Alice Cooper is known for his stage antics, but even he has his limits. In an interview with Grammy Award-winning producer Dave Cobb, Cooper opens up about his infamous show in Toledo, Ohio, in 1973 when a fan threw an M-80, a type of firecracker, onto the stage.
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“It almost blew the guitar player’s hand off,” Cooper recalls on Cobb’s Southern Accents Radio on Apple Music Country. “That was the only time I ever walked off stage.”
The Toledo Blade reports that the device destroyed a stage light, sending broken glass raining down on guitarist Michael Bruce. Allegedly, the crowd at Toledo Sports Arena also threw other items at the band ranging from eggs to hairbrushes. Despite the mayhem, Cooper says he and his band are well-versed in dealing with unruly crowds over the past six decades of touring.”The last band that you want to attack is Alice Cooper,” he laughs. “Everything on that stage is a weapon.”
The 75-year-old singer shows no signs of slowing down, as he’s juggling three tours throughout 2023: Too Close For Comfort Tour; The World Tour with Def Leppard and Motley Crue; and Freaks On Parade with Rob Zombie, Ministry, and Filter. His headlining Too Close For Comfort Tour ended in May, while his trek on the Freaks on Parade Tour begins on August 24 in Dallas, Texas, and concludes on September 24 in his home city of Phoenix, Arizona. Along the way, Cooper will join Def Leppard and Motley Crue’s joint headlining tour as a special guest on the third leg across North America in August.
The rock music legend recently released re-issues of two of his most successful albums, Killer and School’s Out, on June 9. Both albums were produced by Bob Ezrin. “He brought the classic thing to us,” Cooper said on Apple Music Country about Ezrin’s sound. “All that classical stuff in the background is what he brought to the table. And we loved it.”
Photo by Didier Messens/Redferns
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