Twisted Sister
Dee Snider (vocals) / Jay Jay French (guitars, backing vocals) / Eddie “Fingers” Ojeda (guitars, backing vocals) / Mark “The Animal” Mendoza (bass, backing vocals) / A.J. Pero (drums, percussion, backing vocals)
Now, I’m no fan of Twisted Sister and ordinarily I wouldn’t go next door to see them, but as they were the support band for Alice Cooper I had little choice. Yes, I could have spent my time in the bar, but curiosity obviously got the better of me. And it was just as well…
I actually like a couple of their songs: ‘I Am (I’m Me)‘ and ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It‘, both of which they played. I was also interested to know whether or not they might play ‘Be Crool To Your Skool‘ and get Alice to come out and join them (as he did on the record) but they didn’t.
Although I cannot recall much about the gig itself, I do remember that at various points of the set there was a young lady up in the seats to my right who would lift up her t-shirt and wiggle her fulsome naked boobs at Dee Snider. I have no idea why she did it but I found it most enjoyable; then again, I am very easily entertained these days…
Probable setlist: (taped intro – Long Way to the Top (If you wanna rock and roll)); What You Don’t Know (Sure Can Hurt You); The Kids Are Back; Stay Hungry; Captain Howdy; The Fire Still Burns; You Can’t Stop Rock ‘n’ Roll; Under the Blade; Shoot ‘Em Down; We’re Not Gonna Take It; Burn in Hell; Drum Solo; I Am (I’m Me); I Wanna Rock; Encore: Don’t Let Me Down; S.M.F. (from the night before at Sheffield Hallam FM Arena)
Note: in spite of what both the flyer and the ticket said, there were no “Very Special Guests”, just the two main bands.
Alice Cooper
The ‘Dirty Diamonds’ tour
Alice Cooper (vocals) / Damon Johnson (guitars) / Ryan Roxie (guitars) / Chuck Garric (bass) / Eric Singer (drums)
Now I’ll be very upfront about this; ‘Dirty Diamonds’ is nowhere near my favourite Cooper album. In fact, I don’t think that I could name you any tune from it other than the title track and ‘Woman of Mass Distraction‘. It’s not that it’s bad, it just isn’t up there with his best efforts and was part of an era where he was fighting back but not quite getting there as far as I was concerned.
Anyway, I made the effort to get out and see him and, as expected, the show was great. Not much new material was included which seems to be the AC way; give ’em what they want – the old stuff! I do recall him chucking paste necklaces out into the first few rows whilst performing the ‘Dirty Diamonds‘ track but the rest just blurs into a typical AC show but, disappointingly, no ‘Elected‘ this time.
And, as noted in the review of Twisted Sister, there were no other “Special Guests” as indicated on the ticket.
Setlist: (Phantom Of the Opera intro Tape); Department Of Youth (part); No More Mr Nice Guy; Dirty Diamonds; Billion Dollar Babies; Be My Lover; Lost In America; I Never Cry; Woman Of Mass Distraction; I’m Eighteen; Between High School and Old School; Sunset Babies; Is It My Body; Go To Hell; Black Widow Jam (Inc. Drum solo); Gimme; Feed My Frankenstein; Welcome To My Nightmare; (Taped Intro) “The Piece” (Includes The Awakening / Steven / Only Women Bleed / Steven / Ballad Of Dwight Fry / Killer); I Love The Dead (Band vocal only) School’s Out; Encore: Poison; Wish I Were Born in Beverly Hills; Under My Wheels
Flyer for the gig (which I possess)
Gigs'n'Stuff 