ALICE COOPER / THE STRANGLERS / MC50 | LIVE REVIEW
Motorpoint Arena Cardiff, Sat 12 Oct
Alice Cooper shows no signs of slowing down, even as a septuagenarian. Appearing at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff, Alice Cooper (remember – that’s the name of the band as well as its frontman!) brought along a stage show that would make any other fall by the wayside. Nobody does a concert like the Alice Cooper band. Nobody.
Notable mentions go to the two support acts: MC50, who have one surviving original band member (Wayne Kramer, another seventysomething), with ex-members of Soundgarden, Faith No More and Fugazi filling in. Forming as MC5 in in late-60s Detroit, with Alice among their rocker peers, the new name highlights the fact that it’s been over 50 years for them and their music. They blew the roof off the place.
The Stranglers, too, have changed lineups over the years but if anything, it was difficult to differentiate the lead singer Baz Warne’s vocals from his predecessor Hugh Cornwell’s. Not a hard rock band per se, on the face of it to see them on the same bill as the other two acts was a surprise, but they were a perfect precursor to what was to follow.
And what did follow was mesmerising from Alice Cooper. We had the explosive start, which made everybody pay attention to the stage: totally theatrical, totally over-the-top but totally brilliantThe hits just kept on coming: light on between-song chat until later on, but who needs to hear chatter when you have a back catalogue as vast as this?
One highlight of the show, after we’d experienced the huge babies, Frankenstein, a guillotine chopping off Alice’s head and the killing of a fan (no-one was really harmed… obviously) was when Alice came out towards the end wearing a Welsh football shirt with the number 18 and COOPER on the back. I’m 18, his first hit single, was therefore inevitable – sang along with No More Mr Nice Guy, Poison, School’s Out and Billion Dollar Babies, to name a few.
It would be a crime if mentions weren’t made of Glen Sobel on drums, and Ryan Roxie, Chuck Garric, Tommy Henriksen and Nita Strauss on guitars and backing vocals. Glen can play the drums as if he invented the kit; his bandmates all excel, too, Strauss, recently voted the best female guitar player in the world. She also has music in her blood: Johann Strauss, the Austrian composer, is one of her ancestors. I am sure he would approve of her skills!
The night flew by, and with this being the last night of the UK tour, the last song had an ensemble of MC50 and Stranglers members up on stage for the final encore. Age to Alice Cooper is merely a number, as tonight’s show has shown. Truly, I’ve never been so entertained at a music concert.
words CARL MARSH photos MORGAN DEVINE