Shock rocker Alice Cooper and British rockers Deep Purple co-headline at Tinley Park’s Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre to round out the summer evening concerts.
Two heavyweights in rock take to the stage on a cooler than usual night, not that the temperature perturbed anyone. First up was Alice Cooper. To mark the 25th anniversary of Wayne’s World, Cooper had a guest appearance a Millenium Park to introduce their screening of the iconic movie the prior night. Tonight, however, was all about the music, and his renowned theatrics.
Cooper recently released Paranormal which is, impressively, his 27th album. They made sure to squeeze in a performance of “Paranoiac Personality” from the new release, however, given that there were limited set times due to it being a co-headlining performance, the rest of the set concentrated on packing in as many of the iconic hits as possible. Hearing classics such as the 1971 “I’m Eighteen” and the 1973 “No More Mr Nice Guy” shows that these songs have truly stood the test of time. The audience were singing along whole heartedly, fists in the air and enjoying as one hit after another came blasting out the speakers.
It wouldn’t be an Alice Cooper show without the mandatory theatrics to go alongside the classic setlist. Much to the delight of the crowd, “Feed My Frankenstein” brought with it the appearance of Cooper’s larger than life Frankenstein’s Monster character who charged around the stage swiping at the band. “I Love The Dead” also had the famous guillotine scene enacted on stage.
Whilst Cooper always shows the fun side of rock, it doesn’t take away from the talented musicianship on stage alongside him. In the recent documentary “Hired Gun”, Cooper stated that “everyone in my band is an A list player. I just don’t have time for B list guys”. Indeed, Nita Strauss, Tommy Henriksen and Ryan Roxie’s guitars all sang harmoniously together, with each guitarist taking turn to step up on the podium for their solos. Chuck Garric and Glen Sobel also managed to make their presence known as the strong beating heart of the band.
Looking at the euphoric audience, as the streamers fell over them during the “School’s Out” finale, it was clear to see that Cooper still draws in the crowds after all these years, regardless of it being a co-headlining tour.
Next up were British rockers, Deep Purple. For a band with such a tumultuous past, the current line-up of Ian Paice (drums), Ian Gillan (vocals), Roger Glover (bass), Steve Morse (guitar) and Don Airey (keys) looked like they were genuinely enjoying performing together. With big smiles across their faces throughout the show, there was a strong sense of camaraderie on stage.
This has been called “The Long Goodbye Tour” and they have hinted that this may be the last big tour that they do. Whilst they also have said that might all change, the fans came out in force to show their support, just in case it is the last time they get to see these legendary rockers. Often labeled as the pioneers of hard rock and heavy metal, it’s clear to see they still can draw and entertain an audience. An audience who are surely hoping this is just the end of the “big” tours and not a definite goodbye.
Impressively, they released their 20th studio album, Infinite, back in April of this year. However, they only performed “Time For Bedlam” from this album, concentrating primarily on their 1972 classic, Machine Head, performing 5 out of the 7 songs from it. They made sure to round out the night with the most famous song from that album and sure-fire crowd pleaser, “Smoke on the Water”.
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Alice Cooper
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Deep Purple
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Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
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Event Date: 06-SEP-2017