The 6th of July, 2022, was dedicated to the one and only Alice Cooper and Scorpions. I have been many times in a Scorpions gig, but this would be my first time to see Alice Cooper live. Of course, I am so much into Alice Cooper and Scorpions, so you can understand how much I was looking forward to this live show!
According to the program, Alice Cooper would start his show at 19:30 and that’s what happened. The Olympic stadium of Athens wasn’t full at this time, but the Alice Cooper fans were already in the front rows. And when the legendary shock hard rocker appeared on stage, everyone went crazy! Alice Cooper played almost all of his classic songs, from all his long career, such as “No Mr. Nice Guy”, “Be My Lover”, “Under My Wheels”, “I’m Eighteen”, “Poison”, “House of Fire”, “Hey Stoopid”, “Dead Babies”, “School’s Out” etc. The King of Darkness was performing like a teenager, with his voice being in good shape, in front of a castle that was built on the stage and with all his stage show. The fact that Alice Cooper played early in the afternoon wasn’t an obstacle for him – everybody in the Stadium enjoyed the impressive persona of Alice Cooper and all his amazing hard rock tunes! His live band, including three guitarists (and Nita Strauss among them), was super, having an incredible sound, tight, fresh and loud! My favorite moment of the set was “Steven” and in general, we all had a great time with Alice Cooper. An unforgettable show by the one and only, Mr. Cooper!
After the extravagant, majestic performance of Alice Cooper, a whole stadium was waiting impatiently for Scorpions. The Germans were on time at their rendezvous with the Greek audience and hit the stage furiously and relentlessly! First track was “Gas in the Tank” from their latest album, “Rock Believer”, and everybody got the message – Scorpions is here, loud as hell, kicking ass, screaming and showing their “rock belief”! I don’t know what is your opinion about Scorpions, but I do know that Scorpions is an overwhelming force of true rock n’ roll, with timeless and priceless melodies, with innumerable rockers and ballads, some of which we listened to that night! I didn’t like the fact that Scorpions didn’t play a lot of their 70s stuff, but I cannot be grumpy, when this band is playing all these great numbers! Yes, I would like to listen to “Holiday” and/or “Always Somewhere”, but OK, they can’t play all their classics. It was a blast, for sure, both sides (the crazy band and the thousands of fans) were super-satisfied and celebrated a unique, hard rock night. Scorpions thanked us and said goodbye with a powerful edition of “Rock You Like a Hurricane” – yes, that was a true show of genuine rock n’ roll. ‘Til next time, of course!
This Alice Cooper and Scorpions co-headline concert was amazing and will always remain as a wonderful memory in our mind and heart. Alice Cooper and Scorpions practiced what they preach and we all testified – we are rock believers!
Dimitris Zacharopoulos
