ALICE COOPER - BIRMINGHAM UTILITA ARENA, 16.10.24

BY SHARI BLACK VELVET

If there’s a world record for the number of tours an artist has completed, Alice Cooper must be getting close to breaking it. Now aged 76, the musician has been performing since the sixties. And, to this day, while he still plays hits from those early years, he also manages to still stay relevant, not resting on his laurels, releasing new albums and music, and incorporating them into his set. 

His latest UK run, billed as ‘Too Close For Comfort’, featured six arena shows, kicking off in Glasgow before heading down to Birmingham, and ending with a double dose in London town. After support slots by frantic Britpunk duo The Meffs and Scottish alternative indie rockers Primal Scream, Alice Cooper is first seen as a shadow behind a large backdrop of The English Gazette proclaiming ‘BANNED IN ENGLAND! ALICE COOPER. TRIAL SET: FOR DEEDS AGAINST HUMANITY’. Alice whips the curtain-like backdrop open, steps through the centre and the show commences with a few lines of ‘Lock Me Up’ (taken from his 'Raise Your Fist And Yell' album of 1987). ‘If you don’t like it, you can lock me up,’ he sings. But, tonight, as every night, the crowd don’t just like it, they love it. ‘Welcome To The Show’, Alice sings (a song from his 2023-release ‘Road’), along with his band, Nita Strauss, Ryan Roxie and Tommy Henriksen on guitars, Chuck Garric on bass, and Glen Sobel on drums. The welcome is more than welcome. 

Alice then starts stacking up the hits. We get ‘No More Mr. Nice Guy’ from 1973, then the 1970 best seller, ‘I’m Eighteen’, closely followed by 1971’s ‘Under My Wheels’. Carrying his black cane for the first, before switching it out for a crutch, he thrusts the crutch into the air, before leaning on it. Ryan Roxie takes the first part of the guitar solo in ‘I’m Eighteen’, before Nita joins him and then takes over. Alice’s bandmates all add to the songs and performance, intricately weaving in and out, taking turns to impress with their talents. They all have what it takes to perform with the legendary shock rocker. Alice leans on Nita before pushing her to the side in anticipation of the solo. She whips her hair from side to side, before Tommy, and then Ryan, continue the guitar licks. After the trio of 70’s hits, along comes ‘Bed Of Nails’, from Alice’s highly successful ‘Trash’ album released in 1989 – which goes down a treat.

A boa constrictor is brought onstage for ‘Snakebite’ – personally, we'd prefer it wasn't used - we’re not a fan of animals being used for entertainment purposes (even just for one song). It is soon forgotten when 1971’s ‘Be My Lover’ takes over. ‘He’s Back (The Man Behind The Mask)’ and ‘Hey Stoopid’ see some theatrical ‘actors’ run onto the stage, holding cameras, taking photos of Alice, as a fan, and a member of the paparazzi, closely followed by men in masks. There’s a rainy backdrop for ‘Welcome To My Nightmare’, while ‘Cold Ethyl’ sees Alice singing to, and throwing around, a realistic, but very limp (i.e. slightly dead), life-size doll. 

One of the biggest cheers comes for fan favourite ‘Poison’, which always sounds fantastic.Glen Sobel, with white war paint on his cheeks, takes over the spotlight for a drum solo, while Nita later begins her own solo at the top of a staircase, before Tommy and Ryan add to it. The members are all masters of their craft and make their instruments sound outstanding. Alice is strapped into a straitjacket for the ‘Ballad Of Dwight Fry’. The one-and-a-half-hour set, of course, includes Alice’s famous guillotine section of the show, where his head appears to be chopped off in the guillotine, and his wife Sheryl appears on stage. ‘Feed My Frankenstein’ includes a towering Frankenstein character, which stalks zombie-like behind the musicians. 

‘Elected’ sees Alice on an election podium with American flags either side and rosettes showing on the screen at the back of the stage. Streamers fall from the roof.

A school bell signals the final song of the night, ‘School’s Out’. With foaming white bubbles being sprayed out from either side of the stage, Alice now wears a white ringmaster jacket, white top hat and twirls a white cane. Always the perfect end to the Alice Cooper show, you’re singing along at the top of your lungs. 

Alice Cooper is still the master of theatrical shock rock. He always gives the audience their money’s worth, putting on a show that entertains with a capital ‘E’. As far as legends go, they don’t come any greater than Alice. Ethyl may be dead, but long live Alice Cooper. 

This review will also appear in Black Velvet Issue 111.