Alice Cooper at Foxwoods

Can you imagine having the job as Alice Cooper's roadie?

Ten-foot snake. Check.

Life-size rag doll. Check.

"Kill Bill" outfit, with sword. Check.

That's life on the road with Cooper, the aging fright-rocker who dusted off the cobwebs once again to deliver a 21-song, 100-minute salute to the high-rollers, low-lifes and classic rock junkies at the Fox Theatre Friday night.

Promoting "The Eyes of Alice," his latest release, Cooper generated a buzz with a raucously loud set that focused on the prime of his career -- when Richard Nixon was president and Vietnam led every newscast. Indeed, 14 of his 21 songs were from the five albums he released between 1971-73. Cooper was especially generous with five tracks from "Billion Dollar Babies" and four from "Killer."

For longtime Cooper fans, this was a 30-year flashback to the days when Cooper, originally signed by Frank Zappa in 1969, was mentioned in the same breath as classic rock heavyweights like Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin.

Cooper, now 56 and looking it, is not dumb. There's no way his vocals and ghoulish skits can carry the show these days, so he employed a youthful, testosterone-grinding band, which soared through the tracks with guile and bite. They were a bit too loud (those speakers were clearly cranked to 11), which created a fuzzy sound that made it difficult to understand Cooper's lyrics.

The band deserves its props though, especially newcomer drummer Tommy Clufetos, who tirelessly drove the sound, bashing his double Sonors with both power and precision. One of the more original sequences of the evening was when guitarists Ryan Roxie, Damon Johnson and bassist Chuck Garric joined the 24-year-old Clufetos during his drum solo, creating a "Stomp" effect.

But it was the black-leather-clad Cooper who commanded center stage, going through his patented skits like wearing his pet snake for "Sick Things," bringing out his daughter, Calico, for a "Kill Bill"-style street fight with some hired thugs during "Gutter Cat vs. the Jets," and abusing a rag doll during "Cold Ethyl," the latter of which does not translate well in 2004 when spousal abuse is a serious issue. NOW would not have been pleased.

Cooper, in the news recently for criticizing musicians for using the stage to preach their political views, kept true to his words by not using any during his set. There was no banter, just straightforward loud music. It was a month or so ago when Cooper said, "If you're listening to a rock star in order to get your information on who to vote for, you're a bigger moron than they are. Why are we rock stars? Because we're morons. We sleep all day, we play music at night."

And that's just what Cooper did Friday night. During the final notes of "Elected," the band's last encore, Cooper waved an American flag and told the audience to "get out and vote," but didn't say for whom.

If he had an opinion, he kept it to himself. What he offered instead was an excursion into fright night, the persona of Vincent Damon Furnier still welcoming graying audiences to his nightmare.

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Alice Cooper Set List:
1. Hello, Hooray
2. No More Mr. Nice Guy
3. Man of the Year
4. Billion Dollar Babies
5. Between High School and Old School
6. Muscle of Love
7. Be My Lover
8. What Do You Want From Me?
9. I'm Eighteen
10. Killer
11. Desperado
12. Sick Things
13. Gutter Cat vs. the Jets
14. Backyard Brawl
15. Cold Ethyl
16. Only Women Bleed
17. Ballad of Dwight Fry
18. School's Out

Encores:
19. Poison
20. Under My Wheels
21. Elected

Comments

[Alice Cooper Fan]

Just thought you should know, at the Foxwoods show and for all the dates on the final leg of the tour, the guitarists are Ryan Roxie and Damon Johnson (formerly of Brother Cane), Eric Dover is no longer touring with Alice and was not the guitarist for the Foxwoods show, he has been replaced by the very talented Damon Johnson.

[Dan]

Thanks for the clarification. Made the correction.

Dan