Alice Cooper, the Nightmare Returns to Manchester Apollo, 28 November 1986
Cooper had been big in the early 70’s but had seemed to go quiet in the early 1980’s. By the late 80’s he was starting to make a comeback and his shows renowned for their “shock” with some politicians (notably Labour MP, David (now Lord) Blunkett) calling for them to be banned. In my view this sort of act should be taken as what it is — pure theatre — no creatures are harmed in the show, and even back in the 1980s you could see far more “extreme” stuff on TV. I knew he put on quite a spectacle, and had tickets near the stage for each of the 2 consecutive evenings he was playing the Apollo. By now I was being a bit more selective over what I would smuggle the camera in to, as security was generally tightening up. Alice Cooper though was one of those acts crying out to have some pictorial record. The first night I was planning to use B&W film, and I certainly can’t complain at some of the results.
Having been successful the first night I returned the following evening this time with some colour film to try and capture this spectacle. I was in a very similar position as I had been the first evening. I was snapping away, but had a feeling Cooper himself may have recognised me from the previous evening. I was about three quarters of the way through the first film when the crowd started to move apart to my left. In the distance I could see a bulky security guard and he seemed to be beckoning me over! I thought it best to oblige. It was difficult to have a conversation in that atmosphere, but he made it clear he wanted me to hand the film over. In the hope I would be able to pick it up later I wound the negatives back into the casing and took it out of the camera. He then exposed it in front of me and made it very clear that I should not take any more photos. He did not take the camera off me and I was of the view that discretion was definitely the better part of valour. I therefore put it away to enjoy the show.