1972 : July – December
Early July – SCHOOL’S OUT album released
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1972 July
July 11, 1972 – Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. [w/Humble Pie/Uriah Heep]. Three Rivers Stadium was opened in 1970, closed in 2000 and demolished in 2001, by implosion. Former home of MLB Pittsburgh Pirates and NFL Pittsburgh Steelers.
This show was rescheduled from June 23….due to rain and flooding.
July 12, 1972 – Cessna Stadium, Wichita, Kansas
[with Dr, Hook, Flo & Eddie]. Part of Wichita State University. Built in 1969 – renovated in 1996.
July 13, 1972 – Fairgrounds Arena, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma [w/ Dr. Hook]
July 14, 1972 – Ector County Coliseum, Odessa, Texas. A multi-purpose stadium, built in 1954. Still used – most often for rodeos, business conferences, and musical events.
July 15, 1972 – County Coliseum, El Paso, Texas
[w/ Jo Jo Gunn, Captain Beyond]
July 16, 1972 – Manzanita Speedway, Phoenix, Arizona
[w/ Canned Heat, Captain Beyond]
Originally a dog racing track, the Manzanita Speedway was a dirt track racing facility located in the suburban southwestern part of Phoenix, AZ, beginning in 1951. The facility had a 1/3 mile and 1/2 mile tracks. The final race was held their in 2009.
Janice Buxton-Davison recalls this show:
The family’s of the band members sat in the enclosed press-box. Glen’s mom and dad and Janice were protected from the big dust storm that swept though the area (a haboob). Janice thinks the storm hit before the band came on, so there was a delay. After the show (and drinking up the free booze) Janice and her parents went to an after-party at the Del Webb townhouse on Central Ave, where the band was staying. Glen was engaged to Denise at the time, so Glen decided to carve Denise and his initials into a coffee table in the townhouse.
Arizona Republic articles on concert at Manzanita Speedway. Click to enlarge.
July 17, 1972 – Fairground Speedway, Salt Lake City, Utah
July 18, 1972 – Firebird Raceway, Emmet, Idaho
July 19, 1972 Grant Stadium, Phoenix, AZ
July 30-31, 1972 – Cobo Arena, Detroit, Michigan
[w/ Ursa Major on the 30th and Black Oak Arkansas on the 31st]
Cobo Hall and Cobo Arena, is a convention center situated along Jefferson and Washington avenues in downtown . Built in 1960, it was named for Albert E. Cobo, mayor of Detroit from 1950 to 1957.
Summer `72 Detroit Rouge Park (Free Concert) Late July or Early August.
During the very late 60’s and early 70’s, the City of Detroit would put on free concerts in various locations. One of these locations was Rouge Park in western Detroit. Most of the bands were local, and fairly unknown, outside Detroit. Every so often, a “name act” would show up and do a few songs….sometimes un-announced before hand. The area in the photos below was one of the most often used spots for these free events. Just north of Joy Road off Lasher Road – which was just a dirt road. During the winter, the city would flood this area for ice skating. This POSSIBLE venue is interesting to me, because it was no more than a mile from my parent’s house where I grew up. I went to several concerts here…but I don’t recall Alice Cooper being at any of them. Since I did not go to all of them….it is a possibility that the band performed at a show.
There was no seating, you just sat on the grass in front of a ‘not so large’ stage. (Thus the phrase, “it’s a grasser”, which was a common saying in the Detroit area for any gathering that was not indoors.) Early on, these Rouge Park shows were fun…but they soon became a gathering spot for local biker “groups” and things started to get a little hairy at some shows.
1972 August
August ??, 1972 – Scope, Norfolk, Virginia
August 4, 1972 – Dillion Stadium, Hartford, Connecticut. [w/ J. Geils Band and Dr. John] Dillon Stadium was built in 1935 and is still being used.
August 5, 1972 – Rubber Bowl, Akron, Ohio
[w/ J. Geils Band, Dr. John]
August 6, 1972 – Cincinnati Gardens, Cincinnati, Ohio. The Cincinnati Gardens is an indoor sports and entertainment arena located in Cincinnati, Ohio, that opened in 1949.
Click on the link below to watch about 5 minutes of 8mm footage, supposedly shot at the Cincinnati Gardens during this show.
August 7, 1972 – Convention Center, Louisville, Kentucky
[w/ Wishbone Ash, Ursa Major] Built in 1905, this venue is still going today hosting basketball and pro wrestling. It has gone by the names Jefferson Armory and Louisville Convention Center and more recently, Louisville Gardens
???August 9, 1972 – Possible show in Shreveport, Louisiana. The Coliseum at State Fair Grounds
August 10, 1972 – Roosevelt Stadium, Jersey City, New Jersey
with J. Geils Band
Roosevelt Stadium was a baseball park at Droyer’s Point in Jersey City, New Jersey.. It opened in April 1937 and hosted high-minor league baseball baseball. It was demolished in 1985.
August 12, 1972 – Fort Wayne, Indiana /Memorial Coliseum [w/Ursa Major] (eyewitness).
August 13, 1972 – Nashville, Tennessee Fairground Speedway/State Fairgrounds, [Special Guest Star Goose Creek Symphony / extra added attraction Ursa Major]
August 14, 1972 – Hampton, VA,
The Hampton Coliseum is a multi-use cultural, entertainment and sports arena in Hampton, Virginia. Construction on the arena began on May 24, 1968, and the venue opened in 1970 as the first large multi-purpose arena in the Hampton Roads region and the state of Virginia, opening a year prior to the Norfolk Scope in Norfolk, Virginia.
August 15, 1972 – Civic Center, Charleston, West Virginia
[w/ Ursa Major, Looking Glass] The Charleston Civic Center is a municipal complex located in the downtown area of Charleston, WV. Originally completed in 1959. Now is a part of a Holiday Inn center.
August 17-18, 1972 – North Carolina Speedway, Rockingham, North Carolina Peach Tree Celebration. The Faces cancelled, Alice Cooper was their replacement. [W/ Three Dog Night and more] The Rockingham Speedway was opened in 1965 and became one of the most famous NASCAR raceways in America. Today it receives very little use.
August 23…..School’s Out reaches #1
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1972 September
Sept 2, 1972 – Varsity Stadium, Toronto, Ontario
September 4, 1972 – Montreal Forum, Montreal, Quebec
SOLD OUT. 18,000 in attendance. [w/ Wang Dang Doodle Orchestra, and Dr. John.]
The Montreal Forum (French: Le Forum de Montréal) was an indoor arena located facing Cabot Square in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Called “the most storied building in hockey history” by Sporting News, it was the home of the National Hockey League’s Montreal Canadiens from 1926 to 1996. The Forum was built by the Canadian Arena Company in 159 days. Located at the northeast corner of Atwater and Ste-Catherines West. Opened in 1924, it closed in 1996 and was demolished in 1998.
September 6, 1972 – Quebec Forum????? No info found
1972 October
October 28, 1972 – Municipal Auditorium, Bangor, Maine
October 29, 1972 – Civic Center, Springfield, Massachusetts
[w/ Wet Willie and Edgar Winter Group]
Holidays: Alice and Cindy Laing go to Venezuela, Dennis and Cindy Smith go to the Caribbean, Michael Bruce goes to Phoenix, Neal tries to break the bank in Las Vegas and Glen goes home to Akron
1972 November
Nov 2, 1972 – Hofstra University, Long Island, New York
ABC’s – “IN CONCERT”
News Report:
ABC kicked off its first In Concert, pre-empting the Dick Cavett Show, on November 24, 1972, featuring performances taped a few weeks earlier at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. On the bill was the Senior General of Rock, Bo Diddley, acoustic duo Seals and Croft, R&B man Curtis Mayfield and for the opening act, shock rocker Alice Cooper.
Rock fans in Cincinnati, however, didn’t get to see beyond the first few minutes of Alice’s violent theatrics. Lawrence H. Rogers II was so mortified by what he saw that he ordered the ABC affiliate he owned, WKRC-TV Channel 12, to yank the show off the air immediately. Channel 12’s decision to protect its viewers was responded to within minutes with a phoned-in bomb threat and several car loads of youths picketing the station. Some 4,000 letters of protest, many profane, poured in over the next few days, the biggest mail load that station officials could remember.
Station manager Ro Grignon told TV Guide that he wasn’t opposed to rock concerts. “In fact, we think they’re going to be a smashing success. We simply found Alice Cooper a little tense.”
Meanwhile, the ABC affiliate in Kingsport, Tennessee complained to the network about the performance but ran it nonetheless. WPVI-TV Channel 6 in Philadelphia ran the show on tape delay at 1:30 a.m. Channel 12 in Cincinnati later televised an edited version of the show, sans Alice, to give viewers a chance to enjoy the other, less offensive acts that were on the show. The next In Concert show was sent to affiliate managers via closed-circuit for approval before broadcast
EUROPEAN TOUR
Nov 4, 1972 – Band arrive in London
Early Nov 1972 – The band spent a week at Morgan Studios in London, where they re-recorded some older tracks and laid down demos of the songs they had written during the tour. So called `Superstar jam` takes place with Harry Nilsson, Marc Bolan and others but the results of the drunken session are ”unlistenable”. `Billion Dollar Babies` photo shoot takes place at David Baileys` London studios.
300 kids at the airport break through police barriers and turn over the bands limo`s.
November 10, 1972 – Green’s Playhouse, Glasgow, Scotland
With Flo & Eddie
Green’s Playhouse was an entertainment complex comprising a cinema, ballroom, tea rooms, and other facilities. The Playhouse was at 126 Renfield Street, Glasgow, Scotland, Opened in 1927, the Playhouse operated until the 1970s, closing in 1973. The building continued in use as The Apollo, after being sold, until final closure in 1985, with subsequent demolition in 1987.
Nov 12: Band leaves London from Gatwick Airport to fly to France
Nov 13: France, Olympia Theatre. w/Flo and Eddie. Founded in 1888, by Joseph Oller, the creator of the Moulin Rouge, today easily recognizable by its giant red glowing letters announcing its name. It opened in 1889 as the “Montagnes Russes” but was renamed the Olympia in 1893.
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Nov 14-15?, 1972– Germany – Circus Krone, Munchen [w/ Flo & Eddie] Circus Krone, based in Munich, is one of the largest circus in Europe and one of the few in Western Europe to also occupy a building. Built in 1919 and bombed heavily during WWII.
November 16, 1972 – Holland– Band arrives in Holland (w/ Flo And Eddie)
November 17, 1972 – De Doelen, Rottendam, Holland. De Doelen is a concert venue and convention centre in Rotterdam, Netherlands. It was originally built in 1934 but then destroyed in 1940 during the German bombardment of Rotterdam in May 1940 at the outset of World War II. It was rebuilt in 1966, originally with one hall to which two more were added in the 1990s.
Nov 18, 1972 – Holland – Concertgebouw, Amsterdam. ‘Concergebouw’ tranlates to ‘concert building’. Built in 1886. Still in use today.
Nov 18. Amsterdam. Photos by Lauren Von Houten(?)
Nov 19, 1972 – Germany – Ernst Merck Halle, Hamburg. Ernst-Merck-Halle was an indoor arena located in Hamburg, Germany, which could hold up to 5,600 people.
Nov 20, 1972 – Denmark– KB Hallen, Copenhagen. K.B. Hallen was a multi-purpose venue in Copenhagen. It was opened in 1938. A fire damaged the roof and the interior of the grand hall severely in 2011. It is still being discussed if it will be possible to restore it to its former glory.
Copenhagen Sex Show – photos from Jorgen Angel
Jorgen Angel describes the photo ”opportunity” at the Live Club in Copenhagen
“In November 1972 I arrived at the hotel where Alice Cooper was staying to take some photos. Alice invited me to join him and the band plus the support act, Flo & Eddie, on a night on the town. It turned out that they had booked a private show at one of the many live show clubs in the red light district of Copenhagen.
It was a small, sleazy joint. Half the room was taken up by the stage – a king size mattress. The sound system was an old, red portable gramophone that you would have found in a teenager’s room years earlier. At one point when the heat was on the “stage” the pickup got stuck in the groove.
The rock artists very much enjoyed the performances by the mattress artists. The latter involved the former in the show from time to time. Alice was trying to hide from my camera. First by hiding his head behind a curtain. Realizing he would miss the work of art, he then tried to hide behind a beer bottle.“
Nov 21, 1972 – Sweden – Olympen. Built in Lund, Sweden in 1971. It served as a concert venue until 2009, when it was remodeled into a gym.
Street fight on stage – Sweden.
Nov 23, 1972 – Germany – Deutschlandhalle, Berlin. Built in 1935 and dedicated by Adolph Hitler, it was built for the 1936 Olympic Games. Partially destroyed during World War II bombings, it was rebuilt and used for a variety of sporting events. The building was granted landmark status in 1995, but on December 3, 2011, the building was demolished.
Nov 24, 1972 – Germany – Gruga Halle, Essen. Grugahalle is an indoor sports arena, located in Essen, Germany. Opened in 1958.
Nov 25, 1972 – Germany – Festhalle, Frankfurt. Opened in 1908. Renovated in 1980. Forty foot high dome.
At the “Beat Club”
Nov 26, 1972 – Switzerland – Mehrzweckhalle, Zufingen
BAND ENDS EUROPEAN TOUR
The band went to the Canary Islands in late November for some relaxation. This photo was taken by Cindy Smith Dunaway.
A photo by Cindy Smith Dunaway of GB hamming it up on the Canary Island vacation
December 1972
Early Dec, 72 Glen is in London and receives medical treatment in London
Dec 72 Back in Phoenix Glen checks into the Maryvale hospital seriously ill. His pancreas is ruined from alcohol. He`s warned never to drink again.
Dec 72 Shep confronts Alice about his alcohol intake. Alice goes to Jamaica for a couple of weeks to rest.
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