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The Nightmare Returns…

Alice is in town. You can tell from the guys in classic makeup, recreations of his stage outfits and the women dressed as kinky nurses. And there’s nothing wrong with that. The devotion of the hardened Alice Cooper fan is sometimes verging on the obsessive, but this is a man who knows his audience and knows what they want.

First up tonight though is a treat for those with a long memory as Twisted Sister bound onto the stage in all their made up glory – and amongst the fans dressed as Alice characters there are a few Dee Snider look-a-likes. The visual effect of their makeup on these elder statesmen of 80’s rock is like something from “Who Killed Baby Jane”, slightly disturbing in some cases but they wouldn’t be the same without it. Powering out some of their hits and a few covers (“When Sir Mick heard this he vomited!” sneers Dee as he introduces “It’s only rock and roll”). Great fun and great energy.

But it’s Alice who the masses are here for, and there is a huge roar as the lights dim and a giant pair of Alice Cooper eyes beam over the arena. Department Of Youth blasts out and he’s here on the stage. The set is quite minimal – only the odd trashcan, an upright coffin and a veiled guillotine giving any indication of the theatrics to come, though Alice struts around in familiar fashion. Showering the audience with dollar bills that have been skewered on a rapier during “Billion Dollar Babies”, flinging Diamond Necklaces to the crowd in “Dirty Diamonds” or wielding a crutch for “Eighteen”, those trademark flourishes are still there if not the centre of attention. Songs from the last two albums sit comfortably alongside old classics. “High School and Old School” sums up Alice perfectly, this newer song being a perfect echo of the “I’m in the middle, the middle of my life – I’m a boy and I’m a man” that has been a theme for 30 years.

The band seem slightly uneasy playing the older material during this section of the show, but that changes as show shifts up a gear when Alice disappears into thin air after being chased by the whip-wielding vampire during “Go To Hell”, and following a series of instrumentals and solos he returns for the more theatrical second half, featuring straight jackets, a body constructed from parts strewn on the stage and the infamous guillotine trick – In a nice touch Alice’s head is attached to the body he built in the coffin earlier, which springs into life for a finale of “Schools Out”. The encores see Paris Hilton savaged by her dog during “Born In Beverly Hills” before “Under My Wheels” finishes the whole thing off.

Alice Cooper has never been one to interact with the audience, save to tip them a sly wink – or a severed head! But with a spectacle such as this, even pared back to the minimum needed to provide the set pieces required, Alice delivers and doesn’t rely on back catalogue. Some may be disappointed by the omission of “Welcome To My Nightmare” and “Elected” but with such a wealth of material to choose from and recent return to form albums the only thing I can add about this show is (to quote the lyrics of “Eighteen” again) “Well I like it, love it, like it, love it”.