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By Aniruddh "Andrew" Bansal, September 15th 2011, Whisky A Go-Go, Hollywood CA: Just a week ago, Alice Cooper announced a surprise return to the Whisky for his first show at the venue in 42 long years. Even today, his fan base remains strong, and he has consistently been performing in decently sized theatre-type venues around the world. So the Whisky was always going to be too small for his stature, and that made the show all the more special. Despite the extremely limited capacity of this venue, this was *not* a private show, and a good number of tickets were made available for the public, for an incredibly great price of $40. No one was going to miss the chance to see such a legendary act at that price, and as expected, the show was sold out within minutes of going on sale.

It was quite the scene at the Whisky when I arrived at around 8 PM. The marquee read "Ol' Black Eyes Returns - Alice Cooper - Sold Out", and the line went around the corner. It was the kind of night on which rock 'n roll could just be felt in the air you were breathing. Even the line was glittered with industry luminaries, including Betsey "Bitch" from the band Bitch, and DJ Will from KNAC.com. A free Alice Cooper mask was handed to me as I entered an already packed floor, and luckily managed to get a good spot. It was hilarious to see the waitress trying to get through the crowd and ask people to buy drinks, because nobody was going to move from their spots to go to the bar, that was for sure. The scene was set for what turned out to be a glorious night.

At exactly nine o' clock, as promised, things got going when Jim Ladd from KLOS came out on stage to announce that the show was being recorded for a KLOS broadcast and urged the crowd to be at their loudest, to which the fans gladly obliged. The members of Alice Cooper's band appeared on stage one by one, and of course, Rob Zombie, with a reputation of presenting Alice Cooper with various awards in the past, took the stage to introduce his longtime friend onto the stage. A deafening roar went up as the shock rock icon took the stage, and the band wasted no time whatsoever, starting the show with "The Train Kept A-Rollin'". They followed that up with the much loved "Under My Wheels", and the fans joined in by singing along with the lyrics. After this, new guitarist Orianthi was introduced, and she performed for the remainder of the set. Her performance on the guitar and stage presence was impressive right from the outset, and her addition to the band clearly proved to be a great decision. The crowd absolutely loved her tonight. It's worth pointing out that departing guitarist Damon Johnson also performed for the entirety of this show, which was good to see. Longtime collaborator Steve Hunter and returning member Tommy Henrikson completed the four-pronged guitar attack, cranking up the volume and making it a truly loud rock 'n roll show.

"No More Mr. Nice Guy" was the next piece in this gem of a set, and then came "Is It My Body", featuring Alice Cooper and his boa constrictor. It was a sight to behold, specially for people like myself who got a chance to look at it from up-close. But that was just about the only stage prop he used all night. The show was pretty much all about the music, and not about the theatre as it usually is. I loved this aspect of the show, because Alice Cooper's music has always been the draw for me, and even though the theatrical stuff is great, I can live without it for once. Besides, as he mentioned it on one occasion during tonight's set, there just wasn't enough space on the stage to pull off any of his usual antics. Because of this, I felt that each song took a life of its own and people got to experience how well the music is capable of standing by itself.

There were quite a few more classics that were played in the rest of the set, and then some. I loved how three of the four guitarists traded solos during "Cold Ethyl", with Hunter, Henrikson and Orianthi taking turns to occupy center stage and display their soloing prowess. Again, Orianthi drew the loudest cheers. Then there was a cover of a band called The Animals, a song called "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place" and before they started the song, Alice fondly shared the story of the time he saw that band at this very venue back in 1970. "Billion Dollar Babies" sans the dollar bills came next, and then came the first of two surprise guests. The one and only Robbie Krieger from The Doors took the stage, much to the delight of the crowd. He shared a funny story from the good ol' days when Alice Cooper first went to meet Jim Morrison. They played two Doors covers next, and I just could not believe what I was seeing. Alice Cooper singing Doors songs, with Krieger on guitar, yes this was really happening! That performance of "Break On Through" and "Back Door Man" were a pure delight to the eyes and ears, and it's something I will remember for the rest of my life.

The band played four more songs to close out the set, including fan favorites "Poison" and "I'm Eighteen", followed by a very special rendition of "School's Out", along with a verse of Pink Floyd's "Another Brick In The Wall" in the middle of it. "Let's see who comes on stage next!" said Alice, as the band launched into the song, and a girl in an Alice Cooper mask joined them on stage. Alice ripped her mask off, and it was none other than Kesha. Three days ago, I said in this album review that I won't be turning into a Kesha fan anytime soon. But as it turned out, that has changed after seeing her perform tonight. She was simply out of control, and entertained everyone with not only her voice but her antics as well. She opened a bottle of Jack Daniels and started gulping it down. Fans in the front row, specially the guys, were getting rather excited and kept asking for Kesha's attention. She obliged, and showered them with the whisky. That whole area was smelling of Jack Daniels by the time she left the stage. She was just insane, and I'm officially a fan of her now. They closed out the show with "Elected", and said goodbye to a crowd that was stunned in awe of what they had just seen.

The fans were in full voice tonight, singing along to just about everything the band played on stage. Besides the guitar picks and drum sticks, Alice Cooper's cane and Kesha's mask were items that were thrown into the crowd, and led to some intense tug-of-wars between a large number of souvenir-hungry people.

It's hard to pick any highlights or best moments from a show of this kind, and the whole 90 mintues was a highlight in itself. But Orianthi's performance and the appearance of Robbie Krieger and Kesha definitely made the show that much more special. Quite honestly, I would have paid hundreds to see this show if I had to.

Alice Cooper's one-off return to the Sunset Strip as a bar-band was beyond amazing, and left me completely speechless at the end of it.

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