademarked tool, his fencing foil. It’s covered with dollar bills, Alice shakes them from the sword into the first few rows while he and the band play Billion Dollar Babies. Having performed a certain song for over 30 years it’s only natural that some of the zeal would be gone when performing it live now. That’s not the case with Alice, who tears through No More Mister Nice Guy as if it was written yesterday. Hey Stoopid follows before Alice is joined on stage for Is It My Body by a large brown and black snake. The snake spends the song curling itself around Alice before he moves into his next track. The band give an inspired performance for this one, with all members stepping up to mark for the musical all-in which is Halo of Flies.

Alice takes a short breather while bassist Chuck and drummer Glen Sobel keep the crowd amped up. Doing an incredible job of what is usually be the most tedious part of a set for the audience. Alice returned in yet another costume change. He turned his back to the audience revealing the words “New Song” on the back of his leather jacket. As he got to the chorus of “New Song” he pulled the jacket off to reveal the name of the track, I’ll Bite Your Face Off is written in blood on the white shirt.

Muscle Of Love was chased by an Orianthi guitar solo, which then lead into the slower tempo Only Women Bleed. Alice performed the song to a life size female doll whilst sitting on an up-turned garbage can. Alice then moved into Cold Ethyl, still holding the doll except he now throws her around like a violent puppet master. Dancing with her one minute, before sending her head first back across the room.

The next costume change saw Alice don a white blood stained lab coat. Thanks to the outfit, most of the audience had already cottoned-on as to what song was coming next. Alice played the part of mad scientist, fiddling with some knobs on a prop at the back of the stage. Smoke started pouring from the machine as Alice summoned his monster. Feed My Frankenstein!!! And with that an actual 12ft tall Frankenstein made his way onto the stage. Eyes flashing yellow and black with teeth gnashing, the imposing monster partied in the middle of the stage with the band before departing at the end of the track.

Clones (We’re All) and early nineties favourite Poison came next. A various points throughout the show Alice had been harassed on stage by an extra wearing a jacket that read “Rock Press” on the back. The Rock Press guy came back to the stage during Wicked Young Man for a final showdown with Alice. With the use of special effects, Alice stabbed a long metal pole through the (poor) rock journalists stomach and right out his back on the other side. Alice was then grabbed by his two heavies and pushed towards a large guillotine now standing in the centre stage. They forced him in to the killing machine. Then amongst much fan fare, Alice’s head was detached from his body in one fell swoop of the blade. The band play Killer while Alice’s head is paraded around the stage by the executioners. This leads the band into I Love The Dead.

Alice did his best Jesus impersonation, resurrecting himself from the dead for the next track Schools Out. Huge balloons now bounce around the audience, as they reach the stage Alice pop’s them with a blade and large amounts of confetti explode out of each one. Schools Out gets a remix as it morphs into a heavy version of Pink Floyd’s Another Brick In The Wall. The lights dim, but the crowd is going nowhere.

After an extremely quick break Alice is back. This time sporting a mirrored “Uncle Sam” style jacket and top-hat, waiving a huge Australian flag. He sings his last song of the night Elected while a box in the rafters spews ticker-tape across the room. Alice and band come to the front of stage to take their bows. This time Alice is wearing a Wallabies jersey, it’s number 10, the jersey of Quade Cooper (no relation). He gives one last wry smile before departing the stage.

When it comes to a production this elaborate it can easily distract you from the music. In fact, many artists use big stage productions for precisely this reason. The thing with Alice is that it’s not a gimmick, If the music wasn’t rock solid then it would be farcical. This is why he continues to outlast all that came before him. Sorry to Rammestein, Motley Crue and Marylin Manson, last night proved the original is, and always will be the best.