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© Gisela Schmitz
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A lot of people were waiting for doors open when we arrived. A little later it was time to open the doors and let the people in. The open-air stage and a good part in front of it were covered, so the light show works even in day light - and in case it rains the people in front won't get soaked. Very nice.
When The Other started their show at 7PM some fans gathered in front of the stage while others were having a drink while the horror punk rockers played. Unfortunately the sound wasn't very good, depending where you stood the vocals or guitar drowned and the drums were too loud all over the place. When the guys entered the stage they came in their horror masquerade, looking like coming right from a horror movie set! Rod Usher and his mates describe their sound as horror punk, but it's more metallized punk rock presented in a Halloween horror outfit. Some fans were celebrating the band right from the start, other watched them slightly puzzled. After The End Of The Time Rod Usher thanked everybody for not being afraid of them and they headed into Der Tod steht dir gut! Songs like Lover's Lane and Beware Of Ghouls should follow. Especially We Are The Other Ones was most welcome by their fans - and even some others started to sing along the refrain. The band tried to entertain the fans of Alice Cooper, but even as their horror show fits, musically The Other didn't fit that well.
During the change over some fans were grabbing a beer while others were waiting impatiently for the show. Finally at about 8:30 PM the spectacle was kicked off! The master of shock rock began the show with School's Out. Alice name was split up in single red letters and used as a kind backdrops. Even if the sound improved, the vocals partly weren't loud enough, especially when the guys were doing backings. Next in line another hit - No More Mr. Nice Guy. For I'm Eighteen he returned with a crutch pimped up with bones. Time to start changing the outfits... While the guys delivered the sound and cheered up the fans, Cooper grabbed an Army hat and a wipe for Wicked Young Man. Time for some masked fighters to entered the stage and attack the master. First they stabbed him, then they put him into a reddish straight jacket. At Ballad Of Dwight Fry they kept him lying on the floor while some assailants wheeled the guillotine onto the stage - and at the end of the song they decapiteted Alice Cooper. The guillotine was a highlight of the show for decades, but this was just the first time Mr. Cooper died tonight! Jimmy deGrasso's drumming and Chuck Garric's heavy bass groove led into Go To Hell. Alice Cooper reappeared liking a bit like a voodoo priest or kahuna... He picks up the head from the basket in front of the guillotine. What a show!
When they played Guilty a girl came on stage in a bloody white dress, just to get slapped in the face, then was knocked down. At Cold Ethyl Alice picked up a doll, smashed 'her' on the floor, just to pick her up again and to tango with her. Kissed her. From the first line the audience was singing along their smash hit Poison. And at the end nurse Tiffany came onto stage to give him a poisonous injection, a lethal injection. But he came back! Waving a bottle of liqueur, acting drunk while the nurse was standing in the background taking notes. During From The Inside guitarist Damon Johnson took over the center stage for a solo while the nurse was pulling Alice away, then she wheeled him back on stage. Time for Nurse Rozetta. Led over to Be My Lover where took one of Rozetta's stockings, pulled it over his head and a little later strangled her with her stocking! Only Women Bleed - I Never Cry began with acoustic guitars, Alice sat down with her, little later the masked ones dragged him to the gallows pole. And she's back, kicking away the box Alice Cooper was standing. Hanging became death number 3. The gallows pole was pulled away, time for some solos. First Keri Kelli, then Damon Johnson, followed by a drum solo by Jimmy DeGrasso. They headed into an instrumental with dual leads as well as a guitar solo dueling part. Towards the end the henchmen were rolling a gangway onto the stage. Alice Cooper standing on top of it in a spider jacket. The Black Widow and Vengeance Is Mine were performed in the spider jacket and when he climbed down the gangway some henchmen came close and were killed by the spider. When a box will baby dolls and necklace were roll onto stage, everybody knew, it's time for Dirty Diamonds and Billion Dollar Babies. As usual quite a few necklaces where thrown into the audience. Alice was toying around with the baby dolls and a sword, then a sword-through-box was wheeled onto the stage. 'Dead' nurse Tiffany appeared again and pushed him into the sword box. The last time he got killed tonight was accompanied by Killer. When Alice Cooper reappeared he wore a short showing stabbing marks and when he got into Be My Frankenstein a cyclops appeared behind him and attacked him. Lying on the floor he was singing Under My Wheels. The end of the set, so he introduced the band. "She's beautiful, she's dead and she hates me... nurse Tiffany!" he introduced the actress, just to continue... "And me, me, me, me!" while he performed the way he died that night.
But it didn't took long til they reappeared to do some more! For Elected Mr. Cooper returned in silver tails and a silver top-hat, waving a German flag. Coincidence? Or did someone told him about the presidential election we are facing? Anyway, it was fun! With School's Out they closed the set and again they through big, colorful balloons from stage. And so the circle closed. Another great performance of Alice Cooper's Theatre Of Death!
Okay, the sound could have been better, but the show made up for it. A lot of classic the fans want to hear, but it would be nice, if he would return with Along Came A Spider show and after a break doing the classics? I bet Mr. Cooper would come up with a nice, show for Along Came A Spider.
If you missed Alice Cooper this time, he's touring with the Theatre Of Death for awhile and will return to Europe later this year! Check out his website for tour dates!
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