Halloween Hootenanny: An Evening with Alice Cooper and Rob Zombie

Day 339

And my ears are still ringing...

I am sure that by now you have heard that I got tickets to the Alice Cooper/Rob Zombie concert. Well, last night was the big night and it didn't disappoint.

I went to the concert with my brother-in-law Eric. I picked him up at his house around 2:30 and we headed down to Salt Lake to the Usana Amphitheatre and we were hoping that the weather would hold out. This was an outdoors concert and the weather called for thunderstorms and rain. We arrived in Salt Lake about an hour earlier than we figured so we stopped by Apollo Burger to grab some eats and shoot the bull while we waited for the concert to open. I got a Gyro plate and while we were eating to began to rain hard. It was depressing because it was really pouring. It cleared up a bit and we headed over to the concert.

The wind was blowing pretty good and it made things chilly but it was not raining. We sat down and waited for the show to start. I didn't mind getting there so early since that meant there was plenty of time to people watch. And every time I go to a concert, I am always surprised at who comes to a concert.

Get ready for a parade of pictures!

We had great seats to the show. We only had two rows in front of us and then the VIP section (which you can see here with the tables and chairs). For $25 I cannot complain.

I tried (and failed obviously) to get a self portrait. I was going to try again but I discovered that my camera's batteries were running low and I didn't want to waste it on shots of Eric and I.

This was a shot of the first band called the Murder Dolls. Not my type of music but they were entertaining. I always feel bad for opening bands. No one really cares for them and the crowd is not always that excited for them. The singer was pretty funny (and I have never been sworn at that many times) he said we should appreciate them for giving a concert in the daylight.

I had to take a shot of this lady that sat right to the right of me. She had to be about my mom's age. She blushed every time the Murder Dolls swore at us. At least I didn't have to worry about sitting next to any freaks.

The couple that sat next to me were awesome. The wife was very chatty and probably around my sister's age. She was totally into Alice Cooper and she asked me if I was going to stand up when the concert started. And then she asked if I would be embarrassed like her husband when she danced. She was surprised that I knew Alice Cooper's songs so well since I was a youngster. During the intermission between the Murder Dolls and Alice they played a strange set of songs including some rap, the Monster Mash, some teen pop crap. I joked that we were listening to Alice's playlist on his iPod. That became a running joke throughout the concert.

Alice Cooper was awesome! We got to see him die from overdose from a large needle, we saw his decapitate himself in a guillotine and he hung himself right in the middle of his I Never Cry song. He threw diamond necklaces (during his Dirty Diamonds song) with his mouth and threw thousands of dollars into the crowd during Billion Dollar Babies. I have to admit that I am not that familiar with his music but after preparing for this concert I am surprised at the different sounds he has. He can be very heavy metal (like Vengeance is Mine) but he can sing dancy songs (From the Inside) and very rockability songs (Under My Wheels). I would see Alice Cooper again.

SET LIST:

School's Out

No More Mr. Nice Guy

Wicked Young Man

Ballad Of Dwight Fry

Go To Hell

Cold Ethyl

Poison

From The Inside

Nurse Rozetta

Be My Lover

Only Women Bleed

I Never Cry

Black Widow Jam

Vengeance Is Mine

Dirty Diamonds

Billion Dollar Babies

Killer

I Love The Dead

Feed My Frankenstein

Under My Wheels

Eighteen

Alice thanked the crowd after his encore and said to watch out because there is a zombie running around. They turned on the lights and we sat down and caught our breath. It was an awesome show and we still had Rob Zombie coming! I chatted with the couple next to me and she suddenly got a text from her niece and mother who were down in the pit in front of the stage. You heard me right.. her niece (who was celebrating her 18th birthday) and her MOTHER was there. Her niece caught the guitarist's pick in her cleavage. I had to ask if it was her niece of mother when she told me. She replied that her mom probably fought her over it.

I enjoyed Alice Cooper's concert a lot more than I thought. He sounded great and I was happy with his choice for songs. I was surprised and delighted that Feed My Frankenstein was included. Frankenstein was a popular choice (and makes sense because of Halloween) since Rob Zombie had his own Frankenstein song.

And then the lights went out and the drums began to pound. Time for Rob Zombie! You can see Rob just to the right from that huge robotic monster. Zombie was extremely loud but the sound was so clear.

Rob Zombie's show was a lot more colorful and had a lot of flames. He also was more personable and spoke to us a lot more. He said that he was nervous to come to Salt Lake City just as much as Salt Lake City was nervous for Rob Zombie. Rob had a lot of energy and would run all around the stage.

Each song had a different look on stage. Living Dead Girl (which you can kinda see her on the large screen behind the band) was very white and bright.

They brought out that large robot from the Dragula video and he danced all around the stage. I would love to have that job. You can see Rob on the left singing.

I don't know why because this has happened more than once and at different venues but drunk girls really like me. The couple that was next to me had scooted down a bit away from me and there was a space next to me that could fit a couple of people. Suddenly I felt this hand on my shoulder that was pressing down. My first thought was that someone was falling. I looked back and helped the girl get down next to me. She turned to me and smiled and I went back to the concert when I felt her arm around my waist. My first thought was that she was still steadying herself so I paid no attention. But she did not let go. I elbowed Eric but he didn't do anything. She took a picture and suddenly she was gone. And no, she was not pickpocketing me. I left my wallet in the car.

During Thunder Kiss '65 Zombie disappeared from the stage and the guitarist began this very long and cool guitar solo (he played Monster Mash, the Star Spangled Banner and other songs) while Zombie roamed through the crowd. He stopped right in front of us! Only two rows down! See the spotlight? That was Zombie holding it. We all swarmed and I just held up my camera and snapped as many pics as I could.

If you look in the middle of this pic you can make out his face.

There he is!

That was so cool! He was right in front of us. He then went around to everyone.

Sadly, the concert came to an end but not before he gave us two encores! He came out and played Dragula which was all sorts of awesome and was the most colorful with all the red and flames. He even had this huge skeleton thing he stood on and sang from.

He also had these two skeleton creatures beating these drums which really amped up the song. We cheered like crazy (and I lost most of my voice) and he came out and said that we cannot have any more since we all had a curfew and needed a good night's sleep. And then he gave us Eric's favorite song in House of a 1,000 Corpses.

SETLIST:

Jesus Frankenstein

Superbeast

Scum of the Earth

Living Dead Girl

More Human Than Human

Sick Bubble-Gum

Demon Speeding

Drum Solo

Liquor

Mars Needs Women

Thunder Kiss '65

School's Out (Alice Cooper cover)

Werewolf Women of the SS

Dragula

House of a 1,000 Corpses

 Rob thanked us for coming and the show unfortunately was over. What a great show, I was a bit disappointed that Rob's set was not longer but I loved every second of it. When I first heard Mars Needs Women I didn't care for it but after hearing the song live, I absolutely love it. Great, great show and absolutely no rain at all! It even warmed up a bit and by the time Zombie came on you could see some of the stars in the sky.

Eric and I then walked to the car but it being us, we couldn't find it. Just like when we went to the Utah Jazz game, we couldn't find our car. After walking around for about twenty minutes we found it and got in and drove home. It took us about a half an hour just to get out of the parking lot. We then dropped by a gas station to pick up some drinks (man did I need that Mountain Dew Livewire) and so Eric could use the bathroom. But the night clerk didn't have the key. I didn't want to try to find a bathroom so Eric went behind the gas station. See what happens when you go to a rocking concert? You lose all inhibitions!

I came home around 1:00 in the morning and I was too keyed up to sleep. And I dreamt about the concert.