Alice Cooper
The O2 // London, England // 10 October, 2019
Photos and review by Gili Dailes
I was prepared for almost anything coming to see Alice Cooper play the O2 Arena in London. The legendary rocker is known to set the scene by bringing theatrical and having unconventional elements on stage: guillotines, snakes, giant creepy babies and many more. I expected all of that. What I didn’t expect was walking into the 20,000 capacity venue to find out it was a seated concert! Alice Cooper?! Seated?! Surely, this can’t be right.
“Welcome to Alice Cooper’s Nightmare Castle,” a spooky voice announced before the curtain dropped and exposed a stage set as a medieval castle decorated with skulls and spears. The seating arrangement didn’t get in the way of Alice’s die-hard fans who stood up the second the show started (some of them even dressed as him).
The show kicked off with 90s hit “Feed My Frankenstein” and it seemed like Alice Cooper hasn’t aged at all and he was just as fierce on stage as ever. With a career spanning over 50 years, he mastered the stage from the get-go, accompanied by his remarkable band members: Nita Strauss, Ryan Roxie and Tommy Henriksen on guitars; Chris Wyse on bass and Glen Sobel on drums.
The setlist was made mostly out of crowd pleasers with the likes of “No More Mister Nice Guy,” “Billion Dollar Babies,” and the inevitable “Poison” which made the O2 Arena echo with sing-alongs as it was illuminated by a sea of mobile phones capturing the moment. Despite releasing his EP, Breadcrumbs, just one month ago, it seemed that the songs from the latest release didn’t make it into the setlist (if you’re curious you can have a listen here).
After a fake execution ceremony, bouncing balls and confetti falling from the ceiling, the show ended with the 70s classic “School’s Out” which Alice joined forces with original band member and bassist Dennis Dunaway for the grand finale.
Alice Cooper’s Nightmare Castle was more of a pleasing, entertaining spectacle than a scary ride, with Alice proving that rock is timeless and that he is still the legend he was when he started his career back in the 70s.
