review by: Jez Andrews

This was a truly bizarre bill put together for a Monsters Of Rock tour. Not nearly enough weight amongst the support acts in my opinion. Still, if it's feel good rock n roll you're looking for, bonus.

Dogs D'Amor were just as sleazy sounding as they've ever been, engaging in lively banter with members of the crowd. Surprisingly enough, such a well-established name did not manage to drag the masses away from the arena bar. Ah well, you can still fill out the clubs wherever you go, can't you, boys?

The main celebrity attraction of the Quireboys was drummer boy Jason Bonham, but it was vocalist Spike who won the crowd with a nice bit of bonding amongst Geordies: "Howay man, this is the ornly place yis can aall understaand me accent!" I mean come on, with a song called "This is Rock n Roll" and rousing the crowd through a chorus of local anthem "The Blaydon Races," they couldn't really put a foot wrong.... apart from the atrocious student hair styles.

Thunder were just too fucking boring for words. The audience participation was all that kept me Awake. Well, that and the wish that LA Guns hadn't cancelled.

There are many different qualities that different bands bring to their live shows. Nile bring their relentless technical brutality, GWAR bring their sick brand of humour, Venom brought their pyros, and Emperor brought their unrivalled atmospheric intensity. But when all is said and done, Alice Cooper remains the greatest showman on Earth.

The stage set was an adaptation of that of the Brutal Planet tour, with a very oriental theme to promote his latest album, Dragontown. The usual props were in place (guilotine, prison hole, resurrection chamber, etc.), as were drummer Eric Singer (Kiss) and Terry Zig Zag (Guns n' Roses) on keyboards. A roar of appreciation burst out around the arena as the twisted ringmaster himself appeared, full length coat and whip included. The intro to "Hey Stoopid" began and I thought that I was actually about to hear one of my Cooper favourites. But alas, it was simply to kick off a rapidly changing medley, eventually settling on "Brutal Planet." Also chosen for the set from the same album were "Wicked Young Man" and "Gimme." The finest moments from the set came in the shape of "Eighteen," "Billion Dollar Babies" and the monumental "School's Out," during which many giant balloons were released into the crowd and attacked with a fencing sabre when they flooded back towards the stage. Mr. Cooper was on fine form, giving the thousands that had gathered real value for money.

Some of the more disturbing sights to be seen included Alice's "own little nightmare" performing a parody of Britney Spears advertising Pepsi, and Terry Zig Zag donning a furry, white suit and serenading a theatrical severed head on a stake in the background. Altogether a crazy night put together by one of rock's true heroes. We are not worthy....

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