1973

click to enlarge pictures

January

The Rolling Stone article that accompanied the above picture, was written during the European tour of 1972 by a Timothy Ferris. The article DID NOT mention any other member of the band, besides Alice. Only Shep Gordon and ”the snake” are given a  mention.

February

Feb 25, 1973 – Billion Dollar Babies album released.

Feb 1973 – The band in rehearsals at the mansion. Mick Mashbir is brought in to augment Glen. Bob Dolin plays keyboards.

Feb 26  – Alice poses for the Dali hologram- presumably in NY. Sadly, Dennis Dunaway, a fellow Dali devotee and avid  fan of surrealist art, is not invited to meet Dali.

Feb 27  – Capitol Theater, Port Chester, New York (Dress rehearsal). Reportedly there was no audience

March
March 1 – Memorial Auditorium, Kitchener, Ontario

March 2 – London Arena, London, Ontario

March 3 – Civic Centre, Ottawa, Ontario

March 4 – Hamilton, Ontario MacMaster University (Show cancelled due to doors being too small to get equipment in?)

 March 5 – War Memorial, Rochester, New York

March 6 – The Spectrum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

March 9 – The Spectrum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

March10 – Civic Center, Roanoke, Virginia (w/ Earth, Wind, and Fire)

March 11 – William & Mary College Hall, Williamsburg, Virginia

March 15 – Civic Auditorium, Knoxville, Tennessee    CANCELLED
March 16 – Cumberland City Memorial Auditorium, Fayetteville, North Carolina

March 17 – Clemson University, Clemons, South Carolina

March 18 – Coliseum, Charlotte, North Carolina

March 20 – Coliseum, Jackson, Mississippi

March 21 – Auburn, Alabama      CANCELLED
March 22 – Savannah, Georgia    CANCELLED

March 23 – Omni, Atlanta, Georgia

March 24 – Carolina Coliseum, Columbia, South Carolina

March 26 – Boston Gardens, Boston, Massachusetts

[After show party at the Bal-o-rue Roller Rink with Shitton playing.]

March 27 – Sports Arena, Hershey, Pennsylvania

On this day – “No More Mr. Nice Guy” single is released

March 28 -Civic Center – Baltimore, Maryland

March 30 -Convention Center – Indianapolis, Indiana

March 31 – Public Hall, Cleveland, Ohio

April
April 1 – Cincinnati Gardens, Cincinnati, Ohio

April 2 – Convention Center, Louisville, Kentucky

April 5– Cobo Arena, Detroit, Michigan

Band party after Cobo Hall gig. Band was presented with awards for platinum album (BDB). Thanks to Ron Domilici and Steven Crayn

April 6 – Civic Arena, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

April 7 – Memorial Coliseum/also called Convention Center, Fort Wayne, Indiana

April 9 – Amphitheater, Chicago, Illinois
April 10 – Amphitheater, Chicago, Illinois

Circus Magazine:  Oct,  1974. – Neal Smith Interview: One night, in the middle of the first number, “Hello Hurray,” at the Chicago Amphitheater, when Neal felt the penetration of a sharp object into his white satin covered back as he hammered out the strong beats of the opening number, he realized that whoever had tossed the projectile at him had done it intentionally. “I called over Goose, one of my guys from Detroit who sets up my drums, and I said, ‘Check my back.’ He did and noticed it was bleeding. Finally, he looked down on the ground and saw a dart!”

April 12 – Pershing Auditorium, Lincoln, Nebraska

April13 – Municipal Auditorium, St. Louis, Missouri

April 14 – Mid-South Coliseum, Memphis, Tennessee

April 15 – Allen Field House, Lawrence, Kansas City, Missouri

April 20 – 21 – Pirates World, Dania, Florida

“We were on stage at Pirate’s World in Miami (sic), Florida. After 4 days off, somehow my bass neck didn’t feel as familiar and so the show somehow felt fresher. Some jerk tossed a one foot baby Boa Constrictor onto Michael’s side of the stage. I ran over and guarded it till the song was over then I caught it and handed it to Andy Mills. After the show, the jerk wanted it back but Cindy and I decided he didn’t deserve a pet and so we named it Angel and kept it.”
[Dennis Dunaway, April 2012]

April 22 – Veterans Memorial, Jacksonville, Florida

April 25 – Municipal Auditorium, Mobile, Alabama

April 26 – Municipal Auditorium, New Orleans, Louisiana

Cream Magazine reports that after a meeting at the hotel, the band and Shep decide that once the tour is over, everyone will take a year off.

April 27 – Hirsch Memorial Coliseum, Shreveport, Louisiana

April 28 – Memorial Auditorium, Dallas, Texas

April 29 – Sam Houston Coliseum, Houston, Texas

Live footage filmed here for ”Good To See You Again, Alice Cooper”.

Circus Magazine  Oct, 1973: Neal Smith Interview:
When the band’s Lear Jet swooped down into the Houston airport for a concert appearance that night, Alice, Michael, Neal, Glen and Dennis were hustled into a waiting Brinks armored truck for the ride to the hotel. Suddenly, the quintet was astonished to hear the thundering of horses hooves and the whooping of what sounded like a band of cowboys. Almost immediately, the door of the truck was yanked open, and a tall lean Texan with a ten gallon hat and smoking six-gun poked his bronze face into the dark truck. “You guys the Billion Dollar Babies?’ he drawled. “No, not us, somebody else,” mumbled the frightened captives. The cowboys pulled the five quaking long-hairs from the truck, forced them to put their hands up against the side of the truck, and proceeded to strip them of their jewelry, money, and expensive clothing. One cowboy held a gun to the truck driver’s head. Another shot the second driver and he fell with a thud to the ground. Suddenly, a blast of familiar music materialized from thin air and a white horse came galloping towards the small band of superstars. The Lone Ranger, garbed grandly in white, sat perched astride the beautiful stallion. “He must have had twenty shots in one gun,” recalls Neal, “because he shot all the cowboys. Everyone was sprawled on the ground immediately the band realized the entire event had been a specially staged act for their enjoyment— and that everything was being filmed by the Hollywood film crew – flown out to capture them on celluloid. Eight cameras were pointed at them from various hiding spots.

Bootleg tapes circulating, marked Corpus Christi 30th April `73 are in fact this Houston show.

Shot from movie (Thanks Ingo)

May
May 1 – Fairgrounds Arena, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

May 2 – Tulsa Assembly Center, Tulsa, Oklahoma

May 3 – Will Rodgers Coliseum, Fort Worth, Texas

May 4– University Of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico

May 5 – Tucson Community Center Arena, Tucson, Arizona

Post show photos

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May 10 – Los Angeles Forum, Los Angeles, California

May 11 – Los Angles Forum, Los Angeles, California

ooooooooooo

May 12– Swing Auditorium, San Bernardino, California

May 13 – Sports Arena, San Diego, California

May 15– Civic Center, Amarillo, Texas

May 16 – Henry Levitt Arena/Fieldhouse,  Wichita, Kansas

May 17– Denver Coliseum, Denver, Colorado

May 18 – Denver Coliseum, Denver, Colorado

May 19 – Salt Lake Palace, Salt Lake City, Utah
May 20 – Las Vegas, Nevada      (Perhaps Cancelled?)

May 23 – Butte, MT, Butte Civic Center. (Someone’s Imagination)

May 24 – Portland Memorial Coliseum, Portland, Oregon

May 25 – Seattle Center Coliseum, Seattle, Washington

May 26 – Pacific National Exhibition Coliseum, Vancouver, British Columbia Canada

May 30 – Metro Sports Arena, Minneapolis, Minnesota

May 31  – Milwaukee Arena, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

June
June 1 – Sports Arena, Toledo, Ohio    CANCELLED
June 2 – Boston Gardens, Boston, Massachusetts    CANCELLED
June 3 – Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York

June 5 – Nassau Coliseum, Long Island, New York

 June 7 – Civic Center, Providence, Rhode Island (Flo/Eddie)

[Joey Greenberg and Charlie Carnel leave the organization at the end of the tour]

Alice (only) arrived in Japan on October 19 to announce the simultaneous worldwide release of his forthcoming LP “Muscle Of Love”. He was greeted by an airport reception of close to 5,000 fans who tore at his hair and clothes, before one particularly loyal fan presented Alice with a nine-foot boa constrictor named “Moische, Moische” which means “Hello, Hello”.
Two hundred journalists gathered at the Akasaka Prince Hotel the next day for the largest press conference ever held for an entertaining personality in Tokyo. During the conference Alice received as a present several Geisha girls who attended him for the entirety of his five-day stay in Japan. The Geishas performed such tasks as peeling grapes and feeding them on toothpicks to the Muscleman of Love and entertaining him with little stories and dances which are supposed to make the listener mellow and ready for an evening’s pleasure.

Alice Cooper is no longer a band in most people’s mind, the emphasis has shifted totally to the front man.

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Neal Smith of the Alice Cooper Band with his cat posing in Greenwich, CT. 1973. © Bob Gruen/www.bobgruen.com

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Billion Dollar Babies Holiday Tour (MOL)

BELOW

Top – Band in front of the ‘Pink Pussy Cat’ on Santa Monica Blvd, Hollywood. Below….a photo of the Pink Pussy Cat from 1967. The building still is there, its last use was as a 1920-style restaurant.

December
  December 8, 1973 – Municipal Auditorium, Nashville, Tennessee. (w/Stories)

Dec 9, 1973 – Greensboro Coliseum, Greensboro, North Carolina (w/ ZZ Top). Opening in 1959, the arena was once one of the largest venues in the South, with a seating capacity of over 23,000.

Dec 11, 1973 – Dane County Memorial Coliseum, Madison, Wisconsin. With ZZ Top. Today it is a part of a multi-venue complex featuring three unique and versatile venues including Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Exhibition Hall, and Willow Island.

ZZ Top – 1973

Dec 12, 1973 – Crisler Areana,  Ann Arbor, Mi. (w/ZZ Top). Built in 1967, this has been the home of the University of Michigan Men and Womens basketball since that time. Named for famous UM football coach “Fritz” Crisler.

Dec 13 – Toledo Sports Arena, Toledo, Ohio — Firecracker incident

The Toledo Sports Arena was a 5,230-seat multi-purpose arena, at 1 Main Street, Toledo, Ohio. It was built in 1947 and razed in 2007.

Toledo “RIOT”

Rolling Stone – 31st January 1974

        Alice Bombed in Toledo
Toledo – Pelted by fireworks and debris, Alice Cooper recently walked off their “Holiday Show” at the Toledo Sports Arena. According to Ashley Pandel, Cooper’s publicist, “Alice felt if they continued, there could be another Altamont.”
Guitarist Michael Bruce was reportedly cut on the face after fireworks thrown from the audience shattered an overhead light bar. He was taken to a nearby hospital, where a particle of metal was removed from an eye. He suffered no serious injuries.

Alice and the rest of the band left the arena shortly after their walk off. During a half-hour wait – while the audience lingered, waiting for resumption of the show – seven carloads of police were summoned to join 20 off-duty cops at the auditorium to control the near sell-out crowd of 8,000.

“Security at the concert was nonexistent,” charged James Randi, who plays the executioner in the band’s “I Love Dead Things” (sic) act. “There was only a two-foot barrier to separate the crowd from the stage.”

Trouble began to develop even before Cooper appeared. Fireworks, including Roman candles, were set off during Z.Z. Top’s opening set. Then, according to Mark Scheerer, newsman at WIOT-FM Toledo, “Alice got the first bars of ‘Hello Hooray’ out and got hit in the chest with either an egg or vegetables. He did a mock stagger and went on. Then people started throwing a variety of missiles at a fairly steady pace. Alice did the second number, ‘Billion Dollar Babies,’ and the lights went down. Alice told the people, ‘We came to play, and we don’t appreciate being targets.'”

A cherry bomb, as Scheerer described it – arena manger Gerald Francis said it was an M-80, equal in power to one-eighth of a stick of dynamite – went off, shattered the light, and Bruce was hit and led offstage. Alice then decided to cancel, Pandel said, “before someone got killed.”

The band – and most witnesses – were unable to explain the violence. Pandel said the crowd seemed more “bewildered” than angry at anything. A crush of people directly in front of the stage, he said, began pushing forward, shoving matches began “and then things were being thrown.” Scheerer said Toledo rock fans had no history of violence. “It was just a handful of malcontents. I think they just felt it was obligatory. You know, to match his violence.”

Pandel disagreed. “Alice is only trying to relieve tension in kids. When they leave an Alice Cooper show, they sure won’t get into violence. They’ve seen it already.”

Ironically enough, the night before in Ann Arbor, Dennis Dunaway said before the concert, “We get off more on a Detroit-type crowd – crowds that physically get into a concert.”

After an hour’s wait, the crowd was finally dispersed, according to police. No arrests or refunds were made.

Dec 14 – Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, Ontario Canada

Dec 15 – Onondaga County War Memorial, Syracuse, New York

Dec 16 – The Scope, Norfolk, New York

mol/mol/mol/mol/mol/mol/mo/mol/mol/mol/mol/mol

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FOR THIS PHOTO SHOOT IN 1973, ERNIE CEFALU AND THE PEOPLE AT ‘PACIFIC EYE AND EAR’ TRANSFORMED THEIR OFFICE FRONT INTO THE INSTITUTE FOR NUDE WRESTLING TO TAKE THESE PHOTOS USED FOR THE ”MOL” ALBUM.

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Dec 19 – Capital Center, Landover, Maryland

Dec 22 – Tampa Stadium, Tampa, Florida   Cancelled?
Dec 26 – New Haven Coliseum, New Haven, Connecticut

Dec 27 – Montreal Forum, Montreal, Quebec Canada

Dec 29 – Utica Memorial Auditorium, Utica, New York

December 31 – Memorial Auditorium, Buffalo, New York [Original band’s last show on U.S. soil]

Some MOL photos

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  1974

March 30, 1974 – Anhembi Parque, Sao Paulo, Brazil — 150,000 attendance

Anhembi Parque in Sao Paulo, Brazil. With its 400,000 square meters of indoor space and 93,000 square meters of outdoor space, the center is one of the largest event grounds in Latin America. The center is home to 20 large annual fairs, each drawing in 50,000 visitors, and hosts the annual Carnival of São Paulo. It opened in 1970.

April 2, 1974 – Teatro, Sao Paulo, Brazil. Opened in 1911 and fully restored in time for its centennial, São Paulo’s Municipal Theater (Teatro Municipal) is one of the city’s top architectural treasures and cultural attractions.

 

April 5, 1974 – Canecao, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – Opened in 1967. Recently closed as city decided if the building should be renovated or demolished.

 

April 6, 1974 – Maracanazinho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Maracanãzinho Gymnasium (Portuguese:Ginásio do Maracanãzinho), sometimes called just Maracanãzinho (“Little Maracanã” or “Mini Maracanã). Its formal name, Ginásio Gilberto Cardoso, honors a former president. The capacity of the arena is 12,600. It was opened in 1954. It stands next to the Maracanã Stadium

April 6, 1974 was the Final Show of Original Band

May 1974 – ”Good To See You Again, Alice Cooper” opens but is then re-edited and released again in the fall.

GB – 1974

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To read a short summary and an article about the break up of the band – please go to this page on the website.

http://www.theoriginalglenbuxton.com/stories-about-glen-or-the-band/after-the-final-tour-2/