Alice Cooper, Ace Frehley and Strangers. Wellington, 28 October 2017

Aussie rockers Strangers opened the show to a crowd that had probably never even heard of them but the got the crowd going and I suspect won over a whole new set of fans. Apparently they don’t have 'Fresh Up' in Australia and they made a big deal about how good that was - great hangover cure I would think. No doubt they would have been having a ball on the road with the legends that were headlining the tour.

I’ve always been a Kiss fan so seeing Ace Frehley was a big deal to me. He smashed through a strong set of solo material and some Kiss classics. His band were impressive and all leant a hand with the singing as well. Singing was never Ace's strong suit whereas playing the guitar on the other hand is what it’s about with Ace and he really bought his A game. There was a cool moment where his guitar was quite literally smoking which was really the only nod to the theatrics of a Kiss show. I loved seeing him and I'm now happy having seen Kiss twice before but never with Ace.

What can u say about Alice Cooper? The man is a showman extraordinaire and never misses a beat. He entertains not only with great songs but huge theatrics that kept the crowd on their feet for the whole show. Oddly it was a seated show so no pit so to speak but only the odd few who were aged and had earned their right to sit were seated the rest of the audience were on their feet chanting and screaming for Alice.

He ploughed through a set of tracks that made fans from all ages happy. That was one of the coolest things seeing all the different age groups of people attending. Naturally there was all the older punters and then middle aged like myself but what was even better was seeing all the young fans. Being that he’s almost in his 70's he showed amazing athleticism with costume changes between songs and all sorts of crazy theatrics.

Just so people didn’t get confused at the end of the show he introduced the band and then said “And playing Alice Cooper tonight, Me”. As for the band well they stood out on their own too Nita Strauss was not only getting the men and women present exited by her looks and theatrics but was an amazing guitar player.

Alice put himself through all sorts of tortures including being electrocuted, becoming a giant and getting his head cut off to the gasps of some of the crowd who didn’t quite expect that. The crowd roared and screamed for more and he gave it all ending with an encore of School's Out. The set list comprised of a great coverage of his 40 year career there were the classics there from No More Mr Nice Guy, through to Under My Wheels. Some of my favourite moments were the oldies like Only Women Bleed, I Love The Dead, I'm Eighteen and Ballad of Dwight Fry. Since he has only just released an album we did get one track from that but all the rest were from his long and illustrious discography. The smiles on the dials and eyes that were lit up leaving were testament to the consummate performer that is Alice Cooper.

_{Review written by Terry McIntosh}

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