The BIC, Bournemouth
It was Alice Coopers Halloween Night of Fear tour and the B.I.C was awash with all manners of ghouls and monsters as fancy dress costumes were the order of the evening.
Blasting out their punky hard rock Duff Mc Kagan’s Loaded do their utmost to get the crowd going but find the B.I.C audience very hard work. They sounded well tight and in a smaller club setting would have owned but this is Alice Cooper’s crowd and as such found themselves struggling against indifference.
Ugly Kid Joe lead singer Whitfield Crane does what Duff should have done, bounces out on stage and tells everyone to “get the fuck up out of the seats” we all obliged and they finally get the party started! During “Panhandling Prince” Whitfield jumps off the stage and into the audience running through the aisles and up the tiered seating whilst singing. Back on stage he drags the guitar tech out so the crowd can sing him Happy Birthday. They aired a new song called Iím Alright which was a bit good and He then dedicates Cats In The Cradle to a sour looking dude in the front row and tells him he has a great poker face. They finish on a high with Everything About You and leave to a standing ovation.
A massive curtain fell from the top of the stage set and fireworks cascaded down after it, heralding the arrival of rocks premier showman. Alice Cooper strode out commanding the stage and left no one in any doubt that this was his Halloween shindig. The beginning part of the set was a few tracks from latest release Welcome 2 My Nightmare. With the best tracks off said opus “I’ll Bite Your Face Off” and “Caffeine” looking set to become live favourites. Then it’s all old school Alice all the way, “Billion Dollar Babies” has him shaking fake money into the crowd from a rapier. Death by electrocution during a rip-roaring rendition of “Feed My Frankenstein” brings a 10 foot monster Alice into play stumbling all about the stage.
He keeps the bringing the dead to life theme going by paying tribute to his old friends that have gone before their time and which once formed his infamous drinking club the Hollywood Vampires. Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Keith Moon and John Lennon each get one of their songs played with obvious emotion by the clubs sole remaining member. Then it’s time for the encore, “Schools Out” the best known song of his back catalogue sounds out with a tremendous audience reaction and in an explosion of ticker tape and flying ribbons brings the whole she-bang to a dramatic end.
It’s always a pleasure to have rocks ultimate showman remind you of how a concert should beÖan outstanding spectacle that makes you go home with a smile on your face!
Setlist
Hello Hooray
House Of Fire
No More Mr. Nice Guy
I’ll Bite Your Face Off
Be My Lover
Caffine
Billion Dollar Babies
Congregation
Hey Stoopid
Dirty Diamonds
Man Behind The Mask
Devil’s Food
Feed My Frankenstein
Break On Through
Revolution
Foxy Lady
My Generation
I’m Eighteen
Under My Wheels
Poison
Encore
School’s out
Words by Dan O’Gara.
Photos by Richard Lee
