TIMELINE 27 - The Bare Bones Tour
June 12th - June 21st '03 Alice is in the studio to record a new album with Ryan Roxie, Eric Dover, Eric Singer and Chuck Garric. Teddy Zig Zag also shows up to ad some extra touches. The album is recorded live in the studio with minimal overdubs and is finished in two weeks. At least 14 songs are recorded. Couple of tentative track titles: 'Backyard Brawl' (with Calico on backing vocals), 'Be With You'(A Lennon-ish ballad) also a track called 'Spirits Rebellious' . All songs written by Alice, Ryan and Eric Dover.
June 17th '03 Mayor of the Sunset Strip, a documentary about Los Angeles DJ Rodney Bingenheimer that features interviews with Alice, David Bowie, Cher, Courtney Love, Brooke Shields, Gwen Stefani, Coldplay, Nancy Sinatra and Joey Ramone, debuts at the Los Angeles Film Festival.
June 25th '03 Alice is announced as appearing as a special guest with The Yardbirds at the House Of Blues in L.A. It is never confirmed by Alice's management and doesn't happen.
June 27th '03 Del Mar Fair, San Diego - This was not the start of the tour proper but actually a last minute show where Alice was asked to step in for an unwell Meatloaf. While the setlist was similar to what would become the Bare Bones tour, this show included 'Clones', 'It's The Little Things' and 'Gimme' instead of 'Dwight Fry' and 'Only Women Bleed' among other changes. For the first time in over 30 years, Alice wears the 'spider' makeup last seen on 'Killer'.
1st July '03 Alice arrives in London and he and Calico attend the London Premier of 'Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle' in Leicester Square.
The Tour
Musicians
Guitars - Ryan Roxie, Eric Dover
Bass - Chuck Garric (Ex-Dio)
Drums - Eric Singer
Backing Vocals/Nurse - Calico Cooper
Setlist:
|
|
 |
The bare bones show was exactly that. Minimal stage set featuring just amps and a backdrop showing the 'Love It To Death' eyes which sometimes had spotlights in the pupils., Few theatrics and just Alice rocking out. The shows in the UK started with a taped intro of 'Sun Arise' before the band blast through 'Hello Hurray' to 'Halo Of Flies' with minimal props (Cane for 'Hello Hurray', Pool Cue for 'Serious', gun holster (minus gun) for 'Desperado', Crutch for 'Eighteen').
'Desperado' saw Eric on acoustic guitar and had a guitar versions of the title theme from 'A Clockwork Orange' as an introduction.
'Welcome To My Nightmare' featured the return (in the UK) of Lady Macbeth, the Scots Snake supplied by Bill Crowe last used in 1998. No snake was used in the Mainland Europe shows and the song was dropped there (as were several others due to the short hour long sets).
'Cold Ethyl' featured a large doll (not blowup) which was manhandled around the stage before transforming into Calico as the nurse for 'Only Women Bleed'. Calico danced around the stage before pulling Alice from the wings wearing the Straight jacket for the normal 'Dwight Fry' routine.
'Disgraceland' had Alice return in a silver outfit, gold glitter coat and shades for his Elvis impersonation.
July 3rd '03 Wolverhampton Civic Hall, UK (w/ The Darkness) [Ticket]
July 4th '03 GuilFest , Guildford, UK (w/ Arthur Lee/Love, The Wildhearts, The Darkness, Arthur Brown) [Ticket]
Guilfest ended up as a bit of a disaster. Eric Dover's gear wouldn't work with the in-house Guilfest equipment causing a 20 minute delay in the start of the show. The problems continued though with Eric getting more and more frustrated, throwing down two guitars and pulling his amps over at the end of 'School's Out' in anger. To make matters worse the organisers had a 11pm curfew and had scheduled bands right up to that time. This meant Alice wasn't allowed to return for the normal encores ('Poison', 'Elected', 'Disgraceland' and 'Under My Wheels') resulting in a lot of disappointment from the crowd at missing some of the biggest hits.
July 5th '03 Graspop Festival, Dessel, Belgium (w/ Iron Maiden, Within Temptation..) - Short 1 hour set
July 6th '03 Liverpool, UK King Docks, UK (w/ Trilby) [Ticket]
July 8th '03 Bad Reichenhall, Germany Sternenzelt Festhalle (Deutschland Zeltfestival)
July 12th '03 Moondance Jam, Walker Minnosota
July 14th '03 Toledo, OH, Zoo Ampitheatre (w/ Lennon)
July 15th '03 Fowlerville Fair, Michigan
July 16th '03 Boardman, Youngstown, Ohio B and B Backstage (w/Lennon)
July 17th '03 Alice takes part at a charity Celebrity Golf tournament at Youngstown Country Club in Youngstown, Ohio (possibly canceled)
July 18th '03 Rock Fest 2003 Cadott, Wisconsin
July 19th '03 Waukesha, WI County Fair
July 20th '03 Clear Lake, IA Surf Ballroom(w/ Lennon)
July 22nd '03 Chicago, IL Skyline Stage at Navy Pier
July 23rd '03 Grand Rapids, MI Orbit Room
July 25th '03 Minot, ND State Fair (W/ Ted Nugent)
Alice plays golf at Minot Country Club
July 27th '03 Hawgfest, Winter Park, Denver, Colorado. (W/ Ted Nugent)
July 29th '03 Tucson, AZ Anselmo Valencia Amphitheater (W/ Ted Nugent)
July 31st '03 Los Angeles, House Of Blues (W/ Ted Nugent)
Aug 1-3rd '03 The Glen Buxton Memorial Weekend (w/ BDS, Michael Bruce)
Aug 1st '03 Los Angeles, House Of Blues (W/ Ted Nugent)
Aug 2nd '03 Las Vegas, NV The Joint (W/ Ted Nugent)
Aug 3rd '03 Lake Tahoe, NV Harvey’s Casino (W/ Ted Nugent)
Aug 5th '03 Boise, ID Big Easy Concert House (W/ Ted Nugent)
Aug 7th '03 Stugis Bike Rally, Buffalo Chip Campground
Aug 9th '03 Rockin' The Rivers, Three Folks, Montana
Aug 14th '03 Alice was interviewed on Radio KLOS
Aug 15th-17th '03 Alice is guest of honour at the Third Annual Horrofind Weekend in Hunt Valley Marriott in Maryland. The evening of the 15th he goes to the local cinema to see 'Freddy Vs. Jason'. At the convention several of the other celebrity guests were seen queing with the fans to meet Alice..
Aug 24th '03 Alice is seen on TV at the Diamondbacks game in Phoenix with Glen Campbell.