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TIMELINE 4 - Love It To Death
1971
Sometime before 13th February 1971 – weekend show at Fillmore Market, Toronto
Feb 18th `71 "Eighteen" mentioned as being number one in Cleveland
Feb (21st?) `71 `Love It To Death` released.
Me Alice: February the band returned to Pontiac Farm. Shep and Joey had opened up an office on West Thirteenth Street, Greenwich Village, NY where they sat on the phones promoting the record. Things start happening and `18` starts getting airplay. The band head back into the studio to record the rest of the album with Bob Ezrin. Charlie Carnel and Mike Allen built first, `The Cage Of Fire`(which Alice claims WAS used a couple of times, MB says once), and then The Electric Chair.
(Feb 23rd `71 The band are due to go see The Small Faces)
Feb '71 Brampton, Ontario, Canada (w/ Nucleus) (Two eye witnesses)
"Just before the show stared Alice was wandering about the stage with a bird cage on at stand with I think a small stuffed monkey inside. He got on is hands and knees and started pounding out the beat to 'Sun Arise' with a hammer on the metal base of the cage stand, the band joined in and off they went. It was a great show."
(Bob Braiden, October 2009)
Feb 26th `71(Friday) Electric Playground, Columbus, OH
Feb 27th `71 Toronto
Feb 28th '71 Polish Veterans Hall, Oshawa (w/ Fear) Poster exists)
Early '71 tour dates included the Melody Art (read porno) Theater in Inkster, Michigan (USA) about 10 miles due West of Detroit. Alice played there for several Sunday midnight shows. Alice played there before and after 18 charted
Pre-march `71 ACG did do a show sometime before March 1971 with the Who at the Grande Ballroom, Detroit. AC didn't like their performance.
March 6th '71 Virginia Rock Theatre, Alexandria, Virginia - two shows. (concert promotors documentation)
March 20th '71 Cyrus Erie West, North Ridgeville, OH (w/ Rain)
March 22nd `71 Greenmill Gardens, Findley, OH (eye witness) - Alice later heard to say it was "the worst place he ever played".
March 28th '71 Capitol Theatre, Springfield, MA
"I went to this my 1st Alice Cooper concert, and my 1st concert featuring a national big-name band. There was an opening act, whose name I didn't catch, but they were definitely a small local band. The Capitol was a very small, old converted movie theatre with NO seats and a carpeted floor on the main level and a very small balcony. If i was to guess, i would say that the total capacity of the theatre was somewhere around 1200-1500 people. They only had concerts there from the Summer of 1970 to May of 1971. Sadly the theatre was razed about 30 years ago. A vivid memory of this show was Alice being led off stage by a woman in a nurse's outfit (Cindy Smith) and coming back out in a straight jacket. I now know that the song was The Ballad Of Dwight Fry. "
(Ray Rivers, December 2007)
March 31st 1971 Stanley Theatre, Pittsburgh, PA (w/ Spirit, Freeport) [Ticket]
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April `71 - Me Alice says `18` brakes nationwide. The band were now making $15,000 a night.
April 1st '71 Atlanta, GA, Municiple Auditoriun (W/ Ted Nugent And The Amboy Dukes, Brownsville Station) [Ticket]
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April 2nd `71 Curtis Hixon Hall, Tampa, Florida [Ticket]
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April 6th `71 Montgomery, AL, Garrett Coliseum (w/ Brownsville Station)
April 8th '71 Ferriday, LA
April 9th '71 Memphis, TN
April 10th '71 Little Rock, AK
April 11th '71 Baton Rouge, LA
April 16th `71 Detroit, Olympia Stadium (w/ Steppenwolf, Lighthouse)(flyer exists)
April 17th `71 Chicago, IL Opera House (w/ Stooges, Jam Band) - Apparently there was a giant cross onstage (poster exists)
April 24th `71 Cincinnati, OH Taft Theater (w/ Mike Quattro's Jam Band)
April 27th `71 Caught In A Dream single released
April 30th `71(Friday) St. Louis Arena at 'the Annex' - Alice Headlines. Possible the earliest arena headline show)(w/ Amboy Dukes, Brownsville Station, Mike Quatro Jam Band) [Ticket]
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May 1st `71 Struthers Field House, OH (w/ Velvet Underground, Brownsville Station and Biggy Rat)
May 3rd '71 Carnegie Hall, New York City (w/ Jackie Lomax) Show changed to 6th May at the Town Hall (Billboard)
May 6th `71 New York, NY Town Hall (w/ Holy Modal Rounders) (Me Alice says the Town Hall was May 3rd)(feathers clog up air conditioning)
Article discribing the show from the New York Times
On stage, the lead singer of a rock band, a young man named Alice Cooper, has taken off his silver jump suit to reveal black leotards and panty hose. Now he has a live boa constrictor and is wrapping it around his arm.
Alice wears female clothes and makeup, and has a great many female affectations. He also has a good many violent affectations, wherein lies much of the appeal of the classic freak show.
This particular performance took place recently in Town Hall. It was Alice Cooper's first major concert in the city. Word was out ahead that Gerard Melanga, the Warhol superstar, was going to perform a whip dance with Alice. This didn't work out, but it was enough to bring out New York Pop Society, that curious amalgam of rock people, writers, various weird off-off Broadway people, and the Warhol camp.
The group came out on stage wearing skin-tight silver jump suits. Later, Alice did a strip dance from the jumpsuit, revealing leotards slit to the navel, and the panty hose. The group began a long, loud and generally undistinguished set. They're good, professional and capable of building excitement musically, but like so many hard rock bands, there is no particular melody and it all seems pretty much a background for the lead singer.
Alice, unlike most boys in girls' clothing, is fairly unimpressive facially. In his more grotesque moments, he looks a bit like Tiny Tim. He is thin and slinks around stage, but does not slink well. He coyly exposed a shoulder and one breast and sang a few songs.
Then a woman in costume came onstage and led him off. She returned a few minutes later with Alice in a straitjacket. "They said they'd let me out of here," he sang. Then he did another strip, removing the straitjacket.
He played with a hammer, a plastic rod, the boa constrictor; then some stagehands carried out an electric chair. Alice sat down and, at the crucial moment of electrocution, a lot of lights ringing the chair flashed on and off.
"We act as a mirror." he said. "People see themselves through us. Many times they react violently because they don't like what they see."
May '71 Chicago, IL Opera House
May 6th '71 Town Hall, NYC (advert) OR Minneapolis, MI
May 7th `71 Manato, Minnesota
May 8th `71 Crookston, Minnesota
May 9th `71 Rapid City, SD
May 12th '71 Virginia Beach Centre, Virginia Beach, Virginia (poster)
May 13th `71 Virginia Beach, The Dome (Press clipping exists dated 23rd May 1971 could suggest this was 23rd not 13th but that would clash with another show)
May 14th `71 Indianapolis,IN Bush Stadium
May 15th `71 Grand Rapids, MI, Kentwood Roller Rink
May 16th `71 Columbus, OH Veterans Memorial Auditorium
May 17th `71 Lafayette, IN Jefferson High School
May 19th `71 Baltimore, MD - Painter's Mill
May 21st `71 Saginaw, MI Saginaw Auditorium
(May 20th-23rd '71 And advert exists stating Alice is playing these three nights at the Fillmore West, San francisco but not confirmed it ever happened)
May 23rd `71 Philadelphia, PA Spectrum (w/ John Mayall, Mott The Hoople)
May 26th 1971 Show w/ Holy Modal Rounders
Also 1971 - 109th Armory in Kingston Pa. Homecoming Dance in a gym
May 28th `71 Oklahoma City
May 29th `71 Fort Worth, TX Will Rogers Coliseum (w/ John Mayall, Brownsville Station)
May 30th `71 San Antonio, TX, Temple University gymnasium(?)
May 31st `71 Houston, TX
June 4th `71 Eastown Theater, Detroit, MI (w/ The Flamin' Groovies, Wild Man Fischer, Glass Harp)
OR
June 4th `71 The Bootleg `Paracidal Slumbers' was recorded early in 1971 at the Roostertail Supper Club just outside Detroit and this is the date suggested, however Billboard mentions July 6th.
June 5th `71 Eastown Theater, Detroit, MI (w/ The Flamin' Groovies, Wild Man Fischer, Glass Harp) (eye witness)
June 11th-12th `71 New York, NY Fillmore East (The Final Concerts poster) (w/ Bloodrock,Glass Harp) [Ticket] [press pass for 12th exists)
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June 13th `71 Alexandria (or Falls Church), VA, Alexandria Roller Rink (poster)
June 14th `71 South Amboy, NJ - The Scene
(June ?? `71 Canton, OH, Memorial Aud. )
June 18th `71 Toledo, OH Toledo Sports Arena (w/ Amboy Dukes, Brownsville Station) (eye witness)
June 19th `71 Teen Scene '71 Festival, Birmingham, AL Fairgrounds (w/ Ted Nugent, Mountain and others)
Alice Cooper headlined on Saturday night.
June 21st '71 Joliet, IL Inwood Skating Rink (Dex Card's Wild Goose) [Flyer exists)
June 23rd `71 Sherriville, IN, Starwood Club, "Dex Cards Wild Goose Rock and Roll Club" (WBC).[Flyer exists]
Eyewitness report says he saw them three times this summer at the Sherwood Club in Sherriville, IN
"When I saw them in Sheriville In. they were nobodies. If memory serves, they played one night in June as part of "Dex Cards Wild Goose" Rock and Roll Club circuit (He was a Chicago DJ). I guess they did so good that ole' Dex had them back a month later to do 2 nights in a row! "
June `71 - Me Alice: Shep and Alice spend two nights in London to do press duties. They go shopping in Kings Road and visit Malcolm McLarens `Let It Rock` Shop buying various outfits for stage use. In the evening they visit the Speakeasy Club.
June 26th `71 Toronto, Beggar's Banquet Festival, Borough Of New York Stadium (w/ Steppenwolf, Bread, BloodRock, Beach Boys, Lighthouse, Chilliwack, Old Rationals) (poster)
June 29th `71 College in Boise Idaho.
Thursday 4th July `71 Passaic, New Jersey, Central Theater (w/ The Hampton Grease Band) [Ticket]
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`71 Asbury Park, NJ, The Sunshine Inn - This is where the legendary "Stone Pony" black and white footage was actually recorded.
July 5th `71 Houston, TX - (w/ Canned Heat) OR 5th July '71, International Youth Expo, New York City (Listing in Billboard).
July 6th '71 Rooster Tail, Detroit, MI (Aftershow party at The Grande)
July 9th-10th `71 Paramount Northwest, Seattle, WA (w/ Ze Whiz Kidz, Doily Brothers)
July 11th `71 Long Beach, CA Long Beach Auditorium/Convention Hall (w/ Black Oak Arkansas, Savage Grace)
A 15 year old Randy Rhoads, (along with original Quiet Riot bassist) Kelly Garni and older brother Kelle were in attendance at this show, and he pinpoints this concert as a pivotal moment in Randy’s decision to be a professional musician. Ironically enough, Tommy Aldridge was the drummer for Black Oak Arkansas, who would end up playing with Randy in Ozzy’s band a decade later.
Kelle Rhoads: “Another story that I think is important was me taking my brother to his first large scale concert. This has been written about, and it’s no secret, but I can’t tell you the impact this had on my brother. I told him, “we’re gonna go see Alice Cooper in Long Beach.” So him and Kelly Garni and me, Kelly Garni’s mom had to drive us, we were just kids. And we went down and we saw Alice Cooper touring for the Love It To Death show, and Black Oak Arkansas opened up for them. That band had a young teenage Tommy Aldridge as the drummer. Randy was blown away. Years later when he worked in the same band with him, Randy had told him about seeing him at that show.
Anyway, after Alice Cooper was done, my brother just turned white, and he was just staring at the stage, the concert was long over. And I think what happened that day was a light went off, and he got the idea that he could do this too. That was where I pinpoint him going, “I can actually make this my living. I can really do this. This is what I want to do. This is all I have to do.” And I think that July 11,1971 was when that happened for him.“
(from 'Stripped: The Unlikely Rise of the Hollywood Rock Underground' - Thom Hazaert 2009)
July `71 - Me Alice: The band receive their first royalty checks of $8,000 each.
July 13th `71 Oklahoma City, OK Fairgrounds Arena (handbill)
July 14th `71 Los Angeles, CA Ambassador Hotel Venetian Room (Bastille Day/Coming Out Party)
Me Alice: Warner Bros press party at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. The band are said to have performed a short set.
July 16th `71 Brothers Club, Aberdeen, WA (a show in Boise, Idaho was cancelled)(poss. w/ Mike Quatro Jam Band, Jim Gustafson, Poobah)
July `71 Findlay, Ohio Greenmill Gardens (Michael Bruce absent as he was in hospital in Detroit with bad ulcers)
July 19th `71 Ottawa Civic Center (w/ Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper, Yes ) (Eyewitness/Ticket)
July 21st '71 Philadelphia Spectrum (w/ Black Sabbath, Humble Pie))
July 23rd `71 Peoria, IL Red Barn (w/ Brownsville Station) [Ticket]
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July 28th `71 Gaelic Park. The Bronx (W/ Black Sabbath, Black Oak Arkansaw) [Poster Exists but could be a fake]
July `71 Sherriville, IN Starwood Club (Two Nights - see above 23rd June)
Me Alice: The Killer show was written during a three hour layover at O`Hare airport(Chicago) In August `71. The Makeup changes to the `demented clown` makeup.
Aug `71 Possible show at Rubber bowl, Akron, Ohio
August '71 Show on Boston Common, Boston, MA as part of the "Sunset Series". Eye witness and photo exists.
August 8th '71 Cincinnati Gardens, Cincinnati, Ohio (w/ Black Sabbath, Humble Pie & Edgar Winter's White Trash)(eye witness/Billboard)
Aug `71? Killer recorded.
Me Alice: Around this time the first Snake, Kachina, appeared. She was actually owned by Neal and Skip Ladd used to have to go to the pet shop to get live mice for her to eat.
Aug 21st `71 The Park, N. Baltimore, OH (w/ SRC, Reginal True, Rabbitt, Ormandy, Abu-Tala) - Reported tha Michael Bruce missed this show.
Aug 22nd '71 Lake Milton Festival, Lucas County Recreation Center, Maumee, Ohio (Eye Witness) w/ Brownsville Station -Bob Seger, Teegarden & VanWinkle, Chuck Berry, LAW, Catfish Hodge, Ted Nugent/Amboy Dukes) [Ticket]
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Aug 23rd '71 Barberton, Ohio, Barberton Speedway Rock Concert (w/ Catfish, Marblecake, Glass Harp, Eli Raddish, Purple Image, 15-60-75, Witch Hazel, Mantissa, Mint ) (Flyer exists)
Aug 28th `71 Wildwood, NJ, Wildwood Convention Centre [Ticket]
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Sept 7th `71 Recording at RCA Studios, Chicago. According to contract, songs worked on were Desperado, Halo Of Flies and Under My Wheels
Sept `71 Oklahoma City (mentioned in Zig Zag article)
Sept `71 Tampa, FL Fairgrounds
Sept 12th `71 Hollywood, FL Sportatoreum (w/ MC-5 & others)
(Sept 13th-14th `71 Berkeley, CA Berkeley Theatre ( w/ Led Zeppelin))
Sept 17th '71 Brian Timmis Stadium, Hamilton, Ontario
Sept 19th '71 Richmond, VA, The Gym At Virginia Commonwealth University (w/ Goose Lake Symphony) - Poster exits
Sept 20th '71 Scranton Armory, Scranton, Pennsylvania [Date on Itinerary]
Sept 21st '71Convention Hall, Grove City, Pennsylvania [Date on Itinerary]
Sept 22nd `71 Peoria, IL The Barn (w/ Mike Quattro's Jam Band) (poster,ticket;PB)
Sept 24th-25th `71 Winterland, San Fanscisco (w/ Cold Blood, Glass Harp, John Nitzinger may have been in one of the support acts)(A handbill exists)
Sept 28th `71 Under My Wheels/Desperado released
Sept 30th `71 Rolling Stone run a news story about the building of the Gallows.
Oct '71 Alice appears on the Virginia Graham Show which is aired this month on various days depending on location between 1st October and the 5th November.
Oct 17th '71 Toledo, OH State Theater
Oct 19th `71 Irving, TX Danny Veno Auditorium
Oct 21st `71 Alice arrives in London
Oct 24th `71 Alice leaves London and flies to Denmark
Oct 25th `71 Copenhagen, Denmark Tivoli (w/ Tea)
Me,Alice mentions a Bremen show but could be referring to the Beat Club TV show which had Breman connections..
`Beat Club` TV appearance filmed and broadcast featuring `18`
Oct 26th `71 Alice leaves Denmark for Germany and records the performance on German show 'Beat Club'
Oct 27th `71 Frankfurt, Germany Jahrhunderhalle (w/ Procol Harem, Heads Hands and Feet) [Ticket]
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"In 1971 I carried Alice off stage on my shoulder. Shep Gordon had me dress up in a Warner Brothers gorilla outfit and said you can play it one of two ways. Either play a casual nonchalant gorilla, or a mean swinging side to side gorilla. I played the latter. German kids would say "Look behind You! Look behind You!" In English and German. Alice was throwing posters out into the audience. I'm sweating up a storm under the stage lights that were flown in from England for the gig. Alice and I get into a pushing match and I just picked him up and carried him to the wings of the stage for Alice to give the final direction to end the song. The lights went out and the crowd called him back out for two more encores. The next day Neal was talking to the press at the Continental Hyatt House and they were wondering who the Gorilla was." (Skip Ladd, May 2000)
Oct 28th `71 Alice arrives in Holland
Oct 29th `71 Amsterdam, Holland Concertgebouw (w/ B.P. Mense (a fakir act!))
Oct 30th `71 Zurich, Switzerland Volkshaus (w/ Tea)
Nov 2nd `71 Paris, France Pierre Cardin Theatre(Originally scheduled to be the Olympia but venue management wouldn`t allow them in(Me Alice), Omar Sharif, Bianca Jagger and Alain Delon in the audience) - French communist agitators smashed their way into the Cardin Theatre causing disruption.
Nov 3rd `71 The band arrive in the UK with Alice suffering from flu. Me Alice: Two TV shows, `Top of the Pop`s` and `The Old Grey Whistle Test`(`Under My Wheels` and `Is It My Body?`) recorded. However no TOTP`s was broadcast at this time so this could be an error.
Nov 4th `71 Birmingham, England Mayfair Suite(Original venue was The Kinetic Circus, Robert Plant in audience?) - First UK appearance
Nov 5th 1971 Records 'The Old Grey Whistle Test' TV Show
Nov 7th `71 London, England Rainbow Theatre (w/ Arthur Brown, Roger Ruskin Spear) (Bowie in audience) [Ticket] - 1st show to feature a snake (Neal's snake Kachina as seen on the cover of 'Killer').
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Nov 9th `71 Alice leaves London Alice was due to record an appearance on 'Top Of The Pops' on November 10th but this never happened.
Nov `71 Killer released