The king of Shock Rock Alice Cooper and the Spaceman himself original Kiss lead guitarist Ace Frehley played the Greek Theatre Sunday (4/24). This wasn’t their first tour together nor first show at the Greek. Cooper and Frehley played the Greek in 2018 and Cooper played the Greek again in 2019 with the Hollywood Vampires. This tour started all the way back in September 2021 and ran through October. Cooper and Frehley came together again for a short run of Spring 2022 dates ending with the Greek.
Ace Frehley was the guitarist for KISS from their formation in 1973 until 1982 then again when the original group reunited 1996-2001. Frehley recorded 10 studio and five live albums as a member of KISS. Frehley has also released nine solo albums. In 2014 Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Frehley, and Peter Criss reunited one more time for the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame, however they group did not perform. In 2018 Frehley performed with Simmons, current KISS drummer Eric Singer, and former KISS guitarist Bruce Kulick at Capitol Records in Hollywood, CA for Simmons Vault Experience.
Frehley played an eight song set plus a guitar solo. Frehley opened with “Rocket Ride,” and included a mix of KISS and solo hits like “Rock Soldiers,” “Detroit Rock City,” and “Deuce.” During the solo Frehley did his famous smoking guitar trick. What’s great about seeing Frehley is not only seeing the Spaceman himself play guitar on the KISS hits he was on, but also ones he sang the original lead vocals to. For the hard-core fans, Frehley offers three meet and greet packages. One includes a signed guitar, signed lighting bolt strap identical to what Frehley uses, and a hand painted/signed guitar.
Alice Cooper was originally formed as a band. Back in 1964 the original members formed a band that had several names before becoming Alice Cooper in 1968. The group released their first album in 1969 titled Pretties for You and released another six albums. The group's last three albums, School’s Out, Billion Dollar Babies, and Muscle of Love, were their highest ranking albums on the Billboard 200. Their third and fourth albums Love It to Death, and Killer both went platinum. School’s Out hit number two in the U.S. and one in Canada as well as going platinum. Billion Dollar Babies went to number one in the U.S., Netherlands, and the U.K., and went Platinum. Muscle of Love went gold and hit number 10. After the band broke up in 1975 singer Vince Furnier changed his name to Alice Cooper legally. The group has had a few reunions over the years of the four surviving members and in 2011 were inducted into the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame. Cooper released another 21 albums starting with the groundbreaking album Welcome to My Nightmare in 1975 followed by Alice Cooper Goes to Hell. Nine of the albums sold between gold and platinum and all except one hit the Billboard 200.
The Alice Cooper band has consisted of Tommy Henriksen (Guitar), Chuck Garric (Bass), Nita Strauss (Guitar), Ryan Roxie (Guitar), and Glen Sobel (Drums) since 2014. The show began with “Feed My Frankenstein,” and the giant Frankenstein came running out. There was also a part of the song where Garric Strauss, Roxie, and Henriksen all came together while Cooper watched from above. The show included all the legendary theatrics and outfits including the straight jacket and guillotine on “Steven, ”and a bloody shirt for “Roses on My White Lace.” “Billion Dollar Babies'' included a giant baby and rather than Cooper shaking off fake bills with his face off a sword, he shot them out of a confetti cannon this time. Cooper’s wife Sheryl is part of the show playing the roles his daughter Calico plays like the bride that looks like she came from Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion ride in “Roses on White Lace.”
Guitar World’s number one Female Guitar Player You Should Know Nita Strauss had a featured solo after “Billion Dollar Babies” and a duel solo with Roxie for “The Black Widow.” Following “The Black Widow,” Glen Sobel gave a drum solo. The last song before the encore was “Teenage Frankenstein.” As always Cooper ended on his biggest song “School’s Out,” combined with the lyrics “We don’t need no education,” from Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall Pt II.” which Cooper has included for a number of years now. Balloons came out and Cooper popped a few with his sword. This year “School’s Out” and the album of the same name turn 50. Just two days after the show and 50 years earlier “Schools Out,” the album’s only single was released 50 years ago and the album was released in June of 1972.
Cooper starts to tour again May 23rd and has dates booked through July then again September through October. Frehley continues to tour through June.
Setlist:
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Rocket Ride- KISS
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Parasite- KISS
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Rip It Out
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Rock Soldiers
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Detroit Rock City- KISS
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New York Groove- Russ Ballard
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Shock Me- KISS
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Cold Gin/ Black Diamond- KISS
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Deuce- KISS
Setlist:
Nightmare Castle (Intro)
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The Black Widow
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Drum Solo- Sobel
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Dead Babies
(shortened) -
I Love the Dead
(Chorus only)
Encore
25. School’s Out/ Another Brick in the Wall Pt. II
