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Shock Rock Rolls with Alice Cooper

KALAMAZOO — The bewitching season is here and what better time for a concert, even better, a concert from the acknowledged king of shock rock, the master of macabre, Alice Cooper. Such was the setting Thursday night at Wings Stadium as Cooper brought his assorted group of ghouls, monsters and other grisly special effects to town for yet another devilish performance.

Cooper, one of a number of acts who had great success in the '70s, is also among a growing legion of those same bands who are enjoying resurgences in their careers. After a string of hits in the last decade, Cooper saw his popularity dwindle a bit as the '80s began and synthesizers became increasingly popular. The upswing in heavy metal, however, breathed new life into Cooper's career and he has once again returned to the headline status enjoyed in the past.

Cooper's show relies just as heavily on theatrics as it ever did.

Each song can be likened to a scene in a play, and Cooper's show Thursday night featured 11 different scenes, before the finale was played out with a pair of encore numbers. The show began with several songs from Cooper's older material, including Billion Dollar Babies, No More Mr. Nice Guy and Eighteen. Also included during those songs were the usual menagerie of Cooper delights, including Cooper beheading a baby doll.

Several other songs followed, during which Cooper battled an assortment of characters, including a person dressed as the Grim Reaper, who engaged in a duel of sorts before finally being felled by Cooper and stabbed dead with a sabre. There also was a giant mechanical black widow spider to contend with. Then there was the creature which attacked Alice from behind only to be beheaded by our hero as mock blood spewed into the front rows.

The final sequence found Cooper being led to the gallows and looking like he might finally get his due. But wait... just when it looked like the end, he reappeared back at the front of the stage, having thwarted the hangman once again, as the band launched into 1972's legendary School's Out.

A pair of encore selections, including the title track from Cooper's latest album, Raise Your Fist and Yell and another classic, Under My Wheels, rounded out the night.

The only criticism to an otherwise excellent performance is that occasionally, because the show relies so heavily on theatrics, the transitional music tends to get a bit long-winded and downright boring. Perhaps a little less time elaborating on the plot for each song would help the pacing.

Ace Frehley's Comet preceded Cooper to the stage and helped to fire up the crowd for what was ahead. Frehley, the former KISS guitarist, is steadily building his own legion of followers and his latest album release has gone a long way toward helping him in that regard. Frehley's set did, however, include two songs from his past: Cold Gin and Shock Me. Material covered from his latest offering included the anthemic Rock Soldiers featuring a "rock-2-3-4" cadence which the crowd found acceptable enough to thrust upraised fists in perfect tempo to the beat.

Los Angeles band Faster Pussycat opened the night's show with a 30-minute set featuring music from the groups debut album release on Elektra Records, along with a rather surprising cover of the Rolling Stones' Honky-Tonk Women.

(Courtesy of Emil Ortenmark)