A return to 1980

[damiennalice]

The start of August is a special time of year for me. I seem to get a bit more nostalgic, for you see it is the anniversary of my first Alice Cooper show: August 1,1980. A 12 year old was going to his second rock concert ever and had lots of excitement going to the State Fair on that date in West Allis,WI. I had 7th row track seating at the famous Milwaukee Mile (which I thought was excellent seating). There were 6 of us that went to the show but only 3 people made it through the entire concert (the others were more interested in going back to the fair to go on the amuzement rides - FOOLS!).

Over the years,most of the contents of the show have faded from memory. The memories that remain? During the song Pain I experienced pain in my ears from the high notes played on guitar (how ironic); Alice digging through a trash can on stage and bringing out and putting on a Richard Nixon mask; and fireworks marking the end of the show. My goodies from the show were a concert t-shirt and a tour program. It would be 7 long years before I would see my next show.

Fast forward some twenty-odd years. I got my first computer. One of the first things I use it for was to search out Alice Cooper things. I soon discovered ST. OMG what a site. I was in heaven!! I spent many an hour a day looking around (I know,shameless plug - you're welcome Si teehee). Also around the same time,I discovered that what I have called "my show" was recorded. Incredible considering not many shows exist for trade from that tour. "My show" was available !! After trying a few other sites inquiring about my show with no results I came back to ST and made a request. { Si,you may not remember our correspondence but I sure do} I had an Alice show that unbeknownst to me at the time was not in the trading circle.A trade was made. Only my then wife knows of the excitement I had when a package arrived from England. I knew its contents. For the first time in 23 years I got to relive "my show".

The one thing I was missing was my ticket stub of the show. Somehow it got lost over the years. During the long ago days of daily chat,it was brought up once about that stub. I was told maybe one day it will show up on ebay or something. I didn't want to hold my breath. Long odds I thought. But low and behold one day it happened. That was one long week of waiting but in the end I was a new owner of a ticket stub from "my show". AMAZING ! About a year after that,unpublished photos reported to be from "my show" appeared on ebay as well. I was quickly in personal contact with the seller trying my darndest to truely verify that the photos were indeed from that show. Enough evidence was proven to me that they were. I paid a bit more than I wanted to but I HAD to have them.

The t-shirt was worn quite often. Enough so that it ended up practly see-through from use. It was finally put into storage to preserve as best that could be done. I got the tour program autographed at a special autograph session in 2004. It was placed in a frame along with the ticket stub and put on the wall above my bed. The unpublished pics were framed and put on the wall as well.

I have been an Alice Cooper fan for 33 of my 43 years. It has waned a bit over the past few years but the passion will always be there. The new tour is about to hit the States and unfortunately it will once again pass me by (don't worry..I wont complain about that fact as I have in the past for those that can recall teehee). I may have seen my last show and thats ok. I have seen many shows and in better and closer seats. But I will always remember when and where of that first time 31 years ago.

KEEP ROCKIN'

[dadascot]

Good recall,keep the flame alive.

[SickThings]

My second Alice show was August 7, 1980, at the KY State Fair. I remember a lot about the show, but my most vivid memory was near the end of the short-haired Alice show, when Alice let his hair down and said, "Aren't you glad I didn't cut it?"

You can find my ticket stub, a photo, and a newspaper review of the show here.

Hunter

[Gunner]

I presume you are talking about an audio recrding of 'your show' that you managed to obtain?

My first Alice show was February 12th, 1980 at Birmingham Odeon, England. He hadn't been to the UK (touring) for 7 years, and prior to that it had only been a 'handful' of a few selected gigs when I was aged 6 - 10, so that was my first opportunity - and I did the whole Special Forces tour (don't tell my teacher)!

I have been to about 30 AC gigs in the UK since then.

[Toronto Bob]

Thanks for the recollections damienalice, I like reading little details/audience stories of old alice shows.

I had a ticket to my first Aliceshow some 18 days after your show. I was in my seat totally pysched that I was finally going to see the man live in concert - after years of being a fan. Alas it was not to be, after what seemed like an eternity after the opening band Zon left the stage, it was announced "I'm sorry - Alice will not be able to lay tonight.." or something like that. A torrent of boos and chairs followed the announcement and it was pandamonium after that.

Missed the Special Forces tour that followed the next year - due to not hearing about either show in Toronto or Kitchener, so my next opportunity didn't come around until '86 with Constrictor. For a few years there I thought I would never see Alice live.

Minor trivia - they played the Tom Petty album "Damn the Torpedoes" twice in between Zon and the cancellation announcement.

[A_MichaelUK]

>My first Alice show was February 12th, 1980 at Birmingham Odeon, England.

Obviously, that date is wrong, but I'm sure most of us know what you meant.

[hallowedbemyname]

My first Alice concert was also my first concert I had ever been to. It was September 24th, 2002 at The Grove in Anaheim, California and it was a very special night. At that point, I had been a fan for four years, been Alice for Halloween (even in a Halloween parade!), and become well known at a local record store that I frequented looking to expand my Alice vinyl collection as "that little girl that can answer any Alice Cooper trivia question", so I was feeling really ready and a bit overdue for my first concert. I was 11, so I don't remember much about the show itself, but I had my Alice makeup on and my only (at the time) Alice t-shirt, and then after the show I got a program and a Welcome To My Nightmare pillow case. I was with my parents and brother and they were all acting suspicious and said that we should just hang out in the lobby for a little bit after the show, which I thought was weird but I went along with it. Then a lady walked up to us and handed backstage passes to me and my brother. I couldn't believe it! It turns out that my wonderful grandma got this idea to drive down to the venue earlier in the day and ask someone if there happened to be any extra passes, and they told her that if any of the radio station prize passes went unclaimed we could have them. I don't think I said a word to Alice, I was far too excited and nervous, but he did threaten to draw a mustache on me with his Sharpie. It was a fantastic first concert experience, but now whenever I go to a concert it feels so weird to just leave after the show ends

[Gunner]

Obviously, that date is wrong, but I'm sure most of us know what you meant.

sorry, yes, *1982*!

[steven_crayn]

Obviously, that date is wrong, but I'm sure most of us know what you meant.

sorry, yes, *1982*!

that was my first show too, nearly 50 shows since but that one will always be special even though I thought 86 was when he really returned to the classic live Alice character, heavy and mean