Review by Kelly Besaw
Photos by Chris Besaw
The legendary “Godfather” of shock rock, Alice Cooper, made a stop on his Too Close for Comfort 2025 tour at the Stanley Theater in Utica, NY Thursday evening.
I am going to be honest; I am likely biased as I love seeing Alice Cooper and his incredible band live. This particular show had no opener and was just Cooper and the band. The band took the stage promptly at 8:15 to “Lock Me Up” Cooper made his grand entrance tearing through a giant newspaper article stating that he is “on trial for deeds against humanity.” Cooper immediately starts engaging the crowd, pointing, and glaring with his trademark sneer. The man has the most commanding stage presence and the most unique macabre stage persona of any musician I have ever seen. While Cooper is certainly at the center of it all, his band is no joke. They dominate their instruments all while entertaining the crowd, throwing out pics and playing into Cooper’s stage antics. I find it commendable that they really seem to get along onstage and you can feel the synergy.
The band consists of Ryan Roxie (guitar), Chuck Garric (bass), Glen Sobel (drums), Tommy Henriksen (guitar), and Nita Strauss (guitar). As an extra special addition to the show, Cooper’s wife Sheryl joins the band onstage during “Killer” and “I Love the Dead” where she gets to behead her husband with a guillotine and parade his head around the stage. Imagine “beheading” your significant other almost every night onstage? It’s sweet that they get to be on the road and work together.
Cooper and the band worked their way through a twenty-two song setlist in an hour and a half that was loaded with hits including, “No More Mr. Nice Guy,” “I’m Eighteen,” “Snakebite,” “Welcome to My Nightmare” and “Poison.” Cooper, his band, and the entourage of other stage performers create ghoulish theatrics that leave their fans entertained. The evening culminated with fan-favorite “School’s Out” with “Another Brick in the Wall” where giant balloons were bounced around by the crowd until they came too close to Cooper, who popped them with a knife. Most fans thought that it was the last song, but the band asked the crowd if they “wanted one more” and of course the response was a resounding yes. They ended the evening with “Feed My Frankenstein.” Sheryl and the rest of the cast of performers joined them onstage and of course Frankenstein made an appearance.
It’s hard to believe that Cooper is 77 years old. He still looks and sounds as good as when I saw him over twenty years ago. I hope he has many more years of touring to come and if you have never seen him and his band, don’t miss out, it is a one-of-a-kind experience.
Setlist
Lock Me Up
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
He’s Back (The Man Behind the Mask)
Hey Stoopid
Drum Solo
Welcome to My Nightmare
Cold Ethyl
Go to Hell
Poison
Black Widow Jam (Guitar Solo)
Ballad of Dwight Fry
Killer/ I Love the Dead
School’s Out (Another Brick in the Wall)
Feed My Frankenstein
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