Friday night at the CIA, Alice Cooper welcomed us to his psycho-erotic nightmare in the only show in Wales on his Psychodrama tour. In spite of his fifty-nine years, Cooper performed with all the stage presence, exuberance, and sex appeal that made him famous nearly forty years ago. The show began with the apparent entrance of Cooper, twirling his trademark cane and swaggering across the stage. Suddenly, the real Cooper appeared and dramatically 'murdered' the first, then began with No More Mr. Nice Guy.

As the show progressed it became clear that it was meant to be a hard rock opera. The saga began with Eighteen, voted by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the 50 most important songs of Rock and Roll History. It then moved on through Woman of Mass Destruction, Feed my Frankenstein, Dirty Diamonds, and Welcome to My Nightmare. Each song represented a benchmark in his descent into further madness, complete with classically trained dancers made up to look like corpses, simulated murder, the haunting Ballad of Dwight Fry, which Cooper managed from within the apparent confines of an asylum, and an incredible finale during which Cooper, still wearing the straight jacket, was seemingly hanged on full-scale gallows in front of the audience then wheeled, swinging, off stage.

The encore completed his classic madness-punishment-resurrection cycle when Cooper appeared centre stage, wearing a white top hat with matching coat and tails, to perform Poison, much to the relief of the expectant crowd. Next was School's Out, during which giant confetti-filled balloons were thrown into the crowd, several of which were burst by the man himself with a gleaming rapier. During this spectacular finale, a dozen dancers and roadies paraded 'Vote For Alice: A Troubled Man for Troubled Times' campaign banners across the stage, at once recalling Cooper's stunt of running against Nixon for the presidency of the United States, and communicating his views on the current political climate.

The entire show was polished, energetic, and thoroughly entertaining. The band itself complemented Cooper's style by decking themselves out in full makeup and melodramatically interacting with Cooper to add to the theatricality of the set. A motley crew of credible musicians who gave the impression of being fans of Cooper's from the start, it was apparent they were enjoying every minute of being on stage as Cooper's hell boys. On the drums was Eric Singer of Kiss, wearing significantly less makeup than we were used to seeing him in. The guitarists were Keri Kelly and Jason Hook, who played with Slash and, bizarrely, Mandy Moore, respectively. Finally, looking like he had just fallen off of the Cramps tour bus was Chuck Garric of Dio fame on bass. With his coifed Mohawk and startlingly square jaw, he loomed stage left resembling a cross between a loping baboon and Frankenstein's monster. Each played their part exceptionally well while Cooper theatrically conducted his minions and captivated the audience as he has been since 1969. I know it's all a show, but nobody puts on a show like Alice Cooper.

Jess Ramthun