The Alice Cooper Band
- Rock Metal Machine
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
Artists: The Alice Cooper Band Reunion/Album Play through
Venue: Union Chapel, Islington
Date: 13th 24th July 2025
"So, after fifty-one years the Alice Cooper band rises again. Dennis Dunaway had said earlier, when asked about the album, that he thought it was fifty-one years too late, but now here it was."
I must admit that this was the first time I had ever attended something like this. I had actually hoped that I would be covering the following night’s concert with Judas Priest at the O2, and incorporate the two together, but that didn’t come off, so this may seem a little strange. Still, I regarded it as a historic night. We were about to witness the coming together of the original Alice Cooper band, with bass player Dennis Dunaway, drummer Neil Smith and guitarist Michael Bruce, alongside the man himself. After a short career break of fifty-one years, they have reconvened to record a new album entitled ‘The Revenge Of Alice Cooper’, which was going to get its world premiere play-through, this very night in little old London. After this, there would be a question and answer session where, supposedly, fans could ask the band questions. This didn’t turn out quite as I expected, but more about that later.
So, a sold out Union Chapel sat and listened, for almost an hour, as the album played through. I had already heard bits of it as I had been sent a streaming link a few weeks before, but I always have trouble listening to streams, so this was the time to hear it all the way through. To be honest, quite often it’s not easy to take an album in on an initial hearing, some needing three or four before it nestles and makes sense, although there have been tracks released on the internet prior to this which the audience, and I, were familiar with. The first of these, ‘Black Mamba’, is a good track but, and I’m not the only one to say this, I am not a fan of “Ya-Ya”s. The chorus consists of twenty-nine of them, and I cannot help thinking that words would have been easy to fit, and would sound much better. A strange thing, to me at least, happened at the end of this track. The audience applauded! It was a playback, on a PA. The band wasn’t there (well they were, but hiding in a room at the back) playing the album, but this continued through the whole of the play through. As I said, it takes a while to take in an album, so this was strange to me although, having said that, there were some tracks that caught on straight away. It’s not ‘Love It To Death’, ‘Killer’, ‘School’s Out’ or ‘Billion Dollar Babies’, but then you wouldn’t expect it to be, but it is oddly believable as the follow-up to ‘Muscle Of Love’, which was of course the last album these guys ever recorded together as the “Alice Cooper Band”.
After an hour, the time that everybody had been waiting for was upon us as Sir Tim Rice, that’s THE Sir Time Rice, was announced… but didn’t appear. After a slightly embarrassed silence, he was announced again, appearing this time a few seconds later. The band members were then announced individually onto the stage, starting with erstwhile producer Bob Ezrin (who the remaining four regard as a member, so my description at the beginning of this sentence is (kind of) correct), followed by Michael Bruce, Dennis Dunaway, then Neil Smith and finally the man himself, Alice Cooper. Now it appeared that the guys hadn’t been told that we would be taking photographs when they came out, as nobody stopped for this as they walked to the very comfortable looking leather sofas. Rice then whispered in Mr Ezrin’s ear about us stood there, rather baffled, at which point he turned towards us to pose. When Bruce came out, it was down to Ezrin to point to us and explain the procedure. This happened with each one, until Alice came out and Smith pointed our way, but Alice looked confused and looked back to where he had come from, so no photos of the full line up looking our way.
After being seated, Tim Rice started to talk about the band’s history and finally we got to the Q&A section. This was quite disappointing for me, as questions, quite a few of them, from fans that had been submitted via the internet were read out, rather than from the audience. Only after they had all been dealt with did the audience get a chance, and only three people were asked to submit questions, one of which, with a foreign accent, Alice couldn’t understand so it had to be repeated to him. And then it was done.
So, after fifty-one years the Alice Cooper band rises again. Dennis Dunaway had said earlier, when asked about the album, that he thought it was fifty-one years too late, but now here it was. It was a pity that the initial roll-out wasn’t more organised, that the band didn’t actually play anything and that the audience didn’t get chance to ask more questions, but I suppose we were witnessing a bit of music history. I suppose it was a little like seeing the Queen lying in state, but on a smaller scale, and in reverse, as this was a resurrection, a re-birth. Long live Alice Cooper.
Gallery: All photos © Andy B (used with kind permission)
Review: Andy B
Photos: Andy B
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