On a windy evening in Northern Colorado, hundreds of  people filled the air with excitement while waiting to enter the Budweiser Event Center to see a concert by the Godfather of shock rock Alice Cooper. Throughout the years Cooper has been known for being a theater show filled with scary imagination. The last time Cooper was in Northern Colorado was back in 2005 where he brought the Dirty Diamonds Tour to Loveland.  

When the doors opened and the people started to find their seats the sound of classic rock music could be heard in the venue. Cooper’s songs “Disco Bloodbath Boogie Fever” from Welcome 2 My Nightmare and “Department of Youth ” on Welcome To My Nightmare  blares from the speakers to help set the mood before switching to music from Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Ozzy Osbourne and KISS. With the music on full throttle, fog started to surround the crowd on the floor. Then very quickly the music stopped and the lights went out. 

Lingering in the darkness is Cooper’s giant blue stage curtain and a ghoulish voice welcomes the audience to Cooper’s nightmare before switching to the sound of the rocker telling a Frankenstein that dinner has arrived. Suddenly in the dark the words “Feed My Frankenstein” comes blaring out from the speakers as the stage curtain drops and the band started to play their instruments. 

As the band started to perform the haunted castle door opens and Cooper appears on stage and starts singing “Feed My Frankenstein.” Toward the end  a gigantic Frankenstein appears on stage and causes havoc while singing along. “Feed My Frankenstein” is on Hey Stoopid as well as the Wayne’s World 2 movie soundtrack. When the lights came back on everyone started to play the number “No More Mr. Nice Guy” and throughout the whole thing Cooper performs with strong enthusiasm while visually telling the crowd why some people dislike him. 

Another tune being performed live from Hey Stoopid  is the title song “Hey Stoopid.”  The lyrics are about Cooper giving a warning to people about the dangers of drug use and how  suicide should never be an option when people are going through a challenging time. Throughout Cooper’s career fans have reached out and told him how “Hey Stoopid” has saved their lives. The music video for “Hey Stoopid” gives an insight of what the theme is about and during the performance Cooper uses his stage knife to show what the song is about by pointing to his arm and head.

On “Bed of Nails” Chuck Carric, guitarist and vocalist for the rock band Beasto Blanco, and Cooper kicked things up by strongly hollering out the word “yeah” before Cooper starts to sing.  During the whole performance Garric’s bass guitar skills can be heard blaring from the speakers and the vibrations can be felt underneath the feet. Another band  moment is during “House of Fire” when guitarist Ryan Roxie dazzled people’s minds with his wicked solo. “Poison”  showed what kind of a showman Cooper is because he kept the audience engaged by pointing at them and tossing a stage prop to a person during the performance. “Bed of Nails,” “House of Fire” and “Poison” can be found on the album Trash. Fun Fact: Cooper’s eldest daughter Calico is the lead vocalist for Beasto Blanco.

Before performing “Fallen In Love” guitarist and Hollywood Vampire Tommy Henriksen wows the crowd with a face-smacking guitar solo before doing a musical duel with Cooper. It turns out Cooper is a polished harmonica player and when Henriksen played his mini guitar solo Cooper’s harmonica skills tried to match the same pace as the guitar solo. When the duel was over the band and Cooper started to perform “Fallen In Love” which can be found on Paranormal. 

The classic “Under My Wheels” sounded just as good live by how Roxie, Henriksen, and Kane Roberts joined forces and played smashing guitar solos. Roberts joined Cooper’s band when Nita Strauss left the group earlier this year and based from the performance Roberts knows how to rock people’s ears with his sharp talent. Also through most of the concert Cooper changed wardrobe and for this performance he wore a Hollywood Vampires leather vest. “Under My Wheels”  can be found on Killer.

During the performance of “He’s Back (The Man Behind The Mask)” Cooper’s voice eerily catches the attention of the audience as he tells the story about how serial killer Jason is with vengeance and toward the end three characters appear on stage. They do not realize that the killer is near them and without a warning Jason slashes a woman’s throat on stage while the other two escape the madness. “He’s Back (The Man Behind The Mask)” can be found on the album Constrictor and on the movie soundtrack  Friday The 13th Part VI: (Jason Lives). 

Other than playing the harmonica, Cooper eagerly joins the band by playing the maracas during the performance of “Go To Hell.” The sound of the maracas contributes to the demonic feeling that can be felt in the atmosphere and during the number Cooper’s wife Sheryl appears on stage dressed as a devil. Sheryl does a dance solo which involves her twirling a giant whip all over the place. Also, Sheryl is a ghost bride on “Roses On White Lace” where she continues to relentlessly haunt the band and Cooper.  “Go To Hell” can be found on Alice Cooper Goes To Hell and “Roses on White Lace” can be found on Raise Your Fist and Yell.

When the set was over the entire band started to play the tunes “Devil’s Food” and “Black Widow” before drummer and Hollywood Vampire Glen Sobel performed his drum solo which consisted of righteous drum beats screaming from the speakers and catching drumsticks  in the air. Both “Devil’s Food” and  “Black Widow” can be found on Welcome To My Nightmare.

Despite the endless craziness inside the venue Cooper and his band stayed true to the classic rock vibe by performing the song “I’m Eighteen.”  During the set “I’m Eighteen” Cooper uses a  crutch to lean on while singing and he raises the stage prop up in the air when singing the chorus. Toward the end it appeared that Cooper was having fun while performing because he uses the crutch as a pretend guitar and jams with the band.  “I’m Eighteen” can be found on the album Love It To Death.

On “Billion Dollar Babies” Cooper was not afraid to show off his dancing skills because while holding a sword he was swaying his hips from side to side while singing the lyrics “We go dancing nightly in the attic/While the moon is rising in the sky/If I’m too rough, tell me, I’m so scared/Your little head might come off in my hands.” Toward the end of the set, a gigantic billion dollar baby walks on stage while a cannon blows money at the audience. 

As the concert was getting toward the end, the nightmare became a bit creepier due to how Cooper appeared on stage wearing a straight jacket while being detained by two odd-looking characters while performing “Steven.” Two minutes into the number Sheryl appears on stage dressed as a deadly character while pushing a baby carriage. The band started to play the composition “Dead Babies” and while Cooper was holding baby Betty, he puts the doll on the ground and grabs a butcher knife. When Cooper raised the knife he was quickly detained and sentenced to the guillotine to get beheaded.  ‘Steven” can be found on Welcome To My Nightmare  and “Dead Babies” can be found on Killer.

When Cooper was beheaded, Sheryl picked up the head and showed it off to the audience before Gurric leads the band and  crowd to “I Love The Dead.” When the band finished performing the tune, the haunted castle doors open and Cooper magically runs on stage to perform “Escaped.” In reality, the nightmare is created by Cooper and he faked his death to dodge the fate which was waiting for him. “I Love The Dead” is on Billion Dollar Babies and “Escaped” can be found on  Welcome To My Nightmare.

When “Escaped” was finished Cooper put on a patriotic jacket and started to sing “Freedom” which became the strongest performance by how Cooper waved the American flag on stage. Then a couple of minutes later several characters joined Cooper on stage by waving their smaller American flags and the biggest highlight was when a ghoul appeared on top of the haunted castle and graciously waved Ukraine’s flag to the crowd. The set ended with everyone including the giant Frankenstein singing along to the tune.  “Freedom” can be found on Raise Your Fist and Yell.

The encore  “School’s Out” mixed with “Brick In The Wall” was a solid ending with a surprise twist.  Former band guitarist Strauss made her presence known at the beginning by joining Cooper and the rest of the band on stage. Balloons filled with confetti were being tossed back and forth in the crowd before Cooper used his knives to pop the balloons. When Cooper introduced the whole band , Sheryl and Cooper reminded the audience how he owns Halloween and wishes the audience their nightmares be horrific before walking back into the haunted castle. “School’s Out” is on School’s Out and Brick In The Wall can be found on Pink Floyd’s The Wall.

The ride into Cooper’s nightmare has ended and happy voices can be heard buzzing in the atmosphere as everyone leaves the Budweiser Event Center. 

Setlist

1. Feed My Frankenstein
2. No More Mr. Nice Guy
3. Bed of Nails
4. Hey Stoopid
5. Fallen in Love
6. Be My Lover
7. House of Fire
8. Under My Wheels
9. He’s Back (The Man Behind the Mask)
10. Go to Hell
11. I’m Eighteen
12. Poison
13. Billion Dollar Babies
14. Guitar Solo
15. Roses on White Lace
16. My Stars
17. Devil’s Food
18. Black Widow Jam
    (including drum solo)
19. Steven
20. Dead Babies
21. I Love the Dead
22. Escape
23. Freedom
24. School’s Out

Photo Credit: Kalyn Oyer