Alice Cooper @ Hellfest, Clisson

Legacy acts have a tendency toward complacency, especially in a festival setting. Play the hits, collect the paycheck, move on to the next city. Alice Cooper has never been particularly interested in that approach.

Rather than opening with an obvious crowd-pleaser, Cooper begins his Hellfest set with excerpts from "Hello Hooray" and "Who Do You Think We Are," a deep cut from 1981's often overlooked Special Forces. The expected staples are all present, of course. "I'm Eighteen," "Poison" and "School's Out" still hit with undiminished force. The stage show, streamlined for the festival environment, focuses on its most beloved elements: the towering Frankenstein Alice, the murder of an unfortunate photographer during "Hey Stoopid" and, naturally, the guillotine. Yet even within the constraints of a one-hour slot, Cooper finds room for less obvious selections. "Dirty Diamonds" makes a welcome appearance, complete with the singer tossing costume jewelry into the crowd, perhaps a practical substitute for the dollar bills that accompany "Billion Dollar Babies" indoors. Small touches like these serve as reminders that Alice Cooper's catalogue extends well beyond the songs that have become permanent fixtures on classic rock radio.

Then comes the evening's most unexpected moment: a faithful rendition of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit." On paper, the choice seems curious. Alice Cooper and Nirvana belong to different generations, different aesthetics and different chapters of rock history. Yet the connection becomes immediately apparent when Cooper sneers "Here we are now, entertain us" with the conviction of a man who has devoted six decades to precisely that mission. In his hands, the song ceases to be a cover and becomes something closer to a manifesto.

Perhaps that balance between substance and spectacle is what has allowed Alice Cooper to endure while so many of his contemporaries have faded away. The songs remain the foundation. They always have been. The horror, the guillotines and the theatrical flourishes merely provide the icing on an already impressive cake. Even in the compressed format of a festival set, Cooper refuses to settle for a greatest-hits revue. There are classics, there are surprises and there is always room for a little mischief. Fifty years after "School's Out," he still understands something many performers never do: entertainment is serious business, and best left to the professionals.

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