1970 - Easy Action
Early 1970: Shows at the Factory Ballroom, Pontiac, MI supported by 'The J.D.Shakedown'
Early 1970 St Thomas Aquinas High School, Southgate, MI (a Saturday)($3 entry charge - several eye witness - one mentions poss. w/ Bob Seger, Ted Nugent, The Frost, The Free, Mitch Ryder)[excerpt from The Incredible Adventures of Mischa by Michele Saint Thomas] There's even a suggestion they played this venue regularly, as did Bob Seger. At one show the band apparently played so loud the officials had to stop them twice. They also blew the circuit breakers and had to get an extension cord from another socket.
Also a mention in
Flint Journal during an interview with Seger associate Marshall Block who was asked to supply a PA by Alice.
Mar 1970 Easy Action released
Mar 1st 1970 Rhode Island School of Design Refractory (2pm), Providence, RI - Confirmed by listing in Student Newspaper Feb. 26th 1970, photo (by Bill Carner) and Dennis Dunaway.
"The show took place in this room at the Rhode Island School of Design. Someone in the crowd threw an orange (perhaps what Alice has in his hand?) and it hit the copper fireplace hood behind us. The acidity caused a shiny spot on the slightly tarnished copper. The college staff got angry and demanded that we pay a heavy fine to have the entire copper hood cleaned. It was a standoff until the students moved in and promised to take care of cleaning it."
- Dennis Dunaway 2021
Mar 7th 1970 Five Stages Club, Chicago, IL (w/ Sun, Joe Kelly's Blues Band) - Show listing in Quad-City Times, 7th March 1970.
Mar 13th 1970 Windsor, ONT, Walkerville Collegiate (w/ Rock Monopoly) - Advert states "No Chickens Please?" There is also a short mention confirming it happened in the Windsor Star dated March 19th : "Alice Cooper presented a unique evening of entertainment Friday, an evening unlikley to be forgotten by most. Oh Wow!"
Note: While Windsor is in Canada, it is right on the border with Detroit, literally the other side of the Detroit River.
Spring 1970 Approx - move to Detroit.
(A document exists showing 28 shows between March 2nd and May 9th including several shows at high schools, the Cincinnati Pop Festival (??), Eastown Theatre in Detroit, the Hollywood Palladium and the 3 shooting days for filming "Diary Of A Mad Housewife" in New York City)
Mar? 1970 Show in Fireplace Room, Mount Holly Ski Lodge, Holly, MI (photo exists) - Local dance organised by Johnny Irons of radio station WTAC. Notes: There is a Detroit Free Press mention (March 13th) of The Amboy Dukes playing the first show (of the year?) on March 28th "along with a second act" and that the show will be hosted by Irons. This would suggest Alice Cooper played there either as support to the Dukes or sometime after that date.
Alice and Michael, said to be at Mount Holly
Mar 26th 1970 Cincinnati, OH, Cincinnati Gardens (w/ Joe Cocker and the Grease Band (no show), Balderdash, Mountain, Stooges, East Orange Express, MC5, Cradle, Savoy Brown, Whale Feathers, Frost, West Foster, Steam, Glass Wall, Amboy Dukes, Frigid Pink, SRC and Alice Cooper). 12 hour "Rock Session" mentioned in the Cincinnati Enquirer 6th March 1970. Later mentions of the "Cincinnati Pop Festival" don't name Alice Cooper (they only name a few bands) but do say "lots of other bands", but then on March 21st there is an article about the forthcoming event that DOES mention them again. A review of the show only mentions three acts by name out of the 15 that played. A poster for the event does NOT mention the band.
Mar 27th 1970 Clifton, Cincinnati, OH Ludlow Garage (w/ New York Rock & Roll Ensemble, Mad Lydia)
Mar 28th 1970 Clifton, Cincinnati, OH Ludlow Garage (w/ Ten Years After)
A ticket exists for Alice Cooper opening for Ten Years After on March 28th. Also a flyer exists showing the band opening for the New York Rock & Roll Ensemble with opener Mad Lydia on the 27th and with Ten Years After on 28th.
An article about the 50th Aniversary of the Ludlow Garage reports that Alice claimed [in an interview for the 'Still Truckin' Ludlow Garage Aniversary DVD, which appears to be very rare] that he wrote "I'm Eighteen" backstage after a show at the Ludlow Garage. The keyboard player from local band Balderdash recalls opening for Alice Cooper at the venue so it would appear there are more dates to find.
Club owner Jim Tarbell (now a local politian) has suggested that he recorded almost all the bands who played there over the years on a then state of the art 8 track recording desk, but the tapes have been handed on to various people, and some lost. Maybe there is a tape of Alice Cooper out there somewhere. At one time it was suggested the famous "Stone Pony" footage was in fact recorded at Ludlow Garage, but Tarbells makes no mention of film so this is unlikely.
March 31st 1969 Eastown Theatre, Detroit, MI (w/ The Rationals, Third Power) Listing in 'Fifth Estate' March 19th.
April 5th 1970 East Lansing, Detroit, MI, Grandmothers (w/ Savage Grace, Zephyr) Two shows on the same day.
April 10th 1970 St Louis, MO, Rainy Daze (w/ The Rush) - Listing in St. Louis Dispatch April 10th 1970
(April 17th 1970 Grand Circus Theater, Detroit, MI (w/ Jam Band, Stooges) - No evidence that this happened but is listed on one site and clashes with the show below anyway)
April 17th 1970 Rondeau Pavilion, Rondeau Park, Ontario - Reports suggest the band played this venue quite a few times.
April 19th 1970 Minneapolis Labor Center, Minneapolis, MN - 2 shows (w/ Small Faces)
Qotes from the Minnesota Daily, April 24, 1970 - "[Alice Cooper’s music was] all blaring chords and unremarkable singing with banal lyrics to boot.” During the second show, Cooper’s "music was no better than before but their theatrics mounted the heights of inanity. They concluded their act with a “science fiction number” during which they collectively crawled around the stage floor, climbed atop their amps and leaped off of them, waved colored scarves, and finally burst a bag of feathers and sprayed some kind of smoke over the audience. It was vaguely amusing. The MC’s query as to whether the Temple should bring Alice Cooper back brought a chorus of “Yeah!” followed posthaste by an indignant “Fuck No!” and similar pleasantries from the corners and balcony…”
Berkley Comunity Theatre, Berkley, CA (w/ Frank Zappa) -A poster exists showing Alice Cooper as opening HOWEVER the photo of Zappa used is from circa 1978 so it's a fake. Other adverts list Boz Scaggs and it seems to be generally excepted that Boz Scaggs opened the show.
April 27th 1970 Cow Palace, San Francisco, CA (w/ Chairman Of The Board, Eric Burdon & War, Haydn) -Also mention in the San Francisco Examiner (Apr 18th) although they suggest it was on the 24th..
(May 1st 1970 Rainy Daze, Hollywood, CA (w/ Eric Burdon and War, Fever Tree) - Source??? "Rainy Daze" was a club in St Louis where the band played on April 10th... This basic bill actually played the Hollywood Palladium on May 9th)
May 2nd 1970 San Bernardino, CA Swing Auditorium (w/ Ike and Tina Turner, AC, Eric Burdon and War, Haydn) - Date of show confirmed in the Upland News May 7th which also mentions Ike And Tina Turner and Eric Burdon and War but not any opening act, however the San Bernadino County Sun confirms the full bill and a piece in K/MENtertainer on 16th May has photos.
May 8th 1970 Birmingham Palladium, Birmingham, MI (w/ Weaselfox, Mighty Quick) - Listing in Detroit Free Press which also lists them playing on the 9th w/ All The Lonely People and Chip Stevens, but that clashes with the LA show and looks like it actually happened on May 22nd.
May 9th 1970 Hollywood Palladium, Los Angeles, CA (w/ Ides Of March, Eric Burdon And War, Fever Tree, Hayden) [Handbill and advert exists] - The Windsor Star lists them playing the Birmingham Palladium which is obviously wrong. Two incorrect "Palladium" dates seems to suggest there was a mistake somewhere confusing venue locations.
May 15th 1970 Memorial Coliseum, Vancouver, WA or Portland, OR - Listing in the Columbian [May 8th] . This is right on the Columbia river border between Washington State and Portland, OR. Unclear if it actually happened as that is the only mention, or whether the venue was in Vancouver, WA or Portland, OR as the two are so close together.
May 16th 1970 New Old Fillmore, San Francisco, CA (w/ Stooges, Flamin' Groovies, Commander Cody, Purple Earthquake) The same bill played on Friday May 15th but poster states Alice Cooper is Saturday only. Listings in the 'Berkeley Barb' confirm this.
May 22nd 1970 The Birmingham Paladium, Birmingham, MI (w/ All The Lonely People, Chip Stevens Blues Band) [Flyer and listing in 'Fifth Estate']
May 24th 1970 Piper Rock Festival, Dankovich Farm, Newton Falls OH (w/ Rascals (canceled), Canned Heat, Cold Blood, Pig Iron, Byrds (didn't play), (A Band Called) Smith, Kenny Rogers and the First Edition, Glass Harp, Marble Cake, Purple Image (opened the show at 7AM))
The show seems to have been scheduled first for Akron (Peace) Park, and the Nelson Ledges Racetrack before ending up on the farm due to local injuctions. Poster exists but Alice Cooper were a late addition to the bill and went on early in the day (eye witness). Apparently the festival was a mud bath with constant rain the previous night and into the day of the festival. Some bands including The Byrds, refused to play fearing electricution. The festival ended with a long jam session after yet another injuction arrived and the state police said they were shutting down the festival when the current band, Pig Iron, finished, so in the end members of Canned Heat and Cold Blood simply joined Pig Iron on stage jamming mainly Canned Heat songs for a couple of hours.
[Piper Rock Festival]
May 30-31st-June 1st 1970, The Festival of Man And Earth, Thunderbird Beach, Baton Rouge, LA. (w/ Youngbloods, John Lee Hooker, Chuck Berry, Bob Seger System, MC5, Brownsville Station, Buckinghams, Ides Of March, Mason Proffit, It's A Beautiful Day & Ted Nugent and The Amboy Dukes). Show took place on a beach, apparently.
The Hammond Daily Star June 1st reports the festival went ahead despite bad weather, local objections, attempted legal measures, AND the death of a "youth"
who was stuck by lightening on the Friday. The Ruston Daily Leader has more background. After the festival the organisers were promptly arrested for breaking an emergancy county ordinance that was passed the evening before the festival began!
May 30th 1970 Billboard reports that report that Alice Cooper, Steam, Freddie King and Tom Rush have completed negotiations to tour the UK "this summer".
June 5th-7th 1970 Toronto, Canada, Electric Circus (Poster Exists for three shows) - Listing in the Toronto Star[June 5th]
June 13th 1970 Cincinnati, OH Crosley Field (Midsummer Rock festival) (w/ the Stooges, Mountain, Grand Funk Railroad, Alice Cooper, Traffic, Mighty Quick, Bob Seger, Mott The Hoople, Ten Years After, Bloodrock, Savage Grace, Brownsville Station, Zephyr, Damnation Of Adam Blessing, John Drake's Shakedown) - Highlights of this festival were later broadcast on Cincinnati WLWT-TV (around Sept 2nd and syndicated all across the US) under the name "Midsummer Rock". Alice's broadcast segment showed them playing "Lay Down and Die, Goodbye" & "Black Juju." During Black Juju, while Alice is crouched at the front of the stage doing the "bodies need rest" hypnotist bit with the pocket watch, someone in the crown hurls some sort of white cake and smacks him right in the mouth [Ticket] [Lima News May 28th had a background article about the festival.]
As seems common the festival was spoiled by conflicts with police and arrests. Towards the end of the festival people started throwing bottles and rocks at police and around 79 arrests were made. Unusually relatively few seem to have been for drugs probably because, as one police officer was quoted "so many of the kids were smoking pot and pill-popping that we ignored it". The majority of the arrests were apparently of Michigan residents! The report also mentions around 200 Cincinatti Reds helmets were stolen and the Reds dugout was heavily damaged.
Me Alice: "In Cincinnati, at a club called the Black Dome, We heard about a vacant Fraternity House for rent... ...We spent what seemed like the whole summer..." This sounds like it could be later (he describes the fraternity guys returning which would be when school resumed in Aug/Sept and we know the band were in town and has been included there.
June 14th 1970 A letters page which is syndicated to numerous small newspapers across the US includes a letter asking about Alice Coopers "wild act" and the writers description of an average Alice Cooper show. [Bakersfield Californian 14th June]
June 21st 1970 The Depot, Minneapolis, MN - two shows 7PM and 10.30PM.
June 24th 1970 "Wild Wednesday - 12 groups in 12 hours - Twin Concert Stages" Sherwood Forest Hall, Davison, MI (w/ Bob Seger, Ted Nugent, MC-5 , Rationals, Brownsville Station, Alice Cooper, Frijid Pink, Teegarden & Van Winkle, Dream Delight)
"A new 'Wild Wednesday' was scheduled for June 24th at Sherwood Forest. We would present 12 groups in 12 hours outdoors from noon 'til Midnight with 'Twin Concert Stages' and no recorded music, no pause or intermission.
The first 'Wild Wednesday/Michigan Monster' featured Bob Seger, Ted Nugent, The MC5, The Rationals, Brownsville Station, Alice Cooper, Frijid Pink, Teegarden & Van Winkle and three opening acts. It was an unqualified success. Four additional 'Wild Wednesdays' took us through the summer, concluding with a 'Super Sunday' in early September."
Promotor Peter Cavenagh, My City Mag January 2014)
June 27th 1970 Detroit State Fairgrounds Grandstand, Detroit, MI (w/ Savage Grace, The Werks) "Mid-Summer Night Rock Festival" - also mentioned in Detroit Free Press 3rd June 1970 with multiple adverts
June 28th 1970 Gallup Park, Ann Arbor, MI - 'Fifth Estate' June 11th mentions a series of shows in Gallup Park every Sunday beginning June 14th, and that Alice Cooper will play one of the Sundays. This is the first one we know they *could* have done it but it could be a later Sunday.
June 30th 1970 St Louis, MO, Rainy Daze (w/ the PAX with Larry Knight) - Listing in St. Louis Dispatch 26th June 1970
1970 Indiana Beach Ballroom, Monticello, IN - Lake Shafer resort - Eye Witness but seems possible as the venue was on the circuit and several big bands played there.
July 4th 1970 Midsummer Night Rock Fest, Michigan State Fairground, MI (w/ Rotary Connection, Alice Cooper, SRC, Black Murder, Fugi, Wesselfox, Street Noise, Milestone, Magic Circus, Chimo, Poor Souls) The Midsummer Night Rock Festival seems to have been a small festival involving a series of shows over several days. A report in the Dubuque Telegraph Herald on June 17th suggests the festival was canceled.
August 1970:
"August of 70 went to the show at the Michigan State Fairgrounds. Decided to go for a walk under the bleachers with the people that I was with and we came across a group of skinny long haired guys dressed in clothing made of auto upholstering. As we walked by, one asked if we had any acid. We asked, who the f**k and what the f**k are you guys supposed to be? They said they were Alice Cooper. We hung with them and from that point on, went to every show they performed in the Detroit area. People hated them and would leave when they came on stage so we decided they needed a fan club.
We stole a sewer cover and covered it with paint and would drop it on a tie dyed t shirt. Then we would stencil 'Alice Cooper Fan Club' over it. We wore these to a record signing appearance at the music man at Tech Plaza, across the street from the GM Tech Center in Warren, MI. and Alice told us from now on, we got in for free. He, Dennis and Neal all signed a poster for me which i still have today. Shortly afterwards, they were appearing at the Eastown. I went up to the ticket window and told them that Alice's fan club was here and we were to get in for free. They said f**k off. I pulled out a ball peen hammer that i had painted gold and told them to give it to Alice and tell him that his fan club was here. They left, came back and let us in for free. Alice used to use the hammer to beat on his mic stand during 'Sunrise'.
We hung with them until just after 'Love It To Death' when they became too big to hang. We figure that Al wrote '18' about us. Anyway, we used to get in free to all of the shows and would hang backstage with them. Somewhere I have a picture taken back stage at The Silverbell when they appeared with Mitch Ryder and Detroit."
(Pete Gruich, February 2012)
July 12th 1970 The Factorie Ballroom, Detroit, MI (w/ Loki, The Meat Light Show, The Sunstorm Lightshow)
July 17th 1970 Middle Earth, Indianapolis, IN (w/ Rig) - Flyer exists
July 18th 1970 Salt Lake City, UT - Terrace Ballroom (w/ Love, Fever Tree, AC) - Handbills exist showing Alice playing with Fever Tree, however posters also exist without Alice Cooper listed but with Blue Cheer playing instead. To add to the confusion apparently Blue Cheer canceled as well to be replaced by 'Blue Mountain Eagle'. The truth is Alice Cooper did not appear [possibly because they were in Buffalo, see below), Love was supported by Fever Tree and Blue Mountain Eagle that night. Confirmation in the Salt Lake Tribune July 17th which lists the changes in billing.
July 18th 1970 Gilligan's. Buffalo (Cheektowaga), NY - Two Shows.
July 23rd 1970 Chicago Underground, Warren, MI (w/ The Asemblage) - Live recording exists [15752 13 Mile Road at Mound Road, Warren, MI]
July 24th 1970 Festival next to farm in W. Nottingham, Chester County, PA on July 24-26, 1970. (w/ Stooges, Zephyr featuring Tommy Bolin, Cactus, Bloodrock, Amboy Dukes featuring Ted Nugent, Bob Seger System and others) Lebanon Daily News 21st July reports there were attempts by the Chester County Comissioneers and local farmer to stop the festival which was being organised by Newcoast Ltd.. An injuction was granted [22nd July] on the grounds that the promotors had failed obtian the nexessary permits to provide adequte facilities for the expected 30,000 people. The promotors didn't seem to unhappy as New Coast president said they had only sold two tickets!! There seems to be no mention locally after the 22nd so it looks unlikely the festival actually took place.
Striaght Records place a half page advert in the LA Free Press promoting Alice Cooper with quotes from various sources.
Two Shows Possibly:
July 25th 1970 The International Room, General Motors Institute, Detroit, MI (w/ The Rationals, Brownsville Station) Photo claimed to be from this show exist.
July 25th 1970 The Note, Gun Lake, Bradley, MI (w/ Bob Seger System, The Frost, S.R.C., Alice Cooper, Ormandy, Chosen Few, Touch Stone, Salvation, Promise, Brussels Griffon, Klass, White Magic)
- Poster exists but little else. There are certainly eye witmesses who say the band played 'The Note' several times. With the band low on the bill it would allow them the two hours or so it would take to get to Detroit for the second show.
Aug. 4th - 9th 1970 Electric Factory, Philadelphia PA. arranges a festival, originally slated to be called 'Harmonyville', which was to be located in Walpack, PA. The lineup included Joe Cocker, Alice Cooper, Poco, Miles Davis, Van Morrison, Muddy Waters, Hot Tuna, Small Faces with Rod Stewart, Ten Years After, Eric Burdon and War, Jefferson Airplane, Savoy Brown, Little Richard, Jethro Tull, Tony Williams Lifetime with Jack Bruce and many, many more. Workshops were to include the likes of Willie Dixon, Big Mama Thornton, Muddy Waters, Alvin Lee, Jorma Kaukonen, Larry Coryell, Shugie Otis and possibly others. While there are adverts for this show it appears it never actually happened. The Lebanon Daily News on August 1st reports the festival was "banned" and that police were intending to set up road blocks to prevent people accessing the festival site in Walpack Township.
Aug 7th 1970 Aragon Ballroom, Chicago, IL (w/ Iron Butterfly and "two other acts") - listing in Chicago Tribune June 21st. Possibly cancelled for the Toronto festival?
Aug 7th or 8th 1970 Mosport Raceway, north of Toronto, Ontario Strawberry Fields Festival (w/ Led Zeppelin (no show), Mountain, Leonard Cohen (no show), Sly & the Family Stone, Jethro Tull, Ten Years After, Procol Harum, Eric Burdon and War, Delaney and Bonnie, the Youngbloods, Grand Funk
Railroad, Cactus, Melanie, and Crowbar (Jozef Chirowski), Ronnie Hawkins)
Me Alice mentions this as April but that's not correct.
The Strawberry Fields festival was initially to have taken place near Moncton, New Brunswick. The event was to run each day from low to high tide on a sandy beach where the tide goes out 1.5 miles. The event was re-scheduled at the last minute to Mosport Raceway, north of Toronto, nine hundred miles from the original site. Attendance reports range between 75-100,000 people and many Americans were denied entry into Canada for the festival on the grounds that they "failed to produce adequate monies ($40) to support themselves." Ten thousand Americans did make it however. [Billboard August 15th].
The festival was advertised in Canada as a motorcycle race with entertainent to avoid attention from the authorities who had prevented previous attempts at staging a rock festival.
Whne the authorities discovered what was actually going on and injection was filed but with only six hours to go before the first band was scheduled to play Supreme Court Justice D. A. Keith refused to grant the injunction and the festival was allowed to proceed. Unlike Canada the festival was heavily promoted in the US which resulted in an influx of Anericans trying to cross the border to attend. Due to the restictions on entering the country one person actually died trying to swim the St Lawrence river to get to the show!
"I arrived days earlier and got my way in by driving for the festival into Toronto to get supplies. My two favorite moments were Leslie West tuning up and holding a single note for more than 5 minutes and about 3am one morning when everyone was listening from sleeping bags, Alice Cooper, who it seems only me and 3 others had ever heard of out of about 20,000, came on with Black JuJu "Bodies Need Rest, Sleep and Evil Sleep, WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP!" I saw people jumping out of sleeping bags wondering WTF??? I do remember Alice throwing water and feathers from a feather pillow on the front of the audience to get them to move only they couldn't as they were paraplegics. I think he gets written up the next day in the news "Rock Star attacks Paraplegics at concert."
(Laurence Hammett, You Tube Post)
"I remember the small rumble growing from the front of the stage and crawling towards me some forty "rows" back. Then it passed over us and continued on through the crowd. What it was was everyone saying "Is that a chick? She's ugly. Or is that a guy?" Didn't matter to me, the music was interesting. They played songs from their second album and a few mixed in from an upcoming album. They sang a weird song about his "door spot", which never came out on an LP until years and years later. They tried to leave the stage but the crowd yelled for more. As they sung their next tune a long one, Neal played a long drum solo... he seemed to be growing, maybe standing on his kit, beating the hell out of those cymbals. Then the singer opened up a sack and a cloud of feathers flew out around us all, and as we were staring in amazement he walked past a speaker, running his hand over it. Suddenly he raised his hands over his head and a bright flare shot into the sky. As we all followed it they disappeared from the stage. We screamed for more but that was it. After the festival was over I slept for a few days. I then made my way to Sam's record store in Toronto and purchased those first two LPs and waited till the next."
(Pete Toner, 2020)
Aug 9th 1970 - Jackson, MI - Goose Lake Int. Music Festival (w/ Jethro Tull, John Sabastian, Savage Grace, SRC, Flock, James Gang, The Stooges, Ten Years After, Suite Charity, Detroit, Bob Seger System, Frost, Mountain, Rod Stewart and The Faces). - There is a suggestion Alice Cooper didn't play due to contractual problems (or maybe due to illness mentioned on next show). The band were scheduled to play from 2.45-3pm (Detroit Free Press schedule) between Suite Charity and Mitch Ryder and Detroit.
The Goose Lake festival was one of the biggest festivals of the period with an estimated 200,000 people attending over the three day duration (7th-9th).
Aug 10th 1970 Terrace Ballroom, Salt Lake City, Utah, (w/ Amboy Dukes and Brownsville Station) - Alice Cooper didn't play after Alice was taken ill. - Salt Lake City Tribune 14th August 1970. They were replaced by 'Holden Caulfield' with the other bands moving up the bill. [Salt Lake Tribune 14th August] On November 25th Alice Cooper played Salt Lake City again and adverts for THAT show mention free admission for ticket holders of a previous Alice Cooper show, so this could be the show it refers to.
Aug 12th 1970 Pennington County Fairgrounds, Rapid City, SD, Central States Pop Festival (w/ Frantic, Crow, Amboy Dukes, Alice Cooper ("a freaky, five-piece, mind blowing act"), Cradle) [ Billings Gazette August 9th 1970 ] - The Rapid City Journal July 21st 1970 also mentions the show, however a later review states that Alice Cooper did NOT play. A telegram was read out stating Alice has been hospitalised.
Aug 14th 1970 Eastown Theater, Detroit, MI (w/ Johnny Winter, Tin House) - according to the Johnny Winter timeline he was playing at the Shrine in Rochester,NY but eye witness confirms the Detroit show happened and it's listed in the Detroit Free Press August 14th, Windsor Star on 15th, and 'Fifth Estate' August 6th.
Aug 15th 1970 Eastown Theater, Detroit MI. (w/ Johnny Winter, Tin House) (eye witness and 'Fifth Estate') - Johnny Winter timeline confirms this show is correct.
(Record World July 4th mentions a show at Long Island Arena, Commack between August 14th and 16th as part of "Rock Expo 1970". It seems unlikely it happened. Other bands scheduled to play include The Stooges, MC5, Mitch Ryder, Amboy Dukes and others. No trace the other bands plyed these shows either.)
Aug 16th 1970 - Me Alice infers that Easy Action is out. Shep runs into Nimbus 9 in Toronto. Leo Fenn has taken over as acting Manager while Shep And Joey try and find new ways to make money. Leo sends a copy of the album to a young assistant at Nimbus 9 called... Bob Ezrin. He hates it. Ezrin meets the band for the first time the day after the Watermelon incident (Aug 16th) at the Skyline Hotel (presumably in Toronto). He hates them. Fenn continues to hassle Ezrin to see the band live, which he finally does in Max's Kansas City in New York.
Aug 18th 1970 State Park Roll-Air Rink, Bay City, MI, USA [Super Tuesday] - Show listed on setlistsFM. No source given.
Aug 23rd 1970 Berberton Freeway, Newton Falls, OH (w/ Catfish, Marblecake, Glass Harp, Eli Radish, 15-60-75, Witch Hazel, Mantissa, Mint, Proof) - Article in the Akron Beacon (August 12th) mentions this being planned. Did it happen? No. They didn't get the right permissions according to Akron Baacon dated August 14th. This was being run by the same people as the 'Piper Rock Festival' on May 24th.
Aug 25th 1970 - Washington, DC, L'Enfant Square, Medicine Ball Caravan show. (w/ Sageworth And Drums, Hot Tuna, Stoneground)
Due to their appearance on the 'Soundtrack' album to the film 'Medicine Ball Caravan' it has been long assumed Alice Cooper was part of the whole tour but this wasn't the case. In fact 'Stoneground' were the only band to actually travel with the Caravan and play every show. The Caravan was put together specifically for the purpose of making a film about it, and the hippy movement, in the wake of the huge success of the 'Woodstock' film. It was basically a group of around 150 hippies and scene leading lights travelling across America and setting up concerts as they went. Warner Brothers bankrolled the project and the bands were simply flown in for each show, different artists each time. Alice Cooper only played this one show, and the track on the resulting album isn't in fact live, but a studio cut with added audience. However a proper live performance of 'Black Juju' IS featured on the Medicine Ball Caravan' movie.
High Times:
"After Woodstock, many people wanted to cash in on the emerging counterculture market. Warner Brothers lined up a national tour dubbed "Medicine Ball Caravan" that was supposed to feature the Grateful Dead and Merry Pranksters, but Kesey was considered too much of a loose cannon, so the Pranksters were rejected for the less threatening Hog Farmers. Then the Dead pulled out, replaced by B.B. King. The tour and subsequent movie flopped."
[Note: B B King in fact only played one show early in the schedule]
Martin Scorsese was the Associate producer, Post-production supervisor of the movie.
Zappa Quote from Mothers Press Kit:
"Any normal sort of teenage combo might have become enraged by something like Freddie Weintraub's exquisite 'Medicine Ball Caravan' ad campaign, where Warners stoops to the hiring of fake hippies ($10 a day, 10 days, $100 to "Get out there on the psychedelic bus and promote this groovy movie . . . . ."), and then sends a bunch to one of its concerts (like the one we played at Pauley Pavilion) to pass out crappy little leaflets. Some old ordinary group might get pissed off at stuff like that, but we just sit round and say how lucky we are. After all, it could be worse . . . we could still be with MGM. "
Tracklisting of Album:
The Youngbloods-Act Naturally
B.B. King-Medley: How Blue Can You Get/Just A Little Love
Doug Kershaw-Medley: Louisiana Man/Battle of New Orleans/Orange Blossum Special
The Youngbloods-Hippie from Olema
Sal Valentino-Dreambo
Alice Cooper-Black Juju
Stoneground-Medley: Freakout/It Takes A Lot to Laugh, It Takes A Train to Cry
Delaney and Bonnie-Free the People
Rolling Stone Interview published Oct 15th 1970:
"They hassled us more than anybody ever did. Owsley's people, who were running the PA system said, 'We don't like them, they're theatrical. We don't want them to go on. They might break our microphones.' They're all into Hog Farm Earthy Jams. And we said, 'What are you talking about? Warner Brothers hired us to go on this thing. We had to get the Washington police to let us on. And the Jefferson Airplane came up and told the people who were running the PA to let us play. 'We dig them, and they'll use our equipment.' So we went on and used the Airplane's equipment, and had the crowd standing. It was really incredible."
[Note: In fact it wasn't Jefferson Airplane as such, it was 'Hot Tuna', made up of three members of Airplane, and with a fouth (the drummer) standing in for the show, so the mistake is reasonable.]
In 1972 John Grissim published a book entitled "We Have Come For Your Daughters: What Went Down On The Medicine Ball Caravan" which told the whole story (from his viewpoint) of the Caravan. It features one early photo of Alice backstage at the Washington show and a couple of pages discribing the bands participation with the Washington show.
"...for it is at this point that Mike Forman [Warner Bros representative] finally manages to intimidate enough people into believing he's running the show. To this end he is able to yank Stoneground off the stage on the grounds that the police have insisted the concert end at 9 P.M. sharp. This leaves barely enough time for Alice Cooper to set up and close the show. For a minute all is confusion, but eventually Stoneground reluctantly leaves the stage. [Tom] Donahue (One of the leading figures in the Caravan and on the Hippie Scene) is unable to stop the exodus in time. Somehow Forman has done the unthinkable — pulled the rug out from Big T. The man is livid.
For that matter so are the Alembic sound people [providers of the P.A. System, Famous for their work with the Grateful dead], not only because of Stoneground's short set but because of Alice Cooper, a young man (real name, Vincent Furnier) who leads a rock group composed of what appears to be four amphetamine drag queens gone mad. Alice Cooper is not music but an insane theater act. A year ago the group performed in San Francisco on a bill with Iggie and the Stooges and the Flamin' Groovies, two groups likewise notable for their excessive stage dramatics, destruction of instruments, microphones, loudspeakers, and anything else within range. Alembic had handled the PA for that concert and claims Alice Cooper broke three expensive microphones in the process. Now here it is Washington and Alembic is vowing to kick Alice off stage or, barring that, not record his performance.
The argument is heated and personal, but in the end the necessity of the moment produces a stalemate. Alice goes on stage and Alembic's Bob Mathews angrily kills the power to the 16-track. His gesture has no impact on the audience, for Alice Cooper is far more visual than auditory. He appears before the microphone wearing a dress and a silk scarf which he dramatically removes to the beatless cacaphony of half-acid rock, revealing a black body stocking beneath. His eyes are heavily etched with mascara, his hair long and straggly, his body deathly thin and grotesque. Here stands a gaunt-vindictive horribly anemic wicked witch straight out of 'the Wizard of Oz'. He leaps about the stage, sneering, snapping and taunting his viewers, twirling a handmike, casting voodoo spells, spinning around like some speed freak dervish, and otherwise succeeding handily in keeping L'Enfant Square fascinated.
There's method to his madness. Five years ago back in Phoenix, Arizona, Alice and the boys were known as the Spiders, a group that was going nowhere until it opted for a new look. "We took on the faggot image," Alice says, "because it freaks out the parents the most. All we had to do was go into drag shops and buy all these cheap, incredibly glittery whorey things. It's been great fun." The ploy began to pay off almost immediately. Of course it helped that Alice adopted a few tricks to his act, like floating a weather balloon full at worms over the audience and popping it with a BB gun. or tearing apart crabs and fish and throwing the pieces to the crowd. In Chicago he once terrified the Kenetic Playground by toying with a giant boa constrictor that had just eaten rabbit. He once shaved several cats (his own he claims) from the waist down, spray painted them, and released them into the audience. One time in Vancouver, B.C., a naked girl ran onto the stage and was promptly incorporated into the act when the group covered her with shaving cream, added a bag of feathers and flagellated her with dead chickens.
There is a good deal more intelligence and humor to Alice Cooper than meets the eye on stage. And it seems fitting that the group should appear at a caravan concert, for its entire act is deliberately structured to distort the already distorted imagery of rock 'n' roll, to use the media for maximum shock value.
And at this moment Francois Reichenbach [The director filming the movie] loves it. In fact he's ecstatic. As Alice vamps and swirls, Francois likewise weaves in unconscious counterpoint, shouting instructions to his crew, pointing, gesticulating, clasping his hands, and beaming with unalloyed delight. Alice begins his finale with an eerie hypnotic ritual, removing his necklace to swing an amulet back and forth, repeating, "Sleep. All bodies need sleep," with the cracked voice of an old woman while the music takes on clockwork syncopation. The stage falls dark save for a single spot on the amulet.
The suspense builds in relative silence as Alice reaches down for a powerful hand-held spotlight. Suddenly he switches it on and beams it at his audience, screeching WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WAKE UP! at the top of his voice. The music thunders into an endless crescendo. The drummer stands on his seat now, using his drumsticks like baseball bats to bash away at a set of giant cymbals. The stage is engulfed in a rainbow wash of flashing lights as Alice reaches for a large pillowcase full of chicken feathers and throws it out at the crowd. L'Enfant Square breaks into cheers and applause, rising to its feet as the flurry of feathers is carried back by the breeze to surround the chicken-feather flinger in a small blizzard. At this instant the crescendo reaches a crashing tonic chord that Alice punctuates by aiming a flare gun into the sky and launching a pyrotechnic rocket that explodes in a dazzling shower high over the square. That's Alice Cooper—and at 9:40 P.M. that's the show."
From: "We Have Come For Your Daughters: What Went Down On The Medicine Ball Caravan" by John Grissim 1972.
Aug 28th-30th 1970 'Spoon River Rock Festival', Big Country Ranch Resort, West Finley Township, Washington County, Pennsylvania (CANCELED) (1/ SRC, Manitoba Hugger, Fuse, Tayles, Amboy Dukes, Bob Seger, MC5, Siegel-Schwall, The Stooges, 3rd Power, Brownsville Station, Alice Cooper, and Tongue & Django). The festival was canceled at last minute after the promoters, the Spoon River Corp. and the Golden Freak Enterprises Inc., decided they did not have sufficient time to prepare sanitary facilities at the proposed site. (West Virginia Morgantown Dominion News - August 20, 1970).
Aug 29th 1970 Action House, Island Park, Long Island (Near Long Beach) (w/ Hog)
Aug 30th 1970 Silver River Rock Festival (Sound Storm II), Big Country Ranch Resort, (West) Finley Township, PA - Canceled (w/ Manitoba Hugger, Fuse (Cheap Trick), The Tayles, Amboy Dukes (Ted Nugent), SRC, Bob Seger, MC-5, Siegel-Schwall, Stooges (Iggy Pop), 3rd Power, Brownsville Station, Alice Cooper, Tongue and Django)
Festival was canceled by promotors after a court hearing and due to the fact they couldn't get a big name headliner for the festival. (West Virginia Morgantown Dominion News August 20th)
OR Sound Storm II, Big Country Ranch Resort, West Finley, PA (contract exists but isn't signed)
Originally we had two different festivals on this date, but looking at the evidence, the news report and a map (the two suggested locations were almost on top of each other) it seems they must be refering to the same festival. Either way it didn't happen.
Aug/Sept 1970
Me Alice: "We got a three week gig at a small hotel in Ann Arbor, MI for $500 a week plus room and board. Ashley Pandel managed the bar." - This could be the Butler Hotel in Saugatuck where Pandel worked as a bartender for three years (Obituary).
Me, Alice: Band arrive at Pontiac Farm (off Brown Road), Detroit, MI Me, Alice infers they were there for 18 months.
Before the farm Dennis recalls staying at a "dive motel" on Gratiot Avenue, which appears to be in Mt Clemons, MI just a few miles north of Detroit. "there was this Big Boy across the street and I was always wishing I could afford to eat something there." There still is a "Big Boy" on Gratiot Avenue although if it's still location it looks like the motel is long gone.
Sept 2nd-5th 1970 Ungano's, New York, NY (w/ Luke and the Apostles, Charade) - Sept 2nd 'Midsummer Rock' film aired on US TV with stereo sound via simultanious radio broadcast.
Sept 5th 1970 Ludlow Garage, Cincinnati, OH (w/ Beechwood Farm, Pale Face)- Listing in the Cincinatti Post [Sept 3rd] says 4th and 5th but advert is 5th only. - This clashes with the final Ungaro's show above.
Sept 5-7th 1970 Central Texas Music Festival, Highway 95 between Elgin and Bastrop, TX (w/ MC-5, Amboy Dukes, Stooges, Ike & Tina Turner, James Cotton, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chambers Brothers, Alice Cooper, Freddie King, Eric Burdon & War and many more...) (Poster exists) - Canceled due to "severe pressure" from local people and bad publicity in national magazines". The local judge also issued a restraining order to prevent the festival being held. [Billboard 12th September 1970]
Sept 8th 1970 New York, NY - Max's Kansas City (AC reputedly arrested for saying "tits") [Billboard 19th September Review] - Possible secodn show on the 9th?
Reputedly the first time Bob Ezrin sees the band perform. NME Bob Ezrin interviw also mentions elsewhere that the band opened with Sun Arise. These could/are likely to be the same show. Ezrin later joins the band at the Pontiac Ranch to work on songs for the next album.
" I had to go to meet the band there [The farm] when we started getting ready to do 'Love It to Death.' First of all, I drove past it about four times because it was boarded up from the outside. It looked like a derelict farmhouse that no one had been in for fifty years. After traveling this road four or five times and realizing there was no other house, I finally pulled around the back, and then I saw that there were vehicles and there was a three-legged dog and the screen door was open to the house, so I let myself in.
The practice hall was a big barn on the property — this was a big farm. It could have been hundreds of acres for all I know. In the practice barn they had some of their props; they had a whole stage back-line set up and there was also a shooting gallery where they used to put up bottles and cans and shoot them with BB guns to let off steam. No one was awake when I first walked into the house, and I came in through the kitchen, which looked like a science experiment. There were filthy dishes that had been piled there forever. There were dishes of casserole that had been there for so long that things were growing in it. I wandered through the kitchen into the next room, which was totally dark, through a beaded curtain into the room … As my eyes adjusted, I saw that and kind of leapt back, and then there was clothes rack with falsies on the other wall — you know I backed into that. I realized there was a bed in the middle of the room, and on that bed were two creatures of indeterminate sex, both wearing Dr. Denton's, with the button back. The only way I could tell that one was a guy was because one of them had mutton chops. Everything else was identical. They both had long blonde hair, they both had nail polish, they both had Dr. Denton's on, lots of jewelry, and they were dead to the world — they did not notice me."
(Bob Ezrin, Nights With Alice Cooper which has a great article describing the Farmhouse)
Sept 9th or 10th 1970 Long Island, NY, Action House - Rolling Stone Article mentions this as being the night after the Max's Kansas City show.
Sept 18th 1970 Rainy Daze, St. Louis (Chesterfield?), MO (Photos exist)
Sept 19th 1970 New Orleans, LA, The Warehouse (w/ The Stooges, MC 5) Show happened (photos apparently exist) but without the Stooges who are listing a show in Canada the following day)
Sept 25th-October 12th 1970 Melody Maker (July 18th 1970) in the UK have a brief mention of a UK "club and ballroom" tour featuring Love and "Alice Kooper" being organised by "impresario Arthur Howes". Of course it never happened, but this could be the earliest plan for Alice Cooper to play in the UK.
Sept 26th 1970 Gilligan's Club, Buffalo, NY - News item in Buffalo News [Sept 22nd] suggests two shows today.
Sept 27th 1970 String Factory, Free University, Richmond, VA (w/Matrix, Titfield Thunderbolt, Squeezo Light Brigade)
?? October? 1970 Grand Haven Bash, Grand Haven Roller Rink, Grand Haven, MI - The band played this venue at least twice (eye witnesses) and there are adverts for MC5 (10/10) and John Drake Shakedown (24/10) in the Holland Evening Sentinel playing "Grand Haven Bash" events on Saturdays during October 1970 which maybe gives us an approximate date of at least one. Unfortunately however the advert below just says "Tomorrow Night" and I can find nothing that confirms a specific date.
Oct 4th 1970 Birmingham Palladium, Birmingham, MI (w/ Catfish, Shaky Jake) - Listing in the Detroit Free Press (Oct 23rd)
Oct 6th 1970 Dearborn Gym, University Of Maine at Farmington, ME.
"We were right in front of stage and he made a crack about the authorities not letting him use dead chickens!"
(Facebook post)
Oct 9th 1970 Eastown Theater, Detroit, MI (w/ Cradle, Mutzie) - Detroit Free Press and Ann Arbor Argus mention Chickenshack and Alice Cooper but later issues changes it.
Oct 10th 1970 Eastown Theater, Detroit, MI (w/ The Frost, Mutzie) - Listing in Detroit Free Press. Ann Arbor Argus says Chickenshack for this one as well.
Oct 16th 1970 Wyoming, (nr Grand Rapids), MI, Grand Valley Armoury (w/ Mike Quatro Jam Band, The Ones) (Poster exists)
Oct 17th 1970 Memorial Gym, Knox College, Galesburg, IL (w/ S.R.C., Chase, Frijid Pink) - Homecoming Dance
The band were apparently already basing much of their set around the forthcoming 'Love It To Death' album:
"do that entire album live before it had been released, and they were incredible live. Homecoming 'dance" in the gym at Knox College in Illinois in 1970. The show started in darkness with just what sounded like a hammer striking the microphone. When the lights came on it became Sun Arise. Details of the night were just a teensy bit fuzzy, but I do remember what a tight, dynamic band they were, and how blown away we all were by how good they were..."
(Eye Witness)
OR
Oct 17th 1970 State Theater, Toledo, OH (w/ Jim Stein) - Eye Witness (see below). Note there is an advert for a show at the same venue with Jim Stein opening on February 6th 1971 which makes this date more unlikely.
"I remember those crunchy, slightly out-of-tune guitar chords and notes, but mostly I remember the feathers! Lots and lots of feathers ejected from the stage into the audience as part of Alice Cooper's show. A good example of this is in the film "Diary of a Mad Housewife," during the party scene in which the Cooper band appears.
Local folksinger Jim Stein opened."
(Bear, Classic Rock Concerts)
Oct 24th 1970 The Birmingham Palladium, Detroit (w/ Catfish, Shakey Jake) - Listing in Detroit Free Press 23rd October but actually says Sat. 4th, which was a printing error as 24th was a Saturday.
Oct 31st 1970 Ypsilanti, MI, Bowen Field House, Eastern Michigan Univ. ( w/ SRC, Brownsville Station, Mike Quatro's Jam Band, Mutzi, Insanity's Horse) (ticket/flyer/eyewitness) [Ticket] Some sources say Alice Cooper didn't show up but an eye witness claims they definitly played. - Listed in Detroit Free Press
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(Oct 31st 1970 Detroit, MI, Eastown Theater ???)
Nov 1st 1970 The Früt Palace, Mt Clemens, MI (w/ The Frut, The Coming) - Listing in Detroit Free Press Oct 30th 1970.
Fri. Nov. 6- Sat Nov 7th 1970 - Dewey's Bar in Madison, WI - Dewey's seems to have run a mix of monster movies and bands.
(Record World reports the band will play a new venue, The Fortune Theater In New York between November 9th and 15th (a full week of shows!). The place was tiny only holding 150 seats. It had been rented by Andy Warhol for a very short time in 1969. It seems unlikely this happened and I can find nothing else mentioning it but who knows.)
Nov. 8th 1970 Labor Temple, Minneapolis, MN - two shows at 7.30 and 10.15. (w/ Amboy Dukes)
Nov 11th 1970 Eighteen/Is It My Body released without there being an album to promote as yet. This is the date from the box set but seems a little early.
(Nov 11th-15th 1970 Mojo magazine (2005) mentions that Black Sabbath supported Alice Cooper at the Whiskey A Go Go, LA between the 11th and 15th November in 1970. This is also mentioned on various Black Sabbath tour date lists. Mojo magazine states that during those five nights, Sabbath played two sets a night.
NOTE: I haven't yet found any other evidence that this is correct however there is an advert for Sabbath playing the Whisky on those dates with Ashton, Garner and Dyke opening.)
Nov 14th 1970 Billboard reports Alice Cooper are "now cutting" an album with Jack Richardson and Bob Ezrin at RCA Studios in Chicago. [Billboard November 14th and November 21st]
Nov. 20th 1970 Los Angeles, CA, Homecoming Dance, UCLA Ackerman Union Grand Ballroom (w/ Bones, Christopher Milk, Half Nelson) - UCLA Daily Bruin Advert/article - Follow up article suggest Half Nelson may not have played. Admission was free. There was some confusion as the Daily Bruin on the 19th listed the show as "tonight" but this was corrected the following day.
Nov 21st 1970 Detroit, MI, University of Detroit Memorial Building (w/ Jane Fonda, The Stooges, and Damnation) - Advert in Detroit Free Press Nov 15th 1970 plus listings right up to the day of the show.
"I thought this happened at the University of Colorado (perhaps it happened more than once). Jane Fonda's protest speeches were highly controversial to the point where they often occurred on short notice. At that point, Alice Cooper were treading waves and taking any gig we could get, and not keeping much track of who else might be on the bill. We played the show but Fonda was cancelled due to threats."
- Dennis Dunaway, 2021.
(Nov 21st-29th 1970 Detroit Auto Show, Cobo Hall, Detroit, MI - Exact date unknown but presumably they played between the 22nd and 25th, or could be being confused with the January Auto Show appearance)
Nov 25th 1970 Salt Lake City, UT - Fairgrounds Coliseum (w/ Wishful Thinking) Tickets for a previous Alice Cooper show were valid for this show by returning the unused ticket for an exchange. Alice Cooper were scheduled to play Salt Lake City on August 10th but cancelled due to illness. That would be the show the advert refers to. There is a suggestion in the Daily Utah Chronicle on November 17th 1970 that this show was due to take place at the Terrace Ballroom, the same venue as the original show but it was canceled by the venue, who were remodling and also didn't want to deal with "the freaks" in the audience. In the end they moved the show to the Coliseum and a review in the Desert News (nov 27th) confirms it happened..
[Nov 27th 1970 The Syndrome/Superdrome (AKA Chicago Coliseum) Chicago, IL (w/ MC5, Alice Cooper, Iggy and the Stooges) [Billboard 3rd October] Kaledoscope underground newspaper [Vol 3, number 16] listing, The Greek Star [Nov 26th]and Kenosha News [Oct 1st].
There is a suggestion online that this was cancelled, dispite being advertised the day before, which could make sense due to adverts and reviews existing showing the Grateful Dead and New Riders of the Purple Sage playing the venue this date. ]
Dec 4th 1970 Rochester, NY, Monroe Comunity College Gymnasium (w/ Buddy Guy, Damnation, The Stooges, Catfish, Junior Wells, The Dells) - Originally adverts in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle showed December 7th but by December 2nd adverts said December 4th.
Dec 7th 1970 Annandale Campus, Northern Virginia Community College, NV (w/ Emmett Rhodes) In the cafeteria for $300.00 Vs 50% of the door. The stage was cafeteria tables pushed together. A candid photo exists of Alice after the show. - Interviewed after the show at the Holiday Inn in Fairfax for the Washington Evening Star that is published 26th December (venue stated in article).
Dec 7th and 8th 1970 Gateway Lounge, Detroit, MI - The following flyer shows these two shows but clashes with the two listings above.
Dec 11th 1970 The Loft, Lakeville, MI (w/ The Maxx)
December 1970 - Me Alice: The band are in RCA Mid-Recording Centre in Chicago trying to piece together four songs for Warner Brothers(Demo for a new album presumably) with Bob Ezrin and Alice was commuting between there and a trailer in Detroit where Cindy was selling Xmas trees. The band were still at the Pontiac Farm. Alice says they were in pre-production with Ezrin for two months(Oct-Nov?). The tracks he claims were recorded were 'Eighteen', 'Is It My Body', 'Nervous' and 'Sun Arise'.
(Dec 19th 1970 Cobo Arena (Hall?) Detroit, MI - Listed on Concert Database. Source???)
Dec 20th 1970 George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia (Source??)
Dec 25th 1970 Eastown Theatre, Detroit, MI (With Bob Ezrin playing Keyboards!!) (Alice Cooper, Love, The Früt) (eye witness and 'Fifth Estate' listing)[Photo Exists] "The Reincarnation of Alice Cooper"
"Tom, Mark, Jim and I drove up from Toledo to Detroit on a snowy Christmas night to see Alice Cooper, who were supposed to be debuting their yet-to-be-released new LP, "Love It to Death," though they'd already been performing some songs from the record in earlier shows.
After finding a spot in the parking lot across the street and slopping through the slush to the theater, we found our usual spot at the edge of the orchestra pit in front of the stage.
Looking around the aging theater, someone pointed to the ceiling. Suspended from the middle of the old ornate ceiling was a giant clear plastic balloon of sorts. It was huge. And inside it was something white and fluffy, but it was hard to make out what is was in the dim light. Maybe it was fake snow for the holiday.
As the concert hall filled up, it got smokier and smokier (and so did we). The silly and outrageous Frut opened the show with their stoned psychedelic versions of 1950s doo-wop.
Arthur Lee and Love followed with an eractic set. Frank Fayad played bass, Craig Tarwater was on guitar, Don Poncher played drums, and Arthur Lee played guitar and sang. They played none of their familiar hits.
Then came Alice Cooper. The band was tight, their sound was much more straight-forward rock than their first two spaced-out LPs. They played most or all of the "Love It to Death" album, but the only two familiar songs were "Is It My Body?" and "I'm Eighteen," which was both sides of their recent single. It was a great performance with some awesome songs. Alice had a bright light in his hands, swinging it around as to hypnotise the crowd, when some fool jumped onto the stage with Alice and grabbed the light out of the Coop's hand and swung it around before he was ejected from the stage. Alice just played along.
At the end of "Black Juju," which was the next to the last song they performed (the album's songs were not played in order), Alice pulled a chord at the edge of the stage, and that large balloon at the ceiling opened up, and out came that white fluff therein--it was feathers! Lots and lots of feathers! They came down into the center of the audience like a mushroom cloud! They made a "flop" sound as they smacked the audience on their heads! A good-humored feather fight broke out with balls of feathers flying around hitting audience members in the face, in the back of the head, all over. Vicious!
Sitting in the front of the audience near the stage, we missed the direct hit, but we did get a great view of the feathered mayhem.
As their final song, the band broke into "Sun Arise." No encore. It was over. And feathers were everywhere. "
(Bear, Classic Rock Concerts)
Dec 26th 1970 Eastown Theatre, Detroit, MI (With Bob Ezrin playing Keyboards!!) (Love, Alice Cooper, The Früt) (eye witness and 'Fifth Estate' listing)
"We had such a good time at the Alice Cooper show the night before, we decided to return for the second night's performance.
We parked in the same parking lot as the night before across from the theater.
Once inside, we parked ourselves farther from the stage than the first night. Maybe not a better view, but in the thick of the party atmosphere.
Frut and Love opened as they had the night before.
The second night's performance was more intense than the first night as though the Alice Cooper band was trying to outdo themselves. They did! The songs were longer, the band was louder and more focussed. And the crowd was more outrageous and obviously higher.
As the night before, there was the giant clear plastic bubble suspended from the ceiling full of white feathers. And with us sitting away from the stage, we were right under that balloon.
Then as Alice finished the song "Black Juju," and when he uttered the song's title, he yanked on a chord at the edge of the stage, opening up the big bag hanging from the ceiling, releasing the deluge of feathers onto the crowd below like a giant pillow fight! And we were directly under it!
The feathers created a light-hearted melee; featherball fights broke out, and everyone was laughing and falling over and kicking feathers around. Alice Cooper did one more number ("Sun Arise"), and the concert was over.
(Bear, Classic Rock Concerts)
Dec 27th 1970 Toledo Sports Arena Exhibit Hall, Toledo, OH (w/ Tee Garden and Van Winkle, Mutzie)
Dec 28th 1970 Chatham, Ontario - Chatham seems to be a small town only a few miles over the border from Detroit. It features Chatham Memorial Arena, a small 2000 seat building that has been used for concerts (Billboard lists it as a venue) so maybe a likely venue?
Dec 29th 1970 St. Louis, MO
Dec 31st 1970-Jan 3rd Chicago IL, Chicago Coliseum "Mod World Expo 1971 (w/ The Byrds and others) (eye witness claims - "The Byrds played after them in the wee hours of the morning")
Alice Cooper played on at least one of the days. A second advert confirms they played New Years Eve (31st).
HOLDING: AC and Velvet Underground, Steubenville, Ohio (just before LITD released) - The only known time Alice Cooper played with the VU is May 1st 1971 also in Ohio so this is likely a red herring.
HOLDING: Winter 1970 - Pittsburg S.M.A.P. (Sunshine Music America Peace) AKA The Electric Theater. - They were a last minute fill-in for Cold Blood, who canceled - Eyewitnesses confirms this happened.
HOLDING: The Silverbell/Hideout, Clarkston, MI (w/ Mitch Ryder & Detroit)
1971
Jan 1st 1971 Davison, MI, Sherwood Forest (w/ Universe and Smack Dab) "Baby New Year" - Listing in Detroit Free Press - Article in My City Mag by the promotor states this was New Years Eve but is miss-remembering. He also states 'Love it To Death was "major Smash" but it wasn't released yet.
Jan 2nd 1971 Birmingham, MI Palladium (w/ Werks, Salvage) - Listing in Detroit Free Press
Jan 10th 1971 The Detroit Free Press twice (TV and radio) lists the 'Detroit Tube Works' TV show airing today, as a simulcast with WABX Radio, including Alice Cooper mention in both listings.
Jan 15th 1971 'Turn On With Barry Richards' show performance recorded (apparently live) in Washington, DC. Transmitted the following day - Date questionable due to the shows listed above.
Jan 15th-16th 1971 Dania, FL Pirates World (w/ MC5, Brownsville Station) (ticket and poster exist) [Ticket] - If this happened (there are a LOT of unused tickets on ebay and since when did tickets list BOTH dates?) then this would be the furthest south the band have ever been up to this point. As it clashes with other information it could be questionable that they actually played this date, although they definitly played at Pirates World more then once going by the number of eye witnesses stating they saw them there "many times". It's a long way to go just for two shows in a theme park. The Miami News on the 16th January does list the shows as MC-5 and Alice Cooper, as does the Miami Herald.
CLASHES WITH:
16th January 1971 - Eastown Theatre, Detroit - (w/ Beefheart, Amboy Dukes, Ry Cooder) ??
Beefheart lists has him here in 15th-16th Jan 1971. This is shown on a venue gig list from the time. They have photos and a lot of text about it! Review mentions Ry Cooder opened and Amboy Dukes played. The set opened with at track called 'Alice in Blunderland' However a bit further down it has:
"Phil Gough: Just to let you know Alice Cooper was not on the bill the night I went (January 15, 1971) which was the opening night of the tour." So that leaves him there on the 16th.
He had to be around as: Interestingly Beefheart recorded for TubeWorks on the 15th Jan.
Michael: "I just met the man who directed many of the video shoots for WABX Tube Works, a TV program in the early 1970's which featured both touring and local bands playing live. The video in question was, in fact, shot after the Magic Band's show in Detroit with Alice Cooper and Ry Cooder. They drove out to the studio (now WXON TV 20), set up, and played what you hear."
There's a bit from the producer of the show that mentions Cooder was recorded as well but that footage appears lost.
It's possible they did play there 16th Jan with Beefheart etc and recorded the Tubeworks footage that evening as well.
However lastly, A local Windsor Star advert on the day of the second show (16th) also doesn't list Alice Cooper as playing the show, which adds weight to the fact they didn't and someone somewhere is wrong or is confusing 'Cooper' with 'Cooder'.
Jan 16th 1971 The footage known as 'Detroit Tubeworks' filmed for TV. - This cannot be the correct date. The Detroit Free Press lists the TV show airing on January 10th.
Jan 23rd 1971 Detroit, MI 19th Annual Autorama at Cobo Hall. Listed/mentioned twice in advertising supplement in the Detroit Free Press 17th January and eye witness.
According to Neal Smith this was the first show they included 'I'm Eighteen' in the setlist - "The first show we did after they started playing “I’m Eighteen” was the Detroit Auto Show. It was the big teen event of the year. It was the very first time we played a song where the crowd went crazy."
The problem with that statement is that we have a recording of them playing the song in July 1970! However he could mean that was the first time they played the "new" shorter version of 'I'm Eighteen' rather then the long jammed version.
Also eye-witness saw them at this show and took home one of Neals drumsticks.
(Jan 26th 1971 Fillmore North, St. Lawrence Market, Toronto (w/ Free, Cactus, MacKendree Spring (didn't show)) - Suggestion AC played but doesn't seem so, as the Toronto Globe and Mail reviews the show, the opening night at the venue, and makes a point of mentioning the bands who played and that Alice Cooper will play "this Friday" which would be the 29th.
Jan 29th 1971 Fillmore North, St. Lawrence Market, Toronto (w/ SRC or Rhinoceros and Little Richard??) (Ticket exists) [Billboard 30th January] On February 13th Billboard reports "Alice Cooper drew a tremendous response at Fillmore Market appearance this weekend"
Jan 31st 1971, JBs, Kent, OH (w/ Glass Harp, Biggy Rat) - Same listing in Cleveland Plain Dealer January 29th although they list Glass Hut.
Wed Feb 3rd 1971 Birthday party thrown for Alice in Pontiac, MI - Around now 'Eighteen' is released.
Feb 6th 1971 State Theater, Toledo, OH (w/ Frut, Godfrey Danya featuring Jim Stien) - Billboard reports the band have recently completed recording 'Love It To Death'
Feb 12th 1971 St Catherines, Ontario, Rock 3 (w/ Titanic)
"Feb 12th 1971. We pulled in 1400 - but the band was just becoming known in this area. "Eighteen" was on the charts! Also that evening, it was a blizzard!"
(Promotor Frazer Loveman)
Feb 13th 1971 'Eighteen' is listed at 103 on the Billboard charts
Feb 14th 1971 The Sherwood Forest, Davison, MI (w/ The Whiz Kids, Ice Nine) - Listing in Detroit Free Press
???? 1971 Somewhere around here the band played John Glenn High School Auditorium in Bay City MI. At least two eye witnesses have posted comments about seeing them there around the time 'I'm Eighteen' was released and one claims to have a photo of Alice at the show sitting on a speaker cab. Tickets were $4.50.
Feb 18th 1971 "Eighteen" mentioned as being number one in Cleveland
Feb 19th 1971 Oleman Auditorium, Wright State University, Fairborn (near Dayton), OHs (w/ Stonefox) [Wright State Guardian February 17th][Wright State Guardian on 24th has a review]
Feb 20th 1971 Billboard now lists 'Eighteen' at 90
Feb (21st?) 1971 'Love It To Death' released.