Review: Alice Cooper @ OVO Hydro, Glasgow 28/5/22

Venue: OVO Hydro, Glasgow, UK; Date: 28/5/22;
Bands: Creeper, The Cult and Alice Cooper; Doors opened 6.30pm; Show started 7.00pm

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Remember I wasn’t going to do a review for this show but it was that good I figured you need one!

Where to begin?

First off, the venue. The arena is literally a 25 minute walk from Argyle Street and just a straight walk – couldn’t be any easier to get to. I arrived just as the queues were building up, but I did get there for 6.30pm.

Gotta say the arena looked small outside, but it was quite spacious inside and the the sections were laid out easily enough. The seating plan and the stage were great – laid out in a half circle pattern.

The prices weren’t that bad either, £7 for a pint and considering prices in a pub are close to that it seemed reasonable. It was quite clear most came for Alice Cooper as there were a few empty seats (my row was empty for the pretty much for Creepers and The Cult.

I didn’t take that many videos or photos for this one as I wanted to enjoy embrace and enjoy the show.

CREEPER

Never heard of them but they did a decent job as an opening act. They did their best to interact with the crow, trying to rally them up. It was going to be hard for them opening for The Cult Alice Cooper – like FangClub did for Metallica in Dublin – especially given they were only given enough time for about six songs but like any true band they made the most of the time given to them.

THE CULT

Going into the show, I thought the song I knew was Lil’ Devil (which they played) yet as the show went on I soon realised I knew a few of them.

The Cult are a proper rock band. They didn’t pander to the crowd that much opting to that during the songs. The Cult pretty much didn’t stop through their slot,with a lot of swearing involved.

It wasn’t long after they started before the crowd stood up, mostly after the singer told everyone to get up – like a proper old fashioned band! They were enjoyable and although I tried checking the Liverpool score in-between songs, you couldn’t help but get dragged into the atmosphere.

ALICE COOPER

If you can, do your best to go and see Alice Cooper live while you can. The singer from Soul Desire told me seeing Alice Cooper live was something special and she was spot on.

Just like Bryan Adams, he was on the stage for about 2 hours and only stopped to change his outfits. For someone pushing 80, that’s not bad going!

From the opening introduction with the intro tune, the curtain drop, his castle, the props – including (someone dressed up as) Frankenstein’s monster and a guillotine – it’s like going to see an old fashioned theatre! He uses his gimmick well.

He started with “Feed My Frankenstein” and ended with “Teenage Frankenstein”, with “Poison” in the middle. The encore was “School’s Out” – during which he introduced his backing band. There were some songs I thought he would play and there were songs I hadn’t heard before but the show was absolutely spectacular! During the outfit changes Nita Strauss (would have loved to see Orianthi there, but hopefully she has some of her own shows planned!) and the drummer got a do some solo acts, which was a nice touch.

Summary

The doors opened at 6.30pm and we didn’t leave until 11pm, it was certainly a late one.

The smaller venues are better but The Cult and Alice Cooper made it feel like a small venue with everyone standing – don’t know who could have sat down through that! It’s not a proper gig if you’re sitting down!

Just getting to see Alice Cooper perform was an honour. I don’t think he is retiring anytime soon but if he is I’ve got to say thank you for putting on these amazing shows for such a long time. If given an opportunity, I will grab it with both hands to see him again and I’d say that to anybody who have some doubts, you won’t be disappointed.

On a side note, Edinburgh is well better than Glasgow! And if that night would only be topped if it was in Edinburgh! Glasgow was what I pretty much expected, with the exception of the pubs closing at 12am – would have expected most to close at 1am at least! I popped over to Edinburgh on the Friday and, again, it didn’t disappoint (Well just the leaving part) it has that special vibe even if you go for just a few hours, it’s still a special place. I didn’t feel any disappointment in leaving Glasgow. Sorry Glasgow, but not all places can be Edinburgh!

Thanks for reading. Not sure when the next gig is. I am looking at The Soap Girls in Pontypool – an excuse to go to South Wales! But before that I have Bronnie coming up in Manchester.