Sara Hammerzmith

If there is one band I’ll always religiously attend shows to it will be this man and his crew. I dare to even go as far to say that there is not other band nor musician that I respect and love as much as I do this one. Being the grandfather of everything we today know as theatrical metal (excuse the term) he is still extremely humble.

For the day, we left our homes around 13ish and headed down toward Gothenburg. It was an easy and smooth ride, and we arrived by the venue by 17 and headed into the “mall” to have a quick dinner before doors opened. Got the chance to very quickly say hello to my good old friend Robert before getting in line.

As we got inside, we stopped by the merch and then into the venue. At this point, not a whole lot of people had come, so we got some pretty decent spots on Chuck’s and Ryan’s side of the stage. Better than nothing right?

And soon enough, Black Stone Cherry started the gig.

Black Stone Cherry

Supportband for this grand evening was Black Stone Cherry. They are a band that I’ve been trying to listen to for many years but quite never really fell for. But even though I may not be a massive fan of their music per se, I still appriciated the show for most parts – they had a great stage prescence and kept the spirit up, at least a bit.

They played for 45 minutes before it was time to close the curtain and set up for Mr Alice Cooper.

Alice Cooper

The talking intro started… And first song of the evening was, a bit to my surprise, “Feed My Frankenstein”. As the banner fell down, it revealed to us a large castle setting with Nita and Ryan on top of each of a tower before ascending down the stairs to join the rest of the band. A few gadgets here and there – a casket, some heads and beautiful chandliers in the roof set probably one of the most beautiful stage settings I’ve seen him have. As the song progressed, we’d discover the scientist elements were gone. But why not?

Next song on the list, followed up very quickly was the crowdpleaser “No More Mr Nice Guy”, which is just as terrific as always. “Bed of Nails” was followed just up before we went back in time to “Billion Dollar Babies” era and launched into “Raped and Freezin'”

From the oldies straight into new material as “Fallen in Love” was the next song. Maraccas was brought out and “Muscle of Love” was fired off before a large surprise for me came.

“He’s Back (The Man Behind the Mask)” was next on the list, and this song has grown to be one of my top favorite songs, and I was delighted to have it performed again. And this time, with the stageshow – Teenage girls running around the castle getting murdered by Jason Voorhees.

Sometimes I wonder, at what point do you notice you’ve seen a band too much? Well, it’s a riddle because you can never see a band too much, but I noticed that for some odd reason I could predict “I’m Eighteen” being the next song and I don’t know how I knew it. But splendid, as per usual.

“Billion Dollar Babies” followed suit, and instead of the sword with the money he’s now gotten himself a money canon. Why not? “Poison” was next on the list, and I guess at this point I have to again voice my displeasure with Swedish crowds. As the song starts, a group of people just launches into the spots we’ve been standing in since before Black Stone Cherry, all of us who stood there, just because “Poison” was being played.

GET HERE IN TIME.

STAY IN YOUR SPOT.

How hard can it be? I don’t get it.

Up next was guitarsolos, time for the stringbeders to show what they’re made of. And after this, “Roses on White Lace” with Sheryl Cooper being her most amazing self as the white lady, dancing around. “My Stars” was taken off before it was time for the band to jam – more to be specific to “Devil’s Food” and “Black Widow” before he comes back out through the doors of the castle in the straight jacket brought out by people wearing baby masks to perform “Steven”. As this song happens, a window in the castle opens and a giant baby head starts bouncing around.

He ends up killing the baby, and the famous execution scene came to happen.

Chuck performed “I Love The Dead” with a GIANT FUCKING BABY running across the stage holding Alice’s severed head. He then later came back performing “Escape” before wrapping the set up with “Teenage Frankenstein” and HERE – Frankenstein came to join us. Hence, why he wasn’t really present in the opening song.

After this, the band thanked for themselves and left the stage.

They returned quickly to start off the encores with “Under My Wheels” and then we heard the schoolbell toll and “School’s Out” was a fact. But, there was something special that happened on this particular night.

One of my best friends, Robert, had the day before been invited to take part in Alice’s stage show as a balloon guy. So as the guitar solo started, he entered the stage to deliver the baloons for the party. And remember what I wrote earlier about respect? The fact that he invited him on stage, just like that… It’s incredible. And I was so proud and so happy for Robert I could barely contain my excitement.

After this, the show was done for good and the band say good night. It was once again an incredible show by the Man himself, and I can’t wait to see him again soon enough!

After the show we stopped by the merch again and then steered the wheels home. Thank you, and until next time!

// Sara

This entry was posted on September 29, 2019 at 4:55 pm and is filed under Concerts, Music, Uncategorized with tags alice cooper. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.