Just a few days after his appearance at the Salle Pleyel, Alice Cooper returns to Paris for one final engagement. This time the setting is the legendary Olympia, packed to capacity for the last show of the tour, a performance significant enough to be filmed for a future DVD release. The atmosphere inside the theatre reflects the occasion. Long before Alice takes the stage, it is obvious that nobody intends to miss a second of the evening. Even a quick trip to the bar during the interval turns into a logistical challenge.
A forgettable opening act does little to raise the temperature, despite earning its biggest reaction of the night by paying tribute to the recently departed Johnny Hallyday. Fortunately, they are merely a footnote to the main event.
The moment the lights go down, the mood changes entirely.
"Brutal Planet" once again serves as the opening salvo. It may not be the song some longtime fans would have chosen to launch the evening, but any reservations disappear quickly. What follows is ninety minutes of expertly constructed rock-and-roll theatre, a production so tightly assembled that even its most familiar moments retain their impact. There is no dead air, no loss of momentum and not a single section that feels superfluous. Even the drum solo earns its place.
The current band continues to operate at an exceptionally high level. Glen Sobel remains one of the most powerful drummers in modern hard rock, while Chuck Garric anchors the entire production with his commanding presence. Ryan Roxie, Tommy Henriksen and Nita Strauss provide a formidable three-guitar attack, each bringing a distinct personality to the arrangements without ever stepping on one another's toes.
The theatrical side of the production is equally effective. Calico Cooper and Sheryl Cooper move effortlessly through the evening's various scenes, helping transform what could have been a straightforward rock concert into something closer to a travelling horror revue. The guillotine falls, the villains get punished and the audience cheers every familiar twist in the story.
At the centre of it all is Vincent Furnier, still disappearing completely into the character he created nearly half a century ago. Alice Cooper remains one of rock's great creations, equal parts horror host, vaudeville comedian and hard rock frontman.
There is a certain symmetry in ending the tour here. More than one hundred performances later, the production has reached that rare point where every movement feels instinctive, every cue arrives at precisely the right moment and every performer knows exactly how to make the whole machine run. The cameras are rolling, preserving the final night of a tour that has spent months being refined in front of audiences around the world.
Eventually the confetti settles, the lights come up and the crowd begins filing out into the Paris night. Somewhere backstage, Alice Cooper slowly gives way to Vincent Furnier once more. The monster returns to its box, at least until the next tour begins and somebody decides to let it loose again.
