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Events and Reports - Alice Cooper - Live with Company of Snakes, KB Hallen, Copenhagen - November 10, 2002
Alice Cooper was back in Denmark only a year and a half since the Brutal Planet concert. The venue, a large sports hall, was pretty packed with expectant Alice Cooper fans.
At 9.15 the lights dimmed and a scary red light was crusading through the hall. The intro to Hey Stoopid started and as the curtain went up the band kicked into Sex, Death & Money. The stage set-up was pretty impressive with a staircase in the middle flanked by Eric Singer's drumkit on the left and Teddy Zig Zag's piano and percussion on the right. The guillotine was also on stage, so the audience knew that they were in for a unique experience.
Alice was standing on top of the staircase. When he went down the stairs he stumbled over one of the steps and fell down the stairs. I was thinking, "What the hell, has Alice Cooper started drinking again?" He fumbled for his microphone while the real Alice Cooper showed up on the top of the stairs and kicked the fake Alice off the stage. The old master still knows how to surprise his audience.
First song was a medley of Sex, Death & Money/Brutal Planet/Dragontown. The sound was great and the band was real tight after the US tour, but they never took the focus away from Alice Cooper himself.
The first classic was I'm Eighteen, which was played in a very authentic way with only slightly distorted guitars. Lead guitarist Pete Friesen was looking like a madman, when ripping through this amazing song. On Go To Hell bass player Chuck Wright and guitarist Eric Dover sang the verse perfectly. Eric Dover was the lead singer on the first Slash's Snakepit album. His backup vocals are definitely a plus for the Alice Cooper show. During the middle play a sexy woman (actually Alice Cooper's daughter) entered the stage with a sword and this was the evenings first attempt to kill Alice Cooper. However, our hero won this first fight.
When Nurse Rosetta entered the stage with a perambulator marked with the name Betty we all knew that it was time for Dead Babies. Just before the second chorus Alice grabs the baby and it is a 2 headed baby illustrating Alice Cooper's alter ego Steven. So the band plays the chorus to Steven instead of Dead Babies. Perfect staging, but a shame that we only got the chorus of this amazing Cooper classic.
Nurse Rozetta attempts to kill Alice Cooper, but Alice wins the fight and once again escapes death. However, two hangmen finally bear down Alice and force him into a straightjacket. While Alice wears the straightjacket Ballad of Dwight Fry is performed. This song was definitely the album highlight because of the amazing theatrical stage-show starting with Alice singing the sad lyrics wearing a straightjacket. Suddenly the lyrics were very meaningful like the verse line "Sleeping Don't Come very Easy - in a Straight White West" The audience helped Chuck Wright and Eric Dover sing the chorus while Alice was taken to the guillotine and decapitated.
The band performed outtakes from Devil's Food and Black Widow while Alice's decapitated head was shown to the audience with blood dripping from it. The band got a well-deserved break during Eric Singer's drum solo. Eric Singer is one of my favorite drummers I just think that drum solos get boring really quickly. Unfortunately this was no exception. Eric Singer had been attending the Kiss convention in Copenhagen earlier the same day, so he had a lot of supporters in the audience.
The lights dimmed and the first person to enter the stage is the escaped Nurse Rozetta. She finds Alice Cooper's head and throws in an exhibition case marked "Frankenstein", which was used on Feed my Frankenstein earlier. An amazing smoke and light show follows as Alice Cooper's rises from the dead. Of course first song is a well-played version of No More Mr. Nice Guy followed by some later Alice Cooper songs. I was quite surprised by the inclusion of Trash. The riff-based song featured some great playing by both Pete Friesen and Eric Dover. Eric Dover also played a couple of solos and he impressed me a lot that evening. Surprisingly it was Eric Dover playing the acoustic guitar on the two ballads I Never Cry and the beautiful Only Women Bleed. Especially Only Women Bleed sounded excellent and really proved that Alice still holds up his vocals just fine.
Alice Cooper finished off with a selection of his greatest hits from the 70's. The songs from Dragontown and Brutal Planet were played powerful and with a very modern sound. However, a great praise to Alice and the band for playing the older songs true to the originals. The encores were a cornucopia of great songs closing with the rocking Cold Ethyl and the melodic Department of Youth both from Alice Cooper's best album "Welcome to My Nightmare". For the encore Alice wore a T-shirt saying, "Britney wants me...." And the backprint said "...DEAD". Very oddly the show ended with Alice chasing Britney Spears and he comes back with nothing but her bloody head creating great enthusiasm among the Rock-loving crowd.
Alice Cooper has still got it. This was my first Alice Cooper concert but I am positive that I will be there if the old master comes back. For a change it was nice to see an artist performing a great stage show. Usually it is only huge arena shows that provide the audience with an extraordinary visual show, but Alice Cooper had brought the whole US show to Europe. I realized quickly that it was not one of those concerts where I would jump up and down. I decided just to enjoy the show and I was fully entertained for the 1 hour and 45 minutes the concert lasted.
Alice Cooper has so much charisma that he is impossible to overshadow. Even though Alice's backing band didn't try to, they were all competent musicians. I really loved the expression of both Pete Friesen and Eric Dover's faces, when playing the Cooper songs. You could sense that these guys were breathing Rock N' Roll. Eric Singer was hidden in the background along with Teddy Zig Zag, but he was consistent, as a drummer should be.
An excellent Sunday evening in the company of Alice Cooper and his great music performed by former musicians from the Hollywood Hard Rock scene.
I don't think that it gets much better.
Alice Cooper setlist, Copenhagen November 10th 2002 (in order)
SEX, DEATH & MONEY/BRUTAL PLANET/DRAGONTOWN - SEX & DEATH REPRISE
SANCTUARY
I'M 18
WELCOME TO MY NIGHTMARE
GO TO HELL
BILLION DOLLAR BABIES
FEED MY FRANKENSTEIN
WICKED YOUNG MAN
NURSE ROSETTA
DEAD BABIES
(STEPHEN - Chorus only)
BALLAD OF DWIGHT FRY
I LOVE THE DEAD
DEVILS FOOD
THE BLACK WIDOW
DRUM SOLO
NO MORE MR NICE GUY
IS IT MY BODY
FANTASY MAN
TRASH
LOST IN AMERICA
I NEVER CRY
ONLY WOMEN BLEED
POISON
UNDER MY WHEELS
SCHOOL'S OUT
ELECTED
COLD EYTHL
DEPARTMENT OF YOUTH
Because of the late cancellation of L.A. Guns as support for the whole Alice Cooper Tour, Company of Snakes were added on a few selected dates.
Company of Snakes consist of the former Whitesnake rhythm section Neil Murray and the brilliant guitar duo Micky Moody and Bernie Marsden. The second track played was Walking in The Shadows of Blues and it really got the audience in a great mood. People started to leave the bar and head toward the stage. Halfway through the set Company of Snakes drew most of the audience's attention. Especially the beautiful ballad Ain't No Love in The Heart of The City was excellent. During the guitar solo Bernie Marsden and Micky Moody were trading licks and the solo was the best solo of the whole evening. Especially Bernie Marsden impressed me. His soloing was precise and melodic, but always focusing on sounding great. We also got a taste of Micky Moody's famous slide playing.
You could easily sense that the band had fun on stage. Company of Snakes finished off their 40 minute set with Here I go Again - A song David Coverdale penned with Bernie Marsden for the "Saints and Sinners" album, but became a hit on the "Whitesnake 1987" album. Of course The Company of Snakes version played the "Saints and Sinners" version.
Company of Snakes' singer sounded just like David Coverdale. If you closed you eyes you couldn't tell the difference. I had the feeling I was at a Whitesnake show recorded with Micky Moody and Bernie Marsden for the Live album "Live in the heart of the City". The only thing that bugged me was the band requesting the crowd to sing-along for every third track or so. It works well if you are a headliner but it is always difficult when you are the opening band. If the crowd had a little trouble remembering the lyrics Bernie Marsden gladly helped out. He played he melody line on his guitar adding an extra dimension to the sometime weak sing-along.
Whitesnake's back catalogue consists of many great songs. The Micky Moody/Bernie Marsden era is a lot more blues marked than later versions of Whitesnake and overall Company of Snakes were a positive acquaintance. | 
 | Written by Michael
Tuesday, November 26, 2002 |
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RevelationZ Comments
| Comment by MrsK (Anonymous) - Wednesday, April 2, 2003 | I saw Alice Cooper for the first time this past october, and I Loved it!! What a show!!! I will definitely see him again, and I do hope that Eric Dover will be with them, he is a show in himself!!
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| Comment by Jake jacob Quebec'sFan (Anonymous) - Tuesday, December 2, 2003 | I'm looking for a doll or something,that i can reproduced that would look just like your two heads baby you ounce had on one of your show.Freaky if you asked me,friends are finding me weird but insperational!
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| Comment by Todd (Anonymous) - Friday, April 9, 2004 | The best performer in the history of rock, buy his new "The Eyes of Alice Cooper". It is very diverse.
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| Comment by alice cooper fan (Anonymous) - Monday, June 20, 2005 | great!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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| Comment by ns (Anonymous) - Monday, November 14, 2005 | son lo mas grande ke existe
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| Comment by Nindy aka sxy bum (Anonymous) - Monday, February 6, 2006 | hey i seen alice cooper in november with my mum nd uncle he was amazin i loved it!!!! rock on alice u still have the moves my mum says!!!!!
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| Comment by alice cooper rocks (Anonymous) - Tuesday, July 25, 2006 | Im only thirteen and i get to see him in concert at tulsa oklahoma
alice coopers so awsome me and my friends are actually doin the actuall (i love the dead guillatine) act in our school talent show
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| Comment by guns n roses (Anonymous) - Tuesday, May 1, 2007 | nice, but guns n roses are better.
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| Comment by guns n roses (Anonymous) - Tuesday, May 1, 2007 | nice.... A.cooper are fine, but i don't has listen so much youre music.
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| Comment by alice 39 (Anonymous) - Sunday, September 9, 2007 | alice cooper the best !!!!!!!!!
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| Comment by GDDR (Member) - Sunday, August 15, 2010 | 
View Profile
Comments: 1
Ratings: 0 | | check out Alice or you're missing out.
Posted by GDDR
Sunday, August 15, 2010 |
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