Aug. 8, 2023

Alice Cooper shocks, rocks Johnstown’s 1st Summit Arena

via Dave Sutor of The Tribune-Democrat

Aug. 7—JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — Dressed in a black jacket, a tie, a hat, a simulated blood-splattered white shirt and face makeup, Cindy Griffith took her grandson, Trevor Custer, to his first Alice Cooper concert on Sunday.

“I only really came to see her outfit,” the teenager said with a smile.

Griffith, a Berlin resident, has seen The Godfather of Shock Rock live about a half-dozen times. She also likes to wear the Cooper-inspired costume on occasion, even winning some contests for her outfit in the past.

“It’s just for fun,” Griffith said.

They were among the approximately 2,500 fans who watched Cooper perform at 1st Summit Arena @ Cambria County War Memorial during the Johnstown stop of his “Too Close For Comfort Tour.”

For more than a half-century, Cooper has been making hard-driving, rebellious music that includes “Eighteen,” “School’s Out,” “No More Mr. Nice Guy” and “Poison.” But he is possibly best-known for his larger-than-life concerts with theatrical horror-genre themes.

“I like how he puts on the show,” said Joe Bolette, from Northern Cambria. “He brings out different things. It’s really cool to see, like getting his head chopped off and different things like that. It’s really interesting. I’ve seen him three different times, and I’d see him again.”

Bolette said that his parents got him into Cooper’s music.

Dustin Rummell, from Johnstown, said he likewise has “pretty much been a fan through family.”

“I got to experience Alice Cooper with my uncle,” Rummell said. “Then I met my wife and she’s been into Alice Cooper a lot longer than I have. It’s always a great time.”

Cooper is now 75 years old.

“I figured it would be nice to see him again before the opportunity’s not there,” said Cory Carbaugh, from Jeannette.

Carbaugh attended a couple Cooper concerts before Sunday’s show.

For Kevin Darragh, also from Jeannette, it was his first time to witness the horror music spectacle.

“Honestly, I’ve never seen Alice Cooper before,” Darragh said, “and, for me, it was one of those things where this is somebody I should see before we don’t have the opportunity any more.”