He’s the man behind the mask, he knows when you’re hungry — and at 75 years young, Vincent Furnier continues to parade around the world as the king of horror rock known as Alice Cooper.
So after the children had been put to bed — well, except for the 3-4-year-old boy wearing oversized headphones — parents ventured to the Tobin Center on Tuesday night to make up a crowd of 1,200 in the 1,600 capacity Performing Arts Hall and watch Cooper unveil his traditional bevy of rock, theatrics and nightmares in the name of fun.
Backed again by the triple guitar attack of Ryan Roxie, Tommy Henriksen and “Hurricane” Nita Strauss (the latter returning to Cooper’s band after playing with Demi Lovato earlier this year), drummer Glen Sobel and bassist Chuck Garric, Cooper took to the stage at 8:18 p.m. behind an enlarged newspaper banner declaring him “Banned in Texas.”
Oddly enough, the opening track “Lock Me Up” from 1987’s Raise Your Fist and Yell only featured the first verse and chorus before Cooper unleashed elder classics “No More Mr. Nice Guy,” “I’m Eighteen” and “Under My Wheels.”
Surprisingly, Cooper remained in the same long-sleeved black shirt and black leather pants ensemble for the first half of the 95-minute performance before exhibiting the props he’s known for. And boy, did they come in bunches after that.
First, however, Cooper delved into “Billion Dollar Babies,” “Fallen In Love” and “Snakebite” (watch ATM’s Facebook Live footage of all three here). The first of those tracks is another Cooper staple from the 1970s. The second is a 2017 tune on which he collaborated with ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons. And the third. Well, that one made the guys eat their hearts out.
That’s because when Cooper brought out his traditional snake friend, the constrictor wrapped around his neck nearly fulfilled many fantasies by coming this close to kissing the recently engaged Strauss on the lips faster than you could say, “Ewwwwww!”
If the slithering animal wasn’t your cup of tea, Cooper’s other two main highlights from a visual sense continued to be the namesake monster on another 1991 Hey Stoopid track “Feed My Frankenstein,” whose larger-than-life appearance left this writer wishing to witness a face-off with Iron Maiden mascot Eddie.
Unofficial seventh member Cheryl Cooper danced around the stage on a few tunes as well, but her main duty was to work Cooper’s third main prop — the guillotine. After chopping off Alice’s head and displaying it proudly for the audience, the slew of ‘70s and ‘80s hits kept coming. Watch ATM footage of seven more songs and jams in the YouTube clips below.
Cooper dropped new album Road on Friday, three days after the show, but nary a mention of it came even when “Alice finally speaks” during band intros on traditional closer “School’s Out” (watch below).
When an artist such as the long-standing Cooper comes out with new music, it’s a bonus of extra material that adds to an artist’s legacy rather than anything that’s going to be spotlighted in concert.
Cooper hooked up on tour with Rob Zombie two days later in Dallas, a trek that isn’t scheduled to come to San Antonio. But for one night only, Cooper was “too close for comfort” in headlining mode. And as he so eloquently put it at the end, he could only hope that everyone’s nightmares going forward be “horrific.”
As long as Furnier carries a ghoulish Cooper side to himself, he might make the top of any mythical most-likely-to-keep-rocking-live-at-100 list.
Perhaps therein lies the secret to living well at his age: a heaping of bad dreams tossed with a side of snake and Frankenstein — and a desire to keep making new music while giving fans a heavy dose of the classics they’ll always crave to hear.
The way only Alice can.
SETLIST: Lock Me Up (first verse), No More Mr. Nice Guy, I’m Eighteen, Under My Wheels, Billion Dollar Babies, Fallen In Love, Snakebite, Be My Lover, Lost In America, Hey Stoopid, Glen Sobel drum solo, Welcome To My Nightmare, Cold Ethyl, Only Women Bleed, Poison, Feed My Frankenstein, Black Widow (jam), Ballad of Dwight Fry, I Love the Dead, Escape, Elected. ENCORE: School’s Out (with Another Brick In the Wall section)
