King of "shock rock" thrills audience
Posted Jul 29, 2010 By Michael J Brethour
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Michael J Brethour, Belleville EMC
Rocker Alice Cooper thrilled crowds during the opening night of Rockfest this past weekend in Belleville. Photo: Michael J Brethour
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Michael J Brethour, Belleville EMC
(top left) A "hanged" Alice Cooper is savagely inspected by a buxom blonde during the legendary shock rocker's Theatre of Death tour that headlined the opening night of Empire Square's Rockfest last Thursday night. Photo: Michael J Brethour
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EMC Entertainment - Belleville - Who would have thought school could be so enjoyable?
Michael J Brethour, Belleville EMC
(bottom left) Alice Cooper turns back to the crowd after stabbing a ninja masked assailant during the legendary rocker's Theatre of Death performance during the opening night of Rockfest last Thursday. Photo: Michael J Brethour
Certainly none of the thousands present in Empire Square last Thursday evening would have claimed or suspected that they came to the annual Rockfest to learn an important lesson, but learn they did.
They were taken to school by the legendary Alice Cooper, he taught us exactly how a four-decade-long successful musical career is sustained ... old school style.
Cooper came out, greeted by a deafening roar of gathered fans, dispensing with all chit chat and small talk entirely, he instead launched right into a stunning rendition of School's Out.
The acidic contempt in the voice of his character, and his snakelike eyes had the audience spellbound before he reached the first chorus. Strutting around the stage like some Greek god of vengeance, pausing periodically to strike out with his baton as the song drew to close, he seamlessly rolled into No More Mr. Nice Guy.
From there on in, all present were eating from the palm of his hand like half starved children, screaming for more and more and Cooper just kept raising the bar to incredible levels.
Then Wicked Young Man hit the humid air, a delinquent Alice was portrayed and by the end of the song and the start of the next, our beloved villain experienced his first death in the Friendly City.
That's when things got weird, watching Cooper die seemed to inspire an unholy bloodlust in the crowd, the cheers renewed at an unimaginable decibel level as the crowd begged for more and Cooper delivered with the ballad Go to Hell.
As the props became more numerous onstage and reached new levels of bizarre entertainment the sense started to blur images into each other, overwhelmed by the shear spectacle of it all. Flashes of Cooper tossing a full sized made up doll around the stage, his head being cut off in a guillotine, then in turn carrying his head around on stage then tossing it filled everyone's mind.
A calmer moment saw an almost feminine version of Cooper decked out in kind of nurse from hell uniform strung up a set of gallows on stage singing his heart out, then right with mind blowing riffs Cooper was hanged and a tenderly savage scene ensued with a sultry busty blonde woman almost, but not quite mourning his death.
Too much, too much ... the senses sizzled, dumbfounded the crowd could only stare around in a stupor at Cooper on top of a scaffold ladder, decked out with spider legs bawling the lyrics to Vengeance is Mine.
With arms upraised, the crowd were thrusting their fists into the air as one beast, singing along, "Vengeance is mine. Vengeance is mine, mine, mine, to forgive is divine. But vengeance is mine, mine, mine."
After Cooper left the stage, howls of dejection followed him, as brand new fans and old alike begged for more and he obliged them with his closer School's Out ramming home the point that the night's lesson was done.
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