Cooper: Freaky Sideshow

Alice Cooper was wearing dresses before David Bowie became an androgynous rebel, and he did stupid pet tricks with reptiles before Ozzy Osbourne went batty. Still, Cooper is generally considered a freaky sideshow rather than a rock pioneer. His concert at the Pantages Theatre on Saturday was a forceful reminder that the endearingly tacky ghoul-rocker’s anthems like “Eighteen” have influenced everything from punk to metal. History doesn’t mean much, though, when you’re only as valid as last week’s sales report, so Cooper (who also plays San Diego’s California Theatre on Thursday) alternated his familiar shock-rockers with material from his latest album, “Trash.” These songs, as faceless as most Republican-era rock, fit the Bon Jovi hit formula: predictable sing-alongs blasted with a technical efficiency.

That doesn’t mean Cooper will headline Lee Atwater’s next function. Washington wives might be chagrined by the show’s re-staging of the rumble from “West Side Story,” with Cooper slashing a girl’s throat before singing “Only Women Bleed.” But these contrived, comic-book theatrics are really as inoffensive as a spook-house ride. In fact, the most frightening part of the evening was probably the drum solo.