{"id":250995,"date":"2026-04-15T14:54:30","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T14:54:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/250995\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T14:54:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T14:54:30","slug":"alice-coopers-tuesday-night-show-in-san-antonio-showed-why-hes-stood-the-test-of-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/250995\/","title":{"rendered":"Alice Cooper’s Tuesday night show in San Antonio showed why he’s stood the test of time"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rock critics showered the late David Bowie with praise for constantly reinventing himself to stay relevant. <\/p>\n

By that metric, Alice Cooper deserves considerably more credit.<\/p>\n

After all, the Godfather of Shock Rock one-upped Bowie by remaining relevant while making only slight tweaks to the same persona he started with: rock \u2018n\u2019 roll\u2019s first villain. Playing the same role with only minor alterations to fit prevailing hard-rock trends, Cooper fronted a band of the same name that became one of the top arena draws of the \u201970s. And his solo career has carried him forward for six decades, riding out myriad music industry cycles. <\/p>\n

Cooper proved his adaptability and staying power Tuesday night when he launched his Alice\u2019s Attic tour at San Antonio\u2019s Majestic Theatre. The career-spanning set included 22 songs drawn from albums ranging from 1971\u2019s career-defining Love It to Death to 2005\u2019s solid return to form Dirty Diamonds.<\/p>\n

All along the way, the surprisingly spry 78-year-old belted out the gritty but anthemic hard rock that\u2019s become his stock-in-trade, pairing has sandpapery vocals and offbeat, often macabre lyrics with a live act drenched in horror-show visuals.<\/p>\n

From onstage stabbings and a Frankenstein monster lumbering over the band to a decapitation by guillotine, the show delivered big on the spooky theatrics that have long been Cooper\u2019s live trademark. A video backdrop interspersed closeups of the singer\u2019s gaunt and angular face \u2014\u00a0a vaudeville devil in garish lipstick and corpse paint \u2014\u00a0with images ranging from eerily moving doll hands to vintage photos and video of himself.<\/p>\n

Of course, none of the ghoulish stagecraft is as shocking as it was to 1970s audiences \u2014\u00a0too many social taboos have been broken since then, too much real blood has dripped down our TV screens. Even so, the Coop\u2019s winking Grand Guignol endures, now as a brief escape from real-world horrors like school shootings and the clacking jackboots of authoritarianism. <\/p>\n

While Cooper remains an impressive frontman, his long-running band deserves plenty of the credit. During Tuesday\u2019s performance, they maintained the energy with a muscular triple-guitar attack and showed their versatility by pulling off the subtle tonal shifts between the decades-spanning material. The group\u2019s newest addition, 22-year-old British guitarist Anna Cara \u2014\u00a0a fill-in for longtime member Nita Strauss while she\u2019s on pregnancy leave \u2014\u00a0fired off fleet-fingered solos while bringing along a goth visual style. <\/p>\n

The set\u2019s tension-building \u201cBillion Dollar Babies,\u201d moodily disturbing \u201cThe Ballad of Dwight Frye\u201d and necrophilia-with-a-cowbell shock rocker \u201cCold Ethyl\u201d lit up older fans who relish Cooper\u2019s early \u201970s material as his creative zenith. No doubt, some were lamenting the set\u2019s omission of \u201cI Love the Dead\u201d and \u201cWelcome to My Nightmare.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, there\u2019s no denying that younger fans inside the Majestic \u2014 well, not that much younger \u2014 were on their feet and shouting along with \u201cFeed My Frankenstein,\u201d \u201cHey Stoopid\u201d and \u201cPoison\u201d from the Coop\u2019s hair-metal phase. While the singer\u2019s late-\u201980s and early-\u201990s dalliance with hair metal may not stand up as a career high point, there\u2019s no denying its highlights left an impact on fans. <\/p>\n

As many hits as Cooper\u2019s racked up over the years, he\u2019s shown a consistent ability to mix up setlists and offer unexpected surprises. Tuesday was no exception. Those included brief and ripping set opener \u201cWho Do You Think We Are\u201d from 1981\u2019s punk-informed Special Forces, the jangly garage rocker \u201cCaught in a Dream\u201d from Love It to Death and the delightfully sleazy title track from 1973\u2019s Muscle of Love.<\/p>\n

The night\u2019s only misstep was the first of Cooper\u2019s two encore numbers, a cover of Nirvana\u2019s \u201cSmells Like Teen Spirit.\u201d While the band delivered capably, the move felt unnecessary and pandering, especially because Cooper failed to significantly rearrange the song or put his own stamp on it. <\/p>\n

Fortunately, Cooper and company quickly followed the cover with a fierce take on his own 1971 classic \u201cUnder My Wheels,\u201d a track that summed up his enduring ability to stir up an alluring cocktail that\u2019s equal parts timeless hard rock and dark escapism. <\/p>\n

All photos by Jaime Monzon.<\/p>\n

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