It is no surprise that the master of the macabre Alice Cooper— the sultan of shock rock, would put on the best Halloween party of the year. Even if it was a few weeks early, Oct. 14 at the Enmax Centre.
As an Alice Cooper black widow spider eyes backdropped, dropped, Cooper commanded the stage in assorted costumes, wielding a variety of props like walking sticks assorted swords, daggers and dummies, strutting across a backdrop of skeletons, a massive toy trunk and tombstones, in front of an upraised drum riser where drummer Glen Sobel flailed away behind a double bass drum kit for a handful of early hit “No More Mr. Nice Guy,” “Under My Wheels” and “Billion Dollar Babies.”
A transvestite in a rainbow coloured fright wig popped out of the trunk to hand Cooper props like walking sticks and hats.
But a show means nothing if you don’t have the music to back it up, so his hot band of bassist Chuck Garric, guitarists Ryan Roxie, Nita Strauss and Tommy Henricksen and drummer Glen Sobel blasted through Cooper’s many time tested , catchy rock and roll hits. The three guitarists effortlessly harmonized with each other. Bassist Chuck Garric stood rooted to his spot for most of the set glaring like a possessed Glenn Danzig.
Cooper strutted around in black and white striped pants to open the show with “Black Widow” and bit in with big hits “ No More Mr. Nice Guy” and “Billion Dollar Babies.”
Lead guitarists Nita Strauss, whirled and swooped around the stage, looking a lot like Nashville Pussy’s Ruyter Suys, her long blond hair flowing in the air.
She showed substantial musical chops during a solo spot at the end of the apt “Woman of Mass Distraction,” which incorporated a few bars from Prince, a flurry of fretboard tapping and assorted effects soaked weirdness.
All three of them shone on Cooper’s popular late ’80s hit “Poison” which was one of several songs having a good sized crowd singing along.
Cooper disappeared during some of the more extended solo breaks to change costumes. He electrocuted him self on one solo break preceding “Feed My Frankenstein,” which featured a 10 foot Frankenstein monster stomping across the stage and dwarfing the band.
Another theatrical number featured Cooper manhandling a ballerina dummy the transvestite handed him from the toy trunk, which lead to a zombie ballerina coming to centre stage to dance before Cooper killed her during “Only Women Bleed,” which featured minimal music and allowed Cooper to show off how well he can sing.
As always there are consequences to Cooper’s violence as that lead to his infamous guillotine routine and Cooper’s subsequent execution which was preceded by “ Guilty.”
He was brought back onto stage under a bloody sheet by a couple of costumed skeletons and resurrected for a rousing version of “I Love the Dead.”
He ended up in a straight-jacket being injected with a needle by a zombie nurse later on, which he later stabbed after breaking free of the straight-jacket.
Alice Cooper wound down the show with a trio of tributes.
He examined a small tombstone of John Lennon and a curtain unveiled a massive tombstone for the Who’s drummer Keith Moon, which was the backdrop for a hot cover of “Pinball Wizard.”
They followed that up after an ominous silence and a curtain dropping to reveal a tombstone for Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead, which lead to menacing bassist Chuck Garric growling out a sizzling cover of “Ace of Spades.”
Last, but not least a third curtain dropped to reveal a tombstone for David Bowie, which lead a to a wicked cover of “Suffragette City.”
They wound down the night by playing Alice Cooper‘s biggest hits, turning the Enmax Centre into a massive singalong with “I’m 18.” and “School’s out.”
After a bit of a wait, nobody wanted to leave, so Alice Cooper returned for a the apt “ I Want to Be Elected,” which wound up with two roadies dressed as Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, who had a slap fight on stage with each other, then ended up making out.
And still nobody wanted to leave, but they happily trickled out of the arena around 9:30 p.m.
