There was one more song that Alice recorded at this time, although it didn't appear on the 'Constrictor' album.
'Hard Rock Summer' , was also used in the 'Friday 13th' film. However, it didn't appear on record until it was included in the 'Life And Crimes...' box set
It's a good rock song
Alice had not toured since 1982 ('Special Forces'), and he was set to re-ignite the flames! Although a few 'warm-up' shows were played (with Guns And Roses supporting), the official start of the tour, billed as 'The Nightmare Returns', was in his hometown of Detroit on his national day (Halloween) in 1986. Home town + Halloween + Alice Cooper = guaranteed success, eh? Alice has admitted to being terrified before this show. It was the first time he had played completely straight and sober, and he was worried that he would step onto the stage, and 'Alice wouldn't appear'! The triumphant homecoming show was broadcast live on MTV
It was the most theatrical show that Alice had produced up to this point!
Randy Piper (ex-Wasp) was hired for the Nightmare Returns tour. However, he was fired for not being able to play his instrument during the first rehearsals. In 2005, in an interview with the Rock Eyes site, he explains:
""Yeah I played with Alice for a while. I didn’t end up touring but I worked on the “Constrictor” album. But I really don’t think I had my shit together, it’s a long story. Blackie… Oh well I did not have any gear or my guitars. They have not come back from Japan and when they did Blackie kept all my shit, my amps and everything and made it really hard on me to do that thing with Alice. I was struggling borrowing ****’n piece of junk from people you know what I mean. I really did not have my shit together. Kane Roberts and I did not gel together. We really didn’t get along. He’s a nice guy but I got along really good with Alice but I just did not have my shit together enough to go out on a tour. I just got back from Japan and went over to Germany for a month. I came back and said it’s time I start my own band.""
The touring band consisted of:
Alice Cooper - Vocals
Kane Roberts - guitar
Devlin 7 (Arthur Funaro)- guitar
Ken Mary - drums
Kip Winger III - bass
Paul 'Horrors' Horowitz - keyboards
UK dates were played between November 23rd - December 5th 1986, and were at Wembley, Edinburgh, Manchester, Newcastle and Birmingham. Support at Wembley were 'Dr And The Medics', while 'Alien Sex Fiend' were on the rest of the tour
Alice would return to England on August 30th, 1987 to play the last date of the tour as a headline spot on the Sunday night of the Reading festival, which was celebrating its 25th anniversary. During a radio documentary at the time, the organisers said that they'd '
wanted someone really special to close that years show'.
The setlist for this tour was:
- Welcome to My Nightmare
- Years Ago - Billion Dollar Babies
- Years Ago - No More Mr. Nice Guy
- Be My Lover
- I'm Eighteen
- The World Needs Guts
- Give It Up
- Cold Ethyl
- Only Women Bleed
- Go to Hell
- Ballad of Dwight Fry
- Teenage Frankenstein
- Sick Things
- I Love the Dead
- School's Out
- Elected
- Under My Wheels
'The Nightmare Returns' DVD, from the Halloween show, was released in 2006. In addition to the full concert, the DVD also includes the promo videos for 'Teenage Frankenstein' and 'Freedom', which was to be included on the next album release. It is a good one, and if you don't have it, go and get it at the first opportunity, however be aware that there is some misinformation on the DVD box. The stated running time is noted as being 170 mins (approx), although it actually comes in a lot shorter than that
For reasons that no-one seems to know, the song 'I'm 18' is listed as being called '18 (Little Flowers Of Ulysses)' on the DVD case
As a 'taster' for the DVD, the video to 'Teenage Frankenstein' feature a lot of clips from the show. If this doesn't convince you to get it, nothing will!