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Alice Loses Feathers but Keeps his Plume

Of the 5,000 or so people present at the Forum last night to attend the “Operation Rock 'N Roll” mega-concert, the vast majority had come to see and hear Alice Cooper, the grand guignol of rock. Although he teamed up with Judas Priest, Metal Church and Dangerous Toys for this tour, he did not win his battle against the recession in Montreal. But whatever, it's on stage that Cooper delivers his best fights.

While Vincent Furnier, the man behind Alice Cooper, is getting old, the character is still all that is young and current.

The presence of a hundred fans outside the MusiquePlus studios yesterday afternoon, where Cooper was giving an interview, proved the rocker's enduring popularity.

This popularity is undoubtedly due to the fact that Alice Cooper, through his various phases and musical turns, has never forgotten those who form his main audience: young people.

In his early days, Alice Cooper, who was the first to turn a rock show into a large-scale theatrical event, sang the plight of youth, with songs such as "I'm Eighteen", in which he recounted the problems of the adolescent facing the transition into the adult world or even in “School's Out”, a call for student revolt in order to obtain permanent vacations.

Today, although in his late forties, Alice Cooper is at it again with "Hey Stoopid!", the title track from his latest album, denouncing suicide among young people.

Throughout his career, Alice Cooper's speech has always been addressed to teenagers, and they are precisely the ones who made up most of the audience last night. Some were even so small that the sweater with the image of their idol they had bought at a high price reached down to their knees.

In short, Alice Cooper is the archetype of the rocker of his age: a walking paradox. The man is getting old, his face is wrinkled, ravaged by the excesses of life and the road. But his music remains young, dynamic and catchy.

That’s why last night at the Forum people were only there for Alice Cooper. And it was not a half-empty amphitheater, despite the fact that some tickets sold for half the price, which would dampen enthusiasm among fans.

Alice Cooper: la piece de resistance

At the stroke of six o'clock, "Operation Rock 'N Roll" slowly got under way, with a performance by Metal Church. At this time, only a handful of fans were present.

An hour later, the Forum was just starting to fill up when Dangerous Toys, who offered some good hardrock, took to the stage.

Motorhead having had to cancel his participation in "Operation Rock 'N Roll" (Lemmy, the singer of the British formation, was injured recently), Judas Priest, also from the United Kingdom, started his show a little after 8 pm, to the delight of the crowd, who were just beginning to warm up.

Used to starting the party later, heavy metal fans seemed a little taken aback by a show put on so early.

It must also be said that Judas Priest were in Montreal last October. The group was therefore not the star of the evening.

It was Alice Cooper who was the focal point of "Operation Rock 'N Roll". The other groups were just appetizers. And if the rock fanatic didn’t win his battle against the recession in Montreal, he probably had no difficulty winning the hearts of his fans at the Forum.

(Translated from the Canadian-French publication, September 2020)