The original shock rocker Alice Cooper is on tour now with Motley Crue. The Crue has sadly cancelled all photogs from their shows, but Mr. Cooper allowed us to shoot front and center, and it was one of the best shoots of my career. Cooper schooled this crowd with what he does best, incorporating his classic horror themed, over the top theatrics with his brilliant catalog spanning over 40 years.

Cooper pulled out all of the stops for this one including the guillotine, Frankenstein, straitjackets, hot crazy mental ward nurses, along with a cast of monsters and ghoulish tricks that ended with a showering of confetti and a full house of fans singing “Schools Out” at the top of their lungs. Even though Crüe is retiring, Alice Cooper is 66 years young and absolutely killing it on stage—literally and figuratively.

Cooper always puts together and amazing band but this time he has outdone himself. There’s a new addition named Nita Strauss who is absolutely mind-blowing. This one can shred with the best of them and she was on fire. She is the type of guitarist who is carrying the torch for heavy metal and introducing new fans to the pivotal role a lead guitar plays.

In a world where guitar solos are becoming increasingly sparse, Nita Strauss is making them sexy again, and again I mean that both literally and figuratively.

 

*A version of this post originally appeared on www.thevinyldistrict.com