There are few bands for whom the phrase “rock ‘n’ roll circus” feels quite as appropriate as Hollywood Vampires. When Alice Cooper, Joe Perry and Johnny Depp walked onto the stage of Manchester’s AO Arena on Tuesday night, they brought with them not just a catalogue of songs but decades of rock mythology, and a determination to celebrate it at maximum volume.
The Manchester show on 18 August was part of the Vampires’ long-awaited UK return, with The Jesus and Mary Chain opening the night. The Vampires took to the stage at 9pm for a 105-minute performance that moved effortlessly between their own material, Alice Cooper and Aerosmith classics, and tributes to the artists who helped shape them.
The opening was suitably theatrical. ‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead’ created an appropriately gothic atmosphere before ‘I Want My Now’ and ‘Raise the Dead’ finally unleashed the band. It was a dramatic introduction, but Hollywood Vampires have never been interested in subtlety.
Cooper, of course, is the heart of it. At 78 he remains an extraordinary stage presence. The voice is instantly recognisable, the timing impeccable and the mischievous theatricality completely intact. ‘I’m Eighteen’ was an early highlight, sounding less like an exercise in nostalgia and more like a declaration that Cooper still has plenty of life left in him.
‘My Dead Drunk Friends’ summed up the evening’s purpose. Hollywood Vampires were formed around a simple idea: to celebrate the music and memories of the rock stars who are no longer here. That makes the band’s set something more than a collection of covers. It is part tribute show, part history lesson and part enormous rock ‘n’ roll party.
Johnny Depp, meanwhile, proved considerably more than the celebrity guest some might have expected. Taking lead vocals on ‘Venus in Furs’ and ‘People Who Died’, he looked completely at home onstage, contributing guitar and vocals without attempting to steal the spotlight from Cooper or Joe Perry.
‘People Who Died’ was particularly effective. There was something poignant about thousands of people singing a song built around remembering lost artists, while the Vampires themselves stood as living connections to several generations of rock history.
Joe Perry brought a different kind of authority. His guitar playing remains gloriously economical, with no need for unnecessary flash when you’ve spent half a century helping define the sound of Aerosmith. ‘You Can’t Put Your Arms Round a Memory’ gave Perry the opportunity to take centre stage vocally before ‘Livin’ on the Edge’ turned the arena into an Aerosmith singalong.
The set then continued through ‘Baba O’Riley’, ‘Bright Light Fright’, ‘Beck’s Bolero’ and ‘Roadhouse Blues’, with the Manchester set broadly following the song choices heard elsewhere on the UK tour.
What makes Hollywood Vampires work, however, isn’t simply the famous names involved. The supporting musicians are superb, giving the songs a muscular, contemporary edge while allowing the headline trio to concentrate on the spectacle. The result is a band that sounds considerably tighter and more powerful than the concept might suggest.
Yes, it’s indulgent. Three huge personalities, a set of their heroes’ songs, arena lighting and a production to match. But indulgence is the whole point of a band like this. Nobody walks into a Hollywood Vampires show expecting restraint, and in Manchester nobody wanted it.
The most impressive thing about the night was the sheer energy. This could easily have been a museum piece, three famous musicians running through the classics and letting nostalgia do the heavy lifting. It wasn’t. It felt like a party thrown by people who still love this music.
By the time the final notes rang around the AO Arena, Hollywood Vampires had delivered exactly what their name promises: a gloriously excessive celebration of rock’s past, performed with enough energy and attitude to make it feel very much alive in the present.
Cooper is still a master showman, Perry an institution on guitar, and Depp has earned his place in the band rather than just occupying it. Manchester got one hell of a rock show.
Verdict: 10/10 A theatrical, loud and hugely entertaining celebration of rock’s fallen heroes, with enough genuine musicianship to make the nostalgia feel completely justified.
Credit: Source link