Alice Cooper Live
It’s not every night that a living legend rolls into town, but that’s what happened on Friday as Alice Cooper arrived in Southampton to rock the Guildhall.
I’d been looking forward to this gig for weeks and was worried that I would be disappointed as that tends to happen when you look forward to something, but the only disappointment I had is that I didn’t get to meet Mister Cooper. I reverted back to being a kid at this show, squeezing my way down to the front and securing my spot on the barrier and as Alice’s shadow appeared on the back drop the whole room practically exploded with excitement.
No time was wasted speaking to the crowd Alice and his band launched straight into action and within seconds he had the whole crowd mesmerised, me included. The shock rocker maybe 60 years old but his voice is amazing, just as strong as it ever was. He is one of those artists who comes across a hundred times better live, I’ve listened to one of his album since and it just seems empty.
The crowd eagerly sang along with every single song, screaming on queue and you could see that everyone was in awe of the man. As expected there were plenty of people sporting his style of eye make-up, and there was even one kid who was dress like him • leather gloves, white top and tails • she proved a hit with the man himself too and she ended up going home with a drumstick, his cane and a couple of beaded necklaces • oh, to be a child again.
His band was made up of top class musicians, but it was guitarist Kerri Kelli who really stood out, he was amazing, uber talented and a joy to watch. He put his all into his performance and sweated buckets because of it.
An Alice Cooper show wouldn’t be complete without some kind of theatrics, and at the Southampton show we saw him attack a woman who was portrayed by his daughter Calico, kill a baby, be put in a straight jacket and get hung. Of course, there were also plenty of costume changes, and while he was getting changed the band provided the crowd with some killer instrumental interludes, where they really got to show off their talents.
The big hits of the night were ‘Feed My Frankenstein’, ‘Schools Out’ and the closing track ‘Poison’ which at some points saw the crowd drowning out Cooper’s vocals. On a musical level the only thing that would have made the show better was if ‘Bed Of Nails’ had been played, but other than that it was amazing, possibly even the best gig I’ve ever been to. If Alice did one thing on Friday night it was show the crowd exactly why he has had such a long and successful career, like I said in my intro the man is a living legend.