the replacement of the live cover song section

[Phil]

the fairly recent inclusion of the cover song section in the raise the dead and spend the night tours have started to get a little stale,
I think that would be a fair summary from reading the posts about them,

Imagine how cool it would be if the covers were removed from the set and the opportunity was taken to go
'Back to the blackout'.

So Alice is executed and instead of waking up in the graveyard of the vampires, he wakes up in his own past and the covers are now replaced by 4 tunes from the blackout era.

Let's say,

Pain, skeletons in my closet, tag, you're it, former lee warmer.
These 4 if you wanted to take it slightly dark,

Or,

Aspirin damage, you look good in rags, I like girls, no mans land,

To go slightly lighter,

Then back to the standard show.

The lighting, backdrops, theatrics and all that sort of thing could go mental here.

Thoughts sickthings?

[Saint&Sinner]

not a bad idea, but sadly would never happen.
i dont need it from specifically the blackout period, i prefer kane era stuff, hey stoopid etc personally, but i think it would be great if alice respected and pushed his whole solo career not just the main area of focus which is always 1970-76 ish eras

[concolz]

Covers are here to stay. Virtually all long-standing acts are focused on the lucrative 'big hits & best known bits' nostalgia market; past glories are put on repeat cycle, and when their own hits run out, they play someone else's.

[TodayMueller]

I like the idea. Would make good sense for us old timers, as this was a period where Alice alledgedly was dying.
Not sure it would work for the general audience, though.

[Phil]

I'm Certainly under no illusions that this will ever happen, last time I spoke to Alice in person he said he would consider scarlet and Sheba if any tracks from dada were to ever be played live. I'm not holding my breath.
And I only use the blackout as an example of an opportunity within the live show to incorporate something for
The Alice fanatic to get their teeth into,
4 tracks from the splatter albums would be just as interesting a departure from the standard set list.

Lock me up, trick bag, world needs guts, not that kind of love.

I think those would fit in sonically to the flow of the show, even if there are better tracks on those albums.

I haven't been able to find many examples of Alice talking in depth about how he feels about these albums and songs now.

Does the sexual nature of some of the tracks and lines like

Back off preacher, I don't care if it's sunday
I ain't no angel but I never felt better

Mean that this era would not get a look in with christian Cooper?

[patrick]

at first the cover section did not appeal to me that much, but after seeing alice recently and noticing the reaction of the audience on his clever selection (bowie, lemmy..) I think they will not disappear .
This was an Alice audience, so you would expect he could risk it to bring some tracks from way back. But even then, he brought pa#9, one of my favourites and it took me several seconds to recognise it ( perhaps too soon in the set so the pa might not have been perfectly set). So suppose he would have brought "pass the gun around" (another favourite), I bet he would have "lost" lots of people there. The perfect set only exists in our heads and each of us has another one, I am afraid..

[Saint&Sinner]

I must say patrick you must have seen different reaction to what i have seen. When i saw it the energy in the audience (and on stage tbh) just dropped to embarrassing levels.
Its what songs he picks as well though, i mean public animal number 9 is average at best and i can understand why it wouldn't excite live that much. (i remember him wheeling it out around '98 to little fan fare then)
I think if the "unknown" tracks were spaced right and the "show" was build to emphasize the "unknown" tracks it could work.
For instance Scarlet and sheba could be a medley with dragontown and go to hell! so your spreading the risk (intersecting go to hell in middle of the 2 "unknwon" songs) imagine a) what he could do with each song live - especially if he wanted to keep the S&M routine b) how awesome the 3 would sound together. (I always remember dragontown going down very well on the tour)

I know the chances are it wont change any time soon But its disappointing and a shame he doesn't have more faith in his output over the years.

[pitkin88]

Average at best my arse. Public Animal Number 9 is a damn classic. You should look for audio or footage of the original band live. The extended intro is brilliant.

[mr.barlow]

Average at best my arse. Public Animal Number 9 is a damn classic. You should look for audio or footage of the original band live. The extended intro is brilliant.

I agree. It's one of the best Alice songs of any era. Also, one of the best vocal performances of his career.

[pitkin88]

Agreed. Ferocious vocal.

[Mr.Bluelegs]

Agreed. Ferocious vocal.

If someone forced me to pick his greatest vocal over his illustrious career, I would have to select PA #9. Such power and swagger. It's stunning. "You Drive me Nervous" ranks close as well as "Hello Hooray" and "School's Out". I feel his voice was at its peak during '71-'73 era (just like his music). He still had fantastic moments in the ensuing years, but I'd have to pinpoint it around then. I remember being so impressed with his vocals on "Chop Chop Chop", too & totally loving the fact that he was going for some upper register notes he hadn't gone for in years. When I say "peak", I by no means insinuate that his vocals were weak after that prime era. He still sounds pretty darn fine at age 68.

[Saint&Sinner]

not sure what you guys are hearing but fair play to you.
if you want ferocious vocal delivery nothing can beat raise your fist and yell. He spits fire and brimstone on that album.