Shock-rock maestro Alice Cooper returned to Englewood, NJ’s BPAC for a no-holds-barred performance on Saturday night, thrilling the audience with classic rock anthems and a full-scale stage show.
The normally quiet, suburban streets of Englewood were temporarily transformed into a summer Halloween show, as fans of all ages streamed towards the theater wearing mascara and fake blood, one particularly creative fan even attaching bloodied baby dolls to his costume. One of the most fascinating things about Alice Cooper is that over his 40 year career, he has managed to keep his audience coming back for more by maintaining a well-known level of performance art, while still innovating and creating new ideas on each tour, and last night was no exception.
The stage at the Bergen PAC was filled with dangerous-looking machinery and slumped over bodies, a prelude of what might be expected at any Alice Cooper show. The venue, which hosted Alice’s last tour in 2008 (read my review here), is on the smaller side for most rock shows, which allowed the audience to feel much closer to the action without any of the madness that often accompanies arena or larger ballroom shows, and also featured what might be the friendliest and nicest ushers in the tri-state area, a nice change from the usually hardened security at most rock and metal shows.
As showtime kicked off, Alice Cooper himself appeared on stage atop a tall staircase, sparklers blazing in his hands, as the show opened with classic hit The Black Widow. Dancing his way down the stairs, the 63 year old rock star displayed amazing agility and stage presence, twirling his cane and darting around the stage as he sang. And as impressive as the mascara-wearing Cooper was, his handpicked band proved equally up to the task, carrying the night as they crunched through riffs and wailed through solos with an unbridled rock n’ roll enthusiasm.
With well over a dozen studio album in his discography, there were no lack of hits to play, and Alice Cooper and his band were not stingy at all. Favorites like I’m Eighteen and Billion Dollar Babies appeared early in the setlist, the audience gleefully singing along. With three guitarists on stage, the sound was thick and heavy in the quaint theater, which is generally host to more classical music and plays than violent heavy metal, but had no problem blasting out the triple guitar attack and crushing bass and drums.
The band debuted a new song as well, Alice showing off the back of his shirt which read ‘New Song’ during I’ll Bite Your Face Off, an instant classic with a catchy chorus. He clutched and danced with a lifesize doll in his arms during Only Women Bleed, but nothing quite topped the thunderous Feed My Frankenstein, which featured a 15 foot monster coming to life and stomping about the stage, Alice’s band scattering with every step yet never missing a note as they shredded through one of the night’s best and heaviest songs.
Of course, what Alice Cooper show could be complete without violent crime and punishment? This time around, a photographer wearing a jacket that read “Rock Press” appeared on stage every few songs to harass the band members, until Alice finally impaled him on a spiky cane (this member of the rock press chooses not be offended, because, frankly, we can be pretty obnoxious at times). As is tradition, masked men soon appeared on stage to wisk the murderous frontman to the guillotine, and off came his head, which the executioner gleefully paraded about the stage as Alice’s band jammed out on I Love The Dead, backed up by the entire BPAC theater singing along to the macabre music.
With the night drawing to an end, there was one critical, yet-to-be-played song, and the audience went absolutely crazy at the sound of the ringing school bell signaling the start to School’s Out. Alice reappeared on stage to lead the whole theater in a sing-along of not just the summer anthem, but deftly working in the chorus to Pink Floyd’s Another Brick In The Wall Part 2, chanting “We don’t need no education, we don’t need no thought control” over the classic School’s Out guitar riff in one of the most enjoyable mashups this classic rock fan has ever experienced.
Wrapping up the night with Elected, confetti-filled beach balls and streamers filled the air in a festive encore that neatly summed up the entire night’s experience. An Alice Cooper concert is at once both comical yet gruesome, hard-rocking yet touchingly emotional, and above all else, fun. Cooper and his band are extremely talented professionals, and the ease at which they perform embodies all that is glorious about hard rock and heavy metal. From the opening smoke bombs to the final power chords, Alice Cooper treated Bergen County to a show they will not soon forget.
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