Alice Cooper – Au-Rene Theater, Broward Center for the Performing Arts, Fort Lauderdale - May 6th 2026

Alice Cooper – Au-Rene Theater, Broward Center for the Performing Arts, Fort Lauderdale

May 6th 2026

Review by Robert Corich

There’s something rather reassuring about walking into the Au-Rene Theater and realising that Alice Cooper is still doing what Alice Cooper does best — entertaining the living daylights out of a room full of people who really should know better by now.

I’ve loved Alice’s music since my early teenage years, so seeing him again at this very venue was always going to be something of a personal pleasure. This was the most recent of several times I’ve seen Alice here in Fort Lauderdale, and if anything, he seems to be getting more comfortable with the place.

And then there are those albums. Killer, Billion Dollar Babies & Muscle of Love remain, for me, absolute perfection within their genre — albums that helped define a sound, an attitude and an entire approach to shock rock theatre. The original Alice Cooper Band pretty much single-handedly invented the genre, combining hard rock, shock theatre, black humour and a wonderfully twisted sense of showbusiness into something that had never really existed before.

The audience, as is often the way at these Florida venues, was a decidedly ‘mature’ one. Wonder why? Perhaps because quite a few of us have been following Alice since we were considerably less mature ourselves…

The Alice’s Attic show is, of course, much more than a rock concert. It’s theatre, vaudeville, horror show and good old-fashioned rock ’n’ roll rolled into one. Opening with Hello, Hooray, before launching into Who Do You Think We Are, Spark in the Dark and No More Mr. Nice Guy, it was clear from the outset that there would be no shortage of familiar Cooper trademarks.

Billion Dollar Babies, I’m Eighteen, Muscle of Love and Feed My Frankenstein kept the classics coming. Although, given we’re in southern Florida and considering the average age of the audience, I did wonder whether the hard of hearing — and there must be a few in here — might actually have thought Alice was singing “I’m Eighty” instead of I’m eighteen.

Dirty Diamonds, Caught in a Dream, Hey Stoopid and Dangerous Tonight ensured this wasn’t simply a nostalgia trip, while Poison — judging by the reaction — remains one of those songs Alice could probably play until the end of time and still get exactly the same response.

The guitar solo from Anna Cara led into Brutal Planet, followed by the wonderfully theatrical Ballad of Dwight Fry, Cold Ethyl and Only Women Bleed, complete with the obligatory guillotine business. Because, naturally, what else would one expect at an Alice Cooper concert?

Second Coming and Going Home eventually brought us to “School’s Out” — what a crowd-pleaser that one remains. And with THAT Pink Floyd number, Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 2, cleverly dropped into the proceedings before the band introductions, it was pretty much guaranteed to have the place singing along. Alice knows his audience — and, more importantly, he knows exactly what they want.

Then came the unexpected — but surprisingly effective — blast through Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit, before Under My Wheels provided the suitably raucous finish.

Although the real ending was the gentle I’m Always Chasing Rainbows. A rather touching way to close what had otherwise been an evening of decapitations, explosions, teenage angst and generally questionable behaviour.

Alice remains the consummate showman. At an age when most at that age are happy simply to find the right pair of reading glasses, he’s still strutting around the stage, delivering the songs and presiding over his little theatre of the macabre with considerable authority.

Same city, another Alice Cooper show — and another reminder that some things simply don’t need fixing.

And I’m already looking forward to seeing him again, back in England with the Hollywood Vampires in a few months. Clearly, there’s still plenty of life left in the old Coop yet!

Welcome to Alice’s Attic. There’s still plenty of room up there.