Alice Cooper @ House Of Blues (Atlantic City)

ATLANTIC CITY—AC kills AC! Atlantic City kills Alice Cooper! Alice Cooper kills AC. Yes he did. By the end of an electric, non-stop night Alice left his fans screaming for more.

As in all of Alice’s shows Alice was killed numerous times on stage but kept coming back to life.

Cooper put on a better stage show at the House of Blues at the Showboat Casino then some put on Broadway. He had all new stage props, new gallows, new guillotine, new microphone stand impaler, new giant hypodermic syringe, new electric chair, and a new “A-L-I-C-E” backdrop. Alice even jokes about this in the tour program “Good thing my name isn’t Englebert.”

This being the first time I have seen Alice Cooper in concert, the only thing I knew was that he was known for being killed on stage. What I got was a visual overload. Alice Cooper and his band Chuck Garric (bass), Keri Kelli (guitar), Jimmy DeGrasso (drums), Damon Johnson (guitar), and Tiffany Lowe (as herself) came out and gave a helluva show from the first note of the “School’s Out” intro to the final note. Twenty-four songs over ninety minutes and the show never slowed down.

Cooper was electrocuted, beheaded, impaled, hung and injected with “Poison.” But don’t think he took it all laying down, he was able to unleash his own mayhem against his foes. He beheaded babies (okay, they were baby dolls) and harassed Tiffany Lowe throughout. But he didn’t end there; he threw beaded necklaces to the crowd as souvenirs for some lucky fans. Teasing the freebies by starting to hand them out before pulling them back and throwing them to opposite sides of the room.

Alice opened up with the bell ringing for “School’s Out” then proceeded into “No More Mr. Nice Guy,” and “I’m Eighteen,” but that was just the beginning. During the next 90 minutes he played great songs and fan favorites like “Ballad of Dwight Fry,” “Guilty,” “Poison,” “Only Women Bleed,” “Billon Dollar Babies,” “Feed My Frankensteim” and ended the show with “Under My Wheels.” For the encore, Alice came back to “Elected” while wearing a sparkling tuxedo and a sparkling red, white & blue top hat, followed by a final version of “School’s Out” that ended with the bell ringing.

Alice keeps you visually entertained and wanting more without using a single pyrotechnic or firework. In short, if you have never seen Alice Cooper in concert then make sure you catch him next time he is in your area. You will not be disappointed.