Customer Reviews

Alice Cooper: Theatre Of Death - Live At Hammersmith 2009 (DVD / CD)

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4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
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I had planned to pass on the latest Alice Cooper DVD/CD combo, Theatre of Death: Live at Hammersmith 2009. After all, how many versions of "School's Out" and "18" does a guy need?

At least one more, as it turns out. Despite having two or three other video versions of Cooper shows in my home library, I added this latest set to my collection today, and I'm glad I did. Beautifully filmed, the recording captures a set list and theatrical show virtually identical to the one my wife and I saw just a few weeks back in Cleveland. Apparently, the Cooper tradition of only changing shows every other year still holds true.

Basically, this is Cooper doing what he does best: Serving as ringleader for a group of talented younger musicians and ripping through as many classic tunes from his repertoire as possible. Only a few songs from the last decade make the cut ("Dirty Diamonds," "Wicked Young Man" and "Vengeance Is Mine"), with a few more obscure hits ("Guilty" and "Nurse Rosetta," the last being one of my favorite Cooper tracks from the criminally under-appreciated 1979 album, "From the Inside") inserted for good measure.

This DVD is better than 2005's "Live at Montreux," largely because the theatrics are much stronger. The Hammersmith show offers super-sized syringes, a hanging, a guillotining, and a disturbing belt-sander-to-the-crotch sequence. Cooper's is in fine voice here, and damn if it doesn't get stronger past the halfway point when he serves up two ballads in a row "Only Women Bleed" and "I Never Cry."

Band members Damon Johnson and Keri Kelli (guitars), Chuck Garric (bass) and Jimmy DeGrasso (drums) offer a tight set. Garric is especially effective when he takes over lead vocal duties on "I Love the Dead," giving Cooper a chance to prep for the one-two-three punch of the finale, "No More Mr. Nice Guy," "Under My Wheels," and "School's Out."

Weak points? Well, opening and closing with "School's Out" is overkill, even for such a seminal anthem, and I would love to hear Cooper give some of the newer songs from his oeuvre a chance live. With so many classics to choose from, it's a tough decision to scratch an old standby in favor of something newer, but I wish the ratio of old to new wasn't so skewed.

I'm glad I dropped sixteen dollars on this DVD. Doubtless, I'll give it at least one more play before Halloween. If you're into vintage hard rock with a theatrical flair, this one is practically nirvana.

Alice just gets better and better each year.... I saw this concert at Freedom Hill.. It's an amazing dvd, you get to see all the little things you may have missed at the concert. What a show

My expectations were not that high for this latest AC concert DVD, but damn, I was wrong. I love the new arrangements of these songs compared to the highly polished versions offered up on Live at Montreux from 2005. That was a great band, half of them are back, and guitarist Keri Kelli and long-time/part-time Alice drummer Jimmy DeGrasso make it interesting even if you've seen his more recent shows or concert DVDs. Thanks to Alice for including Wicked Young Man (my personal favorite) from the great Brutal Planet CD, From the Inside, Nurse Rozetta, and Cold Ethyl. Dirty Diamonds is another standout - Alice has a blast and so does the audience, and it's just a great live tune. Other than Alice, how many classic rock stars' recent material can stand up with their classics - NO ONE else. The man truly enjoys what he does and it shows. As long as he can get musicians this talented and put on shows like this, I hope he goes forever.

vintage coop.

what he does differently on this dvd as opposed to others is bring back some of the old favorites never done before on past releases.a totally redone atypical stage set,that is amazingly fresh.absolutely worth the price of admission!!!

alice is a bit like ozzy in that he has an incredible sense of talent.this backing band is replete with a set of no name musicians who perform better than even "brutally live" personnel,who included eric singer,ryan roxie,and greg smith.

at one point he performs in a wheel chair,dressed in asylum issued clothing and doing songs about his stint in rehab off of "FROM THE INSIDE".his dark sense of humor is everywhere on this dvd.a man who has exorcised his demons,and can laugh at himself,while entertaining us.this man has jettisoned the belief that rock careers are generally short lived.he has masterfully thrilled us for over 40 years,and there is no end in sight.

this killer vid starts with power,and moves along seamlessly,on a pace that has no gaps.he is the ultimate showman,who never fails to satisfy.opening with "SCHOOLS OUT",he firmly grasps control,and you know and feel it."DEPARTMENT OF YOUTH",the anthem for rebellious youth screams next,followed by one of the finest live versions of "I'M EIGHTEEN" that i've ever heard.all the greatest COOP hits are here.

the second disc is an anthology of live performances with all his bands,including the first band, GLEN BUXTON,MIKE BRUCE,DENNIS DUNAWAY,AND NEIL SMITH.this is in cd form,but is just a killer collection of all the best.all the fabulous musicians are here.....DICK WAGNER,STEVE HUNTER,ERIC SINGER,RYAN ROXIE,STEF BURNS,DEREK SHERINIAN,AND SO MANY OTHERS.

it is a well produced vid,very clean with many angle shots,so you miss nothing.a true 5.1 surround recording that fills the room.an absolute gas,from start to finish.a must have vid,for any collection,but especially ALICE COOPER lovers.

Alice Cooper's Theatre of Death tour has been an awesome showcase for the founder of what we call shock rock. There is no one better than the original and Alice pulls out all the stops for a show where "they keep killing him and he keeps conming back!"
The DVD is excellent and is the complete show. However, the only thing that is a little disappointing is the CD. In order to fit the complete show onto one disc, they cut musical elements out of songs throughout the CD. In other DVD/CD releases songs were simply omitted. With this release they chose to truncate songs. This leaves this listener feeling a little cheated. However, there are the Simfy releases that can be bought for concerts from different cities throughout the tour that contain the complete show without any cuts.
The good thing about the CD is the audio quality. It lacks some of the music but what is there sounds really good. However, a song like The Black Widow instrumental that is a showcase for the band being shortened does it an injustice.
Overall, this is an awesome release and with all of the other full recordings available is not a bad document for one of Alice Coopers best tours in years!

Alice's latest DVD, Theater of Death-Live at Hammersmith 2009, shows that He's still got it, both as a showman, and a Rock Star!
A "best of" set list showcasing some of the greatest Cooper songs, and a show that gives us a taste of the many "Deaths" Alice has "suffered" throughout the years. A fun concert experience for fans old and new!

For the curious, here's the difference between the DVD soundtrack and the CD content: not much.

The DVD is just over 92 minutes, starting with about 30 seconds of instrumental intro and ending with "Welcome to My Nightmare" playing over the credits. Neither of those tracks appears on the CD. In addition, "Only Women Bleed" and "I Never Cry" are two tracks on the CD, but one chapter on the DVD; this is why both discs list 27 tracks. (The "Nightmare" end credits are a 28th chapter, and could well be the album version.) Other than that, the differences seem to be just little cuts to tighten up the show so it'll fit on a CD - 30 seconds here, a minute there, cutting out some of the incidental audio that goes with the more visual "acting" parts of the show. I haven't done an in-depth comparison yet, but that seems to be the case from looking at chapter and track times.

The inclusion of the CD booklet was a nice touch, and I found myself wishing I'd bought this in the "CD with bonus DVD" packaging instead of vice versa. That way, I could've put my Montreux 2005 and Hammersmith 2009 DVDs together in the Montreux case and the CDs together in this jewel case. Live and learn, though. I really would've preferred that the full DVD audio had been put onto the DVD as high bitrate MP3s, truth be told - that way, one disc would do everything.

Don't let the format nitpicks dissuade you, though - this is a wild show and a worthy addition to your collection, in any of the three formats.

Alice Cooper puts on a fantastic show, playing all of his hits, as well as, many fan favorites. The quality is great. This is a must have DVD for every Alice fan!!!

I recently saw Alice Cooper during the "No More Mr. Nice Guy" tour in Grand Rapids, Michigan as part of the outdoor "Rock the Rapids" celebration. The review said he did not interact with the 7,000 plus crowd enough but did he really need to? From the opening notes of "Schools Out," he demanded and commanded the audience. No doubt, he was in charge.

Both shows "No More...", and " Theatre..." share much of the same set list. I did miss "Clones", "Feed My Frankenstein (with a giant puppet)" and "Elected" from "Theatre..." though.

One major arrangement change at " Rock the Rapids" was during "Schools Out." It incorporated the lyrics to the sing-along-song part (We don't need no education...) of Pink Floyd's, "Another Brick in the Wall, Part II." It was a nice touch which is hard to describe to others without actually seeing or hearing it. I wish this CD/DVD combo with two versions of "Schools Out" would have done the same.

Both visual and audio were crystal clear with a commodity not heard often in live albums; great background vocals. This was an impulse purchase due to seeing the recent show with my son. I'm glad I picked it up and look forward to revisiting a great Alice Cooper experience for years to come.

Although there are many live Alice Cooper shows to choose from, I would definitely recommend this to others.

This is a great album for fans of Alice Cooper's live shows, the theatrics are great, Cooper's singing has somehow not faded even an inch, and the song list is pretty long so you dont end up feeling like it's way too short. My only complaint is that Alice's setlists these past few years have become rather predictable. What you will generally hear are songs from the classic Alice Cooper band albums (Love it To Death, Killer, School's Out and Billion Dollar Babies) a few cuts off his first solo album Welcome to My Nightmare, two or three songs from this past decade, and lets not forget his most successful hit Poison. that still leaves so many albums that constantly get ignored (it's a miracle that performing Nurse Rozetta even crossed Coop's mind) They could add songs from the Flush The Fashion , Special Forces, Zipper Catches Skin, and Dada. Hell those later two albums have never had any of their songs played live I think it's about time they get their due. What about Raise Your Fist and Yell, certaintly he can fit Roses on White Lace, Time To Kill or Lock Me Up somewhere in there. and when was the last time he played anything from Hey Stoopid or Last Temptation or even Dragontown. and hell although I understand why he never plays songs from Pretties For You or Easy Action you certaintly wont here me complaining if he ever decides to add at least one song from either album to the set. I understand that with such an extensive cataloge it's impossible to please everybody but there's still no reason that only 20 - 30% of that cataloge is getting any concert play. Like I said great show, great performance I just wish there weren't so many of his albums getting constantly ignored