Dear old Mr. Cooper slithered into town on Tuesday night entertaining a sold out Hamilton Place crowd of 2200 die hard fans with all the expected favourites, a few rare gems and some brand new songs from the upcoming album “Welcome to My Nightmare II”.

Surfing along on the No More Mr. Nice Guy Tour, Alice and his band consisting of 3 guitarists, a 4 stringer and a drummer. Steve Hunter, long time guitarist appearing on albums such as “Billion Dollar Babies” and “Muscle of Love”, anchored the trio of six stringers with accomplished lead guitarist, Damon Johnson who has played with the likes of Brother Cane, Sammy Hagar, Damn Yankees and Faith Hill to name a few. Filling the 3rd spot, Tommy Henriksen who has provided guitar work for Lady GaGa, Daughtry, Meat Loaf, Lou Reed, Simple Plan and a slew of other bands, has impressed Alice to the point of scoring a gig working on the latest album and tour.

The band proved worthy of Alice’s catalogue and helped hold the bar high in the arena of theatrical classic rock by putting on a hell of a great show supporting one of the most recognizable and respected front men of all time. Cooper is yet another highly regarded player I just crossed off my personal bucket list of guys I gotta shoot. That being said, I’ll jump at the chance to shoot Alice Cooper any time as his wicked light shows and stage setups provide for some of the best rock n roll photography ever.

The first and only time I ever saw Vincent Damon Furnier as his alter ego was back in ’87 during the Raise Your Fist and Yell Tour with opening act Motorhead. I wasn’t even an Alice Cooper fan at the time but I was dying to see Lemmy and I figured Alice would be tolerable at best. Well I’m the first guy to admit when I’m wrong I’m fuckin WRONG. Even though he’d just turned 40, practically a dinosaur to a 20 year old kid, Alice came out and made me forget who Motorhead even was. Even through my LSD distracted mind, I could clearly see that Lemmy and the guys were not on the ball at all that night, fucking up several times as if someone turned off the stage monitors or something causing the band's timing to completely fall apart. The incredible stage show and classic music Alice brought to the table had me cheering and howling so hard I lost my voice that night!

But if you haven’t seen Alice at his absolute theatrical best, you wouldn’t know what I’m talking about. The Raise Your Fist and Yell Tour was a masterpiece of theatrical technicality and timing. Cooper would be singing one song stage right with a whole scene built specifically for that song all lit up for us to watch. Meanwhile in the dark on stage left, his crew would be maniacally building a whole different set, putting support beams in place and changing the scenery so that when he made his way over to that side of the stage for the next song it was like a whole different planet.

I remember at one point, one of the crew, who were all dressed as these shambling mounds of tattered clothing, slowly pushed this rolling piece of stage equipment that looked like a big rock, out front and centre, left it there and then sloughed off into the background. I thought what the hell is this thing sitting in the middle of the stage for? Well of course it was all planned as this long plank folded down and used this thing as its main support at the front of the stage and out comes Alice walking down the plank with his giant Boa Constrictor wrapped around his shoulders.

This being just a small example of the constant changing of the stage and the planning involved in such an undertaking, but to add up all the little things together and pack em into an hour and a half show, made for what I still call thee greatest concert I’ve ever seen.

Yes folks, 24 years and a few hundred concerts later, I have to say that hands down, without a doubt, Alice Cooper in 1987 still holds the title of the best fuckin show I’ve ever attended whether it had something to do with the LSD or not. If a hit of double barrel purple microdot enhanced the experience then so be it. I don’t give a shit. I am not taking the blue ribbon away because of performance enhancing drugs. I’ve seen all kinds of flashy concerts on all kinds of P.E.D.’s, including Kiss, Pink Floyd, Aerosmith, Metallica, U2, Marilyn Manson, Misfits and GWAR and they ALL pale in comparison to the King, nay, GOD of Theatrical Rock n Roll, Alice Cooper.

Well Tuesday night was a little different in that Alice didn’t have a 94 man crew with an ever changing stage setup and all the bells n whistles of days gone by but he still managed to pull off a stellar performance with plenty of eye candy and of course a soundtrack that you can’t help but sing along to.

Right from the start with “Black Widow”, Alice, decked in a spider costume, pulled out sparklers while perched high atop a mountainous pulpit. He let us shoot an unheard of FOUR songs, 3 of which being total classics that I couldn’t help but join in on while shooting. The opening tune combined with “Brutal Planet”, “I’m Eighteen” with the age old crutch prop and “Under My Wheels” to kick things off.

The whole time we’re in there trying to shoot we’ve got this big arsehole of a security guy getting in our way, pulling us back and bumping into us. We’re there for four songs and with photo passes to boot and this guy can’t back the fuck off long enough for us to get a few decent shots. Finally I yelled at him, “BUDDY MOVE!!!! WE’RE TRYING TO SHOOT HERE!!!!”. Well that’s when he tells me he’ll kick me out!!!! What’s the point??? I might as well go back to crotching my camera and shooting whatever I want in a show rather than playing by the rules and doing it on the level.

Guaranteed there’s some curly headed bastard in the audience with a fuckin kick ass camera getting better shots than us media people and he didn’t have to jump through any hoops to get what he’s looking for! It’s pretty damn frustrating these days. The rules are getting tougher and tougher to get a good shot. As soon as a star gets so bright, their manager starts getting goofy with their demands. Chris Cornell’s people told us we had to shoot from the soundboard. Worse yet, from the wings back in line with the soundboard. Why? So that only the people who work for the Toronto Star who can just borrow a 400mm F2.8 lens and tripod to shoot the show will be the only guys with good shots? What’s the point of that? Here, check this bitch out so you know what I’m talking about. $7800?  Yeah.  I'll start saving.

I often ask myself why I do this. Cuz I love music. I love shooting musicians and I like yapping on paper. But I don’t make a fuckin DIME doing this shit. It’s for the love of music and photography. That’s it, that’s all. And then I get in front of a guy like Alice Cooper, a bucket list brass ring. I jump through all the hoops to get in with a pass, fight off the Neanderthal security guy, take a shot in the ribs from someone in the front row, trip over a few things, end up with dog shit down one leg and a nosebleed watching the show and why? Cuz the dozen gems or so that you dig outta the salt mine that you can sit back and gaze upon and know that you FOUGHT for that shit makes it all worth while.

And when you have to fight for the very thing that brings you pleasure, the pleasure is that much more gratifying as I’m sure Alice could tell you. If he didn’t fight for the whole idea that IS Alice Cooper, he would have packed it in day one and drifted off into nothingness; probably drank himself to death. I remember the controversy surrounding him back in the day. I remember the rumours and stories floating around that I’m not even gonna repeat because whether they’re true or not, just doesn’t matter. Who he is today far outweighs anything he ever was cuz this IS today and today he’s STILL kickin ass.

Thanks Mr. Cooper, for another stellar evening. Minus the LSD.