Bucky!
Incredible review! You didn't write the whole thing in one sitting, did you?
Not surprising since the music was so very good! I still say it was a pity that Alice Cooper didn't continue as a band.
Before Alice Cooper made it big, the band used to play in London, Ontario on a fairly regular basis at Wonderland, a pavilion in a woodland setting where you could "swim and dance the night away". Other frequent visitors to Wonderland were Cat Mother & the All Night Newsboys, George Oliver & His Children and Grant Smith & the Power. I took in a memorable Crazy World of Arthur Brown concert at Wonderland on a hot, claustrophobic summer night. But Alice Cooper I always missed.
After the band hit big with "I'm Eighteen" though, the fellows were booked to play during orientation week at the start of the school year on the practice field beside the football stadium at the University of Western Ontario. It was a pleasant late summer evening and the crowd was mellow - not surprising since Western has a reputation as the "country club" of Canadian universities. So a fellow from the student council took the stage to make a public service announcement urging the crowd to support whatever the designated orientation week charity happened to be. Then out of the blue a shout of "Get off the stage asshole" from right by the stage intruded on the polite inattention the councillor was getting. "Huh?!" I thought. "That sounds like something one of my drunken albeit callous buddies would yell." I was right. A couple of them had snuck in by crawling under the fence!
Alice Cooper came on all dressed in tight green skindiving suits and put on a memorable performance. Pausing on occasion to take a swig from the stubbies in which beer was sold in Canada at the time, Alice the singer didn't disappoint. During "I'm Eighteen", he substituted the lyrics "Drinking Labatt's 50 Ale" for whatever and baptised the front rows with the remaining contents of his bottle. The fellows certainly liked their beer. Nonetheless, a good time was had by all, perhaps including even the feckless student councillor!
***: