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  #1551  
Old 22nd September 2021, 12:51 PM
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"ALICE COOPER will be with us all weekend at London Film & Comic Con. Following on from the success of Meatloaf’s appearance we are so pleased that Mr Cooper is joining us. Alice is no stranger to the world of comic books as he first appeared in print in Marvel Premiere #50 in 1979, and later worked with Neil Gaiman on a graphic novel titled The Last Temptation.

The iconic singer songwriter will be signing and taking part in photo ops at the event which takes place at Olympia London 19 - 21 November. Tickets available to book now here "
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Well that's not going to be happening is it?
No it isn't! It's been cancelled...

...HOWEVER, at time of writing, no refunds are being offered as they are trying to re-book Alice for a later date!!
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  #1552  
Old 23rd September 2021, 06:07 AM
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Rave review of the opening night concert

Alice Cooper starts fall tour in Atlantic City / NYS Music

"Alice Cooper opened his fall tour Friday night in Atlantic City at the Oceanic Casino. The crowd began filing into the arena hours before the set started, with many in attendance wearing Alice Cooper t-shirts and eye make-up. The stage was hidden behind a giant curtain with Alice’s trade-mark eyes, and Alice songs played with the crowd already starting to sing-along. As the entrance music started to swell, the massive curtain fell, revealing the two-story castle set, and the words rang out: “Welcome to Alice Cooper’s Nightmare Castle!” As knights carried the curtain away, a drawbridge opened and Alice walked onstage in a plume of smoke.

From the opening notes of “Feed My Frankenstein,” it was clear Alice is still in great shape, and his band spent considerable time practicing together during the live music lockdown. Their excitement to be back onstage was evident by their smiles and energy displayed throughout the two-hour set. Alice Cooper doesn’t just play a concert, he puts on a SHOW, with the pomp and props of a theater production. A master entertainer, Alice made multiple costume changes throughout the set, referencing different eras of his 50-year career. How effortless his performance seems is a testament to his drive and conditioning, he controlled the band, stage and the crowd as well, eliciting sing-alongs and responses with hand gestures and using his sword and cane like a conductor. He had a microphone holster on his giant leather belt, and handles the mic like a gunslinger. When he was on top of the castle behind a spiked wheel, it evoked an image of a mad captain steering a pirate ship.

With over 50 years of albums to choose from, the setlist was a solid collection of his biggest hits, ranging from the Alice Cooper Band era and his solo career, leading into his last two records, Paranormal and Detroit Stories. There was a clever segue from the new song “Go Man Go,” about cruising around in a stolen Hellcat, with the last verse implying the car could be destroyed in a train wreck (with a similar vibe to KISS’s ‘Detroit Rock City’) leading into his classic “Under My Wheels.” Those songs and their placement were vintage Detroit songwriting and Alice wordplay, complete with an American muscle car and macabre ending. A few more notable songs played were “Fallen in Love” co-written with ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons, new songs “Rock’N’Roll” and “Social Disease” which showed him still flexing his song-writing muscles during lockdown, and a combination of “My Stars / Devils Food / Black Widow” that led into the intense drum solo from “Black Juju.”

The props and theatrics were non-stop, ranging from a crutch he wielded during “Eighteen” to mock the fact that he’s been singing a song about being a teenager for 50 years, to the giant baby who uses a skull-studded-cannon to shoot money into the crowd during “Billion Dollar Babies.” The baby theme continues with the huge images of evil babies projected on the castle during “Dead Babies,” and the baby-faced doctors who place Alice in a straightjacket and oversee his execution in a guillotine. Alice has multiple encounters with his wife, Sheryl Goddard, including her waving his severed head victoriously to the crowd after he’s decapitated. The show opened with the giant Frankenstein monster that comes onstage during “Feed My Frankenstein” and he closes the show with his arms and chains draped around Alice for “Teenage Frankenstein.”

The band returned for an encore with a sprawling, sing-along version of “School’s Out,” including a breakdown of Pink Floyd’s “We Don’t Need No Education,” that featured confetti, streamers and giant balloons being shot into the crowd as Alice popped any balloons that came back to the stage with his sword. They came back to the stage for multiple bows as the crowd kept cheering."
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  #1553  
Old 24th September 2021, 09:27 AM
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The 25th anniversary of the Graspop Festival, being held in Belgium between the 16th - 19th June 2022, has an incredible line up

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  #1554  
Old 24th September 2021, 12:11 PM
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F&ck me!

That is an incredible line up. I'd love to go to every day of that festival.

Just in keeping with the thread, it would be nice to see a stripped down Alice Cooper show. No on stage gimmicks just play the music and get the crowd roaring.
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  #1555  
Old 9th October 2021, 03:38 AM
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Accidents happen!

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  #1556  
Old 9th October 2021, 04:07 AM
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Changes have been made to the live setlist:

Quote:
Originally Posted by Susan Foreman View Post
Intro 1: Years Ago
Intro 2: Nightmare Castle
Feed My Frankenstein
No More Mr. Nice Guy
Bed of Nails
Rock & Roll [replacing 'Raped And Freezing']
Fallen in Love
Go Man Go [replacing 'Muscle Of Love']
Under My Wheels
He's Back (The Man Behind the Mask)
Social Debris [new addition to the set]
I'm Eighteen
Poison
Billion Dollar Babies
Guitar Solo (Nita Strauss)
Roses on White Lace
My Stars
Devil's Food
Black Widow Jam
Steven
Dead Babies
I Love the Dead
Escape
Teenage Frankenstein

Encore:
School's Out (With 'Another Brick In The Wall)
'Hey Stoopid' has been added to the set and is between 'Bed Of Nails' and 'Fallen In Love'...

Quote:
Originally Posted by Susan Foreman View Post
Bed of Nails
Hey Stoopid
Fallen in Love
...'Rock and Roll' have been moved and is now between 'He's Back' and 'I'm 18'...

Quote:
Originally Posted by Susan Foreman View Post
He's Back (The Man Behind the Mask)
Rock And Roll
I'm Eighteen
...and 'Social Debris' has been totally dropped from the set
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  #1557  
Old 10th October 2021, 10:29 AM
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It would appear that there is a new audio book featuring Alice

According to Amazon UK, 'Alice Cooper: Who I Really Am - The Diary of a Vampire' is a two hour+ audio book featuring Alice telling his own life story in his own words


It would appear to be free as part of an [warning - Foreign language alert!] 'Audible trial'. Absolutely no idea what that means, but apparently if you take advantage of the free introductory trial offer you need to remember to cancel it before the first payment is due!!

The Amazon description of the audio book is:
"Rock and roll in the BC (Before Cooper) era was a tamer, milder world. In Who I Really Am, Cooper’s latest addition to Audible’s Words + Music series, we learn how the boa-wearing (not the feathered kind) maestro arrived at a show and sound - let’s call it AC for After Cooper - that has entertained millions of kids while terrifying parents in equal measure. Cooper drew inspiration from Saturday matinee horror movies, applied a "no such thing as too much" attitude, and hitched it to a kick-ass rock and roll band. The shows were incredible, but the offstage antics might have been even more entertaining. Cooper generously shares you-had-to-be-there tales of the band’s early days in Hollywood and mythic all-nighters with rock’s premier luminaries. Also included are new recordings of the hits “I'm Eighteen”, “School’s Out”, and “Poison". Not many artists can claim credit for creating an entire style or genre. Don’t miss the chance to hear a consummate showman reveal that storytelling might be his greatest talent of all."
To coincide with this release, American Songwriter Magazine carries a new interview:

"Exclusive: Alice Cooper Talks Audible Original, Being the Villain, and Loving the Stage

Today (October 7), famed rock and roll frontman, Alice Cooper, has released a new Audible Original, Who I Really Am: Diary of a Vampire. In the Audible project, the 73-year-old, Detroit-born Cooper details his life from beginning to now. Inside are stories about his famous band, meeting the Beatles, and much more.

We caught up with Cooper to ask him what it was like to put the Audible project together, what the project brought out of him emotionally, what through-lines he discovered, and ultimately, what does the stage—a place where he’s spent so much time—mean to him, today. Earlier this year, Cooper released his latest LP, Detroit Stories.

American Songwriter: You have a new Audible Original out today. And part of having a book out means you’re examining who you are and your life. So, I wonder, what emotions did you feel as you were doing so? And did anything feel extreme in a way that made you cry or laugh out loud?

Alice Cooper: Mostly laughing. You know, I’m a very optimistic person. The mistakes I did make in my life, I had to laugh about. Nobody, when they start out in a rock band, goes, ‘okay, we all go like this, we all go, okay I want a No. 1 record, I want to be the best band in the world, I want a big mansion, I want to marry a beautiful girl, I want to be an alcoholic…’ wait a minute! Back up.

Nobody sees the alcoholism coming, nobody sees the drug addiction coming. And all those—from the era I was coming in—everybody I knew was taking drugs, everybody I knew was drinking. Very few people were not addicted to something. I never started out ever thinking I’d ever be addicted to anything.

But I had to deal with those addictions later on. It’s just one of those things where you’re blindsided by it. So, most of it was laughing. Going back and thinking about all the people I met and the situations I was in and meeting people like Elvis and the Beatles and Sinatra. They were all great stories because it was something you’d never thought you would do.

AS: I appreciate you saying all that, Alice. That stuff’s in my family too. My brother died of alcoholism and it affected my dad and my life, as well. I guess I wonder if I can ask, how did you get out? You have to look in the mirror, which is hard for a vampire.

AC: [Laughs]

AS: How did you get out of the addiction, was it hitting rock bottom, like, ten times?

AC: Yeah, I pretty much hit the rock bottom. I got to a point where I was so wrapped up in it. I got up one morning and I threw up blood. And that’s fine on stage. But in a Holiday Inn hotel room, it’s not so fine. So, I went into the hospital and all my friends pretty much had all died. I mean, Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin. I mean, it goes down the list of people that I used to drink and get high with and they were all dead at 27.

I was on and on and on and I was headed that way. The funny thing with me was this: I never was drunk, I was always on a golden buzz. I never missed a show, I knew all the lyrics. If I was acting, I knew all my lines. So, I was in a dangerous position because nobody could tell that the alcohol was affecting me. But it was affecting me internally. So, what happened was, I went into the hospital and I had a lot of powerful people praying for me.

And when I came out of the hospital, I never had another desire to drink or take a drug. People go, ‘well then you’re cured.’ And I go, ‘no, I was healed.’ It was much more of a spiritual thing than just cured. Because if I was just cured, I would fall back into it. But I really never had another desire to ever have a drink or to ever take another drug. Even the doctor says that’s miraculous. And I went, “Well, what do you expect? That’s what God does!”

AS: Since you brought up Jimi, may I ask, were there ever any moments in a hotel room where you two were just strumming a guitar or shooting the shit? I’d love to hear a story about that, if possible?

AC: Oh yeah! Well, there was one moment where we were sitting there in a Holiday Inn, his band and my band, and they had just done a show and they invited us over to the hotel and we’re sitting there and he hands me a funny-looking little cigarette. And he says, “Here, try this man!” And so, of course, I took my first hit of marijuana.

And [Laughs] we’re sitting—it’s the old-time Holiday Inn, right? So, he puts a quarter in the machine that makes the bed vibrate. We’re sitting there and he goes, “We’re in a spaceship, man!” And I went, “We are? Okay!” Jimi and I got along really well. He introduced us to Shep, our manager. And Jimi did play a pretty good part in Alice Cooper getting to where we were.

AS: What was it like to actually make an Audio project?

AC: Yeah, we had to listen to it, you know? I was driving to Las Vegas, and we listened to the whole thing on the way in and I found myself laughing. I did, at two or three different things, things that you forgot you said on the thing. They came out really funny.

It’s sort of like when you make a record and you don’t listen to the tracks for a month or so and then you go back and listen to the tracks, and you go, “Oh, that’s really good.” Or, “What was I thinking there, that doesn’t work.” I forgot what I had said, so it affected me much more in a positive way than anything else.

AS: You’re famous for being a “villain” of rock and roll. Through these conversations, I know you to be a very kind, generous person. So, what has it been like to be this dichotomous entity, to be a villain for so many years on stage?

AC: I totally enjoy it. I can see why—I’ve met Vincent Price and I’ve met Christopher Lee and I met all these guys that were the great villains and great horror characters and they were always the funniest, nicest guys. I got it. I went, okay, I get it. You play the villain but you don’t have to be the villain.

Sometimes if you’re totally opposite of that character, which I could not be more opposite from Alice Cooper. I mean, he’s arrogant and he’s condescending and he stands straight up and he looks you in the eye and he says exactly what he’s going to say, and he kind of looks down on everybody. But that makes him a bit comical. Because if he does slip on a banana peel, it makes that even funnier.

So, I created a character that I’m nothing like. That’s why it’s so much fun to play him. There was a time, though, where I did not know where he began and I ended. There was a time before I got sober, where I really honestly did not know where the grey area was. Am I Alice Cooper? Or is he Vince [Alice Cooper’s birth name is Vincent Damon Furnier], or what?

AS: Can we talk briefly about the power of the stage? The stage is a special place and you’re special on it. What does the stage mean to you, what does its power mean to you?

AC: It’s the funniest thing with me. I feel more comfortable on stage than I do off stage. When I get on stage, I feel like I’m at home. I think it’s because of how many years of touring, 55-60 years of being on that stage. I feel when I get up there on stage, that’s when I’m really alive. When I can really be an artist. I used to paint and I used to do that but you don’t get any reaction from paintings.

You don’t get any reaction from recording, really. You get a reaction from what you do and there’s an audience and they react to what you just did on stage. You either hear them laughing or you hear them cheering or you hear them do this “Ah! Oh my gosh!” To me, that’s so fulfilling. That you’re actually getting the reaction from the audience. And you miss it; that year and a half we had off, it was like coming off of a drug or something.

AS: Last question for you: looking back at your life, what seemed to be the biggest thread that tied everything together? Was it rebellion, love, music, friends, taking risks?

AC: I think it was an appreciation for the absurdity. I mean, I love the music. But I always thought—there’s a movie called Hellzapoppin’ by Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson, 1941, where everything could happen in this movie, and it did. They broke the fourth wall, that whole thing. And I was so affected by that movie.

I took that and I said, if I can make that come alive in a rock and roll stage—so, anything can happen on an Alice Cooper stage. There’s never a moment where we go, ”oh, well, that couldn’t have happened.” We go, “of course that could happen. It’s our stage.” So, I really grew a fond appreciation for the absurdity of things. But you put that together with really good rock and roll and it’s going to be pretty fun to watch.

AS: Thank you, Alice. It’s been a pleasure. I wish you all the best. Take care.

AC: Thanks a lot, man. Get your shot."
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  #1558  
Old 18th October 2021, 01:11 PM
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Steven and the Spirit Of The Nightmare

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  #1559  
Old 21st October 2021, 06:01 AM
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The documentary 'Super Duper Alice Cooper' is due to be screened on Sky Arts on Halloween between 9:00 - 10:45pm
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  #1560  
Old 21st October 2021, 05:40 PM
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Have you seen that doc before Susan? It's very frustrating, I've watched it a couple of times to see if I would warm to it, I didn't.
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