Manchester MEN Arena

Tuesday 3rd

November 2015

Review by Mark Donnelly

Anyone who has ever travelled the short

distance from Sheffield to Manchester, in rush

hour, knows that it is not an easy journey, so I was

resigned to the fact to missing opening act The

Hundred. In fact, I only took my seat at the venue

as Alice and his band started with their opening

number ‘The Black Widow’, therefore, missing

the Vincent Price intro. Although billed as ‘special

guests’ this was more like a co-headlining tour

with Alice bringing his full stage show. As the

originator of ‘shock-rock’ only had a limited time

he allotted not to talk to the crowd in between

songs but instead let both his music and stage

theatrics do the talking. We were treated to an

hour of Alice Cooper’s greatest hits all of which

are certified bona-fide classics.

The sound was excellent throughout and

despite being of the tender age of 67, Cooper still

belts out the tunes without the hint of auto-tune.

‘No More Mr. Nice Guy’, ‘Under My

Wheels’, ‘I'm Eighteen’, ‘Billion Dollar Babies’,

the classic Alice tunes were rolled out.

Cooper donned his black leather jacket for

the popular ‘Poison’ co-written by Desmond

Child, arguably got the loudest cheers of the

evening as it was released at the time when

headliners, Mötley Crüe were at their zenith.

During ‘Dirty Diamonds’ (song always reminds

me of Batman) Alice threw out dozens of fake

necklaces into the front of the crowd.

I was pleased to be near the rear of the

arena when Alice came out with a large python

wrapped around his neck during ‘Go to Hell’.

Despite several costume changes by Alice

there was never a halt in proceeding; he was

dressed in a blood stained laboratory coat during

‘Feed My Frankenstein’ that also featured a nine

foot Frankenstein marauding around the stage.

The ‘Ballad of Dwight Fry’ was pure

horror theatre that saw Alice put in a straight

jacket before having his head chopped off via a

guillotine and then paraded to the audience. This

part of the show also included snippets of ‘Killer’

and ‘I Love the Dead’.

The inevitable ‘School's Out’ with bubbles

emitting from the stage (that’s the children’s

variety and not Michael Jackson’s chimpanzee)

brought the show to a fitting climax. It also

included a section of Pink Floyd’s classic

‘Another Brick In The Wall’ that also featured on

the recent Hollywood Vampires release for whom

Alice is an integral member. There were also large

balloons released that Alice took great delight in

bursting with his sword (no euphemism there).

Having already seen and thoroughly

enjoyed Mötley Crüe at this year’s Download

Festival I was in two minds whether or not to

attend this evening’s show. The fact that it was

going to be my last ever opportunity to see The

Crüe live was the determining factor. This was my

seventh time seeing the LA bad boys since back in

1984, at Monsters of Rock. Rated as stage show,

tonight was spectacular and up there with the likes

of AC/DC, Kiss and Rush, however, based on a

pure musical performance, it would be average at

best.

The band hit the stage to the strains of

Rodgers & Hammerstein’s ‘So Long, Farewell’

launching into ‘Girls Girls Girls’, complete with

two female dancers/backing singers and my initial

thoughts were that Vince Neil was using backing

tapes. To be honest, I do not get hung up on all

this ‘completely live’ debate so long as the band

are just using backing tracks to augment their

sound; ‘Wildside’ dispelled any thoughts of the

latter as Neil struggled with the vocals. The

pyrotechnics really take ‘Primal Scream’ to

another level and was spectacular to witness. The

more melodic ‘Same Ol’ Situation (S.O.S.)’ and

‘Don’t Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)’ went

down well and had the near capacity singing

along. The Crüe have made the Brownsville

Station cover ‘Smokin’ In The Boys Room’

basically their own but I am not sure that anyone

has explained to them about Gary Glitter as they

also include his ‘Rock and Roll’ within the song.

‘Looks That Kill’ has long been a favourite song

of mine having witnessed two very horny girls

dressed in leather and lace dancing to it at

Nottingham Rock City over nearly thirty years

ago.

‘Mutherfucker of the Year’ was tedious

and pointless and basically pathetic. The band

obviously forgetting that most of their fans are

now in their forties and fifties, not teenagers! Not

a big fan of the punk genre ‘Anarchy In The UK’,

though well performed, was also a song that could

easily have seen dropped from the set.

I kind of lost Nikki Sixx’s point to his

monologue when he started brandishing a nine

inch knife in the middle of Manchester. Not the

sharpest tool in the box – Sixx I am talking about,

not his knife!

The anthemic ‘Shout At The Devil’ with

the full ‘In The Beginning’ intro was an enjoyable

cast back to the eighties as was ‘Louder Than

Hell’ from the ‘Theater of Pain’ album.

Carl Orff’s classical ‘O Fortuna’ signalled

the start of the much anticipated Tommy Lee

drum solo that saw him perform arguably the most

extraordinary drum solos of all time. I suppose it

would be hyper-critical to criticise Lee for playing

trance music as part of his solo as the fact that he

can play anything at all whilst suspended thirty

foot in the air and upside down should be good

enough. His drum kit followed a rollercoaster that

started on the main stage and went three quarters

of the way into the arena. It was sheer circus and

one of the few drum solos that actually had people

rushing back from the bars and toilets and not

vice-versa. Unfortunately, the same could not be

said for Mick Mars’ guitar solo that was his

protracted and dreary in the extreme. ‘Saints of

Los Angeles’ and ‘Live Wire’ got the show back

on track before a thunderous rendition of ‘Dr.

Feelgood’ (remember the first time you heard that

drum sound?).

The greatest Crüe song, in my humble

opinion, ‘Kickstart My Heart’ brought the main

set to a stunning conclusion with Neil and Sixx

suspended above the audience on elevated

platforms with fireworks exploding everywhere.

Sensational.

The band reappeared, for an encore,

towards the rear of the arena on a small ‘boxing

ring’ stage, affording me an excellent close up

view, to perform a poignant version of ‘Home

Sweet Home’. Then they left the stage for last

time and never has the sound of Frank Sinatra’s

‘My Way’ been so appropriate. There were fans

literally in tears at this stage; Mötley Crüe: thanks

for the memories.

So Long, Farewell (Rodgers & Hammerstein song)

1 Girls, Girls, Girls (1987) Girls, Girls, Girls (1987)

2 Wild Side Girls, Girls, Girls (1987)

3 Primal Scream Decade of Decadance (1991)

4 Same Ol' Situation (S.O.S.) Dr. Feelgood (1989)

5 Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away) Dr. Feelgood (1989)

6 Smokin' in the Boys' Room (Brownsville Station cover) (with Gary Glitter's "Rock and… more ) Theatre of Pain (1985)

Manchester MEN Arena

Tuesday 3 November 2015

7 Looks That Kill Shout At The Devil (1983)

8 Mutherfucker of the Year Saints of Los Angeles (2008)

9 Anarchy in the U.K. (Sex Pistols cover) Decade of Decadance (1991)

10 In the Beginning Shout At The Devil (1983)

11 Shout at the Devil Shout At The Devil (1983)

12 Louder Than Hell Theatre of Pain (1985)

O Fortuna (Carl Orff song)

Tommy Lee Drum Solo

Mick Mars Guitar Solo

13 Saints of Los Angeles Saints of Los Angeles (2008)

14 Live Wire Too Fast For Love (1981)

15 T.N.T. (Terror 'N Tinseltown) Dr. Feelgood (1989)

16 Dr. Feelgood Dr. Feelgood (1989)

17 Kickstart My Heart Dr. Feelgood (1989)

Encore:

18 Home Sweet Home Theatre of Pain (1985)

My Way (Frank Sinatra song)

Vincent Price intro

1 The Black Widow Welcome To My Nightmare (1975)

2 No More Mr. Nice Guy Billion Dollar Babies (1973)

3 Under My Wheels Killer (1971)

4 I'm Eighteen Love It To Death (1971)

5 Billion Dollar Babies Billion Dollar Babies (1973)

6 Poison Trash (1989)

7 Dirty Diamonds Dirty Diamonds (2005)

Manchester MEN Arena

Tuesday 3 November 2015

8 Go to Hell Alice Cooper Goes To Hell (1976)

9 Feed My Frankenstein Hey Stoopid (1991)

10 Ballad of Dwight Fry Love It To Death (1971)

11 Killer (partial) Killer (1971)

12 I Love the Dead (partial) Billion Dollar Babies (1973)

13 School's Out (including Pink Floyd's Another Brick In The Wall) School's Out (1972)