Labor day weekend saw the return of Alice Cooper's Rock'n'Roll Carnival for his only gigs in the Northeast this year in an extension of last years tour. Backed by a lineup consisting of Todd Jensen on bass, Reb Beach and Pete Freezin on guitars, Winston Watson on drums and Paul Taylor on keyboards, and of course, an assortment of clowns (it's a carnival, right?).

The setlist, 90 minutes of blistering, straight-forward rock, consisted entirely of last years set (see last year's review) with the addition of "Steven" and an encore of "Jailhouse Rock". With almost three decades of material to choose from, Alice's selection appeased even the most die hard of fans.

Some of the more notable songs performed were "Unfinished Sweet" (performed with full theatrics), "Nothing's Free" and "Cleansed by Fire", both songs from The Last Temptation album. For these two songs, Alice reprised his role as the evil showman from the comic book featuring this character. Alice also underwent several costume changes including a hair slicked back parody of Elvis for "Jailhouse Rock" and, shall I dare say possibly prophetic "Alice Spice" t-shirt for the encore of "Under My Wheels"? I'll take him over Ginger anyday!

Present for the Mohegan Sun gig in the audience were two of Alice's ex-bandmates, drummer Neal Smith and bassist Dennis Dunaway from the original Alice Cooper Group. The night must have had more meaning, especially for these two, when Alice played "Public Animal #9" from School's Out and dedicated it "to Glen" (the recently deceased lead guitarist Glen Buxton, also from the Alice Cooper group). When asked of a fan about how it felt to see some of the old songs played live after all these years, Dennis replied that " it brought back some good memories". It was also reported that after the show, both Neal and Dennis met backstage with their former bandmate for an hour.

All in all, it was a three day weekend of certifiable classic music and macabre, a show only the Master himself could put on. Look out next spring for the release of "The Life and Crimes of Alice Cooper", a 4 CD box set, complete with book, spanning Alice's entire career including pre-ACG material. Also due up next year is the long, long awaited new album which will be his first full length studio effort in almost 5 years. Knowing Alice, it will be worth the wait.

Check out Wonders in Aliceland! - A Memorial to Glen Buxton

Review and Photo by Alan Haesche

Thanks to Fry and Ray for the set list

1998, 1997 Rock Notes On-Line - http://www.oocities.org/SunsetStrip/5014/