Remembering Alice Cooper’s Welcome to My Nightmare Was Once Banned From Playing in Binghamton [VIDEO]

Alice Cooper is not just a rock musician, he’s a true performer and his shows were nothing short of modern day vaudeville with shock value.

Alice Cooper was actually banned for a short time in Binghamton in the mid 1970’s; the city council felt that his show which featured a simulated guillotine performance, a live snake, and actions they deemed an incitement to violence, was too much for a young audience. They later gave in and allowed him to perform.

I had a chance to see the original Alice Cooper ‘Welcome to My Nightmare’ concert right here in Binghamton July 15, 1975.

It was one the most entertaining and intense shows I have ever seen, complete with a one eyed giant monster, goblins, a live snake, and a giant spider web with giant black widow spiders.

I saw him again in October of 2010, 35 years later, on the same stage he played at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena.

This time because of my status as a radio personality, I had a chance to meet and visit with him for a few minutes. We talked about him being banned from playing here years ago and I told him how much I enjoyed the ‘Welcome to My Nightmare’ Tour of 1975 and that I was in the audience during that show.

I’ll never forget one of the last things he said to me, he looked at me and said “I’m just a regular guy having fun”

Alice Cooper is a true master of his craft.

Enjoy the original ‘Welcome to My Nightmare’ from the mid 70’s and a behind the scenes taping of the October 2010 show right here in the BCVMA in Binghamton and more.

2010

Alice Cooper and Bob Ezra talk about the making of the album