ALICE COOPER
After just being blown away by Alice playing in Kingston Ontario, CANADA on December 5th, 2011, logic would dictate that it would be a while until I saw The Legend, Alice Cooper, take the stage again. Luckily for me logic did not figure into this equation on any level. The Coop is full of surprises and his Special Guest Appearance at the Annual Harley Davidson Show held at Le Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec Canada this past Saturday night (Jan 28th) was certainly no exception. After finishing off his "No More Mr. Nice Guy" tour he took a well deserved vacation in Hawaii, (after all Alice has been touring for over 30 years and had only missed ONE show due to food poisoning... an impressive statistic for sure), followed by a Fender Guitar sponsored signing after returning to the USA. Next on the "Alice agenda"... off to see another show playing within a 3 hour commute by car from where I live!!!! This was a good enough reason for me to get the plastic out... snag a couple of tickets online... throw on my favourite ripped jeans and black Alice "tee", and in the immortal words of The Coop; "just put on my makeup and get me to the show".
With nothing but Cooper Classics playing on my CD player, a friend and I made our way directly to the venue shortly after lunch. After seeing some truly beautiful bikes on display with some equally beautiful and scantily clad women, I found myself more and more excited in seeing what Alice had in store for his fans. After all, this was not an Alice Cooper Concert... instead what I experienced was a 60 minute rush of pure Alice adrenaline. When the venue lights went out and the opening chords of the "Black Widow" reached my ears, and Alice emerged from the back of the stage with his Boa Constrictor wrapped around his neck and his trademark sneer on his face, it was all too obvious it made no difference to Alice or his band where they were playing... Le Bell Centre BELONGED to them as did every single individual in attendance.
With nothing but Cooper Classics playing on my CD player, a friend and I made our way directly to the venue shortly after lunch. After seeing some truly beautiful bikes on display with some equally beautiful and scantily clad women, I found myself more and more excited in seeing what Alice had in store for his fans. After all, this was not an Alice Cooper Concert... instead what I experienced was a 60 minute rush of pure Alice adrenaline. When the venue lights went out and the opening chords of the "Black Widow" reached my ears, and Alice emerged from the back of the stage with his Boa Constrictor wrapped around his neck and his trademark sneer on his face, it was all too obvious it made no difference to Alice or his band where they were playing... Le Bell Centre BELONGED to them as did every single individual in attendance.
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This was a "stripped down" straight ahead rock n roll Alice Cooper performance that totally kicked ass. His voice was well rested and sounded fabulous for a man of any age, let alone one who had spent over 180 days performing last year and is 63 years old. The band consisted of everyone he had on stage with him when I saw him in Kingston, with the exception of Orianthi. To my delight the lead guitarist for the evening was no stranger to the band nor to Alice fans: Kerri Kelli!!!!! His signature guitar work with Alice is etched in stone in my opinion and added even more excitement to the evening.
The crowd was a mix of bikers and businessmen/women, as well as the obvious Alice fans that were present in numbers. Due to this mix I felt that the audience seemed kinda subdued compared to what I have experienced in the past when Alice took the stage. That is until the timeless classic "No More Mr. Nice Guy" had the crowd totally engaged and Alice now had them all by the throat and he knew it. The band blazed through classic after classic gaining momentum all the way to the final song of the set, "Elected"... where Alice came out on stage to the delight of the crowd wearing a Montreal Canadians NHL Jersey. Just when you thought it was over they returned to the stage to do two cover tunes: A great rendition of the Stones' classic "Brown Sugar" and then finishing off the encore with a wicked Steppenwolf cover of "Born To Be Wild". This was complete with "Biker Babes" on stage and motorcycles, as well as 20' flames in the air across the front of the stage. Truly a night to remember. Watching Alice perform will always be a part of my life. I hope to see Alice Cooper and his band return to Canada soon!! Chris Jones for Metal Master Kingdom |
Alice Cooper Born To Be Wild Live Montreal Centre Bell Center 2012
(unknown video recording source) Set List: approx. 60 mins in length.
The Black Widow No More Mr. Nice Guy Under My Wheels 18 I'll Bite Your Face Off Billion Dollar Babies Muscle of Love Feed My Frankenstein Poison School's Out Elected Brown Sugar Born To Be Wild |
