I Is Back.
For real this time. Quite soon AOHell will no longer encroach upon my life and I will be wireless! Wireless, you hear me?? Well, not me personally, o'course.
But 'nuff bout that. I've hit two Alice shows recently and have the pics to prove it! It was interesting because the two venues really couldn't have contrasted more. First up was the London show, held at the ExCel Arena. Outside (which is taking a real chance given the weather over here!), a stage 8 feet high and ten or so feet from the audience was a bit of a bummer, but the two big screens either side of the stage were a nice touch and meant that people at the back missed nothing of Alice's highly visual show. <> and altogether a distinct "big show" feel to it.
It was a beautifully sunny day and stayed warm well into the evening (and once Alice hit the stage it's not as if I was gonna notice a chill) the show started nicely on time and all was on fine form. Few people will have snagged anything from this show, owing to the distance of the stage from the audience and the ranks of security personnel with their staunch slapped-arse expressions. The easiest example to give of these anti-fun morons is during B$B when Alice uses the rapier sword with the dollar bills that he shakes out over the audience for us to catch. Now, at first Alice picked up the sword and then discarded it ten or so seconds later and I thought maybe he'd decided it was a pointless exercise but then he returned to it and proceeded as normal. Not one of the dollar bills came even remotely close to the audience, there being no real breeze to speak of. And security (who were standing around doing nothing - there was not an ounce of trouble all night) made absolutely no move to distribute the bills to the eager fans (as is normal practice at every other show I have ever been to).
No, "sorry, we're not allowed," - nothing like that. They just ignored everybody. So that ticked me off.
The next night was the Southampton Guildhall - Alice had played this venue once before, back in 1997 - before I had been enlightened to the wonder that is Alice Cooper, I'm afraid to say. I'd heard that the venue was small and that was fine by me.
No kidding - it was TINY. (I realise the irony of putting that word in caps...) And it was certainly hot that night. Show was a little late in starting but this time the barrier was maybe 3-4 feet from the stage, which in turn was a far more reasonable height (at least, to those of us who watch from the front row each time, heh!) and so I'd have gladly waited another hour if need be!
Fared much better this time round in terms of swag (dollar bills, a few picks and Keri's necklace) BUT. Alice clearly decided that night that my "trick" of holding out my top hat as a begging bowl during "Dirty Diamonds" no longer cut it. He proceeded to stand at the edge of the stage, right in front of me, and TAUNT me with strings of beads. Not just once, but repeatedly. Did I get any? No. Was I disappointed? A little, but the attention it got me from Alice made it worth it!! *heheh - sorry, I'm such a fangirl!*
Huge amounts of fun were had, vast amounts of pictures were taken and now I am restless about when the Man will return, as that's my meagre quota of AC shows done now for 2008. Bugger.
Selection of pics below - I'll take these down in a few days so as not to clog up systems when you're all viewing friends pages. If any of you would like a copy of any of them (minus the attractive lime green copyright mark) just let me know and I'll email them on over. For those of you with a fetish about other band members keep a watch on your inbox as you may find some AC band tastiness dropping in there soon!
But 'nuff bout that. I've hit two Alice shows recently and have the pics to prove it! It was interesting because the two venues really couldn't have contrasted more. First up was the London show, held at the ExCel Arena. Outside (which is taking a real chance given the weather over here!), a stage 8 feet high and ten or so feet from the audience was a bit of a bummer, but the two big screens either side of the stage were a nice touch and meant that people at the back missed nothing of Alice's highly visual show. <> and altogether a distinct "big show" feel to it.
It was a beautifully sunny day and stayed warm well into the evening (and once Alice hit the stage it's not as if I was gonna notice a chill) the show started nicely on time and all was on fine form. Few people will have snagged anything from this show, owing to the distance of the stage from the audience and the ranks of security personnel with their staunch slapped-arse expressions. The easiest example to give of these anti-fun morons is during B$B when Alice uses the rapier sword with the dollar bills that he shakes out over the audience for us to catch. Now, at first Alice picked up the sword and then discarded it ten or so seconds later and I thought maybe he'd decided it was a pointless exercise but then he returned to it and proceeded as normal. Not one of the dollar bills came even remotely close to the audience, there being no real breeze to speak of. And security (who were standing around doing nothing - there was not an ounce of trouble all night) made absolutely no move to distribute the bills to the eager fans (as is normal practice at every other show I have ever been to).
No, "sorry, we're not allowed," - nothing like that. They just ignored everybody. So that ticked me off.
The next night was the Southampton Guildhall - Alice had played this venue once before, back in 1997 - before I had been enlightened to the wonder that is Alice Cooper, I'm afraid to say. I'd heard that the venue was small and that was fine by me.
No kidding - it was TINY. (I realise the irony of putting that word in caps...) And it was certainly hot that night. Show was a little late in starting but this time the barrier was maybe 3-4 feet from the stage, which in turn was a far more reasonable height (at least, to those of us who watch from the front row each time, heh!) and so I'd have gladly waited another hour if need be!
Fared much better this time round in terms of swag (dollar bills, a few picks and Keri's necklace) BUT. Alice clearly decided that night that my "trick" of holding out my top hat as a begging bowl during "Dirty Diamonds" no longer cut it. He proceeded to stand at the edge of the stage, right in front of me, and TAUNT me with strings of beads. Not just once, but repeatedly. Did I get any? No. Was I disappointed? A little, but the attention it got me from Alice made it worth it!! *heheh - sorry, I'm such a fangirl!*
Huge amounts of fun were had, vast amounts of pictures were taken and now I am restless about when the Man will return, as that's my meagre quota of AC shows done now for 2008. Bugger.
Selection of pics below - I'll take these down in a few days so as not to clog up systems when you're all viewing friends pages. If any of you would like a copy of any of them (minus the attractive lime green copyright mark) just let me know and I'll email them on over. For those of you with a fetish about other band members keep a watch on your inbox as you may find some AC band tastiness dropping in there soon!