Alice Cooper could easily spend the rest of his career touring the same show. Few artists possess a catalogue so packed with indispensable staples, and fewer still command a theatrical production so deeply associated with their public image. The guillotine, the straitjacket, the monsters, the snakes, the execution, "School's Out"... most audiences would be perfectly happy to see the same production repeated indefinitely.
Which is precisely why it is so refreshing to discover that Cooper has once again rebuilt large sections of the show.
After several years on the Paranormal touring cycle, many of the previous production's strongest moments have been retired, replaced or substantially reworked. The foundations remain familiar, but the details have changed enough to keep even longtime followers on their toes. More importantly, the new presentation leans far more heavily into horror than its predecessor.
Opening with the thunderous "Feed My Frankenstein" is a statement of intent. The show eventually circles back to the theme with "Teenage Frankenstein" before the encore, creating a pleasing symmetry that gives the evening a stronger narrative arc than many rock productions can claim. Between those bookends unfolds one of the darkest Alice Cooper shows in recent memory.
Most notably, several longtime staples have disappeared. "The Ballad of Dwight Fry," absent from some previous tours, remains missing. "Only Women Bleed" is also nowhere to be found. In their place, Cooper digs into corners of his catalogue that rarely receive this kind of attention. "Steven" emerges as one of the evening's defining moments, transformed into a genuinely unsettling piece of gothic theatre. Alongside a particularly menacing rendition of "Dead Babies," it helps create an atmosphere that often feels closer to a horror film than a rock concert. The grotesque imagery, the sinister carnival aesthetic and the parade of unsettling characters combine to produce a show that occasionally manages something increasingly rare: it is actually creepy.
The deep cuts continue elsewhere. "Bed of Nails," "Raped and Freezing," "My Stars" and "Roses on White Lace" all make welcome appearances, ensuring that devoted fans have plenty to enjoy beyond the unavoidable classics. Whatever one's preferred Alice Cooper era, there is likely something here to celebrate.
The band remains unchanged, and that stability continues to pay dividends. Tommy Henriksen, Ryan Roxie and Nita Strauss handle the guitar duties with ease, while Chuck Garric and Glen Sobel provide a formidable rhythm section. Their versatility allows them to move seamlessly between the raw garage rock of the original Alice Cooper Group, the polished hard rock of the eighties and everything in between.
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the evening is how little the show feels like the work of a seventy-one-year-old performer. Cooper understands that nostalgia alone is never enough. Rather than preserving the act in amber, he continues to tinker, revise and reinvent it. The result is a production that feels alive rather than merely preserved.
Rock stars eventually grow old. Songs lose their power. Shows become routine. None of those problems seem to concern Alice Cooper just yet.
SETLIST:
