News Report

Veteran gore God Alice Cooper has lined up a comprehensive UK tour in support of his current 'Hey Stoopid' album.

Alice play the following shows: Dublin Point September 28, Wembley Arena 30, and October 1, Bournemouth Center 4, Sheffield International Arena 5, Whitley Bay Ice Rink 7, Edinburgh Playhouse 8, Birmingham NEC 10 and 11.

Alice releases a new single, 'Love's A Loaded Gun' through Epic on September 23.

'Operation...' Needs A Doctor

The five act US tour featuring Judas Priest, Alice Cooper, Motorhead, Metal Church and Dangerous Toys, billed as 'Operation Rock'n'Roll', is struggling to fill venues and falling far short of financial expectations, with one informed source describing the tour as 'Operation Nightmare'!

'Operation Rock'n'Roll', a Sony/CBS/Epic label extravaganza, was launched in July. 30 shows were scheduled, and at the time of writing, four have been cancelled altogether. The tour is reaching standard arenas of 12-15,000 seats, and ampitheatres with 20-30,000 capacities. Ticket prices range from $15-25. Starting time varies, with Dangerous Toys taking the stage as early as 4 pm in some cities, with the event running until 12:30am! Unfortunately, curfew laws in some venues are resulting in Motorhead and Metal Church being periodically dropped from the bill.

Trouble in paradise was evident early on. One UK record company source commented: "The whole tour will probably be cancelled by the time we send a journalist out there." Meanwhile, in the US, memos were ignored, calls were not returned, and any attempts at obtaining comments from involved parties were met with: "Only if it's off the record"! One publicist summed it up as follows: "There are bands who can fill arenas and no-one buys their records, while other bands sell double the amount of product, but no one buys tickets."

'Operation Rock'n'Roll', which other involved sources referred to as 'Operation Rock'n'Roll Hell' or simply 'the thing', is not the only tour suffering. 'Gathering Of The Tribes', featuring 11 bands including Johnny Law, Steve Earle, Hoodoo Gurus, and Kings X, was reportably cancelled after 3 shows. Heavyweights Yes and David Lee Roth are also feeling the effects of a recession music industry officials have vehemently denied exists.