It was great to see M$R once again and I have to say that this is definitely the loudest that I have heard them to date. The guys played a fantastic set and the Dublin crowd thoroughly enjoyed them.
The band looked at home on the larger stage and the light's and smoke added extra special touch to the M$R show. The guitar showmanship of Brian and Andrew was not only impressive but it was very brave of the guys to debut such a stunt at the Alice Cooper show, I have to admit I was holding my breath the whole time.
By the time they finished with 'Give it all up' the crowd were certainly impressed and some were even singing along with Phil. Well done guys, a more than worthy opener for THE COOP.
(Click on Thumbnail for Larger Pics)
All Photo's Courtesy of
Stephen Kerr
I wasn't sure if Cooper
was going to bother with any of his usual on stage theatrics in a venue
like Vicar Street, however my mind was put at rest when the band (made
up of Kerri Kelli: guitar, Damon Johnston: guitar, Chuck Garrick: bass,
Eric Singer: drums) appeared on stage wearing white masks, which was visually
transfixing. Then the godfather of shock rockers himself appeared in full
make-up and a ringmasters outfit, complete with his trademark cane.
The set was started with the classics 'Department of Youth' and 'No more
Mr Nice guy' which was enough to whip the already excited crowd into a
frenzy. During the title track of his last studio release 'Dirty Diamonds',
Alice proceeded to throw diamonds into the crowd.
'Billion dollar babies' and 'Lost in America' were delivered the way
you would expect them to be... perfectly. Cooper's voice continues to
hold out well and the backing band are not only all very good at what
they do but enter into the spirit of the on stage theatrics whole-heartedly.
The pace really picked up during 'Feed my Frankenstein' followed by 'Welcome
to my nightmare' and then the band were joined on stage by Alice's own
daughter Calico for 'Steven' (which was as sinister as ever) and 'Only
women bleed'.
Of course all this was just fun and games for a pro like Cooper. It was
leading up to one thing... Alice being beheaded, during 'I Love the dead'.
And yes, even after all these years the crowd (including me) still love
it.
Once resurrected the band broke into 'Schools out' and then left us pondering
the encore...
Of course it could only be one song... 'Poison' from 1989's 'Trash' album.
The last 2 songs were less obvious choices 'I wish I was born in Beverly
Hills' (from way back in 1978) seen Calico and co parody a certain blonde
hotel heiress!!! For the last song, Alice took us even further back to
1971 and finished the show with 'Under my wheels'
He has it all, the songs, the voice, the band, the energy and the visuals.
This is why ladies and gentlemen, Alice Cooper is the hailed as the King
of Shock rock!!! And that is why he deserves HMI's first ever 10/10
10/10
Kerri