Listen to them, the children of the night. What music they make. With a combined age of 451, you would be forgiven for thinking that the seven-piece Hollywood Vampires should be about ready for retirement. You would be wrong, of course, given that these guys are more sprightly than a spring lamb and rock harder than the devil himself.
Hollywood Vampires – The Jesus And Mary Chain
The O2, London – 12 August 2026
Words: Steve Kenton
Photography: Manuela Langotsch
Led by everybody’s favourite rock-god Alice Cooper, the Hollywood Vampires are loud, boisterous and bags of fun. With Joe Perry, Tommy Henriksen and Johnny Depp on guitar, The O2 Arena became their own personal playground. Not only did they own The O2, but they also owned a sold-out crowd too.
Multiple jets releasing plumes of heavy smoke at the front of the stage, vampiric imagery displayed on a huge digital screen, howls and squeals emanate from multiple speakers. Then the most famous line from Bram Stoker’s novel. “Listen to them, the children of the night. What music they make.”
Was it recited by Lugosi, Palance, Louis Jordan, maybe? Perhaps it was Gary Oldman. Who knows, who cares! It heralded the entrance of one of rock’s greatest entertainers along with his legendary, guitar-wielding disciples. Hollywood Vampires were here, and they were here for a “bloody” good time.
Greeting the crowd and twirling his baton, the incomparable Alice Cooper and his bloodsuckers take their first bite out of the audience, opening with I Want My Now from the Vampires’ 2019 offering, Rise. With its raw and aggressive attack on the audience, it set us all up nicely for the lads to sink their fangs into us again with Raise The Dead.
With a thunderous bassline, courtesy of Chris Wyse and a zombie-laden video, this dark and dramatic number had the crowd on its feet. Oh, and a bespectacled, cap-imbued Johnny Depp took the solo, much to the delight of everybody in attendance.
My Dead Drunk Friends, a rather slinky, bluesy number, celebrating the lives of one or two rock legends who took the term “drink until you drop” a little too literally, flew in like a bat in the night. With the keyboard talents of Buck Johnson heavily featured and some rather solid tub-thumping from drummer Glen Sobel, again this number had the crowd mesmerised.
Aerosmith legend Joe Perry, unmistakable with his streaked hair, enters into some guitar interplay with Depp during the solo. Depp’s laconic style of playing compared to Perry’s more flamboyant approach makes him look almost uncomfortable. But nothing could be further from the truth. They were clearly having fun.
The Alice Cooper classic, I’m Eighteen, followed, with Alice waving a wooden crutch in the air, clearly mocking the fact that at 78, he is still performing that particular track. Tommy Henriksen was the main focus guitar-wise. Highly energetic, Henriksen is the baby of the Vampires at a mere 62. He was thrashing around like a 20-year-old, guitar slung low. Every note played was spot on.
Boogie Man Surprise and Venus In Furs, were all up next, before People Who Died fired up.
A stunning keyboard opening, then boom, a superfast start with Johnny on vox followed by Alice Cooper backing. Featuring Depp on lead vocals, this blues number has a Leonard Cohen feel about it, and then Joe Perry’s Telecaster, minus its neck pickup, goes into overdrive and blows that right out the window.
It was rather sobering to see images of all the music greats that we have lost over the years. Everybody, from John Lennon to Edward Van Halen and Joe Strummer to Elvis, was featured in the accompanying video. The tributes continued with the next song dedicated to Johnny Thunders.
Joe Perry took on vocal duties for You Can’t Put Your Arms Around A Memory, which was originally written by the former New York Dolls guitarist who passed away in 1991.
It also featured Alice on guitar, which surprised me somewhat as I had never seen him live before and did not realise he could play. Every day is a school day.
Who’s Laughing Now, Living On The Edge, a Hollywood Vampires live debut, and Baba O’ Riley then seduced the audience like the brides of Dracula, with Cooper announcing that the third of this trio was dedicated to the court jester of rock, the greatest drummer of all time, and the greatest bassist of all time, Keith Moon and John Entwistle.
With Depp taking up the acoustic guitar and then switching back to his usual axe of choice, he finally moved across to the opposite side of the stage. He took his time, but it was worth it. Oh, and let’s not ignore Greg Sobel’s awesome drum solo. Anybody trying to emulate Keith Moon deserves as much recognition as possible, and Sobel absolutely nailed it.
There was so much audience interaction it was actually quite difficult to hear the vocals, but everybody was having fun.
Bright Light Fright led up to a tribute to the late, great Jeff Beck. The three guitarists were flowing like the blood from one of Dracula’s victims. Tommy with his power stance, Joe working that slide, and Johnny doing a Lindsay Buckingham and engaging in some finger-picking. Was Johnny using Beck’s white Fender Strat? I think he might have been. Fantastic.
A quick change of his shirt and Alice is back on the vocals for Roadhouse Blues, before The Death And Resurrection Show flew out of the traps, with its Amazonian feel and rather mad guitar and vocal effects. Featuring Depp on vocals and Cooper shaking his skull-imbued maracas, this song continued the emphasis on lost rock legends with images of tombstones featuring Bowie, Ozzy, Beck, Lemmy and Bonham among others.
This band really are tighter than Alice Cooper’s trousers and more bombastic than Cap’n Jack Sparrow.
A blast of Bowie’s Heroes, followed by Highway to Hell and Walk This Way, led into a mash-up of Cooper’s School’s Out and Floyd’s Brick in the Wall.
Incidentally, you have to give credit to the chap who was two rows in front of me doing The Bangles Walk Like An Egyptian dance. Right idea, wrong gig, but bloody funny, and your dancing was awesome.
Then enters another legend, bringing up the combined age to 530, Hillingdon’s finest son, the one and only Ronnie Wood, took to the stage for a couple of tracks.
The Train Kept A-Rollin’ and Brown Sugar slammed into the audience like a stake in the heart from Abraham Van Helsing himself. Four guitars, a plethora of legends. The crowd stood no chance. If you were not up dancing, you were either drunk or dead. It was a party. A vampiric orgy.
Let’s face it, no party would be complete without a blast of Hi-Ho Silver Lining, and Hollywood Vampires did not disappoint. A capacity crowd was shaking what their mama gave ’em and punching the air as though their very souls depended on it. What a night.
This was the Hollywood Vampires’ world, and we were just living in it for a brief couple of hours.
Fangs for a great gig. Yep, another gratuitous vampire pun.
The Jesus And Mary Chain
The Jesus And Mary Chain brought their hard-rocking, yet understated energy to The O2 Arena, supporting Hollywood Vampires.
The Scottish rockers, fronted by Jim and William Reid, blasted out a 7-song setlist, featuring tracks such as Blues From A Gun, Just Like Honey and Reverence.
There is a slightly melancholic aspect to how this group go about their business, but do not be fooled by this. They really are rock powerhouses, wolves dressed as lambs, and will blow you right off your feet.
Although their setlist is career-spanning, they could do with a few more tracks and a little more stage-time. After all, their career spans more than 40 years. With some excellent musicianship and some rather nice guitar riffs, they were a great opener for the evening’s events.
The Jesus And Mary Chain have still got it and are definitely worth seeing live. You will not be disappointed.
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