It may seem like a contradiction in terms, but the fact that there are no surprises here is a surprise in itself. The last Alice Cooper album, Paranormal (the one the tour’s named after) was a bit of a critically- acclaimed Bob Ezrin-produced cracker, but how many tracks from it are on here? None. The Paranormal album and tour featured guest appearances from the original Alice Cooper band (aka the proper Alice Cooper band). Are they on here? No, sir, they are not.
What we do have is an in-form version of Alice’s latest incredibly adept band of dazzling session players. A band to whom his fanbase have little emotional attachment, playing the same songs every other incarnation of Alice Cooper’s band have been playing live and releasing on live albums for decades. The audience? Just another prop. Evidently ecstatic, but there’s no interaction, no humanity, no warmth. School’s rarely sounded quite so out.
