Hollywood Vampires supported by Jesus and the Marychain : Birmingham 19th August 2026

I recently came across the theory that, vampires invented the “Welcome” mat, as a cunning way to bypass the whole requirement of an invite in. That tickled me, but tonight was something different, for we, (for a modest fee, obviously), had been the ones invited in to attend Vampires instead; of the Hollywood variety no less! “What are you waffling on about Wiseman?” I hear you cry, incredulity oozing from you like the molten lava which used to be found nestled within a MacDonalds apple pie, so bear with me as I expand on this to explain away your confusion, and tell you a tale of a Wednesday night in deepest darkest Birmingham, where creatures of legend manifested and the second city of the England suddenly became substantially moister than it had been in quite some time!

It was concert night at the Utilita Arena and as guests go, you don’t get much bigger than Alice Cooper, Johnny Depp, Joe Perry, and Tommy Henriksen in the house! Collectively known as ‘Hollywood Vampires’ (named after a drinking club formed by Cooper in the 70s presumably these days not adverse to serving megapints) they’ve been around for some time now, performing all over the world a selection of original material and covers, oft from Alice’s band but also extending out to pastures new, examples of which were soon to aboundas the evening progressed, so much so that in fact there were only two Alice songs on the night. I’d glanced at the previous night’s program and was mightily pleased when they adhered to this completely as this saved me the usual fight with the photographer over sending me a setlist, just in case some of the vocals were incoherent! As it happened my fears would’ve been unfounded as the sound in general in the Utilita was excellent, but it’s always smart to be prepared.

Speaking of prepared, taking on the job of warming up the crowd beforehand were The Jesus and Mary Chain, who it seems I’ve been calling Jesus and the Mary Chain for the last 40+ years incorrectly. I notice this and shake my head, wondering if it’s my dyslexia or if it was just a bad spell I was going through back then! In the same way as Primal Scream seemed a curious opener for Alice on his last visit, these seemed a strange choice too, but a welcome one for me as someone who’d enjoyed them eons ago, back when all this was fields. Joining them on stage for a few numbers was Simone Marie Butler, regular bass played for the aforementioned Primal Scream, and thus this made things make a little more sense in my head. Which was nice.

In truth the crowd, who’d gathered impressively early in the all-seated (tonight) arena, seemed somewhat disenchanted with what was actually a really well put together show by The J&MC, although “April Skies” was suitably acknowledged for its mix of easy listening and probably surprising familiarity, as was “Just Like Honey”.  It was very much a band production, with the guitar work feeling more like rhythm than a lead on most tracks, with the exception of “All Things Must Pass” allowing the Reid brothers et al. a little more freedom for self-expression. For myself, “Some Candy Talking” was the highlight, a song again with links to Primal Scream as the drummer on the original release is none other than their (PS) drummer Bobby Gillespie! It’s a smidgeon darker and more aggressive live and also frankly impossible for it to be 40 years old like the oracle which is Wikipedia declares it to be. On saying that, there’s a distinct 80s nostalgia here, although there’s something of an irony that I comment this in my notes only to find that the song I’ve logged this observation to is “Venal Joy”, a song released two years ago!

Moving on, tail somewhat between my legs and pouting, having very much enjoyed the precursor it’s time to address the main event. It’s quite the plethora of stars which are gracing the stage as previously mentioned, all of whom know how to command it, but having not seen them before as a unit I was curious to see how they’d gel as a group. It was noticeable that the camera feeding the backing stage screens spent a tad more time on Depp than anyone else, but then Cooper is 15 years his senior and while still reasonably spritely he’s not as mobile as he was, and nor should he be expected to be. I can assure you the reader that I myself have been known to eye exercise with the same trepidation I’d eye an unknown Alsatian after having spent the previous 90 minutes watching Kujo, and thusly especially both Alice, and Joe Perry, have my utmost respect in managing to drag themselves up at all at 78 and 75 respectively! The atmosphere probably helped mind, as the last time I’d seen so much expectancy from an audience it was while they were awaiting Tim Curry to…. Say it!!
If you know, you know!

 

However, an observation about the setlist first: It was interesting to note that Hollywood Vampires chose to place four of their own tracks in the first five, and five from the first ten, and then have the rest of the set as covers. From a musical production angle this made me raise an eyebrow at the psychology here. Not knowing much of their own material I’d assume people came to see them play, and quite what they play is almost irrelevant, and this is backed by the fact that this set contained 15 from the 20 songs performed in Brum the last time they were here in this very arena, back three years ago. Dropping in new songs so early suggests they’re thinking they may not keep the audience’s attention if they were deployed later, and subsequently you’d have to assume they’re considering their own compositions as inferior to the covers in terms of capability of maintaining engagement. Interesting!

Non-musical nuances such as this, and other idiosyncratic notions aside, what of the performance Wiseman? Were they spectacular, or were previous extollations simply smoke and mirrors designed to get bums on seats. Thinking about it, mirrors are unlikely… what with vampires… no, no, no, I digress again… but yes, get to the point! Were they actually any good?

Frankly yes! Impressively so. Aided by a sound system which was crisp, clear, and loud enough that you still knew an hour after you’d left that you’d been to a rock concert, everything here was pretty much as good as it gets. Even when Depp and Perry took turns at vocals there was no fallout in performance quality. “I Want My Now” was the opening track, supported by imagery from the backing video, and that continued on with the second track “Raise the Dead”. They’re pop rock songs rather than anything harsher, but the crowd warmed to them and then went suitably nuts to “I’m Eighteen”, a song released a full 4 years before I was born! Speaking of which had my parents worn pants as tight as Mr Cooper’s I’ve a suspicion I’d not be here now, and it’s no wonder he was waving a crutch on stage, as I’d be not one iota surprised if he’d ruptured something getting them on! His voice doesn’t suffer though, and it’s quite the contrast when Depp takes over for the Velvet Underground’s “Venus in Furs”, but he, (much like said trousers), fits almost a tad too snugly into his assigned task.

There’s a decent 21 songs on the menu, ranging from Bowie to Killing Joke to Jeff Beck, and even The Doors “Roadhouse Blues” got a look in, (and one of the best receptions!), but the highlights for me were three songs I’ve always liked and had hoped would be included here. “Baba O’Riley” holds a special place in my mind and there’s a short Depp solo and a drum solo that felt of much more importance to the performance, “Highway to Hell”, because with a middle name like Angus I’m somewhat obligated to love AcDc, and a little slice of “Another Brick in the Wall”, amalgamated with “Schools Out”.

Alice throughout managed his customary costume changes, as well as chipping in on harmonica, maracas and guitar, and as with his solo concert there’s a release of huge balloons into the audience near the end of the show with “Schools Out”. Depp nailed his version of “Heros” with aplomb and there’s even a snippet of “Stairway to Heaven” dropped into the end of “Highway to Hell”. There’s pretty much something for everyone, all performed professionally but also with character, which adds to the occasion substantially as it bleeds over to the crowd when the artists look to be enjoying themselves.

Finishing the evening with “High Ho Silver Lining” might have caused a mini riot, what with it being Wolverhampton Wanderers’ football team’s song, and the enmity between the two cities runs deep, but as it happened there was barely a ripple from any of my neighbours present, and thus we went out into the now sopping evening with nothing worse than satisfied grins and perhaps a bootleg hoodie as acknowledgements of an evening well spent.

And yes folks, my earlier “moist” comment was in point of fact referencing the meteorological event ending the dry spell which had lingered over the Midlands, and not some puerile nodding towards Jack Sparrow’s ability to make the fairer sex swoon. I’m neither Paul Whitehouse or Mark Williams and far too sensible for egregious sexual inyouendo.

Suit you Sir. Suit you!