Alice Cooper, Primal Scream and The Meffs

The latest gig on our A to Z Musical Tour was ……

Alice Cooper

In 1973 Alice Cooper released his sixth album Billion Dollar Babies. It was the first album I ever bought back then and, over fifty years later, still sounds as good as ever.

If you’d asked the 1973 version of me, would I be going to a gig to see Alice in 2024? I would have laughed my head off, or had it cut off Alice style.

As the opening lines to the opening track on the album go

Hello! Hooray! Let the show begin
I’ve been ready
Hello! Hooray! Let the lights grow dim
I’ve been ready
Ready as this audience that’s coming here to dream
Loving every second, every moment, every scream

The opening verse summed up perfectly the entrance of the star attraction.

Alice Cooper offers all the showmanship of the best vaudeville acts.

He looks scary in top hat and darkened eyes. Throughout the show, he has a range of props that enhance the live experience of the songs themselves and emboldens the performance of both the band and the audience.

And what a band he has assembled. Three guitarists vie for the lead role across the set of songs played, Ryan Roxie, Nita Strauss and Tommy Henriksen. On bass Chuck Garric and drummer Glen Sobel maintain a dynamic rhythm throughout the evening. Together with Alice, they look like a gang just having a whole lot of fun.

Alice never stopped recording after Billion Dollar Babies and has been releasing albums on a regular basis since then. There is therefore a wealth of tracks to choose from when curating a set list for his shows. And in Glasgow the set list combined tracks from around a dozen of his albums with Billion Dollar Babies at the forefront including No More Mr. Nice Guy, the title track, I Love the Dead, a personal favourite, and Elected featuring at the end of the setlist.

A moment was never missed throughout the show to entertain. It wasn’t until the very end that Alice acknowledged the city, the crowd, his band such was the show focussed on the songs and the backdrops that went with them.

There were theatrics throughout the set, a live snake for Snakebite, the chopping off of Alice’s head during I Love The Dead, a large Frankenstein parading across the stage during Feed My Frankenstein.

Yes, it was all here in a little over 90 minutes. The songs unlock the theatrics. The theatrics take the audience on a roller coaster ride of fevered enjoyment.

There is only one Alice. As a front man, actor, showman, few remain as energetic to the cause of enjoyment over the past half century.

You and me together, young and strong
We’re gonna be elected, elected, elected
Respected, selected, call collected
I wanna be elected, elected

Alice, you’ve got my vote and that of everybody at the show.

Primal Scream

When I saw Primal Scream would be appearing in Glasgow on 14 October, I was gutted that I hadn’t go tickets to see them as it clashed with going to see Alice Cooper. What a pleasant surprise it was to see Bobby Gillespie and team supporting the main man himself.

The full band were in top form throughout their relatively short set. Bobby sounding better than the recent past on songs old and new, with the forthcoming release of their latest album, Come Ahead.

The band would seem to be using these warm-up performances to settle in some of the new songs, though for the local audience in particular, they interspersed the set list with fan favourites I’m Losing More Than I’ll Ever Have, Loaded, Country Girl and closing song Rocks.

The new material sounds as fresh as ever, and if this is a foretaste of what is to come for their own headlining tour, then I’ll have to make sure there are no further clashes when they come to town.

By the time the last bars were being played on Rocks, the audience, well most of them, were up on their feet, suitably warmed, suitably energised and delighted the local heroes were in top form.

The Meffs

First came across The Meffs several months ago supporting Frank Turner at The Garage. On their next visit to Glasgow they find themselves opening up the show in the cavernous Hydro.

That the duo of Lily and Lewis can make such a noise from guitar and drums make them one of the live acts to follow in the coming years. They may only have been on stage for a short while. The venue may not have been anywhere near full, yet they conjured up a stunning set of pure punk energy, hardly stopping for breath that endeared them to those watching.

I’m sure they’ll get used to the Glasgow crowds. Somehow expecting boos when they indicated they were from Essex, the applause received seemed to surprise them, but then when requested, the audience were more than happy to join in on a chorus of boos to make them feel right at home. It certainly put them in the right spirits to treat us to their highly motivated, highly charged songs.

It is a gigantic step from The Garage to The Hydro, yet they took it in their stride. As good a warmup act as you’re likely to get and I’m sure this time next year many more will have heard about them as they continue to tour and appear further up the festival listings.