For those unaware who and what Hollywood Vampires is, the answer is a unique band featuring some huge names you would be surprised to see collaborating together. Who are those names? Simple, Alice Cooper, Johnny Depp, and Joe Perry. Brought together by the close friends back in 2012, they made their live debut in 2015, and also surprisingly, have kept pretty active over the last decade. In fact, they have toured multiple times, released two studio albums – 2015’s Hollywood Vampires and 2019’s Rise – but now offer listeners their first ever live album.
Entitled Live in Rio, and released through EarMusic on June 2nd, the live album was captured during the band’s “Rock in Rio” 2015 in front of 100,000 fans. Quite a show to capture, the show’s set included Cooper, Depp, Perry, plus Duff McKagan of Guns N’ Roses), Matt Sorum of Velvet Revolver, and Grammy nominated Producer Bruce Witkin. Also, amidst the set of fifteen songs that cover a broad range of Rock-n-Roll, you also witness appearances from Lzzy Hale of Halestorm), Andreas Kisser of Sepultura and Zak Starkey of The Who/Oasis. A heck of a list of musicians, what you get are some Classic Rock renditions as well as a sprinkle of a Hollywood Vampire original.
That in mind, the band’s own “Raise the Dead” offers a strong opening before they continue with The Who’s “My Generation” Spirit’s “I Got a Line on You” and John Lennon and Plastic Ono Band’s “Cold Turkey.” All generating a ton of excitement from the audience, the set then continues with The Doors’ “Five to One / Break On Through (To the Other Side)” before a razor-sharp rendition of Jimi Hendrix’s “Manic Depression,” Deep Purple’s “7 And 7 Is,” before fading into Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love” which is chalked full of excitement as Halstorm’s Lzzy Hale offers her voice to the performance.
From here the live set it rounded out by T. Rex’s “Jeepster,” The Who’s “I’m A Boy, Cooper’s own “School’s Out” (which provokes as ruckus reaction) and “Billion Dollar Babies,” plus Aerosmith’s “Train Kept A-Rollin’” (which includes a lengthy guitar solo), as well as The Rolling Stones’ “Brown Sugar.”
Overall, live albums are not for everyone, but if you are interested in capturing the energy of Rock-n-Roll and the fun friends can have with it, this album is for you. There is no question Hollywood Vampires are ultra talented legends in their own right, but the sound they create as a unit is really exciting to hear because they genuinely enjoy playing with each other. And if you want a visual, the deluxe edition of Live in Rio includes a DVD so you sink even deeper into the concert and feel like you are a part of the crowd.
In fact, this live record might inspire you to want to check out Hollywood Vampires on tour this summer with several dates available to check out in late July – 7/28 in Boston, MA; 7/29 in Manchester, NH; 7/30 in Bethel, NY. Furthermore, this live lineup is rather cool because it features the core of Cooper, Depp, and Perry, but also Tommy Henriksen (guitars), Glen Sobel (drums), Chris Wyse (bass), and Buck Johnson (keyboards). Well worth checking out, if you can’t make it, highly consider picking up Live in Rio, because Cryptic Rock gives it 3.5 out of 5 stars.
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