Alice Cooper's Christmas Pudding

This was a great show all for a very worthy charity. Alice rocked the house down with a full stage show and a great set list. The snake, the guillotine and Frankenstein Alice made the band even more fun to watch. The Solid Rock Foundation is a great charity for inner city youth. What an great band Alice has put together, Chuck Garric, Ryan Roxie, Tommy Henriksen, Glen Sobel and the great new addition Nita Strauss. Not only does Alice have a great band but his family is amazing. Really cool to see so many amazing artists come together to support a great cause. Frankenstein Alice was fun to watch. Nils Lofgren, Jonny Lang, Jack Blades, Joe Lynn Turner, Glen Sobel, and Andrew Johns put together a blues set that was amazing. put together a blues set that was amazing. I have seen this show many times before and it always rocks the house down. Alice always amazes me on both a personal and professional level!

The opening act was awesome, The dancers were better than usual. I liked the comedians. But they had way too much head banging music for me the enjoy the whole show. The ending with Alice Cooper was Awesome too.

The Alice Cooper Part that started at Midnight was Amazing. The opening act was also very good. The dancers were ok and I liked the comedians but for me the show featured too many head banging groups. I don't enjoy head bangers so I had a hard time enjoying the whole show.

We weren't sure what to expect but loved every moment of the show. It was a 4 hour extravaganza show with musical guests, comedians, an artist and about a half hour intermission. The two emcees were fantastic and every guest was better than the one before it. We traveled to Phoenix from Las Vegas for the show and are planning already for next year!! Alice and Cheryl Cooper really hosted this event spectacularly. Every attendee received a program listing the entertainment for the evening.

This was my 3rd Pudding; I was at the first two at Celebrity Theater. I like the bigger stage at Comerica as it allows some terrific dancing and lots of room for the bands. However - this was the MOST POORLY sound mixed concert event that I have ever been to, especially with such a superstar headliner like Alice. Looking over at the mixing desk, I was amazed that no one there seemed to have any clue that Dash's band had no rhythm guitar or bass in the mix. And that was one of the better sounding groups. Sebastian Bach's mike level was so bad he was just garbled. C'mon, someone with a little real music experience can make this sound like music. The deaf sound men that night sure couldn't. Other than the horrible sound, it was a great night supporting Solid Rock. O'Hurley should always be the MC.

Christmas Pudding was aptly named. Why Christmas pudding? Because you don't know what you you are going to get. We had a comedian, a magician, an impressionist, an artist, auctions, not to mention stellar music. What a great evening! Why only four stars? I hope the promotors, producers and artists read this: I was in row 11 of the second level (I was in on the pre-sale immediately - and they were the best tickets I could get) - the sound was TERRIBLE! All of the sound was directed to the lower level - and there was a level above us! There is no excuse for that in a place such as Comerica.

Once again Alice put together another good X-mas Pudding show . I was in the Club Level and felt that it was a little warm up there . Three jumbo screens were nice but it may have been my angle but the two side screens were sometimes too dark to see anything . None of this is Alice`s doing so on to the show. LA Guns were average at best, very hard to understand . Sebastian Bach still has an amazing voice,Don Felder was really good and Johhny Depp can really play the guitar . I like Alice`s son`s band and the other two bands were not bad .Young and still learning but show promise . Of course the best part was Alice rocking the place at the end . His tribute to his FOUR DRUNK FRIENDS " WAS GREAT . I will certainly return again next year .

another fabulous event put on for a great cause. while a bit disappointed we didnt get to see Johnny Depp's band play - he did provide a couple of brief solos...it was nice to see him get out there and jam with AC's band. Sebastian Bach was great too...he delivered with passion and energy. John O'Hurley as mencee was a little lacking...he always seemed like he was lost on what / who was on next. SawChuck the comedian magician delivered suprerbly and entertainingly.

Great job! We had a blast! Co-op did an awesome job. I enjoyed the magician and comedy acts. Of course Sebastian and LA Guns killed it. Don was really cool to see. Alice and the band kick butt! Just an all around great show.

Very entertaining show as always. We were very disappointed in the length of the line to get in when we arrived at 7:00 (starting time for the show). Close to half an hour wait in line to get in (did they open the doors late?)

The variety was wonderful, dancing, music, comedy. The teen center talent was amazing. Alice Cooper is doing the community a great service, we need more places like his for our teens. The place was rocking when Alice Cooper, his band, along with Johnny Depp were playing. The Grand Finale was great! The only complaint I have is the Gospel Choir group was overpowered by the "back ground music". We really couldn't appreciate their voices, which was a shame.

The first 2 bands; although they had a good beat, lacked a really good lead singer. Once past that, the next 2 perfomances were good rockin' music; leading up to Alice. He's like Mick, still got it after all these years. His performance with the band and the guitar players from the previous acts was excellent! Johnny Depp was just an added bonus. The kids that came out and rocked (in between acts) were great also; all for a good cause. With the auction (handled briskly and professionally), the money raised should help many, many kids find an outlet in music. What a great way to raise money for kids who might otherwise find trouble. Music was definitely my release in high school (and throughout my life)! Kudos to the Cooperettes also; the ladies looked and sounded great! Have/will recommend to others!

as always an incredible show. music was fabulous. guests were awesome. a great way to have a fundraiser. disappointed that Johnny Depp didn't speak to the audience. would really have loved to see him more of him center stage. i think the audience would have love to have a spot light feature with him

went to see cheap trick but they were not there!was not told obout the change in acts.

Show was not what I expected. I realize it must have been difficult to fill for Cheap Tricks cancellation, but I would have expected music along the same genre...not full out heavy metal. The show supports a good cause so it's worth the ticket price. Years past shows were outstanding..this one..not so much.

Alice Cooper is a philanthropist as well as a world-famous rock star. He hosts this mostly all-star benefit in Phoenix every December. I've been to most--this is Pudding no. 11 and I've been to eight. I really hate to say that this year's show was the weakest thus far--a case of too much padding in the Pudding. The thing that always made this show fun was the variety of the acts; for instance, last year's Pudding included Cheech Marin of Cheech & Chong, Rob Zombie, speed painter Rock DeMarco, Glen Campbell, Night Ranger, a classical piano duo, Nils Lofgren of Bruce Springsteen's E-Street Band, Don Felder of the Eagles, and Cooper with his original early-'70s band, as well as a few local acts, making their professional debut. The 2011 model was overloaded on one kind of music--heavy metal and/or hard rock. I'm no metal-basher. If I was, I wouldn't be holding tix to the likes of Atomic Punks, Steel Panther, and the Axl Rose Band (aka G N' R). But there was very little variety in this particular show. I'm a big fan of Cooper (this was my fourth time seeing him in the last year) and Rob Halford of Judas Priest, and their sets were great. But I found myself squirming during Orianthi's high-velocity noodling during both her sit-in with Runaway Phoenix (a local metal band headed by Cooper's son Dash), as well as her own set. Brian "Head" Welch's set was pure aggression, featuring a Korn medley and wonderful little ditties with titles like "Paralyzed". Cookie-monster vocals don't do it for me, unfortunately. Host Murray Sawchuck is allegedly a magician as well as a lousy comic, but he didn't indulge in much magic during his many unwelcome appearances on stage. Mostly he just preened and reminded me of Andy Dick, who I am NO fan of. The other two comedians on the bill, Chris Bliss and Gary Mule Deer, were extremely hilarious. Why weren't they given the hosting spot? Mule Deer in particular would be perfect. His stoic delivery is perfect for his style of absurdist humor; he even did "Folsom Prison Blues" backed by Cooper's band. And yes, he sounds just like Johnny Cash, but that was it for impressions, by him or anyone else (unless you count Sawchuck's failed impression of someone with comic talent). Bliss's stand-up act in the second half of the show ended with a truly awesome juggling act set to a tape of The Beatles' "Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End" medley. He would be a fine host also. Kip Winger, brief Motley Crue singer John Corabi and ex-Kiss and Meat Loaf guitar ace Bruce Kulick all did acoustic sets. Winger's set was surprising; he opened with an intricate Spanish-style instrumental that really showed he was quite the acoustic guitarist. He next did his '89 anthem "Headed for a Heartbreak". Corabi and Kulick's set was a mixture of songs from their respective associations (though it was odd that they did "Hard Luck Woman", from the Kiss era that Kulick had no part of), and ended with a spirited cover of The Beatles' "Oh Darling". 3 local acts, all contest winners, played: Jared Kolesar & the Locals, Julianne Forte and Suite 88. Kolesar was game but his stuff was generic John Mellencamp-lite. Forte has real talent and a great voice but was so nervous I felt bad for her. Suite 88's singer has a great voice, and their two-song set was a real surprise. Their version of Pink Floyd's "Time" was excellent. My favorite of all the bands on the bill was The Tubes. I had never seen them before and they did not disappoint. Lead singer Fee Waybill still has it; it's just too bad that their opening song--the great '80s classic "She's a Beauty"--was almost torpedoed by a bad sound mix. Would have liked more songs from Halford; he did four. Cooper's set was the longest by far--and the longest of any I had seen him do at the Pudding, lasting almost an hour. He surprised me by doing the 1971 deep album track "Halo of Flies". Usually his Pudding sets are a handful of hits only, yet he gave us "Hey Stoopid" and the new, propulsive rocker "I'll Bite Your Head Off". He closed the show with an all-star run through Chuck Berry's "Run Rudolph Run". Cool to see Halford and Cooper perform together. This pudding was attended by my two best friends with me for the first time. They had a great time, despite the many flaws, and I was happy to be there with them (though I do wish the father/son drunkards behind us had spared us their loud commentary). Also, it should be noted that no actual Christmas pudding was distributed to those of us in the audience during the intermission for the first time ever, and previously announced acts Cheap Trick and the Gin Blossoms didn't show. Despite this, there's no question that I'll be attending future Puddings, because the good FAR outweighs the bad.

Everything was "perfect"! Started RIGHT on time and was a fast paced, non stop action packed EXTRAVAGONZO for 5 hours!!! REALLY enjoyed the "local" talent, the dancing, choreography, comedians, etc. Alice and Company "of course" delivered 100%!!! Will absolutely be there next year and hope to bring more friends with me!

Christmas Pudding was terrific (as usual) I enjoyed all of the acts.Halford, Corabi and Kulick won me over. It seemed to be missing Roger Clyne or other non-metal rock of past years like the Eagles. A country/rock band could be thrown back into the mix. The winners of Alice's talent contest put on a great show. Watch for Suite 88 in the future. I loved Gary Mule Deer and Chris Bliss, very funny.

This event is a Christmas Tradition for my family and we thoroughly enjoyed it again this year. I was anticipating Cheap Trick and was slightly disapointed but the Tubes never fail to entertain. Rob Halford and Brian Welch rocked the night and with the best band ever Alice put on a Grand finale. I hope you bring back Gary Mule Deer every year he was fantastic!

Show gets better every year. Murray the MC was awesome and very funny too. Chris Bliss the commedian had a juggling act that was unreal. Alice did more songs this year that last year which was great.

We attended the nutcracker, a chrsistmas carol, zoolights, etc this year and this was by far the best show and a great price. The kids were fabulous! Coming back next year for sure.

where else can you get such a variety of top Rock talent -- worth every penny and more for this 5 hour extravanga that not only was great fun but helps to support a great cause.... time went by so fast I didnt want it to end! I will make this an annual event!

The show was a worth every penny we paid. The kids danced like pros, sound was fabulous, and the performers were there to aid a great cause and put their heart and soul into the show. The only disappointment was a few rude drunks in the audience that the theatre should have had removed.

What a great show! The dancers were really good - energetic yet concise and the musical groups were great except it's too bad Glen Campbell got up on the wrong side of the bed that day. I didn't find this years comedians funny so I was glad the showed clips from Sinbad's performance at a previous years' show. Rob Zombie was awesome, I wasn't sure if they would be able to idle down for a family friendly show but they did without losing their edge.

This was my fifth time going to Christmas Pudding. It's always a fun time. I didn't know much about Rob Zombie before this, but by the time he was in his second song I really liked him. Thanks Alice! I'll but tickets again next year.

For three years in a row I have taken my children to AC Christmas Pudding. There is such a variety of entertainment that there is always something you enjoy. This years was fantastic! I would highly recommend it to anyone.

This was my first Christmas Pudding but guaranteed not to be my last. Great time, so much going on and you got to see them doing quick changes from one act to the next. Some very memorable performances.

This was certainly a variety show and although not all of the music was to my taste, it was all performed very well and it was a ton of fun! The dance troupe of kids did some really amazing moves and especially the kid who spun around on his head continuously, I would have been dizzy and sick in no time if I tried it! : ) There was something for everyone I think, even Cheech Marin with a couple of jokes and his wife as a Piano duo who played a wonderful classical piece. Glen Campbell with his easy listening, Nils Lofgren was one of the highlights for me as I saw him back in 1970 before he hit it big...but he is also one fine guitar player. Night Ranger was a lot of fun, really enjoyed them rocking the venue. The biggest thing for me was to see Alice Cooper, I had not seen them either since about 1970 also right before he hit big...saw him in a community college CAFETERIA of all places..with his makeup and theatrics, certainly changed my perspective! Though not quite as theatrical but with makeup...this show was fully of energy and his hits and a couple of influential covers. I just loved it! I hope that he feels up to a bit of a tour as other fans need to see this. Overall the vibe of this show was great. There were quite a few generous people who bid on auction items who helped raise money for this great cause The Solid Rock Foundation. Everyone in the audience even got a taste of real Christmas pudding and it was very good. : ) Kudos to everyone who made this event happen. The only down side to it was the prices of the Comerica Theatre food and drink vendors. I think that if they would lower their prices, they would sell a lot more and make more money. We ate at a restaurant nearby and had a couple of drinks there to save money, but I would've bought food and drink at the Comerica instead if it had been more reasonable.

Absolutely amazing. A lot of bang for your buck!!! My husband and I agree we'd like to make it an annual event.

As always, Alice's Christmas Pudding was a great show and after attending it for years in a row I would always recommend it.

This was my first ALICE COOPER SHOW EVER. I had the time of my life. I will definitely be back next year. It was worth the travel time from. Tucson.

Awesome, awesome, awesome! This show never disappoints me. It is a great evening of entertainment of local and national talent. Love the surprises of AMAZING talent and guitar playing. What wonderful people to give so much for such a good cause as The Solid Rock Foundation. Thank you, Alice.

An absolutely wonderful night...Our family attended for the first time and everyone enjoyed themselves. It felt like we were invited to Alice's personal Christmas party.

great lineup; missed Oriantha this year; best spent 5 hours of my saturday!!

The show this year was really great! The last half was absolutely super! Alice spent more time on stage than he did the other time I went. We couldn't believe we were there 5 hours - it didn't seem like that long at all. When they say they start at 7, they start at 7. So glad I went.

I've been able to see most of the Christmas Pudding benefit shows that Alice Cooper has put on here in Phoenix over the last 15 years. My first time was the second one held, when the show was still mounted in the intimate in-the-round Celebrity Theater. It's since gone on to be held in the much larger Comerica Theater, which seats around eight thousand people. As the show has gotten larger, I feel that it's lost some of its soul--namely, the variety that made the earlier Puddings so much fun. One Pudding in particular featured Cooper alongside Cheech Marin (of comedy duo Cheech & Chong), Glen Campbell, Don Felder of the Eagles, a classical piano duo, and Rob Zombie. Another featured former Traffic member Dave Mason, Marilyn McCoo from The 5th Dimension, local talent Jerry Riopelle, and the lead singer of Sister Sledge (performing "We Are Family"). So yeah, the earlier Puddings had more variety. Lately, the focus has been on hard rock/metal almost exclusively, with a bone tossed in here and there of another kind of music. It's a great cause (the Solid Rock Foundation, founded by Cooper and his wife, which benefits at-risk youth in Phoenix), but I miss the old format. Still, this year's Pudding was entertaining, all the same. It was also the longest, starting promptly at 7 and ending around 1am. There were two intermissions, the first one so brief that it was frankly ridiculous (they probably realized that they were running over time backstage and needed to get going). The performers in order of appearance were: ANDREW JOHNS--a one-man-band performer who imitated the likes of Freddie Mercury and Alice; he was ok but went over his allotted time and had the curtain dropped on him. That had to be embarrassing! THE SOLID ROCK DANCERS--acolytes of Cooper's wife Sheryl, who runs the 'dance' part of the Solid Rock school. Past performances have run the gamut from ballet to breakdancing. This year's offering was strangely monotonous and uninteresting, but the kids involved get a big "A" for effort anyway. Performing in such a large full house can't be easy. Every year the Pudding features local talent who win a contest (called "the Proof In the Pudding") to perform at the event. This year, it was solo artist LAURA WALSH (very good) and band UFN (excellent musicians, but overbearing performance style). Of the two, Walsh had the most promise, opening her two-song set with a soulful, bluesy take on "Blue Christmas". Celebrity painter ROCK DeMARCO, a veteran of several Puddings, was next. Using his unique two-handed style, he created a portrait of Cooper onstage in a matter of minutes. CO-OP were next. A local metal outfit fronted by Alice's son Dash. I had seen them before and I still don't care for them; Dash knows how to work a stage but he can't sing, and the original song they performed made no impression on me whatsoever. Comedian GARY MULE DEER was a major highlight of the evening; he's sort of a George Carlin-esque observational comic who doesn't work blue, and his stonefaced delivery is part of his charm. This was the third Pudding I had seen him at, and he's always great. NILS LOFGREN, currently Bruce Springsteen's lead guitarist (and formerly of Neil Young's band), played a passionate set and was another highlight. An auction followed, during which DeMarco's portrait and various signed musical instruments were sold off. The auction is always fun to watch, but no way could I ever participate in one...until I win the lottery, that is. The second half of the show started with two loud, rowdy metal bands; the first being Toronto act THOUSAND FOOT KRUTCH. I didn't care for them too much, but it was fun watching them work up the younger folks in the crowd. P.O.D. was next. They had a few hits in the late '90s, and their sound is modern metal with rapped vocals. Even though I'm not a fan of the genre, they didn't annoy me. They, like the band before them, performed three songs (including "Alive", the only one of theirs I knew). A supergroup of sorts followed, made up of JONNY LANG, Night Ranger lead singer Jack Blades and Lofgren. The set they performed started off strong but became somewhat monotonous when Lang stretched out his cover of the U2/B.B. King song "When Love Comes To Town". Former Richie Blackmore's Rainbow and Deep Purple vocalist JOE LYNN TURNER joined them for two songs. He still has the pipes but the version of "Smoke On the Water" they performed just draaaaaaaaged. NIGHT RANGER performed a set that went on too long, in my opinion. Six songs may not sound like a big deal, but when the band jams on some of them, and the vocalist of "Sister Christian" (drummer Kelly Keagy) can barely croak out the lyrics, it really seemed to take forever for them to clear the stage. ALICE COOPER closed off the show with a much-expanded setlist (13 songs instead of the five he normally does at a Pudding), and with an abbreviated--but welcome--version of the show he regularly tours with. Cooper usually does the Puddings sans makeup and props; a lot of hype was generated by the fact that he was going to basically do the same opening set that he performed on Motley Crue's supposedly farewell tour this year. Alice added a few nice Christmas touches to the props, some subtle (a bag overflowing with coal marked 'naughty' onstage), some not (the Frankenstein monster dressed as Santa). It was cool to see the snake, straightjacket and guillotine at the very family-friendly Pudding. The show ended with Alice and band leading everyone with a rowdy take on The Beatles' "Revolution" while fake snow fell from the rafters. As I said above, the show was overlong, but it was never boring.

Christmas Pudding gets better every year but this year was exceptional. Thank you Alice for giving us a memorable experience.

I have made this a yearly event and it just keeps getting better year after year. 6 hours worth of entertainment, including performances by the kids from Solid Rock. My hat is off to Alice and Sheryl Cooper and family, as well as all the friends and performers who support this event and Solid Rock and the Rock Teen Center.

This year Alice did his show from his recent tour. This included full staging which was magnificent. The fog and pyrotechnics were awesome and he played virtuallyeveryone of his greatest hits.. All this to benefit his charity Solid Rock.. Alice and his wife Cheryl are people who I personally respect and admire. As a final note.. The show included guilotin and a snake and many other props too numerous to mention. Alice is an icon on all levels and would urge anyone to support his charity...

This year was fabulous. The only thing we did not appreciate were the 2 "rap style bands". They were full of energy but in our opinion did not fit the venue. It was a long show and next year I would leave them out and give more time to the kids fro Solid Rock. They were incredible! The dancers are unbelievable.

Another great 6 hour show, lots of variety and lots of fun

Wonderful performances by all. This is the 4th time we have attended Alice Cooper's Christmas Pudding. We are already looking forward to next year!

The show was awesome, I had seen Alice with Motley crue on the final tour and knew I had to see his christmas pudding. I had really good seats and could see enjoy every minute. As a arizona resident this was my first time seeing the pudding, I wish I would have known ahead of time how long it was going to be, I would have taken a nap. I was not prepared nor expecting a 6 hour show! That is not a complaint though show was awesome!!!!

Great show with lots of variety. Only thing wrong was the show lasted 6 hours . Highlights for me were comedian Gary Mule Deer, a band I had never heard of Thousand Foot Krutch, a super group jam, Night Ranger, and of course Alice Cooper. Alice closed out the show with a great set complete with staging , props, and costumes. I will go next year.

We didn't know what to expect when we got tix to this show. Wow. Six hours of music and revelry, along with a live auction. It was quite the evening.

always a good show with a variety. Loved Alice and the band! I think Calico did a good job for her first time!!! We have gone for years and are never disappointed!!!

This was my first Xmas Pudding show. IMO I feel 5 hours for a variety show was a bit too long. Alice didn't take the stage until Midnight, which is fine, but the flow of the show could have been better if the roadies were quicker at getting the stage set between each act. They seem to be fumbling around a bit. The 2nd half with all the special guests & different band members was really great & Alice, of course, is THE BOMB! The reason we went is because he was did a full set of his show, which we had seen in July with Motley Crue, but that's okay. I didn't mind seeing it again! I love Alice!

The Solid Rock kids and CO OP were good and Alice was great, but all the stuff in-between was painful. Watched a 20 self promotion for the painter. Sat through an auction that only a dozen people participated. Saw a lot of people leave early.

Weak line up except for kiss, and John O'hurley and Bill Engvall.... But the lighting was sooooo bad. Kept shining beams of bright lights in my face the whole show making it a pain to watch:o(

The best part of the Pudding show is always Alice, period. Strange that he would relinquish the closing slot to Kiss. ..I'm not a big fan but it was interesting to see them perform without their makeup. Joan Jett is always fantastic and I swear she never ages. Tom Keifer from Cinderella is also consistently good. Vince Neil is well. ...Vince Neil. ..plus loads of other singers, dancers, comics all for a great cause.

The show this year was over the top. The performers had so much energy and played to the extreme. The only fly in the ointment was the spectators around us that had to talk over the performers. As the night went on they got more drunk and loud. The support band Hairball (I think that was their name) was Fabulous! Their guitar player was among the best I have heard and seen. A great event for a teriffic local charity.

What an amazing show all for a great cause to support the inner city youth and the Solid Rock Foundation. The show started out with fantastic talent from the Solid Rock Foundation and the talent contest winners. The show started out amazing and only got better as the night went on. The rock stars that came to support the charity were amazing and show how respected Alice Cooper is in the rock and roll community! AMAZING!

Every year I go to The Christmas Pudding. Specifically, it's "Alice Cooper's Christmas Pudding"--a huge benefit concert and variety show held here in Phoenix, Arizona in December. It's always headlined by Alice, and typically features a variety of local acts (both amateur and not), a comedian or two, a local dance troupe, and of course music, covering different styles. Lately, the music featured at the Pudding has almost always been hard rock, with little of the variety that made past Puddings so much fun to be had; however, if you came to rock, then this is for you. Having been attending this event since its second incarnation more than a decade ago, I just like the old template best--a true mix of musical styles (I've seen everything from hip-hop to country to classic rock to R&B performed over the years). I''ll keep attending these events, because the cause is great (the Solid Rock foundation, which benefits potentially aimless kids), it's relatively inexpensive (row 22 on the floor seats were just $70, much lower than they could have charged for something like this), and no matter what, it's always entertaining. At past Puddings, the acts have included the likes of Cheech Marin (of Cheech & Chong), Stephen Stills, Peter Frampton, Rob Zombie, Marilyn McCoo (of The 5th Dimension), members of Styx, Journey and Cheap Trick, Glen Campbell and Jordin Sparks; this year, the talent included Joan Jett, Vince Neil of Motley Crue, comedian Bill Engvall, Minnesota metal tribute act Hairball, the lead singers of Cinderella, Winger and Ratt, the Phoenix Boys Choir, Kiss and Rock DeMarco, "The World's Fastest Painter". The host was the same as last year, actor John O'Hurley, who played J. Peterman on "Seinfeld" and currently divides his time hosting "Family Feud" and the Purina sponsored Pedigree Dog Show held at Madison Square Garden. Kiss were the official headliner, performing after Alice's set, sans makeup and props, which is a rarity these days. The musical acts averaged three to five songs each, with Kiss getting six. The only real disappointment for my friends and I was Joan Jett's set, which was too brief for someone of her stature--only three songs, and one of them was a new one that nobody in the audience knew. She didn't go near any Runaways stuff (expected), and stayed away from her biggest hit by far, "I Love Rock & Roll" (unexpected). Still, she was in high spirits, and I was glad to see her at last, although I wish she had stuck around for the all-star finale. Bill Engvall, a comedian who has his own sitcom and is very popular right now, closed the first half of the show, and frankly he didn't make me laugh. I don't doubt that the guy is good, he just didn't get me going at this show. Unexpectedly, the highlight of the first half of the show was The Phoenix Boys Choir. They performed early on, starting with a choice carol for the holidays, before morphing into a hilarious--and deeply felt--classic rock tribute act, delivering excellent takes on "Bohemian Rhapsody" and even a Kiss song, with the pre-teen soloist made up like Paul Stanley, star on his face and all. Mention must also be made for local act Lelea, a VERY young man (I'm guessing around 11 or 12) who came out alone with an acoustic guitar and proved right away that he has major talent, singing, playing and pumping up the sold-out crowd like a pro who's been doing it for 40 years. He was one of a pair of local contest winners who performed on this night, and by far the better of the two. The second half of the show was dominated by '80s hair metal acts. Hairball, very popular in the Midwest, is a dead-on metal tribute act that cover everything from Kiss to AC/DC very accurately; on this night their set moved from Roth-era Van Halen to Twisted Sister before closing with AC/DC's "For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)", with their singer doing an absolutely perfect impersonation of that band's lead singer, Brian Johnson, that frankly was amazing to see and hear. Hairball then backed up Joan Jett, Kip Winger, Ratt singer Stephen Pearcy, Cinderella singer Tom Keifer, Motley Crue's Vince Neil and Alice during their sets. Winger and Keifer were strictly poor to mediocre at best, Pearcy's two-song set was better than expected, and Neil and Cooper were the most lively. Kiss closed off the show with five of their '70s classics and one '80s-era hit ("Lick It Up", which I never liked), closing the evening with "Rock & Roll All Night", during which everyone except Jett joined them onstage (although Santa did), while fake snow fell from the rafters. After this, Cooper, Stanley and a few of the other major performers signed autographs onstage for a little while. In all, this wasn't the best Pudding I'd seen, but it was close. The only dull spots were Tom Keifer, Kip Winger and Bill Engvall. That's not bad, considering the show started at 7 sharp and ended just after 11. Looking forward to next year!

Great show and line up ! Would of liked to see Rob Zombie but he didn't show.

Jett, Winger, Pearcy, Neil, Alice, and KISS. Need I say more? Well work the price and for a great cause. The kids from the ROCK all performed well and entertained. On a side note: I would pay to see a full KISS set played like they played on Saturday. No make-up, no fire, explosions, or lifts. Just the raw delivery of the music. It was really great.

I have been to many past Puddings and this was one of the best ever! The first half was all variety, and the second half was pure rock! It was great to see Tom Keifer of Cinderella and Vince Neil of Motley Crue; Tom, I thought was in fine form, both vocally and on guitar. Alice, to his credit, passed the headlining spot onto Kiss, who came out and blew everybody away. No makeup, no costumes, they just rocked out. The show ended with everyone on stage singing Rock and Roll All Night (and Party Every Day). Last but not least, I even scored an autographed program from Alice!! Great, great show!

Go to this event! It's for a good cause and a really good show. It starts with very family type acts & turns in to a full on rock show about half way thru. WAY Good Music. Alice doing just the hits, KISS doing a best of mini concert & Vince from Crue doing Kickstart My Heart, Wild Side & Girls Girls Girls. Plus a TON more quality rock. It's a bargain & great fun. Go with an open mind and just have fun.

I've been wanting to go to Alice Cooper's Christmas Pudding for years - finally decided to go when I found out a friend was part of the "Gift of Drums" production. After Alice Cooper himself, the Gift of Drums production was my favorite part. Diversity - everything from Taiko Drums to Latin Rhythms, but all put together incredibly well, and the performers, I believe many of them from the Solid Rock Foundation, were excellent. The one poor point of the evening was that the video projection of the stage event up on the screens was poor quality. Looking at the stage directly, the lighting seemed fine, but the video screens were mostly washed out, weird color or washed out performers. Otherwise, however, the show was excellent, excellent, excellent.

It's very long- 7 to 11:30. I felt like I was at my neighbor's kids recital for the first 2 1/2 hours and found myself day dreaming much of the time. In between acts were just ok and seemed like a waste of time. Good that it's for charity, but I won't go again and would rather just donate to their center than sit through the whole show. Additionally Comerica Theater is too big and seems like a large movie theater. Oh yeah, and poor Johnny Depp seemed shy and drunk/stoned which I guess isn't surprising considering how long he had to hang around backstage before coming out to play. When he finally did join them he stayed to the side and back of the stage near the drummer most of the time. He has a lot to live up to and I just felt sorry for him.

They advertised this event with JOHNNY DEPP's name in big letters on just about everything. They USED him to sell tickets. And he doesn't show up, until 15 minutes until the end, after 4 HOURS of concert I in all honesty wasn't there to see (and wasn't very good until the second act), and he doesn't even walk down the catwalk once. Hell, he doesn't even move past the upstage right corner! He was the entire reason I went, because it was advertised that there would be more of him. And there wasn't. It was unfair.

I enjoyed most of the guest but not all and it was quite an event being very long like from 7pm-11:30pm. This year they didn't give out any pudding and I was bummed. The two host were good but the one did the same show as last year. I would have liked Alice Cooper doing more of his tunes as this year he did more of others peoples tunes but he was still very good. Not enough bathrooms for all the people that attended, This year was the biggest maybe because Johnny Depp was a guest playing guitar and I never seen so many people show up for a Christmas Pudding before.

Started slow, awesome after the intermission. Alice and band rocked the night.

Definately worth seeing. Wish they would make a video of the show, love to see it again. Alice rocks, best concert I've been to in a long time.