He played Friday night at The Pearl which is the theatre at The Palms resort/casino in Las Vegas. I can’t even describe how awesome it was. The show was about 1.5 hours and the set list was excellent. It was the old classics/mandatory hits, some new stuff, and some surprises that I would not have expected (like the 80’s Friday the 13th song “He’s Back (The Man Behind The Mask)”).
The stage show was incredible. Alice got put in a straight jacket, electrocuted, turned into a giant Frankenstein monster. He also had swords, bull whips, and riding crops that he used during the show. His outfits were superb, starting with his red/black striped “glam” outfit and his top hats were taller than ever.
I was trying to take some photos during the show, but then realized that everytime I would take a photo I’d miss out on some great stuff on stage so I just stopped trying and lived in the moment.
My seat was about 15-20 feet from the stage edge at the most (6th row) and dead center. I think it was the best possible location. If I was front row I don’t think it would be easy to see everything that was going on on the stage.
His band was tight. I don’t know who they are (or maybe I do, I haven’t looked them up yet), but they were completely on point and looked young and fabulous. He has a female guitarist specifically that is just gorgeous so she was a nice addition to the visuals as well.
During “Dirty Diamonds” Alice threw a few necklaces out to the crowd and I caught one. Then at the end of the show the drummer threw his sticks and I caught one of those too.
I was really impressed with Alice’s energy and intensity during the performance. This was my first Alice show and as I’ve missed the previous 40 years of tours I wasn’t expecting it to really be THE proper Alice experience, if you will. I knew it would be fun, but I thought Alice would be a bit tired and slow and his voice would be a bit aged and strained. I could not have been more wrong. He looks exactly the same as he has for the past 30 years and he is in incredible shape. And he is just a phenomenal singer as well as a physical performer. He also had some cool choreography worked out with his bandmates and some of the song routines. It was all pure magic.
Another thing that really impressed me was how much respect he shows his support band. I mean this is the Alice Cooper show, for crying out loud. Those guys (at least in my mind) are all just replaceable pegs on the board, but he really seemed to treat them as special and made sure they were fully incorporated into the show and really gave them a nice number of moments to shine as a group and as individuals. None of these moments (like drum solo, guitar solo, etc) were overly indulgent or wankish (I hate when they go on forever). They were just great showcases so you could see that Alice put these kids on a pedestal and recognized them. And properly, they did not abuse that privilege.
There was an interesting middle part of the show where Alice does this thing about the “rock and roll graveyard”. He does a number of cover/tributes to his old friends that meant so much to him back in the 60’s when he’d be rockin’ and partying with these guys and inspiring each other musically and life-wise.
He’d perform a song or a bit of a medley for each of the deceased, during which, a giant tombstone with the star’s name and dates would appear. So we got “Foxy Lady” (Hendrix), the Who’s “My Generation” (for Keith Moon), “Break on Through” (Jim Morrison/Doors), and “Revolution” (Lennon/Beatles).
The crowd was mixed, but mostly older. Some came decked out with Alice makeup and/or outfits. Most people were dressed as regular Joe’s or sported their Alice Cooper t-shirts. I went in my usual concert battle gear and kind of stood out on the extreme side of the crowd.
The opening band was Kill Devil Hill. I tried to give them a shot and it was doing nothing for me, so I walked out. The great thing about the show being at Palms is they would let you out of the theatre and into the casino for a smoke, or, in my case, for an hour of gambling and free drinks before the actual show. I started playing some Ultimate Texas Hold 'em just to kill time and was doing all right. Then I went to play some video poker and hit a jackpot for $750. I went back to the show at 9:15 and only had to wait about 5 minutes before the show started.
I was super stoked from the show and came back to my hotel to see if my wife was up so we could go get some food. Nope. She was dead asleep, so I went down for some gambling. I was doing great and had made back all the money I lost the first night and was actually building up a bit of profit. I was feeling pretty good and kept going back to the same Video Poker machine that was treating me well. I had even hit the 4 aces jackpot for $800 at one time.
Anyway, eventually I got dealt 4 out of 5 cards needed for a Royal Flush. I closed my eyes and clicked draw and listened for the (I hoped) “ding ding ding” to signify a win (even if I didn’t get the Royal, I could maybe get a flush). There was an awkward pause and then a buzzing of some sort. I opened my eyes and the ding-ding’s were starting (the light on top of my machine was already lit).
I had gotten my first ever Royal Flush. And the screen read . . . . “Jackpot Won: Wait for Attendant”. What does it pay? $4000!!! I yelled ecstatically until I finally saw the attendant on his way. I was so loaded with adrenaline that my hands were literally shaking for almost an hour.
The attendant checked everything and finally the floor boss came with his filled out tax form for me to sign (anything over $1200 gets reported to IRS) . . . after which he counted out 40 Hundred Dollar bills (and $30 more for the two smaller wins on the screen).
And since Grumpy will ask, I spent/gambled half of those winnings (bought my wife some expensive gifts and blew about $1K searching for another big win, which of course never happened). So, my trip was free (the room was comp’d by the casino), everything got paid and I came home with $2K profit.
So yeah . . . . I had a pretty good weekend.
Pics forthcoming . . . .
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