ALICE COOPER
Halestorm
BB&T Pavilion, Camden, NJ
Friday, August 16th 2019

Alice Cooper brought his 2019 "Ol' Black Eyes Is Back Tour" along with special guests Halestorm.

Halestorm took the stage at 8pm and the Grammy Award-winning band got the crowd going with their in-your-face rock and roll playing a handful of tracks from their recent album "Viscious" plus plenty of fan favorites in their one hour long, 11-song set. The stage was full of smoke with an impressive light show and the sound was loud. With lead singer and vocalist Lzzy Hale, Arejay Hale on drums, Joe Hottinger on guitar and Josh Smith on bass, they opened with "Do Not Disturb", "Love Bites (So Do I )”, and "Familiar Taste of Poison", before taking a break with Lzzy asking the crowd, “How many of you are seeing us for the first time?” Quite a few hands were raised and she said, "Well, I hope you enjoy the show and to our die-hard fans, thanks for your support, we wouldn't be here without you.” After the next song, "Black Vultures," and a quick band intro from Lzzy, her brother Arejay on drums gives a nice drum solo on his lime-green drum kit. But most of the performance was Lzzy Hale's soaring vocals and her screams that just kept getting louder and longer. The woman has some pipes on her. They just kept rocking and all members prancing across the stage during "Freak Like Me", “I Get Off", "Uncomfortable", "Chemicals" and “Here's To Us". They closed with their biggest hit, the 2012 platinum "I Miss The Misery," and one last Lzzy scream to close out their set.

With a huge curtain draped across the front of the stage with Alice Cooper’s famous eyes looking out at the crowd, at 9pm the curtain drops to reveal a stage production resembling a medieval castle. With band members scattered all over the place, Cooper, sporting a top hat and swirling a cane, emerges through a door on the bottom and in the middle with smoke pouring out. He walks to the front of the stage and opens with "Feed My Frankenstein", and "No More Mr. Nice Guy", followed by some real gems that haven't been played live in decades like the next song, "Bed of Nails', not played live since 2004, and "Raped and Freezin”, not played live since 2008. Cooper’s amazing band is comprised of Ryan Roxie on lead guitars, Chuck Garric on bass, Tommy Henriksen on rhythm guitar, Glen Sobel on drums, and the amazing Nita Strauss on lead and rhythm guitars. All band members run all over the stage and interact with the crowd all night. Next up brought "Fallen in Love", the only one from his most recent album, 2017's "Paranormal" and "Muscle of Love". Cooper now trades in his cane for a crutch covered in bandages for “I'm Eighteen"; then he trades in the crutch for a sword as we hear the opening drum beat of “Billion Dollar Babies". A couple of roadies in black robes and hoods wheel out a catapult with a skull on the front that starts spewing out confetti all over the crowd in the pit and first section in the pavilion. A fan favorite, "Poison", was next before it was Nita Strauss’ turn for her guitar solo. Wow, all I can say is this is one amazing guitarist. Now Cooper takes off his jacket to reveal a blood soaked white shirt as he goes into "Roses on White Lace", not played live since 1988, with an undead woman in a wedding dress, presumably the victim whose blood stained the shirt, following his every move around the stage. "My Stars", one not played live since 1974 (wow), and I don't even think I saw Alice Cooper live until 1975ish, was a nice treat to the set list. The next song, "Devil's Food", brought all the band members to the front of the stage as they also covered the vocal parts and gave Cooper a breather for a song. Now, time for Sobel and his drum solo before Chuck Garric joins him for "Black Widow Jam". With countless wardrobe changes, Cooper now emerges with a straight jacket on and starts singing "Steven", the stage is full of smoke and  he goes into "Dead Babies." A nurse pushes a baby stroller onto the stage and Cooper, with a butchers knife, takes the baby out of the stroller and appears to be a murderous lunatic. Two men in black robes and hoods take Cooper to the guillotine where he is beheaded. Now, as a 10-foot gigantic infant bursts out of the castle wall, it takes Coopers head from the men and parades it all over the stage as the band begins to play "I Love the Dead" with only the band members singing the vocals once again. "Escape" was next before leading into "Teenage Frankenstein", not played live since 2001. A 10-foot Frankenstein with chains dangling from his elbows joined Cooper onstage for this one.  Cooper and all band members were at stage front to say goodnight and end the first set of the night.

After a short intermission, the band returned and now Cooper, sporting an Philadelphia Eagles jersey with the number 19 on the front and Cooper on the back, played "Under My Wheels". With the stage all in black, the next thing you heard was the bells ringing for the opening of "Schools Out", with all of the members of Halestorm coming onstage to help end the night. As the song is played, Cooper throws in a snippet of "Pink Floyd's Another Brick in the Wall." Huge balloons and more confetti fly high above the crowd and as the song ends Cooper says, "Schools Out Philly, may your nightmares be horrific” to end the night.

This night was the final stop on this tour with Halestorm, and as I was heading up to the show and listening to WMMR in Philly, both camps were saying how much they were enjoying this summer tour together. Let’s hope they do it again sometime soon. It was quite the experience.

Cooper is on a little break before heading to Europe for some shows but will be back in the states for a fall tour; so check out the dates and if you can catch one, don't miss it, it’s awesome!

Gary Crouthamel, concert photojournalist