Alice Cooper brings musical horror show to Fresno

Cooper's performances are well known for their gore and bloody mayhem. Audience members can expect to see Cooper's decapitated head drop into a basket after being guillotined. The show also features death by hanging, electric chair and Iron Maiden.

"I think they kill me five times in this show," Cooper said.

Appropriately named "Theatre of Death," the act, which features big hits such as "School's Out," "I'm Eighteen" and "Poison," has drawn huge crowds throughout North America, Australia and Europe.

But it proved too shocking for one venue operator in Tampere, Finland's third largest city, who canceled a scheduled performance at Tampere Arena, citing as his reason: "Representation of false gods, demons, evilness and forces of darkness."

"We don't arrange concerts where Satanism or non-god-worshipping occurs," said Harri Wiherkoski, managing director of Tampere Arena.

After relocating the show to Helsinki, Cooper's management team urged Tampere fans to make their own judgment, and issued the following statement:

"What's really suspicious to us is the act of judging something that one has never seen, heard or, otherwise, experienced. There's nothing like an open mind and, clearly, Mr. Wiherkoski has nothing like one."

This most recent cancellation was nothing new for the rock star, as Cooper has seen bans and censorship dating back more than 35 years.

In 1973, the British Parliament discussed banning him from performing in the UK, while that same year, Cooper was banned from bringing his show to Binghamton, N. Y. Soviet media called for a ban on Cooper performances in 1974. In 1990 the Greek Orthodox Church called for Cooper to be expelled from Athens.

In a career spanning more than four decades, Cooper has always designed his shows to shock. He is largely credited with inventing the concept of rock concert as theater. His influence can be seen in bands such as NY Dolls, KISS, Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails and Motley Crue.

Cooper was born in 1948. His birth name was Vincent Damon Furnier, a name he continued to use while playing in a band called Alice Cooper.

But when fans started approaching Furnier saying, "Hey Alice!," he and the band realized that the concept of a male playing the role of an androgynous witch in tattered women's clothing and wearing make-up, would have the potential to create controversy and headlines.

So Furnier adopted the band's name as his own, later saying it was one of his most important and brilliant career moves.

Throughout his career, Cooper has recorded 25 studio albums and a number of live albums. He also hosts a radio show, "Nights with Alice Cooper," which features original classic rock, and is heard over a network of more than 100 stations.

Cooper's "Theatre of Death" will be featured in Fresno at the Saroyan Theatre on Oct. 27. Tickets are available at all Ticketmaster Outlets and the Fresno Convention & Entertainment Center Box Office.

(Oct. 23, 2009)