Gig preview: Alice Cooper in Auckland

Alice Cooper is ready wreak havoc in Auckland tonight. Photo / Supplied.

New Zealand rock fans will be among the first in the world to see Alice Cooper perform songs from his new album when he hits the stage in Auckland tonight.

Cooper's new record Welcome 2 My Nightmare - the follow-up to 1975's classic Welcome To My Nightmare - came out earlier this month, and he's only played one show at the Whisky A Go Go in Hollywood since its release.

The album has received mixed reviews, with some questioning the rocker's collaboration with pop star Ke$ha on the track What Baby Wants, while Rolling Stone magazine raised eyebrows at his attempts at rapping on Disco Bloodbath Boogie Fever.

But it's not just new material the 63-year-old shock rocker will be playing when Cooper performs at Trusts Stadium in Waitakere - there will be a smattering of his hits too.

Recent set lists have included everything from his classic early singles School's Out, Poison and I'm Eighteen to covers of The Rolling Stones' Brown Sugar and The Doors' Break On Through (to the Other Side).

And there will undoubtedly be plenty of theatrics by the make-up loving rocker.

In his review of Cooper's New Zealand show in 2009, TimeOut writer Scott Kara said the show was part rock and part theatre performance and included guillotines, giant syringes and plenty of leather.

Cooper was also mock-killed - and resurrected - at least three times.

And he'll be playing anwhere up to 21 songs - not bad for a 63-year-old but perhaps all that golf keeps the rock veteran in shape.

Cooper is due on stage around 8.50pm after opening support slots from Head Like a Hole and Syndicate. Doors open at 6pm.

-Read Scott Kara's review here