Watch Alice Cooper play a wild version of I’m Eighteen on The Midnight Special

Alice Cooper only played live on The Midnight Special once, but when he finally did – in early 1979 – it was truly something else. 

The Detroit man had been interviewed on the show in August 1976 as part of a two-part “Tribute To Alice Cooper” segment, but three years later he arrived in the wake of 1978’s controversial From The Inside album with full band in tow, and hosted the show with a special guest, legendary DJ Wolfman Jack. 

It was not like other shows. The Wolfman interviewed Cooper before he played Inmates (We’re All Crazy) from the new album, but Cooper wore a mask over his mask so that his responses were muffled. And there was a bizarre fantasy skit that involved a straightjacketed Alice being held in a cage while disco dancers enthusiastically boogied. 

Cooper performed two more tracks from From The Inside, the title track and Serious, and revisited his back catalogue for three classics: 1975’s Only Women Bleed, 1973’s Billion Dollar Babies, and 1970’s I’m Eighteen. And it’s the latter that’s just been added to The Midnight Special‘s ever-growing YouTube archive. 

You have to assume that the rest of the set will be added to the archive soon, but this is a great start, with a band featuring Elton John’s regular guitarist Davey Johnstone alongside three musicians who’d played on 1975’s Welcome To My Nightmare: the legendary rhythm partnership of bassist Prakash John on bass and drummer Whitey Glan, plus keyboardist Jozef Chirowski. 

Live In Rio, the new album from Cooper’s supergroup Hollywood Vampires, is out today. Hollywood Vampires’ European tour begins on June 8 in Romania. Full dates below.

Hollywood Vampires European Tour 2023

Jun 08: Bucharest Romexpo, Romania
Jun 10: Istanbul Life Park, Turkey
Jun 12: Sofia Arena-Armeec, Bulgaria
Jun 15: Clisson Hellfest Open Air, France
Jun 17: Landgraaf Pinkpop Festival, Netherlands
Jun 18: Antwerp Graspop Festival, Belgium
Jun 20: Oberhausen Rudolf Weber Arena, Germany
Jun 21: Luxembourg Rockhal, Luxembourg
Jun 23: Grenchen Summerside Festival, Switzerland
Jun 24: Munich Olympiahalle, Germany
Jun 25: Paris Zenith La Villette, France
Jun 27: Hamburg Stadtpark, Germany
Jun 28: Berlin Citadel Music Festival, Germany
Jun 30: Mainz Summer in the City, Germany
Jul 01: Sperken Castle Clam, Austria
Jul 02: Marostica Marostica Summer Festival, Italy
Jul 05: Scarborough Open Air Theatre, UK
Jul 07: Swansea Swansea Arena, UK
Jul 08: Manchester AO Arena, UK
Jul 09: London The O2, UK
Jul 11: Birmingham Utilita Arena, UK
Jul 12: Glasgow OVO Hydro, UK
Jul 15: Stuttgart Hanns-Martin Schleyer-Halle, Germany
Jul 16: Slavkov Open Air, Czech Republic
Jul 18: Budapest Papp Laszlo Sports Arena, Hungary
Jul 20: Slatina Olympic Fields Zvolenska, Slovakia
Jul 22: Slupsk Legends of Rock Charlotta Valley, Poland
Jul 23: Wolfsburg Summerstage Autostadt, Germany

Jul 28: Boston Wang Theatre – Boch Center, MA
Jul 29: Manchester SNHU Arena, NH
Jul 30: Bethel Woods Center For The Arts, NY

Tickets are on sale now. 

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 37 years in music industry, online for 24. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.