By Chris Johnson
Have you ever asked yourself the question, “What happens to your soul when you die?” Do you believe that it goes to heaven, or is it eternally damned? This question has been asked and answered in Alice Cooper’s Dragontown. At the Louisville Palace on October 13, Alice Cooper brought his latest theatrical masterpiece to life as he showed us what it would be like if we were caught in an eternal hell.
Before Alice took us on a hellish journey, the Las Vegas-based band Clockwise took the stage. They had a very heavy metal sound, and they played multiple songs off of their debut album, which comes out October 22. Once they left, it was time for us to experience the Brutal Planet: Descent Into Dragontown tour. This is a sequel tour to the 2000-2001 Brutal Planet tour, which was taken from the Brutal Planet album.
The curtain unfolded as we saw what looked like Chinatown after a nuclear attack. Body parts lay everywhere, surrounded by Asian symbols and buildings. Alice arrived at the top of the stairs, looking as sinister as ever with his trademark makeup, a red trenchcoat, and chopsticks through his hair. He started the show off with “Sex, Death, and Money,” followed by “Brutal Planet” and “Dragontown.” Of course, he did perform such classics as “I’m 18,” “Billion Dollar Babies,” “Welcome To My Nightmare,” and many more during the first half of the show.
His daughter Calico played multiple roles, including a dominatrix who attacked Alice with a sword, a psychotic nurse, a Chinese assassin, and even Britney Spears! Alice was attacked by a mutant two-headed baby during “Dead Babies,” and because of that attack, he impaled the baby doll. He was captured by doctors and placed into a straight jacket while he sang “The Ballad of Dwight Frye.” For his crimes, he had to be punished, so the executioners arrived with the guillotine and locked Alice in. The blade fell and Alice Cooper was dead!
With death came rebirth, as the nurse came along and placed Alice’s decapitated head into the “ReCooperator,” a machine housing body parts that Alice placed in there earlier in the evening. All that was missing was a head, and once the head was in there, the lever was pulled and Alice was reborn! Dressed in white, sans the makeup, Alice was ready to party and sing hit after hit. At one point, he sang a song called “Fantasy Man,” where he makes the confession that he “ain’t no Antonio Banderas or Justin Timberlake,” but he is “still our Fantasy Man.”
After going into his two ballads for the evening, “I Never Cry” and “Only Women Bleed,” Alice introduced the band, and when he got to his daughter, he said, “Who’s your daddy? I’m your daddy!” Finally, it was time to go to school as he performed his signature song, “School’s Out.” Balloons filled the Palace as hundred dollar bills fell out, once popped by the audience or Alice’s sword. Of course, they had Alice’s face on them.
He came back for a three-song encore of “Elected,” “Cold Ethyl,” and finally, “Department of Youth.” During this song, Alice confronted his nemesis, “Britney Spears,” played again by Calico. When the question “Who gave you the power of youth?” was asked by Alice, “Britney’s” voice echoed throughout as she descended down the stairs, dressed entirely in Pepsi advertisements. She offered Alice a Pepsi and he started to drink some… then spit it back in her face! “Britney” kneed him in the groin. He chased her with a deadly blade, and with a bloodcurdling scream, Alice chopped off her head!
With his last words, “Thank you, Louisville, and welcome to Dragontown,” we were able to survive Alice’s inferno. However, as the master of shock rock has proved for thirty-three years now, he puts on a show like no other in the business. In fact, he had some haunting words for us: “Death…Money…Sex…Repent!” Let’s hope we change our wicked ways in life or we will suffer an eternal trip down into Dragontown.
