Courtesy of Alice Cooper’s Solid Rock FoundationAlice Cooper has a special holiday treat for fans attending the 18th annual edition of his star-studded annual Christmas Pudding fundraising concert this Saturday in Phoenix. The show will feature a reunion performance by the surviving members of the original Alice Cooper group — Alice, bassist Dennis Dunaway, drummer Neal Smith and guitarist Michael Bruce.
The shock rocker’s Hollywood Vampires band mate Johnny Depp also joined the event’s lineup, which already includes Judas Priest‘s Rob Halford, Extreme‘s Gary Cherone and Nuno Betancourt, acclaimed blues guitarist Joe Bonamassa, current Cooper guitarist Nita Strauss, Slaughter frontman Mark Slaughter, comic musician Gary Mule Deer and comedian Jim Breuer.
Proceeds from the holiday extravaganza go toward funding the free music, dance, arts and vocational programs of Cooper’s Solid Rock Teen Centers.
Dunaway, who grew up with Cooper in Phoenix, tells ABC Audio that the concert will mark the first time he and Alice will perform together at the Celebrity Theatre since 1966, when they took part in their high school’s production of Bye Bye Birdie there.
Dennis also confirms that he, Smith and Bruce will be recording a couple of songs with Cooper for the shock rocker’s next studio album, which will be released in 2020. Dunaway tells ABC Radio that, like Alice’s recent Breadcrumbs EP, the upcoming record will be an homage to the band’s old stomping ground of Detroit.
Dunaway, Smith and Bruce also contributed to Cooper’s last two studio efforts, 2011’s Welcome 2 My Nightmare and 2017’s Paranormal, and played a special set with Alice at five U.K. concerts in November 2017.
Dennis currently plays in the all-star band Blue Coupe, which also features founding Blue Oyster Cult members Albert Bouchard and Joe Bouchard. The group has just released its third studio album, Eleven Even.
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