Alice Cooper, Fuel and Saliva - 2014

BAY CITY, MI — Alice Cooper says Bay City River Roar fans should prepare to be exhausted.

The quintessential shock rocker, who began his career in the 1960s and is still going strong today, brings his show to Bay City on Saturday, June 28. The concert begins at 6 p.m. in Veteran's Memorial Park on the city's West Side.

Doors open at 5 p.m. and Bay City's own Josh Ramses Band is the opening act.

Tickets are $30 for general admission and $45 for VIP seating.

"We do 28 songs in the show — 'No More Mr. Nice Guy,' 'Schools Out,' all the hits," he said. "We do the guillotine, straight jacket. It's a show so tight the audience is flabbergasted by the end.

"I want my audience to be exhausted at the end of the show. We never give them a chance to rest. That's what you learn to do in Detroit. All Detroit bands made the audience know they were in for a show."

Cooper says the good people of Michigan have always understood his act, something the folks out west didn't get.

"They didn't get us in Los Angeles," said Cooper. "But Michigan got us. With the Stooges and MC5, you understood us."

This is Cooper's second appearance in recent years in Bay City, the first coming in 2010 during the Tall Ship Celebration.

Joining him on stage this time around is a group Cooper calls the best band he's ever worked with — Ryan Roxie, Tommy Henricksen and new to the group, Nita Strauss on guitars, Chuck Garric on bass and Glen Sobel on drums.

"Every guy (and gal) is hand picked," said Cooper. "Nita Struass, she's a shredder, a great lead guitar player. They are all top-of-the-line players. When they get on stage they know how to play Alice music. They are stone cold professionals."

The ensemble recently returned from a tour of Europe, playing festivals in Germany and Sweden, where Cooper remains a big draw.

At age 66, Cooper says he never thought his career would span 45 years.

"There was never a time any of us … thought we would get to 30 years old," he said. "The Stones, anyone still touring and making music comes to a crossroads where they decided to live or die. All my buddies, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, pretty much made their own bed. I want to stick around and make 20 more albums. There is a moment to decide to make it or not to make it."

Cooper's roller coaster life is laid bare in a documentary titled "Super Duper Alice Cooper," which is available online at www.superduperalicecooper.com.

"The early years were more dramatic," he said. "No one believed in us except Frank Zappa and the Doors. It was a 'Rocky' story. We ended up being as big as you could get in America."

Cooper admits, going back to those early years, some of the memories made him uncomfortable.

"I never talked about my cocaine use," he said. "But when you do a documentary, you can't hide sections. You have to talk about all of it. I looked like a skeleton. The drugs had ravaged me. I had just gotten over alcoholism and I was in this mess. I've gone 35 years, no drinking, no anything. There is still the drama of making it, destroying it and making it again. Always a great story."

But the story isn't over yet, and new chapters are being written with a new generation being introduced to "Alice Music," Cooper said.

"It's the weirdest thing," he said. "Our audiences are probably 16 to 25 years old in the first 30 to 40 rows. All the young people wearing the make up, they know every lyric. The older audience, who used to be up front, are in the back watching the shows."

Cooper credits that to the fact kids today are very astute.

"We get young kids bringing up the old songs," he said. "I just don't think younger bands are writing any classic songs. Younger kids would rather hear Black Sabbath and Alice Cooper."

Cooper has also become somewhat of a mentor to that younger generation of musicians.

"We never quit in this business," he said. "You've got to be able to ride that roller coaster. You don't hit the top and stay there, there are ups and downs. Don't get discouraged if your last album didn't do well. Don't fall in a hole, figure out what you did wrong and get the next one right."