My first time in this new arena and I am impressed with the layout, and the staff are all exceedingly pleasant and helpful. Long may it stay that way. The room was fairly full for the Southampton growth rock band Creeper, their name a bit of a misnomer as the members barely stood still for the 25 minute set!
Opening up with the tunefully uplifting ‘Cyanide’, but the lyrics have a much darker meaning. However, it is still a good tune even though it appears to be about a teenager’s infatuation with Christina Applegate. ‘Thrones Of Love’ followed and because I had been listening on Spotify on my way here I found myself singing along to ‘Down Below’, not bad for a first listen, and just shows how good the hook is. ‘Midnight’ found the keyboard player taking centre stage for the vocals too. Variety is everything and there was a really nice solo on the track.
The final track, ‘Annabelle’ reminds me musically of the glam pop stuff you’d expect in ‘Grease’, but ‘Grease’ meets Bram Stoker! Very dark! Not a bad set and they’re at Download too!
After a slight delay The Cult came on to a totally dark stage. One by one the band lit up until Ian Astbury came on and launched into ‘Sun King’. The first thing I noticed was his voice hasn’t changed in almost 40 years! The sound was superb in the upper areas of the new arena but some of my friends commented on the guitar was a bit quiet in the standing area, not that I noticed. Disappointingly, we could only take photos from the back of the arena. Well, I initially thought this would be difficult until I realized there was a hell of a light show to go with the music.
‘Automatic Blues’ and ‘Sweet Soul Sister’ followed in quick succession. The only thing dropped was the mic stand and Astburys’ tambourine which bounced around the stage like a rubber ball all night. ‘Soul Asylum’ and ‘Edie (Ciao Baby)’ just shows what a talented band these are. Trying constantly to get the crowd to dance proved a challenge, as a fellow Celt (on his mother’s side) he must know that Welshmen don’t dance when there is room, not a chance when your crammed in like sardines in a tin. The thing that annoys me at gigs is the propensity to throw glasses (full or empty) thankfully they’re all plastic these days so other than a shower for the poor recipient golden or otherwise, no real damage done.
Fighting a constant battle with the stage monitors, mic lead and stand, Ian was getting increasingly annoyed with the equipment throughout the set, which was a shame cos it covered many of the well known songs – ‘Lil Devil’, ‘Wild Flower’, ‘Love Removal Machine’ (another attempt to encourage audience movement) followed by ‘Revolution Rain’ and finally ‘She Sells Sanctuary’. The Cult tour continues into next week and there is new music out at the end of the year too. Altogether, whilst not really my style of music, I did enjoy the set and found myself singing along.
Alice Cooper came on behind a big backdrop of his eyes before some of his minions dragged it off to kick off with ‘Feed My Frankenstein’, and the crowd were straight in. If they needed any further encouragement, ‘No More Mr Nice Guy’, ‘Bed Of Nails’ and ‘Hey Stoopid’ followed In quick succession with his guitarists dancing all over the stage
The master of gothic shock rock was in true form as ever, the Castle Cooper background provided all the emphasis he has always provided. Coming out with his white shirt covered in blood and waving a knife, ‘Fallen In Love’ was accompanied by a blood covered bride of Alice carrying a bouquet of roses and candelabra.
‘I’m Eighteen’ followed. How to follow that? Well, ‘Poison’ of course! Nita Strauss is an amazing lead guitarist and she is a very good showman too.
‘Billion Dollar Babies’ was my first Alice Cooper album on black cassette bought in the early ’70s… I wish I still had it ‘cos it’s apparently worth a few quid! On that note it was the next track and a giant baby in a nappy joined the fray. A huge confetti cannon came into centre stage and covered everyone in greenbacks!
Never one to hog the limelight, Alice departs the stage to allow the three guitarists a ‘Black Widow Jam’ before the drummer gave a virtuoso performance and the guitarists came back to centre stage before Alice was escorted out in a straight jacket by two babies in boiler suits to give a rendition of ‘Steven’; towards the end his “bride” came on with a pram covered in skulls.
The shock rock continued with Alice apparently being beheaded on a guillotine before ‘I Love The Dead kicked off and Alice came back on to give ‘Escape’ its turn. ‘Teenage Frankenstein’ was the penultimate song, with Alice coming back out rather like a zombie staggering around the stage
You wouldn’t give or get a bet on the last song as an encore. Only one way to do it – and Alice did it well! ‘School’s Out’!
This has been a long time coming but it really was worth the wait! Thank you Alice for a lifetime of memories being compressed into 90 minutes. Loved it; absolutely loved it
Alice Coopers tour continues in Glasgow tonight (Saturday 28 May) and Birmingham on Monday (30 May), finishing in Leeds next Wednesday (1 June). If you have found yourself at any time singing along to an Alice Cooper or The Cult track go to the shows, you really won’t be disappointed, so grab yourself one of the few remaining tickets.