Alice Cooper Group: Shocking, Thrilling, Fantastic... Rainbow (1971)

Shock rock spectacle hits Rainbow Theatre!

The Alice Cooper concert at the Rainbow Theatre in Finsbury Park, London, on November 7, 1971, was a pivotal early show for the band during their Love It to Death tour, showcasing their emerging shock-rock theatricality just months after the album's release in March 1971. The event drew a crowd of around 3,000 and was promoted with posters highlighting the band's growing notoriety.

Setlist

Introduction

Sun Arise

Caught in a Dream

I'm Eighteen

Is It My Body?

Halo of Flies

Second Coming

Ballad of Dwight Fry

Black Juju

Return of the Spiders

Based on fan recollections

This set drew heavily from the Love It to Death album, emphasizing the band's blend of psychedelic hard rock and horror-themed spectacle.

Notable Details

Support Act: Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come opened the show, adding to the evening's progressive and theatrical vibe.

David Bowie and his band attended an Alice Cooper performance at London’s Rainbow Theatre.

The opening act was Arthur Brown’s Kingdom Come. The theatrical elements of both performances influenced Bowie’s later live shows.

"The four of us had been to see Alice Cooper at the Rainbow, Finsbury Park, when he toured the UK in 1971 and his band wore very similar outfits to the ones we eventually had made, although I think theirs were less stylish and less well made, and they didn’t have the boots. (Funnily enough his band was originally called the Spiders, before becoming the Nazz and then simply Alice Cooper."

Woody Woodmansey

Spider From Mars: My Life With Bowie

The concert is remembered as a milestone in Alice Cooper's UK breakthrough, bridging their underground roots with mainstream fame ahead of the Killer tour later that year.

Sources

Setlist and tour details: setlist.fm

Bowie's attendance: The Bowie Bible

Bootleg recording: Discogs

Concert poster and memorabilia: Heritage Auctions

Tour gigography: Alice Cooper eChive

Additional context: Concert Archives

Alice Cooper Group’s Shocking, Thrilling, Fantastic..., a one-page advert for Rainbow Theatre London, November 7, 1971.