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Alice Cooper wows crowds at Wolverhampton Civic Hall

PANTO season started early in the Black Country when grandfather of gothic Alice Cooper and his Theatre of Death burst on stage at Wolverhampton Civic.

Within minutes of the show opening, the golf-loving 60-plus-year-old was beheaded in a mock execution after the gig exploded with the iconic air guitar classic School's Out — an unashamed favourite worthy of any encore.

After 40 years in the entertainment business, leather-clad Cooper is certainly a showman, but such was the volume of the music and spectacle of his act his singing voice was at times almost secondary to the din and the drama.

Despite this, an army of devoted followers lapped up his high-camp performance and were happy to sing along to numbers such as Department of Youth, Wicked Young Man and the anthemic Poison.

Cooper is certainly idiosyncratic, highly watchable and undoubtedly a music legend and, so long as there is breath in his body, two things are for sure — you'll either find him on stage, or on the golf course.

Verdict: 3/5

(Originally appeared online at the Birmingham Mail website on 2nd December 2009)