Heavy metal icon Alice Cooper reveals that he almost died onstage during a rehearsal for a performance at the Wembley Stadium in London.
The Last Night Of Alice Cooper
The 70-year-old rocker recalled the time when he was practicing a stunt conceived by magician James Randi in which the singer-songwriter pretends to be executed by hanging. He was mostly safe with a harness attached to a thick piano wire that kept the noose an inch away from his neck.
"When I go to the circus and there's a guy in a cage with 12 tigers, there's always a chance that one of the tigers didn't get the message," he told Entertainment Weekly. "When you see a guy on a tight wire, you know that there may be a second you witness a tragedy. I always wanted that in our show: 'What they're seeing could be the last night of Alice Cooper.'"
However, that night, the stunt backfired. He recalled that, after performing at a number of shows, the wire snapped.
"I could hear the rope hit my chin and in an instant I flipped my head back," the "School's Out" singer recounted. "That must've been a fraction of a second because if it caught my chin it would have been a different result. It went over my neck and gave me a pretty good burn."
He said that the accident caused him to almost black out but Cooper did not cancel the concert. He went onstage as planned, played his hits, and did the stunt.
Here is how the stunt was supposed to work.
Still Rocking
Despite his choice of dangerous stunts, Cooper repeatedly survived and in his 70s, continues to perform live. Last weekend, he appeared on NBC's critically acclaimed production of Jesus Christ Superstar alongside John Legend and Sara Bareilles.
In January, his rock supergroup Hollywood Vampires announced a trek across the United Kingdom. The band is made up of Cooper, Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry, and actor Johnny Depp.
Their first tour will also feature performances from The Darkness and The Damned.
Hollywood Vampires, according to NME, began back in the 70s at a bar in Los Angeles. The exclusive club welcomed a slew of celebrities ranging from John Lennon to Him Morrison.
Cooper said that to join, one simply has to outdrink every member.
"I would walk in on a typical night and John Lennon, Harry Nilsson, Keith Moon — who would usually be in a costume like a maid or a chauffeur — Bernie Taupin, Jim Morrison and Mickey Dolenz would be there," he recalled. "The next week might be Bernie Taupin, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison and Mickey Dolenz."
The Hollywood Vampires Tour will kick off on June 16 at the Birmingham Genting Arena.
