Saw Alice Saturday night in Abbotsford just outside Vancouver. Less than half the 7000 seat arena was used so every seat was good. This would be the 7th time I've seen him I think. Great show, Buck Cherry was the opening act. Heard of them but didn't know much about them or their songs but they were decent. Surprised when the singer said they've been around since 1999.
Alice and his band are well polished and they sure play alot. Last Tuesday in Edmonton, Thursday in Calgary, Friday Penticton and Saturday Abbotsford. Four shows in five nights and lots of travelling! Pretty good for a 74 year old!
Decent setlist including I'm 18, No More Mr Nice Guy, Poison, Under My Wheels, and a few new songs from his new album he released last year. This tour he plays My Stars from School's Out, not sure if he's ever played that before! Nita Strauss is one of his guitarists and she was the only guitarist to do a solo. She took over several years ago when Orianthi left to do solo stuff.
Alice's voice is still decent and has all the stage props still including the guillotine during Dead Babies. Wife Sheryl Cooper is still part of the act.
Overall a great show at a decent price. Well worth checking out. Many clips of the current tour on Youtube.

Thanks for that update on Alice Cooper.I have seen him a coupe of times over 30 years and both shows were great.Might well catch his latest offerings.Cheers DGA35

He's playing the opera house in Seattle & it was quite expensive. Sold out though. I got to meet Alice once, very nice guy. Told me that he saw me rockin' in the pit, haha. The telephone is ringing.....

I've also seen Alice Cooper for a couple of times since 2005. I think he's fantastic but his band isn't. They´re good but they sound like a cover band who doesn't quite get it.

Compare these and you will know what I mean.
[www.youtube.com] (1975)
[www.youtube.com] (2017)

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IsakSun
I've also seen Alice Cooper for a couple of times since 2005. I think he's fantastic but his band isn't. They´re good but they sound like a cover band who doesn't quite get it.

Compare these and you will know what I mean.
[www.youtube.com] (1975)
[www.youtube.com] (2017)

Thats kinda why I've never been able to pull the trigger. I LOVE the original Alice Cooper Group, and everything since has always kinda sounded like a cover band to me. Alice surrounds himself with talented musicians. In all honesty, the musicians he has in his bands end up usually becoming LA mainstay session or touring staples in the area, and he finds them before they're anybody. He has great bands, but at his direction (I don't blame the band), he wants them to make the music their own and bring it into the modern day and it strips a lot of it of its power. The music was fine, and I just don't need to pay all that money to just see Alice and hired guns behind him. I'd rather see Michael Bruce and Dennis Dunaway and Neal Smith playing those songs that they wrote and feeling them.

But thats just me. I just totally agree with you that since they left in 75 its always sounded like a cover band to me. A very good and competent one, and probably the reason its survived, but it loses the thrill of the original to me even if its heavier.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2022-04-19 19:41 by RollingFreak.

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crholmstrom
He's playing the opera house in Seattle & it was quite expensive. Sold out though. I got to meet Alice once, very nice guy. Told me that he saw me rockin' in the pit, haha. The telephone is ringing.....

Hey CR, I guess it depends on the venue size. I sat on the endzone row 18 out of 20 rows. My ticket was $60 Canadian. Floor seats were a lot more expensive than that though.

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RollingFreak

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IsakSun
I've also seen Alice Cooper for a couple of times since 2005. I think he's fantastic but his band isn't. They´re good but they sound like a cover band who doesn't quite get it.

Compare these and you will know what I mean.
[www.youtube.com] (1975)
[www.youtube.com] (2017)

Thats kinda why I've never been able to pull the trigger. I LOVE the original Alice Cooper Group, and everything since has always kinda sounded like a cover band to me. Alice surrounds himself with talented musicians. In all honesty, the musicians he has in his bands end up usually becoming LA mainstay session or touring staples in the area, and he finds them before they're anybody. He has great bands, but at his direction (I don't blame the band), he wants them to make the music their own and bring it into the modern day and it strips a lot of it of its power. The music was fine, and I just don't need to pay all that money to just see Alice and hired guns behind him. I'd rather see Michael Bruce and Dennis Dunaway and Neal Smith playing those songs that they wrote and feeling them.

But thats just me. I just totally agree with you that since they left in 75 its always sounded like a cover band to me. A very good and competent one, and probably the reason its survived, but it loses the thrill of the original to me even if its heavier.

This is from 75 after the original Cooper band broke up so this is Alice's first band he put together as a solo artist with Dick Wagner and Steve Hunter on guitar. Through the years he's had many musicians come and go. I would love to see Bruce/Dunaway and Smith tour with him again. Alice did do a show in Nashville with them a few years ago and there's clips on Youtube. Yes, you can't beat the original artists performing the songs again, but the majority of the crowd are there to see Alice and wouldn't know any of the musicians he plays with.

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DGA35

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crholmstrom
He's playing the opera house in Seattle & it was quite expensive. Sold out though. I got to meet Alice once, very nice guy. Told me that he saw me rockin' in the pit, haha. The telephone is ringing.....

Hey CR, I guess it depends on the venue size. I sat on the endzone row 18 out of 20 rows. My ticket was $60 Canadian. Floor seats were a lot more expensive than that though.

Everything at the opera house is very expensive. It's an attempt to keep the riff raff out.

I’ve seen Alice many times and consider him a true American treasure. He always brings it.

"Take all the pain...It's yours anyway"

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crholmstrom

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DGA35

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crholmstrom
He's playing the opera house in Seattle & it was quite expensive. Sold out though. I got to meet Alice once, very nice guy. Told me that he saw me rockin' in the pit, haha. The telephone is ringing.....

Hey CR, I guess it depends on the venue size. I sat on the endzone row 18 out of 20 rows. My ticket was $60 Canadian. Floor seats were a lot more expensive than that though.

Everything at the opera house is very expensive. It's an attempt to keep the riff raff out.

One thing many don't know is that he's an excellent golfer. Has been playing since the early 70s.

I grew up in Ohio near the Michigan border in the early ‘70s so seeing Alice was a semi-regular occurrence. He still comes around with the same old cheesy shtick albeit with superior technology. Like KISS he is silly fun albeit with better musicianship. He’s flogging “Detroit Stories” his best album in eons. Over fifty years later he’s coming to town this fall. I bought tickets the minute, literally, they went on sale.

If Alice Cooper is playing anywhere close, you’re crazy not to go see the show.
An absolute BLAST live every time!

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DGA35
Saw Alice Saturday night in Abbotsford just outside Vancouver. Less than half the 7000 seat arena was used so every seat was good. This would be the 7th time I've seen him I think. Great show, Buck Cherry was the opening act. Heard of them but didn't know much about them or their songs but they were decent. Surprised when the singer said they've been around since 1999.
Alice and his band are well polished and they sure play alot. Last Tuesday in Edmonton, Thursday in Calgary, Friday Penticton and Saturday Abbotsford. Four shows in five nights and lots of travelling! Pretty good for a 74 year old!
Decent setlist including I'm 18, No More Mr Nice Guy, Poison, Under My Wheels, and a few new songs from his new album he released last year. This tour he plays My Stars from School's Out, not sure if he's ever played that before! Nita Strauss is one of his guitarists and she was the only guitarist to do a solo. She took over several years ago when Orianthi left to do solo stuff.
Alice's voice is still decent and has all the stage props still including the guillotine during Dead Babies. Wife Sheryl Cooper is still part of the act.
Overall a great show at a decent price. Well worth checking out. Many clips of the current tour on Youtube.

Love Alice.

Buck Cherry has indeed been around for a minute. Their name is a play on Chuck Berry.

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Elmo Lewis
Buck Cherry has indeed been around for a minute. Their name is a play on Chuck Berry.

Actually,

(Wikipedia) Although the band's name is a spoonerism of the late Chuck Berry, the group said it was inspired by a drag queen acquaintance of theirs named Buck Cherry.

I saw him back in March this tour and thought he was amazing! It was my second time seeing him and just as great as the first time. I really love how he does substantial changes to the setlist and really illustrates the songs on stage.

Buck Cherry was... they performed.

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RollingFreak

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Elmo Lewis
Buck Cherry has indeed been around for a minute. Their name is a play on Chuck Berry.

Actually,

(Wikipedia) Although the band's name is a spoonerism of the late Chuck Berry, the group said it was inspired by a drag queen acquaintance of theirs named Buck Cherry.

Learn something new every day!

"No Anchovies, Please"

A very close friend of mine also a big Stones Fan, saw Alice for the first time in 2010. Said he thought he was the greatest Rock And Roll clown. To me Alice is great and should be taken serious although it's a lot about the show. Like everything I suppose it's all about perspective. My opinion is he's amazing.

Alice is a terrific singer. Maybe not as much these days, but back in the day he was never rated for his singing which was fantastic. Desperado man.

Buck Cherry is an underrated group. I wondered why they didn't go further.

I laugh when I think about Alice Cooper. I lived in Atlanta in the early 70s and it seemed like Alice opened for every decent act. We never would have gone to see just him. You'd groan when you'd arrive at the concert and have to sit through his schtick to get to who you wanted to see.

A friend of ours was going through a stage of shooting junk. (This is certainly not an endorsement). We get to this concert and they had long benches in the back. Our friend, bonked on skag, vomits and clears out the whole row. Alice is on stage, doing his bit, and he's pretending to hypnotize the crowd. It's quiet because Alice is intoning, "Sleep, sleep...." My friend, the vomiteer, is miserable by this time. He raises his head up and yells, "What do you think I'm trying to do, motherf&*$er?" Alice froze on stage for a beat. Ah, memories.

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frankotero
A very close friend of mine also a big Stones Fan, saw Alice for the first time in 2010. Said he thought he was the greatest Rock And Roll clown. To me Alice is great and should be taken serious although it's a lot about the show. Like everything I suppose it's all about perspective. My opinion is he's amazing.

Alice would probably take that as a compliment as he always said his shows were tongue-in-cheek horror, while he always strives to have a great band of top notch musicians.

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24FPS
Buck Cherry is an underrated group. I wondered why they didn't go further.

Buckcherry were a legitimately great band. Had two pretty solid albums to start but got lost in the pop punk of the time. Unlikely came back a few years later, and oddly enough with their best and most popular album that had Crazy Bitch and some other hits. They were solid enough and continued on that trajectory till about 2010 or so. They seemed to hit a wall at that point, then they lost members and have just kind of remained at their level ever since. Sad, because they were a kickass band (if not a screwed by their own penchant of songs just related to being drunk or sex) and the last 10 years of them have been filled with poor cliched albums and not as strong of tours as they used to do.

Sounds like I'm their manager lol. Just someone that used to be a fan and saw them kind of stall and downfall.

Crazy Bitch was their final song, I kind of recognized it. Was surprised when the lead singer pointed his mike to the crowd to sing a long with the chorus, although I could hear several people around me singing!
During the song they broke into Summer of 69, not sure if they do that every show or because it's close to Vancouver where Bryan Adams is from. They also played part of Proud Mary.

The debut album by Buckcherry is smoking all the way through. Saw them support KISS in Milano 1998. They nearly stole the show. Unfortunately everything afterwards was a slow decline downwards. Really too bad because I thought I found a great new band to follow.

Back to Alice Cooper:
I only saw him once, opening for Mötley Crüe on their last farewell tour. He blew them out of the venue. The sound, the passion, the show (although I think the female guitar player overacted a bit), everything. Supercool! The Crüe couldnt do any other than s*ck after that . That first Detroit themed EP is a favorite of mine.