Alice Cooper rocked his Christmas Pudding 2023 concert with Sammy Hagar, Nancy Wilson

Alice Cooper never fails to rise to the occasion at his annual Christmas Pudding concert, which inevitably ends with “School’s Out,” now done as a medley with Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall,” and an all-star jam on Chuck Berry’s "Run Rudolph Run."

But it’s the sense of never knowing what might happen next that makes this holiday tradition, now in its 21st year of raising funds for Alice Cooper's Solid Rock Teen Centers in Phoenix and Mesa, such a festive treat.

On Saturday, Dec. 9, the big surprise was Sammy Hagar strolling out as Heart guitarist Nancy Wilson was covering “Comfortably Numb” to sing and play guitar.

We all knew Hagar would be coming out next to do his own set. We had no reason to suspect that he would be joining Wilson during her set, much less covering a Pink Floyd song, which segued seamlessly into his own set after Wilson left the stage.

This year’s other special guests were Quiet Riot, Tommy DeCarlo of Boston (the band, not the city) and Sixwire, the Nashville cover band that backs the guests not traveling with their own band.

Alice Cooper: Close enough is close to perfect

Cooper hit the stage at 11 p.m. looking great in a shimmering crimson dinner jacket, a black ruffled shirt, black leather gloves and black jeans to lead the Sixwire guys in an electrifying set that put the focus squarely on the early ‘70s, from “No More Mr. Nice Guy” and the “Killer” classic “Be My Lover” to an amped-up tear through “I’m Eighteen” and a rollicking “Under My Wheels.”

He did slip in one relatively newer song, the darkly comical “Lost in America” from 1994’s “The Last Temptation,” which always manages to hold its own surrounded by the songs on which his legacy will ultimately rest.

As anyone who’s ever been to Christmas Pudding knows, you get a longer, more theatrical performance out of Cooper when he’s touring.

But even without the props and makeup, there’s a natural presence Cooper brings to the proceeding that combined with the undistilled power of those songs from “Alice Cooper’s Greatest Hits” banged out in quick succession to make for an extremely entertaining mini-concert. Plus, his vocals sounded great. You'd almost swear he doesn’t age.

After bringing “School’s Out” to a joyous close, he invited the other acts on stage to join him on the grand finale, which he introduced with “We have never done this correctly. I just want you to know.”

And with that, they were off on a wonderfully sloppy rendition of “Run Rudolph Run” that wouldn’t have been as charming if they’d put the effort into doing it correctly.

Sometimes close enough for rock ‘n’ roll is as close to perfect as you’d want a song to be.

Christmas Pudding 2023 setlist: Every song Alice Cooper sang in Phoenix

The Bucket Brigade and Solid Rock Dancers started the show

The concert started hours earlier with the Bucket Brigade, a percussion ensemble from the Solid Rock Teen Centers, doing Stevie Wonder’s “Sir Duke” with two saxophonists, a guitarist, a bassist, a drummer and two vocalists.

Solid Rock’s executive director Jeff Moore greeted the audience, thanked the folks behind the scenes and the celebrities who volunteer their time and explained what Solid Rock is all about.

“Our mission is to make an everlasting difference in the lives of teens,” he said.

Then, after a memorial to the late Mike Helton, a longtime supporter, he welcomed the Coopers — Alice, Sheryl and their family — to the stage.

The Coopers presented a painting to the Norelli family, who donated $1 million toward the building of a third teen center opening next year in Goodyear.

The Solid Rock Dance Company did several numbers under the direction of Hodgie Jo, who also performed with other members of the dance staff and handled the fact that the stage was rotating as his young dancers were supposed to make their entrance by finding the opportunity for humor in the situation.

Proof Is in the Pudding winners had a chance to shine

The dance group and dancers who won the annual Proof Is in the Pudding contest — ISO Juniors and Bella Marker — showcased the talent that helped them win.

The last performer before the first of several auctions was the Proof Is in the Pudding solo music winner, 18-year-old Star Sung Mahoney, who earned a huge response for belting out a Christmas song and followed with a jazzy pop original called “Put Myself to Use” that gave her ample opportunity to show the full range of her vocal chops.

The second serving started with the band that won the Proof Is in the Pudding contest, a Tucson power trio named Znora, tearing it up on a hard-rocking cover of “Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress” by British Invaders the Hollies while looking like they dropped in from the days of “I’m Eighteen” and “School’s Out” (in a good way, complete with bell bottoms and longer hair than Robert Plant).

The second serving had more auctions than the first but bigger names performing. And it made me wish I had the pocket change to bid on the white top hat and tails as worn on stage by Alice Cooper. I can assure you, it’s worth every penny (if you’ve got those kind of pennies)

Quiet Riot and Tommy DeCarlo of Boston brought the hits

Quiet Riot was the first big rock act of the night, taking the stage to “Mama Weer All Crazee Now” for a four-song set that finished big with “Cum On Feel the Noize” and “Bang Your Head (Metal Health).”

They rocked the hits with the requisite swagger but the vocals felt a little overpowered in the mix, especially at first.

The second auction of the second serving included some big-ticket items. A Gene Simmons autographed battle ax bass used in 45 concerts on the Kiss farewell tour brought in $31,000 and one guy paid 100 grand to have his face added to a “family portrait” of Alice Cooper and Sammy Hagar in matching argyle sweater vests.

Sixwire earned a standing ovation from many in attendance for their dizzying medley of dozens of classic-rock riffs and stuck around to back Tommy DeCarlo on a set of Boston songs, from “Rock & Roll Band” to “More Than a Feeling,” “Foreplay/Long Time” and “Smokin’.”

DeCarlo has done several tours with Boston since the death of original vocalist Brad Delp. Hearing him hit those high notes on “More Than a Feeling,” it was pretty obvious why Tom Scholz felt this guy was worth a shot.

Heart's Nancy Wilson covered Joni Mitchell and Pink Floyd

The next celebrity to hit the stage with Sixwire was Wilson, who led the band through a suitably raucous rendition of “Even It Up” before switching it up with a haunting cover of Joni Mitchell’s melancholy Christmas classic “River,” having traded her electric guitar for an acoustic one.

“So I’m the token girl of the evening,” she said with a smile, explaining that Mitchell was the “token girl when I was growing up” and introducing “River” one of the saddest Christmas songs of all time.

Wilson stayed on acoustic guitar to lead Sixwire through Heart’s “These Dreams” and took a seat for a brief instrumental before welcoming Hagar to the stage to join her on “Comfortably Numb.” Their voices blended beautifully on the Pink Floyd classic, which featured some suitably Gilmour-esque guitar from Hagar, who was dressed for the occasion in white sneakers, white jeans and a white T-shirt emblazoned with a skull.

Sammy Hagar rocked the hits after joining Nancy Wilson

“Comfortably Numb” proved a seamless transition into Hagar’s set, which made its way through such crowd-pleasing staples as “There’s Only One Way to Rock,” “I’ll Fall in Love Again” and Van Halen’s “Finish What Ya Started,” done as a call-and-response with the crowd before leading the fans in a joyous singalong of a set-closing “I Can’t Drive 55.”

He also took a moment to apologize for missing last year’s Pudding due to illness.

“I’m sorry about last year,” he said. “But hey, last year is gone.”

Hagar will return to Phoenix on Tuesday, Aug. 20, when the Best of All Worlds tour with longtime bandmates Michael Anthony and Jason Bonham joined by guitar hero Joe Satriani, makes it way Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre.

And he seemed more than ready to headline a big summer tour.

Reach the reporter at ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4495. Follow him on Twitter @EdMasley.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Alice Cooper Christmas Pudding 2023 brings holiday joy to metal heads