SickthingsUK

Hi Dennis!

We aways talk about music here, but I would like to know about something different.
My memory is not what it used to be, but I thing someone has already questioned about Alice’s Solo carrier and what musics you like to have played (if I’m imagining this and it only exists in my mind, I blame my medications )

Anyway, for what I can tell, in the early days/ACG days, the theatrics were more vaudeville, more abstract, sometimes related to a song directly but it was different from more recent stage shows Alice has put out in later years.
I mean, compare Good to See You Again AC to Brutally Life, both are very theatrical but a very different approach.
Sometimes Alice has gone to a darker designing (like Brutally Life or Theatre of Death), other tours not so much (Like Psychodrama)

So, in light of this thoughts:

1) Do you think if AC was still a Group, the same thing would have happened? Both in terms of in theatrical Stile and in the heavier, darker tone of the concerts?

2) I don’t know if you have accompanied Alice’s live carrier, I do know that you have seen some of his live shows in later years as sometimes you even joined the band, but from what you know, is there a tour that you wish you were there to make it happen, that you would love to have written? (i mean only on the theatrical part, I know you already answered a million times that for you the band never broke up, you only weren’t invited).

3) If the ACG got back together to do a new tour, a complete show, how do you imagine the theatrics for it?

It's fairly common for musicians who are watching other musicians perform, to think to themselves that they could play that music better. Well, I'm the guy that's always thinking I could do the theatrics better.

Of course things evolve from tour to tour. Things evolved at a rapid pace for Alice Cooper the group. Our earliest shows evolved from night to night. We took pride in our spontaneous ability to incorporate surprises into our shows. That was easier to do when audiences weren't expecting to hear the hits. We didn't have any at that time.

So, hit by hit, the pressure to give audiences what they expected grew, despite our battle against that. These days, fans pretty much know what they're going to hear and see before they get to the show.

I strongly believe that delivering new twists and turns musically and theatrically is way more fun and way more entertaining than a hits heavy show, but there is a balance between the two.

Dreary wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 20, 2024 10:31 pm

It's fairly common for musicians who are watching other musicians perform, to think to themselves that they could play that music better. Well, I'm the guy that's always thinking I could do the theatrics better.

Of course things evolve from tour to tour. Things evolved at a rapid pace for Alice Cooper the group. Our earliest shows evolved from night to night. We took pride in our spontaneous ability to incorporate surprises into our shows. That was easier to do when audiences weren't expecting to hear the hits. We didn't have any at that time.

So, hit by hit, the pressure to give audiences what they expected grew, despite our battle against that. These days, fans pretty much know what they're going to hear and see before they get to the show.

I strongly believe that delivering new twists and turns musically and theatrically is way more fun and way more entertaining than a hits heavy show, but there is a balance between the two.

Thanks for the reply Dennis!

Just out of curiosity, any exemple of what you think you’d do better? (If you can tell us )

As a follow up, if you had to change how Alice is killed onstage, do you have any new method in mind? the guillotine is kind of getting old

If I told you, they wouldn't be unexpected if I ever get a chance to do them.

Better hope i’m there to see it if this does come true oneday

Dennis:

One of my favorite moments of any concert was when you appeared with Blue Coupe at Cleveland's Beachland Ballroom in the summer of 2015 and started Black Juju offstage, concealed behind a theater curtain at stage left. Instead of walking on conventionally, you began to slowly push your way through the heavy curtain, creating an amorphous blob that stretched out further and further until at last you were revealed, whereupon you continued the famous riff while stalking toward the audience. I was right up front, and I remember being completely delighted and thinking, "THIS is what it must have been like to see the spontaneous creativity of the early ACG!"

I captured the moment in a few photos:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/U9JtGX1hdabwuAfR9
https://photos.app.goo.gl/trivnVJepCcknxYQA
https://photos.app.goo.gl/JJQUSZdde55ZGMRg7
https://photos.app.goo.gl/GwqE2Xo1EdmX6EcD7

It was so simple, but unforgettable.

Lazarus wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 21, 2024 9:08 pm

Dennis:

One of my favorite moments of any concert was when you appeared with Blue Coupe at Cleveland's Beachland Ballroom in the summer of 2015 and started Black Juju offstage, concealed behind a theater curtain at stage left. Instead of walking on conventionally, you began to slowly push your way through the heavy curtain, creating an amorphous blob that stretched out further and further until at last you were revealed, whereupon you continued the famous riff while stalking toward the audience. I was right up front, and I remember being completely delighted and thinking, "THIS is what it must have been like to see the spontaneous creativity of the early ACG!"

I captured the moment in a few photos:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/U9JtGX1hdabwuAfR9
https://photos.app.goo.gl/trivnVJepCcknxYQA
https://photos.app.goo.gl/JJQUSZdde55ZGMRg7
https://photos.app.goo.gl/GwqE2Xo1EdmX6EcD7

It was so simple, but unforgettable.

Yes, the same spontaneity favored since the early days.
Another memory of the Beachland Ballroom - I'm not sure if it was that same night, but Blue Coupe we're about to return to the stage for an encore. I was standing in the backstage hallway and a girl came up and asked if we could play "Killer" and I started playing the riff and walked out on stage. She was thrilled. What she didn't know was that we were going to play that song anyway. A coincidence that seemed like a big favor to her.

Dreary wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 21, 2024 9:56 pm

Yes, the same spontaneity favored since the early days.
Another memory of the Beachland Ballroom - I'm not sure if it was that same night, but Blue Coupe we're about to return to the stage for an encore. I was standing in the backstage hallway and a girl came up and asked if we could play "Killer" and I started playing the riff and walked out on stage. She was thrilled. What she didn't know was that we were going to play that song anyway. A coincidence that seemed like a big favor to her.