With Alice Cooper approximating Jim Morrison’s trademark alternation of growling intensity and meditative sultriness, and Robbie Krieger reprising his vintage guitar solos, a starry band dominated by glam-metal veterans worked their way through the Doors classics “Back Door Man†and “Break on Through (To the Other Side)†on Thursday evening in Sioux Falls, S.D., as part of a concert to benefit the city’s new Brennan Rock & Roll Academy.
The performance was the third of five rock and comedy evenings to be staged in the academy’s 300-seat hall, where tickets, priced between $250 and $1,000, are sold out. On Friday the academy is offering a free daylong open house. The closing concert, Saturday evening, brings together Vince Neil, the singer for Mötley Crüe, and Stephen Pearcy, the singer for Ratt.
The academy, a $3.6 million music program for members of the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Sioux Empire, was started by Chuck Brennan, the founder of the Dollar Loan Center. Mr. Brennan, who was a member of the Sioux City Boys Clubs when he was a child, has said that he regrets not having had the opportunity to learn an instrument when he was younger. He has also cited Mr. Cooper as an inspiration: his academy is modeled partly on the Rock Teen Center that Mr. Cooper started in Phoenix, under the auspices of his Solid Rock Foundation.
Mr. Brennan’s school will offer lessons in guitar, bass, drums, keyboard and vocals, and is equipped with a recording studio and nine rehearsal rooms, as well as its concert hall.
Besides Mr. Krieger, Mr. Cooper was joined on Thursday by Sebastian Bach, the former lead singer of Skid Row - who sang the Doors’ “Crystal Ship,†the B-side of “Light My Fire,†in a duet with Mr. Krieger - as well as Tommy Thayer, Kiss’s lead guitarist since 2003; Eric Singer, Kiss’s former drummer (and later a member of Mr. Cooper’s band) and Chuck Garric, Mr. Cooper’s bassist.
