Alice Cooper Opens The Doors To His Nightmare Castle At The O2

by | Oct 14, 2019

Alice Cooper @ The O2 Arena

Alice Cooper isn’t short on charisma – or experience. He could probably transfix an arena audience with acapella renditions of songs from long-forgotten album Zipper Catches Skin. All he’d need is an empty stage, some black greasepaint for his eyes, and perhaps a cane. His serpentine strut, regal poses, and arched eyebrow would do the rest.

Alice Cooper @ The O2 Arena

But, after 50 years, he also knows what the people want. And that’s old school theatrics. So, at regular intervals during a whirlwind 90-minute set, out come Alice’s familiar crutch (for playing air guitar and pointing), sword (for swishing, conducting, and pointing), meat cleaver and knife (for vaudevillian homicide), and red cape (for fighting imaginary bulls). 

Alice Cooper @ The O2 Arena

Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper

The expected top hat and cane are never far off. And, since both Feed My Frankenstein and Teenage Frankenstein are in the set, neither is the towering Frankenstein’s creature, lumbering about in his shackles, and only upstaged by an equally oversized dancing zombie baby.  

Alice Cooper @ The O2 Arena

All of this (and more) plays out against the backdrop of the Nightmare Castle, a looming funfair-style structure of steps, raised platforms, flickering torches, and giant doors tailor-made for rockstar posturing and pantomime performances. 

Alice Cooper @ The O2 Arena

There’s the tragic romance that plays out between our hero and his ghostly lover during Roses On White Lace. There’s the arrival of Friday The 13th’s Jason Voorhees (with hockey mask in place) to slay a selfie-taking teen during He’s Back (The Man Behind The Mask). And there’s the dizzying sequence involving his signature straitjacket, a witchy woman with a pram and baby (doll), that cleaver, and the infamous guillotine. 

Alice Cooper @ The O2 Arena

Even the stage crew get in on the action, issued with their own knight helmets for moving around props like the cannon that, during Billion Dollar Babies, showers the crowd in bank notes.

Alice Cooper @ The O2 Arena

Confetti and big balloons replace the raining paper bills during the grand blowout that is School’s Out, to end an already extravagant night with a literal bang. 

Alice Cooper @ The O2 Arena

Such excess extends to the musicians onstage. Renowned for hiring supremely talented artists, with former recruits including Vai, Satriani, and Orianthi, Cooper clearly hasn’t lost his eye for talent. Drummer Glen Sobel is as big on flair as power, twirling his sticks as he smashes his cymbals during a drum solo that could rattle the depths of hell. 

Alice Cooper @ The O2 Arena

Bass player Chris Wyse, joined by Cooper’s original bassist Dennis Dunaway on the night’s final song, is faultless as both Sobel’s foil and a backing vocalist alongside the (count ‘em) three guitarists. 

Alice Cooper @ The O2 Arena

Following the Iron Maiden approach of more is more, Tommy Henriksen, Ryan Roxie, and Nita Strauss take turns playing rhythm and lead, frequently lining up in formation at the lip of the stage to trade solos.

Alice Cooper @ The O2 Arena

All three play with the flair and flamboyance of a hair metal band circa 1987, but it’s Strauss who shines brightest – and not just during an epic solo that begins on the castle’s highest turret.

Alice Cooper @ The O2 Arena

And yet, despite all this spectacle, the songs and their performances never take a hit. Even after almost five decades, signature songs like No More Mr. Nice Guy (which Songkick reckons has been performed over 2400 times), Billion Dollar Babies (3111 at last count), Under My Wheels (2561), and Poison (just 2196) sound as menacingly entertaining (and downright irresistible) as ever.

Alice Cooper @ The O2 Arena

Even more thrilling for the diehard fans is the Ol’ Black Eyes Is Back tour’s resurrection of long-lost tracks like the punchy Teenage Frankenstein (played for the first time since 2001), sledgehammer-swinging late ‘80s comeback special Bed Of Nails (making a regular return after almost three decades), the rock operatic Roses On White Lace (last played in 1988), and, dusted off for the first time in 45 years, the majestic My Stars.   

Alice Cooper @ The O2 Arena

To borrow a term from Kiss, it all adds up to a psycho circus with Alice as the enigmatic ringmaster. Despite the scale of the production and the quality of musicianship on display, he’s never once upstaged, using his seemingly boundless energy and that well of charisma to full effect.

Alice Cooper @ The O2 Arena

Almost as magnetic and even more energetic is Wayne Kramer of the MC50. An all-star resurrection of his seminal ‘60s garage rockers the MC5 featuring the likes of Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayall, the night’s opening act have a lo-fi production that matches their rough and ready sound. 

MC50 @ The O2 Arena

Kramer, who still plays his stars and stripes guitar like Pete Townsend circa 1966 and pogos like a man half his age, is no less subdued between songs, his anti-establishment rhetoric undiminished by the years. Like the night’s headliner, he simply cannot be ignored. 

MC50 @ The O2 Arena

Review of Alice Cooper at The O2 Arena on 10th October 2019 by Nils van der Linden. Photography by Kalpesh Patel.

 

The Hollywood Vampires Cover Themselves In Gory

Tim Wheeler of Ash @ Wembley Arena (Kalpesh Patel)

Ash Share Their Raucous Take On Harry Belafonte Classic ‘Jump In The Line’

Perennially exuberant Northern Irish noiseniks ASH have returned with their new single, a suitably vibrant version of the Harry Belafonte’s 1961 staple Jump In The Line. Fans will have caught the band playing the song live on their recent tour with The Darkness.

Crymwav bring American Carnage to London

Heavy rock and the Cart and Horses are the perfect combination: after all, the historic East London bar is well known...
Djo (CJ Harvey)

Djo Shares New Single ‘Potion’ Ahead Of Tour Including UK Headline Dates & Glastonbury Festival Appearance

Djo – the musical project of actor / producer / songwriter Joe Keery known for his work in blockbuster projects as Stranger Things and Fargo – will release his highly anticipated new album The Crux this Friday, 4th April. Before the album drops, he shares one final preview of the record with Potion. Showcasing a different side of the record to the BBC Radio 1 playlisted single Basic Being Basic, and its Hottest Record In The World follow-up Delete Ya, Potion finds Djo in Laurel Canyon.

Wet Leg (Iris Luz)

Wet Leg Announce Second Album ‘Moisturizer’ Alongside Tour News

Wet Leg – the Isle of Wight five-piece founded by Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers – have announced their eagerly...
Chloe Qisha (Lillie Eiger)

Chloe Qisha Announces 2025 UK Tour

The UK’s next global pop star Chloe Qisha has announced her forthcoming 2025 UK & European tour. Tickets are on...
Nick Mulvey (Liam Maxwell)

Nick Mulvey Returns WIth New LP ‘Dark Harvest (Pt. 1)’ Alongside Single ‘Radical Tenderness’

Nick Mulvey has announced his fourth studio album, Dark Harvest (Pt. 1), out 6th June via Nick’s own independent label titled Supernatural Records. It also marks the release of the LP’s first single, Radical Tenderness, and the announcement of the Dark Harvest – World Tour, with dates across UK, Ireland, Europe, North America and Australia.

The Pale White @ Oslo (Louise Phillips)

The Pale White Share Euphoric New Single ‘Final Exit’

Newcastle alt-rock trio The Pale White have unveiled their new single Final Exit. The latest release comes from their...
Kasabian - BRITs Week For War Child 25 @ Shepherd’s Bush Empire (Aaron Parsons)

BRITs Week 25, Delivered By DHL For War Child Announces Money Raised Through 2025 Shows

BRITs Week 25, delivered by DHL for War Child, has announced details of the money raised from this year’s series. An...

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This

Share Thing