Soooo... this is the long version.
31st of May, I returned home from the Aerosmith shows in Germany. Those two shows were my first time ever traveling abroad not for work. Not my first concerts abroad, as sneaking in a concert after/ in between conference talks had happened before, but I had never traveled outside the country just to see a concert before. Anyway, I had fun at those shows, I enjoyed meeting and talking to other fans and it all made me want to do that again.
I had also seen vids from the shows Alice did this spring in the US. Escape and Pain, are you kidding me?
I was also pleasantly surprised by the first single off the new album. So I decided I'd go see him if he came to Europe. He had a few dates for the summer, but those were too close in time for me to be able to get decent deals and quite a few were festivals, which only complicated things. So I passed on those and looked at the European tour in November. Almost anything outside central Europe would have been a no right from the start for financial/ transportation/ cleanliness reasons. Anything without a direct flight from Bucharest a no as well. That left Dublin, where a friend offered to host me, Frankfurt, Berlin, Vienna and Zurich.
I didn't really have hopes for Zurich and I was right about that, but Frankfurt and Vienna turned out to be surprisingly expensive choices as well. So my list got down to two cities and three dates. But when I finally had the money and wanted to buy tickets, I had the unpleasant surprise of seeing front of stage tickets sold out for all three dates.
I did however manage to get a front of stage ticket for the second Dublin show through an official reseller website (yes, I know, WTF?!
) my friend tipped me about and I was either an idiot the first time I tried to buy a ticket for Berlin, or those front of stage tickets got supplemented a week later
so I jumped on that chance as well.
I had my Dublin ticket sent to my friend who was going to host me in Dublin, but my Berlin ticket to my place in Bucharest. Because the Universe thinks torturing Ana is fun
my ticket for Berlin arrived from Germany within three days, but my friend only got my ticket to Dublin from the same city in late September, over two months after I placed the damn order! That's also probably why the money I had put aside for these two trips mysteriously vanished from my room and why I was really sick the night before my flight to Dublin. At least I felt fine by the time I had to go to the airport.
For the first time ever, my auto-assigned seat (which, as it is the case with a lot of low cost airlines, I cannot change without paying extra... yeah, I know, I get what I pay for
) seemed to be straight out of a nightmare: row 11 (I don't like the number 11 or multiples, don't judge me, okay?
), next to a bimbo with a small screaming monkey.
Dead Babies instantly started playing inside my head when it became clear they had seats right next to me. Fortunately, the bimbo was traveling with her mother and they wanted to sit next to each other (low cost airlines also have the habit of separating auto-assigned seats for people traveling together to try to force them to change their seats... and pay for it). So we swapped places on the plane (at least that's free).
My friend was great, not only did he provide a roof to sleep under, but also local transportation, food and drinks - all very much appreciated.
On Thursday morning, we went to check out the venue, thinking we'd then go around a bit. But there were already people at the entrance, so "a bit" was exactly how much we went around the city that day. Yes, I'm one damn stubborn mule. It was a long wait, but it was ok, met cool people, it didn't rain, we weren't like sardines. Most people who were there early weren't locals though. A big group were from the UK and they came to see the Dublin shows because all the UK venues are seated and you don't go to see Alice and sit on your ass. And yes, the UK dates are those where the original band will be with him as well. But that announcement came after all the good seats were gone.
I was among the first five to get in, but when I got in front of the stage, it was already full in the middle area, even though those people didn't get in before me and they didn't pass me on the way... hmm, I thought going through those intricate corridors took a bit too long and it looks like there really was a shorter way. But I didn't want to be right in the middle anyway, since I don't like the feel of the barrier there. So the best spot I managed to get was exactly what I wanted - right in between the two microphones on the left (as you look at the stage). I had been on the other side the previous time I had seen Alice, so it was perfect this way.
The venue is small and intimate and very pretty and very good for such a show, the sound was great.
Though I wouldn't want to be there if something were to go horribly wrong during a show because it wouldn't be easy to get out.
A few songs off the new album were played before the show. Genuine American Girl, Paranormal, The Sound of A... I really enjoyed that, but they didn't seem to get much of a reaction from most people. There was no opening act, it was just as the tickets say - "spend the night with Alice Cooper". The intro is very cool (you can probably find clips of everything on YouTube), then the curtain falls and they come from the back. As I said, I was on the left as you look at the stage, right between Chuck Garric and Ryan Roxie, who both threw this prison bat (I was wearing a thing with horizontal black and white stripes and some kind of "wings") a couple of picks during the show and... I managed not to catch any
I've caught picks in the air before, but that night, I was just too clumsy. Oh, well...
Show started with Brutal Planet, which he has used as an opener on other tours before, so not a big surprise, but still always cool to hear, especially since it was the song I had in my head for quite a bit of the flight to Dublin. Then No More Mister Nice Guy, again, another setlist regular. Under My Wheels, same thing, but I always enjoy it, so good to get it again.
And then Lost in America. I think it's cool if bands can change setlist plans at the last moment and I like the song (and the whole The Last Temptation album), but it replaced Department of Youth, which he had done the previous night and I would have LOVED to hear. Oh, well, maybe in Berlin...
Then he did Pain. Oh, my, I was SO happy about this and I went wild! I don't know how many people are even familiar with the song, but I absolutely love it. There's this show circulating, Alice Cooper a Paris, a recording off some French television broadcast from the early 80s and I probably watched that version over a hundred times. Don't judge me...
I also didn't have other live versions to watch because, before this year, that poorly documented tour was the last time Pain was performed live. Now if he'd also bring back a few other songs he did during that show, like Vicious Rumours, Who Do You Think We Are?, Generation Landslide... that would be amazing!
Can't complain about what actually followed though because I'm nuts about Billion Dollar Babies. It's an amazing song that always makes you want to move. Also, it was during this song that Kyler gave me one of those picks that bounced off my clumsy hands (the one on the left in the photo). Later, I would dive head first over the barrier to get another one (the one on the right). I was actually shocked nobody else did that before me... I only noticed it because people were talking about it and pointing at it. And now you know the story of my concert bruises...
After the show, I kept pestering a security guy until I convinced him to move the stage curtain a bit for one on the picks from Chuck that had bounced off my hand all the way back there.
Anyway, having Pain and BDB one after the other was one of the high points of the night for me.
Woman of Mass Distraction and The World Needs Guts are two other songs I'm not sure how many people care for, but I like them, I hadn't heard before, so I was glad to get live. Up the count of heard for the first time in Dublin to 4.
Then there was a break for most of the band with Nita's guitar solo before Poison. I know some people here don't care for his "hair metal" stuff and yes, he has a lot of stronger songs, but especially this Thursday night, I thought this translated extremely well live. And together with Halo of Flies, which some people probably know I'm mad about and will never tire to hear live, made for another high point of the show. So, so, so, so, so good!
Feed My Frankenstein is a song I'd skip at home... Definitely can't complain about how it sounded, the whole band put a lot into it, it's fun seeing the FrankenAlice run around on stage, but I'd rather hear Teenage Frankenstein instead. That one hasn't made the set in a long, long time...
Cold Ethyl was great, full of hilarious moments with that mannequin...
For Only Women Bleed I was a bit sorry I didn't care to take my camera to the show. They moved Chuck's mic to bring in a trash can Alice sat on and sang the first part of the song... right in front of me! My thinking was I suck at taking pictures anyway and I don't feel the need to prove with pictures everything I do/ broadcast my life in real time/ whore for likes/ boost my brand/ whatever the fuck you want to call it, so why take a metallic brick that won't fit in the tiny pockets of the clothes I had with me and therefore would have made it hard for me to keep my hands warm... But he was right in front of me for most of that song and it would have been cool to keep that in a picture.
Paranoiac Personality. Sigh. I have such mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, it replaced Escape in the set since the album came out. Broken-hearted about that. If you had asked me this summer what I was most excited about hearing at the upcoming shows, I would have said Escape. I really wish I could have had the chance to get that. He only played it twice in Europe, at two festivals this summer. On the other hand, I enjoy the new song and I get the promoting the new album part. And it blended well into the set. A couple of minutes into Only Women Bleed, Sheryl came on stage as a chained mechanical puppet who tried to strangle him from the back, but failed and then he eventually stabbed her towards the end of the song when sirens went off and it was like he was being chased or just imagining that, looking over his shoulder - the whole theme of paranoia the new song talks about. All followed by completely descending into madness with Dwight Fry, another high point of the set for me.
Then the part you probably know. Alice loses his head figuratively when nurse Sheryl declares him crazy towards the end of the show and strangles her, then loses his head literally.
No "blood" when they were playing with that thing around this time though. There was "blood" when I saw him in Bucharest. Even the Alice money I got at that show caught some of the blood splatter.
Then smoke after I Love the Dead, dark... WTF, already encore break? They came back pretty fast, Alice with his head in one hand and a crutch in the other. Yeah, I'm Eighteen, obviously. And then School's Out, with the huge confetti balloons, with the snippet from Another Brick in the Wall Part 2 in the middle. I was happy to see one of the guys who was at the venue early and who had a VIP ticket got to be on stage to throw them because I think it's just a couple of people out of those who buy the package who are lucky enough to do it, so that must have been really cool for him. One of those bigger paper strips from the balloons got stuck on my sweaty face and I left it there and it probably looked like I had a long thin white dragon tongue dangling out of my mouth. I know Chuck saw it and was amused
Overall, I had a great time. I was all hyper after... There was a Russian girl next to me and at the end, she asked me if I got squished because of the way I was breathing, but it was all the excitement. Okay, probably the smoke contributed as bit as well. I was so hot I got out in the November rain without my hat or coat, with my short-sleeved, no shoulders "prison" blouse and, after quite a bit of walking, still felt the need to cool down my face with a bottle I got from the fridge of a nearby store. And close to my friend's place, I climbed on a brick wall and started running on it with my arms stretched out, imitating a plane
I wish it could have been longer. At least by the two WTMN songs he's done on this tour before (Escape and Department of Youth). I know he's 70 in less than 3 months, I know he does 5-6 shows a week, I know you can't call it short at 20 songs... I know, I know, I know... but, but, but... damn, it felt short!
I was also a bit uneasy about the fireworks. I'll probably always be...
He has to come to Romania again... He threw his cane, I reached out for it and then backed off. Because I flew in, I can't afford to check in the damn thing and getting it past security... um, nope.
At least the guy who got it was very happy.
AeroCooper said BDB should be the closer - damn, I would LOVE that!
So yeah, my Alice Cooper experience in Dublin. If you haven't seen him live, you don't know what you're missing. It's way better than YouTube might lead you to believe. He still does a great job at singing his songs from all decades, has a great band behind and a very entertaining stage show.