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Spend the Night
with
ALICE COOPER
November 29, 2017
Samsung Hall - ZÜRICH (Dübendorf)
Switzerland
photos by dalia di giacomo
live review by Matthias Borer
https://www.facebook.com/AliceCooper/
accreditation: GOODNEWS
Samsung Hall on November the 29th at seven o clock in the evening. I see a big bunch of people across generations. We have black dressed pierced teens and on the other hand some aged gray haired rockers and ladies in their sixties or seventies, there is no generation missing. For whom are they coming? This night they are waiting for Vincent Damon Furnier. He is a very nice grandpa who likes to play golf and spend his days with his familiy………but if you put him on stage and the lights turn on, this nice fellow transforms himself into the first born rock villain: the iconic Alice Cooper. He is the godfather of all shock rockers: Marylin Manson, Rob Zombie , Gwar, WASP…..just pick one, they were all influenced by him and his legendary stage show.
20.30. a very sinister intro appears including the main piano theme of the song « Steven » and a deep voice is warning the audience …….now its too late, the curtain with Cooper`s face on it falls to the ground and here he is: Alice Cooper all dressed in black. Singing, sorrounded by his tight playing Band, „Brutal Planet“ from the same named record (2000). After this stamping, heavy song it is time for some classics: „ Nomore Mr. Nice Guy“ and „Under My Weels“, must plays since the seventies, are enthusiastically received and sung by the audience. Eye catcher on stage besides Mr. Cooper ,is his female good looking guitar hero Nita Strauss. The tall blonde amazon is constantly moving and posing on the edge of the stage, playing fantastic solos. „Department of youth“and„Pain“are not necessarily expected, but still great songs from Cooper `s early days solo years. Not surprising : « Billion dollar babies » always combined with Cooper`s acrobatic, spreading dollar bills to the audience.And then : "The World Needs Guts". I have seen Alice Cooper serveral times the last 25 years, but never before I was witnessing him playing a song from his „comeback“ record (after years of heavy alcoholism) „Constrictor“ (1986). After „Woman of Mass Distraction“ and an impressive guitar solo from Miss Strauss it is time for Coopers smash `hit from the late eighties „Poison“. Everyone in the Samsung Hall from young tooldknows this song and the reaction of the fans is overwhelming. Now it is time to bring the band to the center of attention: „ Halo of Flies“. The three (!) guitarists and the bass player are standing close to each other in one line, in front of them the master himself who is conducting them , his back against the audience.
In this manner the band plays the polyphonic intro of this psychedelic epic song (1971). What a contrast to the singalong Poison. But what about the horror show ? At this point nothing really scaring has happened. Okay there are some creepy dolls on stage and Alice has changed his out fit several times, and of course Cooper looks definitively not like Mr. Nice Guy with his make-up…..wait and see….As the master diesappears it is Glen Sobel`sturn to entertain the fans with a drum solo followed by an all band instrumental. Cooper comes back wearing a white butcher apron with blood stains on it. « Feedmy Frankenstein » is the only song sung from the nineties : At the end of the song Alice puts a gas mask on and a very strange looking machine is pushed on stage by some dark figures. They tie Alice up on the machine that starts to produce al lot of smoke and lightning.
This Machine awakes a four to five meter high Frankenstein Cooper that walks across the stage and singsthesongwithdeepdistortedvoice. Okaythisis more funnythanscarry. In „Cold Ethyl“Alice proves to bea goodbut surely not a kinddancer. His dancing partner, a life-sizefemalepuppet,has to take a lot. Whileperforming the well known ballad "Only Women Bleed" a wind-up toy puppet starts an impressive and bizarre dancing. In real life the dancer is Cooper`s daughter. With "Paranoiac Personality" is at least one song from the current very strong record "Paranormal" in the setlist. And of course Alice ends up in a straight jacket singing "Ballad of Dwight Fry" tortured by a sadistic nurse (his daughter again). The fans know the nurse will have to pay for this. Cooper can free himself and tries to strangulate this nasty bitch. The audience is yelling, but this time he fails. The nurse can crap a knife and puts it in his side and he falls on his knees. Suddenly some masked men take Cooper in custody while a big guillotin is hitting the stage. An instrumental medley includig „Killer“ and „I love the Dead“ prepares the crowd for the inevitable execution. And then there is silence interrupted by a drum roll, BANG : the falling blade chops Cooper`s head off that falls in a casked.
The executor presents victorious the bloody head to audience. Okay let`s be honest : this is really the only shocking moment of his well entertaining show. But as Mister Furnier once said : « Alice does not let people leave the show in shock » so it is clear, that he comes back armed with a crutch singing„ I`m Eighteen“, okay Coop this was years ago ;). At the end of every Alice Cooper show there must be party time: „School is Out“ is the „grande finale“ with lots of balloons and confetti and everyone in the Samsung Hall is singing: „School is Out for Summer……“ and for many of the enthusiastic crowd the school days are years ago.
Setlist:
- Intro
- Brutal Planet
- Nomore Mr. Nice Guy
- Under my wheels
- Department of youth
- Pain
- Billion Dollar Babies
- The World Needs Guts
- Woman of Mass Distraction
- Guitar solo
- Poison
- Halo of Flies
- Feed my Frankenstein
- Cold Ethyl
- Only Women Bleed
- Paranoiac Personality
- Ballad of Dwight Fry
- Medley : Killer / I love the Dead
- I`m Eighteen
- School`s Out
