Alice Cooper + Heavy Metal Kids – 11th September 1975 – Empire Pool, Wembley
Growing up as a family we did attend a few Pantomimes at the Theatre Royal and we did go to see the Hans Christian Anderson Music at London Palladium starring Tommy Steele as my Mum was a big fan and up to this point I had attended a few gigs as described in previous blogs and going to see Alice Cooper on his Welcome to my Nightmare Tour at Empire Pool, Wembley in 1975 with my brothers ken & Nigel felt like a mixture of Panto, Musical and Gig. Tickets for this cost £3.00.
This was a huge stage show that included encountered giant spiders, dancing skeletons, faceless silver demons and a 9-foot 'cyclops, a snake, dancers, a Vincent Price voiceover to Black Widow and a fantastic live the band. The show started with a projection onto a large screen showing Alice Cooper walking through a Cemetery until he comes across his own Gravestone which is illuminated with lights, at which point he starts running towards the audience on screen which he then jumps through in real life.
Support band for the Tour was the Heavy Metal Kids who never quiet achieved the success they deserved and featured Gary Holton who was in the hit TV Series Auf Wiedersehen, Pet and passed away 1985. The band also featured Keith Boyce on drums and has performed at some of our GSMC events recently with the Cream of Hendrix.
I did get to see Alice Cooper again in 1982 at Hammersmith Odeon with support from Sapphire, tickets were £6.00. Although it was a much smaller stage compared to Empire Pool Wembley the show was equally impressive such is the showmanship.
I don’t think the impact that Alice Cooper has had on Rock Music over the decades has been truly recognised, probably due to the fact (at the time of writing) he is still performing and recording and it is normally after people pass away that performers true impact is acknowledged.
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