Deep Purple, Alice Cooper & The Edgar Winter Band- Jones Beach Theater

Jones Beach Theater

    Written by Backstage Bruce

    First up- The Edgar Winter Band kicked it off, they only performed five songs, but it was one of the most incredible five-song sets ever! The show begins while the sun was still up. Looking at the stage, you see Zach's Bay in the background. A few boats are anchored in the bay so they can listen to the show from their boat, they can't see the concert, but they can hear it just fine. There's a nice breeze rolling in, fresh-salt air, look one way, the Atlantic Ocean, look the other way, the skyline of NYC. This is living. 

    They opened with their biggest hit, 'Free Ride' you know it. It was written and sung by their then 17-year-old bass player, Dan Hartman (I Can Dream About You) R.I.P. What a great way to kick the show into gear, right out of the gate. Their cover of 'Jumping Jack Flash' was up next, a very nice rendition. The third song was 'Tobacco Road', during this song Edgar did a lot of bebop and scatting, truly phenomenal. 

    He would start in scatting 'Do, be bop, bop, be, do, etc...It went on for at least a minute and the fantastic guitarist, Doug Rappaport, was able to mimic every sound Edgar had just made but with his guitar, verbatim! Edgar would do it again and again and Doug was able to hit each and every lick. The final time Edgar bebopped, it lasted five minutes straight! You would think that the audience might get restless by now, but no, not at all, they were engrossed. When Edgar finished, the audience were intrigued to see if Doug could duplicate Edgar, and he did, note for note, outstanding!

Edgar, Doug, koko & Jason 

    Next Edgar moved on to the bassist, koko Powell (that's how he spells it, lower case) and did the same thing. Edgar did the bebopping and scatting with koko and koko was able to repeat Edgar's bebopping note for note as well. It was truly incredible. Next it was the drummer, Jason Carpenter's turn. 

    By now the audience was enthralled. They wanted to see if the drummer could hang note for note, as the other two musicians were able to, and Jason did! The song went on for almost twenty minutes and it was extremely entertaining to experience. I would like to see that live again. 

    Next Edgar did a nice tribute to his late brother saying "My Greatest Musical Hero" about the very talented Johnny Winter. It was touching.

    Before they started playing the fourth song, Edgar intro'd "This next one was written by our good friend Rick Derringer." The crowd cheered with anticipation, hoping, just hoping they were going to play 'Rock & Roll Hoochie Koo' which they did. The first note got the crowd on their feet again dancing. Rick Derringer used to be in the band too. Originally it was the four of them: Edgar & Johnny Winter, Rick Derringer and Dan Hartman. All of that talent in one band, each of them are rock stars in their own right. 

    They ended their set with another monster hit 'Frankenstein'. Edgar Winter is a very talented, multi-instrumentalist and during this number he showcased that fact. He played the sax, and a synthesizer (one that he wore around his neck, he claimed that he was the first person to ever wear a synthesizer.) Then he picked up a guitar and played along, after a few minutes he sat down at the second drum set and started pounding the skins. Their entire set was so entertaining, what a refreshing way to start off the evening.

    Next up, Alice Cooper and his band.

Bubbles, bubbles, everywhere bubbles. 

    Can you imagine going to see Alice Cooper and not hearing 'Welcome to My Nightmare'? Well that happened. Nor did we get to hear 'I Never Cry', 'You and Me' or 'We're All Clones'. Other than the setlist disappointment, the show itself was quite theatrical. 

    The set changed up a few times throughout the night. A screen was in place in the front of the stage concealing everything behind it. On the front of the screen was a close-up of Alice's face. The eyes were bloodshot, the bloodshot lines were actually spider webs as the pupils of his eyes were black widow spiders, very creepy, very scary, very Alice.

    A creepily eerie pre-recorded intro starts playing, the screen drops, fireworks start launching into the sky. The band is there and the crowd goes crazy. Alice is standing in the middle of all the musicians wearing a long black cape which he promptly takes off and throws to the side. He's now wearing black leather jacket and pants, they launch into 'Brutal Planet'. 

    Next number up, he takes off the leather jacket and puts on a black vest then they play 'No More Mr. Nice Guy'. The people loved it. Time for another costume change and another tune. He started playing with this sword and by the time 'Billion Dollar Babies' started, it looked like there were a billion dollars on the sword, shisk-ka-bob style. He shook the sword at the audience and all the bills started falling off, floating through the air as they grabbed for them frantically, like they were real.

    'Paranoiac Personality' was up next, the backdrop changed and so did Alice. He went through more costume changes than Cher. A girl came out on stage, dressed as a waitress, chasing Alice all over the stage trying to take his order. 'I Got A Woman Of Mass Destruction' was next which segued into a guitar solo by Nita Strauss, a very beautiful woman who played a mean guitar, she was mass destruction on the axe. She was wearing a Conor McGregor T-Shirt to show her support for him. The concert was the same night of the big fight between him and Floyd Mayweather.

    Fire erupted from the stage as the band played on. The songs kept coming 'Poison', 'Halo of Flies'. The drummer, Glen Sobel, did an incredible solo in there. During 'Feed My Frankenstein' a huge gurney was on the stage and Alice was strapped down, there were two actresses dressed up as nurses holding him down and putting the electric dome on his head then they pulled the switch. Alice transformed into a 15-foot Frankenstein creature. (That's two bands in a row with a Frankenstein song.)

    'Cold Ethyl' was next, a song about him having sex with a corpse. The entire time he was beating up/ mutilating a woman. That was unsettling, very easy to see why there have been so many protests outside his shows over the years. 

    He and the band were great, they played most of the hits. The show was without a doubt, one of the most visual performances ever!

Deep Purple ticket stub from a show I attended in Germany, 1985.  

    Deep Purple takes the stage after the final intermission. They opened with 'Highway Star'. Their energy level was up there. They looked terrific and sounded fantastic. The stage was very sleek in design, less is more feel. Scaled down, simplistic describes it best. (Compared to what we just witnessed.) The band was great, they rocked for a solid 90-minutes including the classics that everybody wanted to hear, 'Space Truckin' and 'Smoke On The Water'. Go see them when they are in your area. They are legends. They did not have a Frankenstein song. 

Deep Purple today