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Concert Review

Alice Cooper
Edinburgh Playhouse

Good Friday, April Fools Day becomes Bad Friday, April Ghouls Day, 'cos he's back - AAAAAALISS COOPERRR! Beyond legendary, beyond mere infamy, the anti-hero personified. Just seein' ol' black-eyes in the flesh again made me feel all warm inside.... warm and cold and clammy. Yeah.... It's love!

With a castle/dungeon scenario an' musicians 'n' muties growin' outta the woodwork, ever gore-geous Alice prowls his turf leaner 'n' meaner than he's looked in years, bless 'im. His distinct non-vocals a prime-evil guttural grrrowl. And his audience a pantin', unruly, adorin' mob just itchin' to see what the strong and thin one will pull from his trickbag next. The return of the gallows bein' a particularly, er, 'nice' surprise. But the treats are faster an' slicker than the eye, blink an' you'll miss it! Take 'journalistic' notes - and you'll definitely miss it!

'Billion Dollar Babies', 'No More Mr Nice Guy', 'Eighteen' ... yeah, they were all there. Personal cherished moments bein' the gleefully malicious 'Chop, Chop, Chop' and the inclusion of 'Dead Babies', where the beheadin' of the zombie-mother left front-row revellers with more than their palms red! Yeeuchhh!

Kane Roberts, lookin' like Nikki 'who am I, am I dead?' Sixx on steroids, proved his pinkies weren't musclebound with some impressive, er, 'sinewy' guitar work, and mercenary drummer Ken Mary with lightning rods as drum sticks added the necessary thunder to classics old an' new.

The 'Gail' semi-conceptual piece from the '....Fist' album finds a struttin' red leather mini-skirted hooker invadin' Alice's hallowed ground. He ogles the oblivious street-walker while circlin' like an inquisitive but cunning predator.

"Shall I?" he insinuates to the crowd. "If I'm gonna kill the bitch - gimme enthusiasm!"

"Yes! YEEEESSS!!!" cry the sick, blood-hungry riff-raff.

Dammit - so did I!! An', bein' the proofessional assassin that Alice is, he only slits her pretty throat at the very electric instant he know the crowd are climaxin'. Bastard....!

Could this kind of provocative encouragement affect the fragile mentality of a dotin' Alice fanatic? Nah, all I wanted to murder afterwards was a double whisky. Cheers Alice!