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|  Alice Cooper LIVE! Oct 18. Kingston Memorial Centre I gotta admit, I was very aprehensive about Alice Cooper coming to the Kingston Memorial Centre. I absolutely love Alice and have wanted to see his show my whole life, but at the Memorial Centre...? I just couldn't commit right away when tickets went on sale in August. I actually didn't buy my tickets until the day before the concert, and aside from the lady at The Grand Theatre not knowing what the hell she was talking about, I'm really glad I bought them. (I was told I would be on the floor, and when I arrived at the concert I was shunned to the "green seats" at the back.) Alice's opening act, The Sins, were incredible. They did everything I like to see a rock act do. Guitar solos. Lots of sexual innuendo. Most importantly, the singer actually moved around on stage and put on a show. They played a series of rockers and slowed it down only twice with some catchy tunes. I picked up their CD after the show and the only disappointing thing about it is that it didn't have a cover. Oh well, I'm sure it won't be long before this band gets some more attention. On to Alice! So right away I'm going to state that the sound at the Memorial Centre was much better than I was anticipating. When the most recent acts there have been Bryan Adams and Wayne Newton, I was scared for Alice. I really was. Alice came on stage with the band playing Wicked Young Man behind him and the show burst into action. The neat thing about Alice's show is that it's really divided up into parts. You get a basic rock n' roll concert at the beginning, then it moves into a theatrical show with Alice as the main character, and it's finished up with a party feel at the end. Alice didn't shy away from fan-favorites either, playing Billion Dollar Babies, Be My Lover, Feed My Frankenstein, Lost In America, and I'm Eighteen. During Dirty Diamonds he tossed jewelry to the audience, and did the same with money on a sword during Billion Dollar Babies. There was so much crowd interaction that you might've thought for a second you were at The Price Is Right. About three or four songs into the show I even forgot I was at the Memorial Centre. The biggest pops I gave out were during Be My Lover and Go To Hell, the latter of which I was so in shock that he played. It's always cool when you feel like the only one who knows the song at the concert. The second act is where Alice really started to shine. He beat down on a woman, was put in a straight jacket, and then had his head chopped off in a guillotine. No, you won't see a show like that anywhere else. It was during this act where I nearly lost my mind as the band played the Steven trilogy, followed by Only Women Bleed and I Love The Dead. After Alice's ritual "losing of his own head" he returned from the dead, more angelic this time tearing through School's Out for the Finale, with giant balloons bouncing all over the crowd. We cheered and cheered until Alice returned for an encore that featured Poison and the ever-awesome Under My Wheels. I left the Memorial Centre exhausted and very happy. I definitely got my money's worth, even from my shitty seats. If you ever get the chance to see Alice in concert, don't pass it up. You'll be sorry. There's a reason he's still doing it after all these years. He must have so much fun.
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