Alice Cooper
North Charleston Performing Arts Center
June 11

A note from an overly-excited fanboy:

Thank you North Charleston Performing Arts Center letting us hang with Mister Cooper the other night. Where to start? Even though the night was a blur, I’ll try to recap how awesome — a word we found ourselves exclaiming throughout the night — it was.

Arriving in the very rainy parking lot of the PAC close to 9 p.m., the stage was being set for Alice Cooper to make his presence known to Hot Topic customers and die-hard Cooper minions alike. The stage was illuminated in no time with the spectre of Mr. Cooper, with his six extra arms, at the top of some mobile stairs belting out the lyrics to “The Black Widow.” The Universal horror-esque stage was morbidly decorated with a couple of corpses chained up on opposite ends of the stage while the band and their assaulting instruments gave the theatrics extra oomph.

While the show wasn’t a deep cuts collection for the die-hards in the audience, it still provided much shock-and-awe for the fans of Coopers unique twisted world. Throughout the night, the band made sure there was always something to satisfy with one standout moment after another.

Even though the day was a bit of a blur, I’ll try to calmly and maturely recall some of those moment. Let’s see, there was the point where Alice threw money out into the audience. There was the time he ordered a bickering Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, “Hey get off my stage!” as he plowed through “Elected.” I remember Ol’ Raccoon Eyes sang his classic “Eighteen” and showed off his Charleston RiverDogs jersey (number 18 of course). Then there was the butane-lighter friendly moment when the Prince of Darkness took a seat to croon the violent ballad “Only Women Bleed.” We were treated to the twisted and timely song “I’ll Bite Your Face Off.” Oh, and as a red-blooded hetero male, there was nothing more bad-ass than watching the lovely guitarist Orianthi Panagaris shred as a spotlight shone down on her.

But the show was at it’s apex when Alice performed “Feed My Frankenstein” while a 15-foot Frankenstein’s monster wandered about the stage singing along. That’s all I can remember. Oh wait, there was also the time when…


Stay cool. Support City Paper.

City Paper has been bringing the best news, food, arts, music and event coverage to the Holy City since 1997. Support our continued efforts to highlight the best of Charleston with a one-time donation or become a member of the City Paper Club.