NYS Music 202​1

Tag: Alice Cooper

  • Alice Cooper turns the Stanley Theatre Into a Haunted House

    The Alice Cooper Show has been going for almost 50 years, starting with horror movie-like antics on stage. The capacity crowd at Utica’s Stanley Theatre couldn’t file into their seats fast enough for opening act Ace Frehley of KISS and headliner Alice Cooper on September 22. The last time Cooper performed in Upstate NY was with Johnny Depp and Joe Perry of Aerosmith, for the super group “The Hollywood Vampires” at Turning Stone Casino Showroom In May 2016, where Cooper even has his own golf locker.

    alice cooper utica
    photo courtesy of Stanley Theatre

    Ace Frehly felt his NYC roots in Utica and got the crowd involved singing  “I’m back, back in the New York groove” off his 1978 solo album, written on a Brooklyn subway. Ace simply said in between all tunes “Utica, you guys rock” as he continuously launched guitar picks like confetti to the crowd. 

    Alice Cooper took the stage at 8:45 and opened the show with “Feed My Frankenstein,” featured on the big screen in Wayne’s World with Wayne and Garth’s iconic experience seeing Alice live and hanging with him backstage.

    Alice recounted “I used to be such a sweet, sweet thing ’til they got a hold of me” before launching into “No More Mr. Nice Guy.” Backing vocalist and lead guitar player Nita Strauss was a complete stage presence to be reckoned with. She frolicked from stage left to right while soloing. It seemed as if she was committing “Frettasault” on that axe. She and Alice traded the infamous “It was alright!” vocals on the Velvet Underground classic “Rock and Roll.” Alice then serenaded the crowd back to their teenage years “I got a baby’s brain and an old man’s heart, took 18 years to get this far” for the anthem “I’m 18.”

    Nita Strauss took center stage solo for an improvisational section that went for minutes and could have continued for days. She used an Eddie Van Halen style on the upper guitar neck in a way that was hair raising. Strauss has said in the past, “I do remember being a kid and hearing Van Halen. My dad was always playing Van Halen in the car.”

    The first haunted house of fall was the stage set up inside the majestic Stanley Theater with all sorts of cast and sleepy hollow like production throughout. The golden architecture of the Stanley transformed the venue to the old castle in the Johnny Depp movie “Dark Shadows” where naturally Alice is the night’s entertainment. 

    Alice’s wife Sheryl Goddard was part of the “Thriller”-like Choreography cast that had her dressed like an old spirit haunting the theater stage. Alice was subjected to a straight jacket and even had his head decapitated on site. He returned to full evil carnival ring leader attire before being chained up by a giant “teenage Frankenstein” to carry him off stage. 

    alice cooper utica
    photo courtesy of Stanley Theatre

    The encore was something out of a Phish New Years gag with an onstage celebration of LED light visuals, bubbles, confetti, multi-colored giant  balloons and explosions of sound. Alice came out with a spiked cane in hand and head to toe in a white suit orchestrating the celebration. Naturally the crowd and band erupted to the summer’s teenage national anthem “Schools Out.” Alice even referenced the teachers who beg the question, “How can you eat your meat if you don’t have any pudding?” by throwing in a verse from Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall.”

    A lot of Alice’s material represents the “Motor City” Detroit sound where he hails from, and he’ll head back home this week to Westland, MI for the dedication of Alice Cooper Court, a stretch of road off Michigan Avenue by the former Eloise Psychiatric Hospital. Hopefully a stolen hellcat car doesn’t drive down into a train like he references in his new song “Go Man Go.”

    Setlist: Feed My Frankenstein, No More Mr. Nice Guy, Bed of Nails, Rock & Roll (The Velvet Underground), Fallen in Love, Go Man Go, Under My Wheels, He’s Back (The Man Behind the Mask), Social Debris, I’m Eighteen, Poison, Billion Dollar Babies, Roses on White Lace, My Stars, Devil’s Food, Black Widow Jam, Steven, I Love the Dead, Escape, Teenage Frankenstein
    Encore: School’s Out

  • Alice Cooper starts fall tour in Atlantic City, plays Utica on Wednesday

    Alice Cooper opened his fall tour Friday night in Atlantic City at the Oceanic Casino. The crowd began filing into the arena hours before the set started, with many in attendance wearing Alice Cooper t-shirts and eye make-up. The stage was hidden behind a giant curtain with Alice’s trade-mark eyes, and Alice songs played with the crowd already starting to sing-along. As the entrance music started to swell, the massive curtain fell, revealing the two-story castle set, and the words rang out: “Welcome to Alice Cooper’s Nightmare Castle!” As knights carried the curtain away, a drawbridge opened and Alice walked onstage in a plume of smoke.

    alice cooper

    From the opening notes of “Feed My Frankenstein,” it was clear Alice is still in great shape, and his band spent considerable time practicing together during the live music lockdown. Their excitement to be back onstage was evident by their smiles and energy displayed throughout the two-hour set. Alice Cooper doesn’t just play a concert, he puts on a SHOW, with the pomp and props of a theater production. A master entertainer, Alice made multiple costume changes throughout the set, referencing different eras of his 50-year career. How effortless his performance seems is a testament to his drive and conditioning, he controlled the band, stage and the crowd as well, eliciting sing-alongs and responses with hand gestures and using his sword and cane like a conductor. He had a microphone holster on his giant leather belt, and handles the mic like a gunslinger. When he was on top of the castle behind a spiked wheel, it evoked an image of a mad captain steering a pirate ship.

    With over 50 years of albums to choose from, the setlist was a solid collection of his biggest hits, ranging from the Alice Cooper Band era and his solo career, leading into his last two records, Paranormal and Detroit Stories. There was a clever segue from the new song “Go Man Go,” about cruising around in a stolen Hellcat, with the last verse implying the car could be destroyed in a train wreck (with a similar vibe to KISS’s ‘Detroit Rock City’) leading into his classic “Under My Wheels.” Those songs and their placement were vintage Detroit songwriting and Alice wordplay, complete with an American muscle car and macabre ending. A few more notable songs played were “Fallen in Love” co-written with ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons, new songs “Rock’N’Roll” and “Social Disease” which showed him still flexing his song-writing muscles during lockdown, and a combination of “My Stars/Devils Food/Black Widow” that led into the intense drum solo from “Black Juju.”

    The props and theatrics were non-stop, ranging from a crutch he wielded during “Eighteen” to mock the fact that he’s been singing a song about being a teenager for 50 years, to the giant baby who uses a skull-studded-cannon to shoot money into the crowd during “Billion Dollar Babies.” The baby theme continues with the huge images of evil babies projected on the castle during “Dead Babies,” and the baby-faced doctors who place Alice in a straightjacket and oversee his execution in a guillotine. Alice has multiple encounters with his wife, Sheryl Goddard, including her waving his severed head victoriously to the crowd after he’s decapitated. The show opened with the giant Frankenstein monster that comes onstage during “Feed My Frankenstein” and he closes the show with his arms and chains draped around Alice for “Teenage Frankenstein.”

    alice cooper

    The band returned for an encore with a sprawling, sing-along version of “School’s Out,” including a breakdown of Pink Floyd’s “We Don’t Need No Education,” that featured confetti, streamers and giant balloons being shot into the crowd as Alice popped any balloons that came back to the stage with his sword. They came back to the stage for multiple bows as the crowd kept cheering.

    Alice Cooper and Ace Frehley play in New York this Wednesday, September 22 at the Stanley Theater in Utica. This tour takes Alice (and opening act Frehley) across the Midwest and South, ending in Georgia at the end of October. Full dates for the tour can be found here.

  • Alice Cooper and Ace Frehley to Bring Rock n Roll back to the Stanley Theatre this September

    Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Alice Cooper will perform at The Stanley Theater in Utica on September 22, 2021. The shock-rocker, who is touring with former KISS guitarist Ace Frehley as his opening act, will mark Utica as his one and only gig in New York for his “Ol’ Black Eyes is Back” 2021-22 tour.

    alice cooper the stanley

    Alice Cooper pioneered a grandly theatrical brand of hard rock that was designed to shock audiences. Drawing equally from horror movies, vaudeville and garage rock, the group created a stage show that featured electric chairs, guillotines, fake blood and boa constrictors. He continues to tour regularly, performing shows worldwide with the dark and horror-themed theatrics that he is best known for.

    With a schedule that has included six months year in and year out on the road, Alice Cooper brings his own brand of rock psycho-drama to fans both old and new, enjoying it as much as the audience does. Known as the architect of shock-rock, Cooper (in both the original Alice Cooper band and as a solo artist) has rattled the cages and undermined the authority of generations of guardians of the status quo, continuing to surprise fans and exude danger at every turn.

    Released in Feb. 2021, his latest album Detroit Stories, produced by Bob Ezrin, is inspired by the garage rock music of Detroit in the late 1960’s. The album includes several classic covers of Detroit-hits from that era and was recorded in Detroit featuring all Detroit musicians. On top of that, “Nights With Alice Cooper,” Cooper’s nightly radio show, continues to air in nearly 100 cities in the U.S., Canada, Australia and the U.K.

    alice cooper

    Though his 2020 worldwide concert tour was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic,  Cooper looks forward to continuing to bring his iconic brand of rock & roll to fans on five continents now in 2021, 2022 and beyond. With his influence on rock & roll and pop culture long since acknowledged, there is little that Alice Cooper hasn’t achieved in his remarkable career, including platinum albums, sold-out tours and any number of honors and career achievement awards.   

    For nearly a century, The Stanley Theatre has brought the community together with live concerts, Broadway shows, musicals, ballets, movies, graduations and recitals. Today, The Stanley Theatre operates as a not-for-profit organization run by the Central New York Community Arts Council. Originally built as a movie theatre, The Stanley opened its doors in 1928 with 2,963 seats, a grand entry staircase that resembles the main staircase of the Titanic, a gold leaf interior and terra cotta and tiled mosaic exterior. Stanley Theatre was designed by renowned architect Thomas Lamb, whose remaining creations include The Stanley Theatre, Proctor’s Theatre and The Landmark Theatre.

    A pre-show dinner is also available, for the cost of $52 per person. The 3-course meal will be hosted in The Red Room of The Stanley Theatre on September 22, 2021 at 5:00pm. For tickets, call The Stanley Theatre Box Office at (315) 724-4000.

    The menu includes Hors D’oeuvres (Blue Cheese stuffed Figs wrapped in Bacon, Roasted Tomato & Pesto Bruschetta with Mozzarella, Belgian Endive with Mandarin Orange Vegetable Relish with Goat Cheese) a Mixed Berry Salad, Dinner Buffet (Carved Tenderloin of Beef, Chicken Poulet a l’Estragon, Vegetable Lasagna Roulade, Green Bean Almandine, Rosemary Roasted Red Potatoes) and Dessert (Miniature Mixed Berry Tacos, Fresh Fruit Plate)

    Fans are also able to enter to win this beautiful, one-of-a-kind painting created by local Utica artist Stephen Fletcher. For just $5 a ticket (or 6 tickets for $25), one lucky winner will be able to take home this priceless painting.

    Tickets can be purchased either in-person at The Stanley Theatre Box Office (10:30am-6pm) OR by calling 315-724-4000. The raffle will end after the Alice Cooper concert on Sept. 22. The lucky winner will be announced via social media the following day. That gives you plenty of time to throw your name into the hat to win this amazing piece of artwork!

    While you are getting your raffle tickets, make sure you get yourself a ticket to see Alice Cooper and Ace Frehley on Sept. 22 at 7:30pm. Tickets are going fast! Test your luck and enter to win this beautiful painting, courtesy of Stephen Fletcher.

    Please Note: Raffle tickets will be unavailable for purchase on Sept. 15 and 16, as The Stanley Theatre will be closed those two days. In addition, the winner will be responsible for proper shipping and insurance costs, depending on where they live, or arrange for pick up at the theatre. No international shipping.