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West Valley City • Dropping temperatures and dark clouds that moved into the Salt Lake Valley on an ill wind Monday afternoon finally made it feel like October — a month for ghosts, goblins and werewolves.

So what could be more appropriate than a Halloween Hootenanny at Usana Amphitheatre featuring Alice Cooper and Rob Zombie?

A smallish but vocal crowd of about 4,500 were treated to special effects, pyrotechnics, loud and pulsating rock and impressive showmanship by two of the music world's greatest performers.

Call me old school, but the 62-year-old Cooper was the more enjoyable of the two over-the-top rockers.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominee has been doing this show seemingly forever but apparently hasn't lost any of his enthusiasm. From the opening seconds of the show when the familiar opening guitar riffs of "School's Out" brought the crowd to its feet to the encore of "Eighteen," Cooper showed why he deserves a place among rock's classic innovators.

After all, this was the guy who all but invented the big rock stage shows that are now standard fare. He had big hair before most of the big hair bands of the '80s and wore white makeup and black eye shadow long before imitators such as KISS.

Cooper still packs more into an hour and 15 minute performance than anyone. His set included a 20-foot tall one-eyed monster, a guillotine, a hanging, a stripper, a spider suit, a wheelchair, sword play, giant balloons, a roadie being stabbed by a microphone stand, a giant syringe, fake diamonds and cash tossed into the audience and a cage of death.

Oh, and yes, the old warrior can still rock with the best of them. Backed by a crack band, he played classics such as "No More Mr. Nice Guy," "Only Women Bleed," "Billion Dollar Baby," "Poison," "Vengeance," "Alice Goes to Hell," and "Be My Frankenstein" with the enthusiasm of a newcomer trying to make a name for himself.

Simply put, Alice Cooper is a showman and his staging is edgy enough to be interesting but with enough tongue-in-cheek humor that the act is both entertaining and funny.

Zombie, on the other hand, tries to be a bit more of a shock rocker.

This isn't to say he doesn't have his own brand of showmanship that included liberal use of seven video screens, giant mechanical robots, fire and video screens that paid homage to classic horror movies as well as some of Zombie's own films such as "House of a Thousand Corpses" and the Grindhouse trailer of "Werewolf Women of the SS."

As might be expected, his was the most edgy of the two shows. A few song titles couldn't be printed in a daily newspaper, some of the videos included some nudity and the F-word was used liberally. But what do you expect when you buy a ticket to a Zombie show?

The songs were classic rock and plenty loud. They had the kind of beat that makes you want to stand up or hurl yourself against other folks in the mosh pit, both of which happened Monday.

The song titles give non-fans an idea of the thematic elements of the show. Zombie played "Dragula," "Mars Needs Women," "Thunderkiss 65," "Demons Speeding," "Sick Bubble Gum," "Werewolf Baby" and "More Human than Human."

The crowd especially enjoyed the moment when Zombie grabbed a giant flashlight and toured the amphitheater for a closer look at his fans while the band played on.

All things considered, the monsters, jack-o-lanterns, devils and demons coupled with the cool, dark night seemed a good way to begin Utah's Halloween season. —

Alice Cooper and Rob Zombie in "Halloween Hootenanny"

R Bottom_line • A good way to begin the Halloween season.

With • Murderdolls

Where • Usana Amphitheatre, 5150 S. 6055 West, West Valley City.

When • Monday