In October, 2007, I witnessed the sensory overloading spectacle that was Rob Zombie (January 12, 1965) open for the Prince of Darkness himself, Ozzy Osbourne. Ozzy seemed to be a mere shell of his former self, almost a parody of one of the most significant front men in metal, while Rob Zombie raised the ante and was the new Prince. I wondered how Zombie would fare against the legendary Alice Cooper, the master of macabre, on this the opening night of the Gruesome Twosome Tour.
We sat on the right side, in section 117, in seats 1 and 2, which were directly in line with the front of the stage. Unfortunately, our view of the stage was blocked by speakers stacked on the side. As more and more people sat down near us, I could hear them complain that they thought they had great seats, but in fact, had obstructed views. I left for the Guest Services booth and sure enough, they exchanged our tickets for the other side of section 117, a much better view. Or it would have been a much better view, were it not for the idiots in front of us, obscuring a good bit of our view. I was reluctant to stand up since the people behind me were sitting down, but towards the end of the show,everyone stood.
I was quite surprised to see Alice Cooper as the opening act. I just expected him to be the headliner, but apparently this, the Gruesome Twosome Tour, has each act headlining on alternative nights. Like the last time I saw him, in May of 2006, Cooper began the show two classics, "School's Out" from 1972 and "Department of Youth" from 1975's Welcome To My Nightmare.
The audience were fully engaged in the next song, 1971's "I'm Eighteen," from Love It To Death. Although it was quite apparent that the audience this time around was quite a bit younger than the last time Cooper played here, his best known material was heartily accompanied by the vocal of the 5500 fans.
Despite playing for only 75 minutes, Cooper ran through 21 songs, which included four scenes in which he was killed by guillotine, hanging, skewered with metal spikes, and injected with a massive prop syringe. Cooper (February 4, 1948), did look older but it played well with his creepy stage persona as the original madman of rock 'n' roll.
Article comments
1 - Brad
I thought Alice was awesome. He still sounds like Alice and the energy he possesses his amazing. Alice still puts out some solid albums as well.