Godfather of Shock Rock, Alice Cooper made a stop at The Orange County Fair at The Pacific Amphitheater in Costa Mesa on Friday night August 16 with no opening act and delivered a 2-hour nostalgic yet modern Rock n Roll show to a capacity crowd. Many fans in attendance had the iconic Alice Cooper black eye makeup on with fans ranging in all ages and ready to rock.

The show started promptly at 8:15pm with Cooper busting through a large newspaper ad with the band playing the intro to “Lock Me Up” then the awesome track “Welcome to the Show” from 2023’s album Road to kick off this epic event. Now the stage may look a bit more crowded than most bands and that is due to the THREE guitar attack of Ryan Roxie, Tommy Henriksen and Nita Strauss. These three are all top-notch guitar players in their own right, but you can’t help not taking your eye off Strauss as she is such a flashy player with a bit of a Steve Vai vibe but collectively this guitar trio puts on quite a show.

Cooper in his top hat and sword just looks and sounds fabulous . . . at seventy-six years young he sounds better than ever and looks healthy and hearty. He prowls back and forth across the stage always twirling something – a sword, a cane, a crutch, Cooper is without a doubt the original master showman. The rhythm section has long time band members Chuck Garric on bass and Glen Sobel on drums, both totally in sync and providing the boom throughout.

Alice Cooper delivers the ultimate Rock n Roll show in every respect with his huge back catalogue of hits as well as recent music well worthy of playing live. You get the drum solo, the guitar solos – all the classic elements of a 70’s live extravaganza. But as great of musicians as there are in this band, the live spectacle revolves around the theatrics, you get the snake around Cooper’s neck during “Snakebite”, the Giant Frankenstein stalking the band during “Feed My Frankenstein”, the life-size doll during “Cold Ethyl”, Cooper’s daughter Calico dancing during “Go to Hell” and then the ultimate spectacle where Cooper gets beheaded via the Guillotine and then his head carried around the stage. The band is obviously having fun and there is a lot of smiles and member interactions onstage – a total thrill to witness.

The night ended with band introductions and a one-two punch of “Elected” that had Alice high on a balcony and the stage was sprayed with red-white and blue confetti and then the iconic anthem and Cooper’s most identified song “School’s Out” that included a couple verses from Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall”, then a band bow in unison to end the night . . . and what a night it was . . . old school Rock n Roll with a twist of horror.

Over 50 years into his career Alice Cooper remains a fan favorite for both his ageless rock n roll as well as his astonishing stage show. A touring machine, Alice Cooper joins Rob Zombie for the 2024 “Freaks on Parade” tour on August 24 for a month-long journey with Zombie, Ministry and Filter.

Alice Cooper Setlist

Lock Me Up (First verse and Chorus only) | Welcome to the Show | No More Mr. Nice Guy | I'm Eighteen | Under My Wheels | Bed of Nails | Billion Dollar Babies | Snakebite | Be My Lover | Lost in America | Hey Stoopid | Drum Solo | Welcome to My Nightmare (Half) | Cold Ethyl | Go to Hell | Poison | Feed My Frankenstein | Guitar Solo (Ryan Roxie, Nita Strauss, and Tommy Henriksen) | Black Widow Jam | Ballad of Dwight Fry | Killer (Band Only) | I Love the Dead (Band Only) | Elected | School's Out