David Bowie sees Alice Cooper live

David Bowie and his band watched Alice Cooper perform at London’s Rainbow Theatre on 7 November 1971.

The support act was Arthur Brown’s Kingdom Come. The theatricalism of both acts helped inspire Bowie’s future live show.

The four of us had been to see Alice Cooper at the Rainbow, Finsbury Park, when he toured the UK in 1971 and his band wore very similar outfits to the ones we eventually had made, although I think theirs were less stylish and less well made, and they didn’t have the boots. (Funnily enough his band was originally called the Spiders, before becoming the Nazz and then simply Alice Cooper.)

Bowie saw Cooper perform again on 30 June 1972.