Alice Cooper promises 2020 New Zealand tour will deliver full shock rock experience

Alice Cooper is bringing his all-new Ol' Black Eyes Is Back show to New Zealand next February. Photo / NZ Herald.

Alice Cooper has lost count of how many times he's visited New Zealand, but the shock rock icon insists his legion of Kiwi fans will be rewarded when he returns down under next February.

The 71-year-old Rock and Roll Hall of Famer is bringing his new Ol' Black Eyes Is Back show here to play Auckland's Trust Arena on February 20, and Christchurch's Horncastle Arena on February 22.

"Somebody told me the other day that we have been there 13 times," Cooper explained down the line from Phoenix, Arizona.

"And that surprised me because I know we've been [to New Zealand] a lot of times but I'd just never counted them up.

"Since 1975, 13 times, that's pretty good. I didn't realise it was that many times."

Alice Cooper says his Kiwi fans will be rewarded when he returns to New Zealand next February. Photo / Supplied.

After five decades of shocking and delighting fans with his unique brand of theatrical rock, Cooper is excited to be returning with a stellar collection of backing musicians and special guest bands in tow.

In support will be Aussie rock stalwarts Airbourne along with MC50, featuring Wayne Kramer of the legendary MC5 with an all-star band performing MC5 classics, including former Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil.

"The band I'm bringing in, our female guitar player, Hurricane Nita Strauss, she looks like a Victoria's Secret model and she plays like Eddie Van Halen. She just got named the number one female guitarist in the world," he says.

"Then our drummer, Glen Sobel, got voted best drummer in rock'n'roll. So I've got a pretty dammed good rock 'n roll band coming down there."

Fans can expect to be treated to a wide range of material that spans the breadth of his career, including all the big singles, as well as cherries picked from deeper within his extensive back catalogue.

"We're doing all the hits. We're doing everything, from School's Out to Poison to Department of Youth. Every one of those songs is in the show. And then we add some deeper cuts and then of course there's the more theatrical cuts also."

He also promises to deliver a visual spectacle befitting of his reputation as the Godfather of Shock Rock.

"The stage show is a full-on Alice Cooper stage show," he says.

"It looks like when you go to the carnival and you see that Haunted House ride that you sort of don't want to go on. That's what the stage looks like. And it pretty much is Alice Cooper's Nightmare Castle.

"There's a 14-foot [4.3 metre] Frankenstein that comes out and I can just tell you, if you've ever seen an Alice Cooper show, this is everything you can imagine Alice would do."

Alice Cooper - Ol' Black Eyes Is Back - New Zealand Tour 2020
Thursday, February 20 - Auckland, Trusts Arena
Saturday, February 22 - Christchurch, Horncastle Arena