Alice Cooper, Edinburgh Playhouse: the ringmaster of rock & roll theatre commands the stage
Fifty years prowling the stages of the world, and Alice Cooper is still the ringmaster when it comes to rock ‘n’ roll theatre.
A packed house at a very hot, sticky Playhouse Theatre also took me back to the 1980s when it was simply the best live venue in Scotland and hosted pretty much every touring band whose name you could embroider on to the back of a denim jacket.
From AC/DC to the Stones and Springsteen, from Ozzy to Rainbow and on to Madness and OMD, I’ve lost count of the many nights I’ve emerged into the cold Edinburgh air buzzing after witnessing an incredible gig. I once spent an entire night pinned to the front of the stage with my head in a speaker bin watching Whitesnake. Couldn’t hear a thing for days…
Alice Cooper was a throwback to that golden era, and he was magnificent. Some of the audience copied his unique make-up, others donned top hats, and many snapped up tour t-shirts on a night when everyone seemed clad in black.
Many were clearly long-standing fans, but Cooper’s appeal spans the generations - the primary school kid in front of me belted out every word, while the old boy in front of him punched the air.
The man himself is charismatic and commanded the stage, and all without speaking to the audience until the very end. He didn’t need to - he had them in the palm of his hand from the moment two bellringers heralded his arrival, which saw him take a sword to slice through a huge mock newspaper front page which hung from the roof of the stage, while video footage showed the shock, horror headlines which hailed his arrival in the 1970s in a quick re-telling of his story.
The second the house lights went down, every seat was upright and phones held aloft to capture some truly magical moments.
Cooper moved with precision, used his cane to conduct the audience and orchestrate his ultra-tight band as he delivered a set filled with his classic songs.
Welcome To The Show was the perfect opener, and an opening trio of No More Mr Nice Guy, Under The Wheels and I’m Eighteen set the scene for a near perfect set.
The theatrics included impaling a press photographer, cutting the throat of a fan taking selfies, and a giant Frankenstein, while Cooper’s wife appeared as Marie Antoinette to carry out his execution before swinging his severed head around the stage. All that was missing was his pet snake, but that didn’t stop fans from snapping up replicas at the merch stall. I guess they’ll make great draught excluders…
The show was glorious, vintage Cooper, and ultra slick throughout. His band were simply immense.
Poison sparked a huge sing-along as this show moved, step by step, to the finale of School’s Out which was meshed with Pink Floyd’s Another Brick In The Wall - two classic anthems perfectly conjoined. Only then did Cooper address the audience to introduce his band, adding “and playing Alice Cooper tonight is … me!”
He doffed his top hat and finished with Free My Frankenstein before paying tribute to Ozzy Osbourne with a “goodnight , and God bless” message - one legend saluting another on a stage where both have performed.
At 77 this may well be his last time on these shores. If so, the ringmaster left us with one more amazing show.