Hollywood Vampires review: Johnny Depp's supergroup with Alice Cooper rocks and surprises

When he’s not playing Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean or starring in another blockbuster, Johnny Depp enjoys touring with his rock supergroup the Hollywood Vampires.

Not all his fans may know that before becoming an actor, the 60-year-old dreamed of being a rock musician after dropping out of high school at 16.

He began playing in a band called The Kids, who moved to Los Angeles together in pursuit of a record deal with the new name Six Gun Method.

However, the group split in 1984 and Nicolas Cage ended up introducing Depp to acting, something he initially didn’t take much interest in but ended up becoming his primary career.

And it wouldn’t be until 2012 that he ended up forming a new band with Alice Cooper and Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry.

Hollywood Vampires are named after the celebrity drinking club Cooper founded in the 1970s which included the likes of John Lennon, Ringo Starr and The Who’s Keith Moon. The supergroup has released two studio albums with guest appearances from Sir Paul McCartney, Dave Grohl and Sir Christopher Lee no less. And now they’re currently on tour with a string of UK and European shows, including one at London’s O2 on Sunday evening which included a few special guests.

The 19-song set opened with a couple of Hollywood Vampires’ own hard rock tracks I Want My Now and Raise the Dead, before moving onto Cooper’s own I’m Eighteen. The 75-year-old frontman was full of energy and youthful vigour as ever with a positive and infectious energy as he led the audience through some heavy Halloween-themed tracks like The Boogieman Surprise – all the while clenching his signature stick.

Depp, often quite a shy character when not acting on screen, caught the most attention strumming along at the left of the stage and slightly out of the spotlight, but that didn't stop screaming fans snapping tons of pictures of him in particular.

Aside from their own rockin’ tracks, the Hollywood Vampires love a cover from The Doors’ Five to One/Break on Through (to the Other Side) and AC/DC's The Jack to David Bowie’s Heroes. Depp just about manages the vocals on songs like the latter and People Who Died, which paid tribute to late gods of rock n’ roll appearing on the screen behind from Elvis and Freddie Mercury to John Lennon and Prince.

As the set went on, inflatable bloody fans emerged from above adding to the horror theme of the show with its flaming skull animations. Towards the end, the Hollywood Vampires treated us to a couple of Aerosmith covers with Bright Light Fright and Walk This Way, which were a real treat to see performed so magnificently by Perry himself and accompanied by Depp who is a talented player in his own right.

Just before the encore, the Pirates star welcome a surprise guest on stage in the form of the Rolling Stones’ Ronnie Wood, to join him in a special tribute to their friend Jeff Beck, who died earlier this year. They followed this up with The Train Kept A-Rollin’ with all the guitarists lined up together and a cameo chorus sung by Imelda May.

As for the big finale, Cooper returned on stage in a white top hat ready to perform his signature crowdpleaser School’s Out. And as the band took their bow, Depp himself couldn’t resist generously flinging excess picks and the frontman’s stick into the audience. An entertaining and star-studded spectacle overall and here's hoping for a third album sooner rather than later.

Hollywood Vampires continue their UK tour tonight in Birmingham and tomorrow in Glasgow before heading off to Europe and tickets can be booked here.