ALICE COOPER: The Word 'Retire' Is Not In My Vocabulary

During an appearance on the latest episode of AXS TV's "The Power Hour", legendary rocker Alice Cooper was asked if he had any plans to retire. He responded: "Well, it's not in my vocabulary, the word 'retire.' People say, 'Why don't you stop and just play golf?' And I go, 'I play golf anyways.' I play golf every day. If there's a show, I play golf that morning and then I do the show that night."

Back in 2018, Cooper, who turned 75 this past February, told Tigman of the Albany, New York radio station Q103 that he had no plans on calling it quits. "I've always said this: If we do a tour and nobody shows up, then I'm retired," he explained. "That's never happened. In fact, we're doing better business now than we've ever done. More people are coming to the show now, and I've never felt better, so I don't see any reason to retire at all. I know a lot of guys are quitting, but a lot of guys still smoke and drink. They're probably tired. I'm not tired."

In 2017, Alice similarly told Finland's Kaaos TV that he has never considered retiring. "Retirement doesn't seem to fit in," he said. "If I was getting onstage and I was tired and if I was kind of phoning it in and my band was kind of lazy, it would be different. But I've never had a band or a show as high-energy as this show. It actually keeps me very much in shape and keeps me feeling young, doing 130 shows a year. I would never even think of retiring. Physically, if something happens where I can't play anymore or if something happens where I lose my edge, then I would think about it. Then I wouldn't be giving the audience everything I've got. Right now, I'm at the top of my game."

Alice and his band kicked off the "Too Close For Comfort" tour on April 28 at the Soaring Eagle Casino Resort in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. The 95-minute set included the classics "I'm Eighteen", "Under My Wheels", "Be My Lover" and "Poison", along with the first performance of "Snakebite" since 1991, with "Welcome To My Nightmare" returning after a nearly six-year absence.

Prior to the start of the "Too Close For Comfort" tour, Alice promised "a brand new production", telling Macomb Daily: "There's going to be a lot of things going on in this show that we haven't done yet — and a few things that we've done but reimagined.

"We just kind of got tired of people not being able to see some of the real intricate parts," the 75-year-old rocker explained. "Like when Alice does Dwight Fry, before you could never see the facial thing going on there. You will be seeing it this time."

Regarding the setlist for the tour, Cooper said that "we have to do the hits," including "I'm Eighteen", "School's Out" and "Poison". "The audience wants to hear the hits, so it's how do you decorate those hits? How do you put them into a story form or some kind of new way of looking at the show. It's putting a puzzle together, really, and I've got all the people that have done this for 50 years. We know how to make it work."

In March, it was announced that guitarist Nita Strauss would return to Alice's band for his 2023 tour.

The Alice Cooper North American tour continues through late September, including a handful of August stadium shows with DEF LEPPARD and MÖTLEY CRÜE, followed by a co-headlining late summer "Freaks On Parade" tour with Rob Zombie.

Nita spent eight years playing with Alice before joining Demi Lovato's band last summer.