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ConcertsAlice Cooper at New York's Roseland Ballroom 10/21/2006

Posted on Monday, November 27 2006 @ 17:28:00 CST by Pete Pardo
Heavy Metal

When I look back on my concert attendance over the past year it seems that I have not been to The Roseland Ballroom in quite a long time. Come to think of it there has not been a lot of Metal shows coming through town that have booked the venue and it seems as though anything worth attending has been at either B.B. King Blues Club, Irving Plaza or The Nokia Theatre anyway. It makes the rockers happy to know that no less than 4 major venues are at their immediate convenience and now we would all get the chance to enjoy someone who needed a place like Roseland, the Father Of Shock Rock – Alice Cooper!!!! I admit to being excited about this one, for while I have always enjoyed a major portion of his catalog, I had never seen him perform live outside of what was available on DVD. The show would take place very close to Halloween and I can think of no better time to enjoy a show like this. He would bring with him an opener of similar style and vibe, the Horror Rocker Wednesday 13. Here is what went down for the show.

Read on for Ken Pierce's full review of the show!

Wednesday 13: W13 is a band fronted by the former guitarist and singer of the Murderdolls. Named after him, Wednesday 13 is a Horror Rocker in the highest regard and tonight he would be treating fans to music from his Murderdolls releases as well as some of his new music from his new album Fang Bang. W13 is a four piece Hard Punk Rock tour-de-force who slams you with a high-energy set from the second they hit the stage and unlike many openers for an act such as Alice Cooper, they would go over very well. Friends who had met me at the show normally only pay attention to the main event but found themselves also intrigued and responding to the front man as he requested yells and comments from them throughout their performance. The touring band for W13 is Eric Griffin, along with Nate and Ricci Shay. Griffin was also one of the Murderdolls while Racci Shay is a former member of Dope. If you had never heard of the band yet, but find yourself interested in the kind of thing that Cooper does and enjoy Hard rock with a twist of Dark humor to it, then you should look into them. They were tight as a live band and kept everyone's interest. They did not do as much of the new CD as I had anticipated and that was about the only disappointment that I found in the show. I recently reviewed and enjoyed the album very much so was looking forward to a lot more of it being presented than would be the case. Given my limited knowledge of his Murderdolls work and pre Fang Bang releases I was not able to jot down more than a few numbers of his set. However, it was a lot of fun and one of the highlights was the even speedier version of the Motorhead song "R.A.M.O.N.E.S.". Wednesday 13 was pretty much the perfect opener for Cooper in my book, and I look forward to seeing him again.

Alice Cooper: It is without a doubt that Alice Cooper is the Father Of Shock Rock, and single handedly set in motion an effect that would ripple exponentially across the music industry. This ripple would eventually give way to the careers of bands like KISS, Motley Crue, Marilyn Manson and even openers Wednesday 13 along with countless others. All around me the fans were in costumes and I essentially opted for the basic black motif since a little bit of working was involved in my visit. After the "Phantom Of The Opera" intro tape had completed Alice was onstage and clearly in total command of everyone around him. He would mix his most classic numbers in tonight as well as some newer stuff from his very heavy Dirty Diamonds album. I admit to mainly knowing the classic material but that did not take away from my own enjoyment of the songs that I had little idea of. Throughout the set Alice is engaged in all sorts of activity and theatrics like during "Billion Dollar Babies" with his baby doll on the sword and the tossing of play money into the audience. During the show, Alice's band would be in makeup as well and this truly added to the effect of the show; Damon Johnson, Keri Kelli, Chuck Garric and Eric Singer make up Coopers touring lineup for this go around. They are all a tight group of performers each with extensive stage time under their belts. Eric Singer especially is no stranger to wearing makeup as he dons it on a regular basis as a member of KISS portraying the "Catman" (a role previously held by Peter Criss). During the set Alice mad sure to get to something that everyone wanted to hear in one sense or another and he even had some help with the stage antics thanks to his daughter Calico. Calico is the dancer, executioner, nurse and just about anything else her Dad can have her become for the benefit of the performance. She even stays with the times by becoming Paris Hilton or Britney Spears on occasion. She also makes sure to get even with Pop for any nights that he made her stay in or punished when she wanted to go out by leading him to the guillotine to the chants of the audience where the resulting effect will make anyone lose their head. It's one of the best stage tricks to see in person and it keeps you on your toes even though you know in your mind it is not real. I have to say that seeing Alice on stage was truly watching the founder of so much of what we love about Hard Rock and its shocking aspects. He is a living legend who gives everyone such a great time and given this I was surprised to find the event not completely sold out. There seemed to be plenty of tickets available and the entire upstairs was closed off. In my opinion the no-shows really missed out on a "killer" show. Those who did join in the spooky fun will have stories to tell for awhile about this one. Alice Cooper has released a number of DVD's of late, with two notable ones that are reviewed elsewhere on this site are The Nightmare Returns from 1986 and Live In Montreux 2005. Each of them gives you a great chance to enjoy a different performance vibe.

Ken Pierce


Wednesday 13 Set List
I Want You Dead
Home Sweet Homicide
Bad Things
House By The Cemetery
Faith In The Devil
Happily Ever Cadaver
R.A.M.O.N.E.S.
Fuck


Alice Cooper Set List
Phantom Of the Opera - intro tape
Wicked Young Man
No More Mr. Nice Guy
Dirty Diamonds
Billion Dollar Babies
Be My Lover
Lost In America
Guilty
I Never Cry
Woman Of Mass Distraction
I'm 18
You Drive Me Nervous
Is It My Body
Go To Hell
Black Widow Jam
Feed My Frankenstein
Welcome To My Nightmare
"The Piece" (Includes The Awakening / Steven / Only Women Bleed / Steven / Ballad Of Dwight Fry / Killer)
I Love The Dead
School's Out
Poison
I Wish I Were Born In Beverly Hills
Under My Wheels


Official Web site: www.aliceooper.com
Official Web site: www.wednesday13.com


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