SickthingsUK

Today is the thirtieth anniversary of the first Alice gig that I ever attended. Glasgow Appollo February 19th 1982 (God, was it really that long ago). I was 15 and had dogged off school to cue to buy the ticket, the gig sold out in less than three hours. I was row S in the stalls and had an excellent seat. I have attended many concerts in the last thirty years but have never experienced an atmosphere like there was that night. A reviewer later said that he 'expected Alice to walk out in a shaft of blinding light.' Over the last thirty years I have had many times of great joy following Alice, along with the occasional disappointments and frustrations, and his music has been in many ways the soundtrack to my adult life, so I would just like this opportunity to say thank you for giving me so much joy.

mine was 30 years ago too Birmingham Odeon also saw London and Manchester on that tour as it was the first time it was special, but he came back even stronger in 86 with Kane Roberts who did such an important job for Alice and I always think of that as his big comeback as a live performer

Agree with you 100% Steve. Special Forces was the first tour I saw and I will always remember the excitement waiting for the entrance of the man. The atmosphere at the Hammersmith Odeon that night was unbelievable contributed in in no small way by the fact that Alice hadn't been in about six years since WTMN.

However,the Nightmare Returns tour was the Alice and show I REALLY wanted to see and it just blew me away.

I saw the two Nightmare return shows in Edinburgh and they were fantastic, Me and a friend even worked our way into radio forth pretending to be journalists and got to meet Alice just after he was finished being interviewed. Great times, but I doubt that anything will compare to that first gig during the Special forces tour. Everyone has their favourite Alice era, nightmare returns was strange one for me because the tour and show was fantastic but constrictor and RYFAY are two of my least favourite Alice albums.

Agree dadascot, great shows for Constrictor and RYFAY but didn't care much for the albums themselves

the special forces tour was also my first alice concert.i was 15 years old and travelled from Newcastle to the hammersmith odeon for the 3rd night.was 2nd row from the very back and was on my tip-toes all night.cant remember things i did last week but remember that night as if it was yesterday,just a fantastic night/concert.have seen Alice now 31 times but that night still ranks as one of the best

Almost 37 years ago ( I was fifteen)I saw Alice playing Antwerpen,strangely enough not a large audience but what a show.
11 years later I went to London for my second Alice Cooper concert, the Nightmare Returns, Kane, Devlin 7 and Ken Mary blew me out of my socks !

Dadascot..this was my first Alice gig as well..although a fan since 1971 ish...that gig in Glasgow was amazing...we were standing on the back of our seats and the whole row was shaking..many iron maiden fans there...have seen Alice many times since..never seen an atmosphere like that..another strange gig was my very first..Queen Stirling Uni 1974..some fights in the gig and what is now classed as a riot outside..although by central scotland standards it wasnt that bad really!?..these are my two stand out atmosphere gigs..Glasgow appollo was gr8 venue

The first time I saw Alice live was also on the Special Forces tour at Manchester. Great concert.

First show I saw was Welcome To My Nightmare, 11th Sept 1975.....was miles away at the back of Wembley Empire Pool, but it was a fantastic show and I was in 7th heaven to get to see him at last.

They pulled the Apollo down before I was old enough to see anyone play there, which - as a Glaswegian and avid gig-goer - saddens me.

My first gig was at the Barrowlands in 2000, and a year later I got second row of the stalls at the Edinburgh Playhouse. Seen him ten times now.

I got into him after picking up Constrictor and RYFAY in a sale, loved Brutal Planet and had the Life And Crimes boxset. I thought the early stuff wasn't heavy enough, being at that time a die-hard Maiden fan getting into thrash, but live Alice ignited a love for his older songs that saw me eventually pick up the entire back catalogue. His humour, lyrics, and song-writing have made him my absolute hero. Brutally Live was a great first induction to the live stage show too.

[Edit] Having just done the maths, I realise that at that first gig I was eighteen. And I liked it. :D

jram wrote:They pulled the Apollo down before I was old enough to see anyone play there, which - as a Glaswegian and avid gig-goer - saddens me.

My first gig was at the Barrowlands in 2000, and a year later I got second row of the stalls at the Edinburgh Playhouse. Seen him ten times now.

I got into him after picking up Constrictor and RYFAY in a sale, loved Brutal Planet and had the Life And Crimes boxset. I thought the early stuff wasn't heavy enough, being at that time a die-hard Maiden fan getting into thrash, but live Alice ignited a love for his older songs that saw me eventually pick up the entire back catalogue. His humour, lyrics, and song-writing have made him my absolute hero. Brutally Live was a great first induction to the live stage show too.

[Edit] Having just done the maths, I realise that at that first gig I was eighteen. And I liked it. :D

The Apollo was a legendary gig and I was very privelaged to get to see Alice there. At one point he stood stock still, turned to the Audience and said, with genuine emotion, "Ten years for this" and the whole place erupted. I wish I could put into words how unbelievable the whole experience was. A quick note, I was 15 and lived in a town about 15 miles from Glasgow and my parents would never have let me go there on my own so I had to tell them I was going to see my mates dad play a gig (he was the bass player for Sheena Easton) but they found out and I was grounded for a month, well worth it though.

special forces,july 1981,cleveland ohio I was almost 13 years old! FIRST ROW! I'll never forget it. Got a pick,but some dude behind me got the set list I wanted to ask keyboardist duane hitchings for! I think it was mike pinera's pick I snagged.

Saw Special Forces two night's running in Manchester having missed the seventies concerts. I thought it might be the only chance to see him live as I thought he might retire or fade away!!!My experience mirrors Railwayman and Steve's in so far as -as much as I loved the SF shows it was "The Nightmare Returns" where I felt I saw the "real" Alice if that makes sense. Black eye makeup a la seventies, horror as opposed to war theme etc.
I feel a little bit the same now. As much as I have enjoyed recent shows I so much hope (logistics and finance permitting) for a huge scale "Welcome to My Nightmare" show so I feel as if I didn't miss out too much not seeing it in the seventies (although I do recall watching the regional news as they featured Alice playing in Liverpool that night. Oh the torture of not having a ticket!).

dadascot, I think the Glasgow show is available as a bootleg. Not that I know what a bootleg *is*, of course

Kristian wrote:dadascot, I think the Glasgow show is available as a bootleg. Not that I know what a bootleg *is*, of course

Radio Clyde recorded that show and it was available on Vinyl. I had it for years but it got lost in some move or other along with lots of other Alice stuff that I had, the only thing with the LP was that the encore of schools out wasn't on there. Radio Clyde also broadcast the show which I had on cassette tape(remember them).

Hey Jram my first gig was also the barrowlands gig at Glasgow and I was also 18.

Cool. That show is also available as a bootleg, I picked it up as a double CD down the barras market years ago.

It was probably available down the barras as a bootleg before gig was over..lol

jram wrote:Cool. That show is also available as a bootleg, I picked it up as a double CD down the barras market years ago.

Yes I have a copy of that show. I also saw down the barras a few years ago that show for sale as a box set along with the appollo gig. By the time I went to the bank and got some money it was gone. Still not heard that appollo gig