WHEN psychopomp rock star Alice Cooper waved farewell to his original band in the Seventies, he might have said, "School's Out," although he probably didn't.

But little could the grimacing king of wild hair and runny mascara have realised that, more than forty years on, they'd all be making up again - with mascara no doubt, and tuning up together as a reunited combo.

Alice has indeed gathered his original band for a 2017 tour, and his rapier is pointing directly at Birmingham's Barclaycard Arena for a show, this November.

A spokesman said: "On May 14, following Alice Cooper's customary execution via guillotine on stage at his Nashville concert, fans were treated to something rarely seen since 1973. The stage went dark and original band members, bassist Dennis Dunaway, guitarist Michael Bruce and drummer Neal Smith reunited to perform a five song mini-set of their classic hits with Alice.

"Now Alice has announced that the three surviving members of the band will join him on tour in the UK – which includes a show at the Barclaycard Arena, Birmingham on November 14. They will be returning to these shores some 46 years after they first shocked and enthralled us on their historic 1971 tour."

There was no bad blood after the original split.

Alice said: “When the original band broke up in 1975, there were no lawsuits—we had just burned out the creative process. We had gone to high school together and had recorded something like five platinum albums in a row. Everybody just went their own way.

"Neal, Dennis and I always stayed in touch. Mike disappeared for a while and Glen Buxton passed away in 1997, which was a big blow. But last year Neal called me up and said, ‘I have a couple of songs.’ I said great, bring ‘em over. Then he said Mike was stopping by, so I had them come to my house and we just worked on a few things for a week. Then Dennis called up and said, I got a couple songs. So, I thought, hey let’s do this!"

Tickets for the Barclaycard Arena date are on sale now via www.theticketfactory.com or by calling 0844 33 88 222.