Hollywood Vampires in Croatia for the first time tonight: Alice Cooper, Johnny Depp and Joe Perry are coming to Arena Zagreb
Hollywood Vampires, the supergroup led by Alice Cooper, Joe Perry, Johnny Depp and Tommy Henriksen, will perform their first concert in Croatia tonight, September 3, 2026. The show begins at 8 p.m. at Arena Zagreb, making Zagreb one of the stops on the band's current European tour after an absence of almost three years from European stages. The concert was originally announced for the Pula amphitheatre, but the group's official website and Arena Zagreb confirmed that it had been moved to the Croatian capital due to unforeseen technical production requirements. The date and time remained the same, and previously purchased tickets are also valid for the new location. This will give audiences in Croatia their first opportunity to hear live a project that combines Hollywood Vampires' original songs with covers of rock classics and musical tributes to deceased greats.
The band's arrival in Zagreb is part of a comeback tour across the United Kingdom and continental Europe, which Hollywood Vampires announced at the beginning of 2026. On their official website, the band said in January that they were returning to touring after almost three years, while the Croatian date was added to the schedule at the end of March, when Pula was still listed as the venue. Following the subsequent venue change, the concert retained the same date, so the tour schedule continued without moving the Croatian stop. According to the currently published schedule, after Zagreb the band continues to St. Pölten, Prague, Budapest and Łódź, placing the Arena Zagreb concert in the central part of the September leg of the tour. For a group whose members are simultaneously active in their own music and film careers, a tour like this remains a rare opportunity for them to perform together in a full concert format.
Concert moved from Pula due to technical production requirements
The venue change was confirmed on July 13 on the official Hollywood Vampires website. In a brief announcement, the band stated that the concert had to be moved from Arena Pula to Arena Zagreb due to unforeseen technical production requirements and that the date, time and ticket validity would remain unchanged. Arena Zagreb also published details of the transfer to the new venue, including the reassignment of previously purchased ticket categories. According to that notice, floor tickets were transferred to the Standing A category, stands to Lower Stand 1, lawn tickets to Standing B, and loggia tickets to VIP boxes. Organizers allowed customers for whom the new location was unsuitable to request a refund until July 30, 2026, so that deadline has already passed ahead of tonight's concert.
- Floor tickets from Arena Pula correspond to the Standing A category at Arena Zagreb.
- Stand tickets have been transferred to the Lower Stand 1 category.
- Lawn tickets have been transferred to the Standing B category.
- Loggia tickets correspond to the VIP boxes category.
The move significantly changed the atmosphere of the announced concert. Instead of performing in the Roman amphitheatre in Pula, one of the most recognizable historic concert venues on the Adriatic, Hollywood Vampires will perform in a modern enclosed multipurpose arena in Zagreb's Lanište district. From a production perspective, such a change allows different control of lighting, sound and stage elements, but organizers have not publicly disclosed details of the specific technical requirement that led to the relocation. It has therefore not been confirmed whether the decision was related to stage dimensions, structural load capacity, weather conditions, tour logistics or some other production need. The official explanation remains limited to unforeseen technical production requirements.
A supergroup formed as a tribute to lost rock icons
Hollywood Vampires were not formed as a typical band built around a single recording career. According to the official presentation of the concert by the Pula amphitheatre, the project was founded in Los Angeles in 2012, and its name and original idea are directly connected to the gatherings of musicians that Alice Cooper called the Hollywood Vampires in the 1970s. In conversations about that period, Cooper mentioned John Lennon, Keith Moon, Harry Nilsson, Bernie Taupin and Micky Dolenz among the people who gathered in the Los Angeles rock scene of the time. Decades later, the name took on a new meaning through a band that began performing songs by deceased friends and influences, transforming nostalgia into a concert repertoire. That idea remains one of the defining features of Hollywood Vampires today: their performances are not merely a sequence of covers, but a cross-section of several generations of hard rock, glam rock, proto-punk and classic rock.
At the center of the lineup are four very different musical profiles. Alice Cooper brings decades of experience and the theatricality that shaped his reputation as one of rock's most recognizable frontmen. Joe Perry, co-founder and guitarist of Aerosmith, brings his blues-rock and hard-rock guitar signature to the project, while Johnny Depp performs in Hollywood Vampires primarily as a guitarist and occasional lead vocalist, separate from his film career. Tommy Henriksen, Cooper's longtime collaborator, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist, has over time become one of the group's key creative and production pillars. The band's official website currently presents precisely these four as the core of Hollywood Vampires.
From covers of classics to original songs
The first album, simply titled Hollywood Vampires, was released in 2015 and closely followed the project's original idea. Alongside original songs, it included covers of compositions associated with performers such as The Who, Led Zeppelin, The Doors, John Lennon and Jimi Hendrix, as well as a closing combination of Cooper's song School's Out with a motif from Pink Floyd's Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2). The second studio album, Rise, released in 2019, showed a more ambitious original direction. According to the official discography and the band's announcement, most of the material on that album was written by the members themselves, while three covers retained the connection with the group's original mission: David Bowie's Heroes, The Jim Carroll Band's People Who Died and Johnny Thunders' You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory.
It is precisely this relationship between original material and rock classics that also defines the current performances. Hollywood Vampires can combine their own songs such as I Want My Now, Raise the Dead, My Dead Drunk Friends or Who's Laughing Now in the same set with the repertoire of Alice Cooper and Aerosmith, as well as songs by other performers to whom they pay tribute. As a result, their concerts function as a kind of living anthology of rock, but without museum-like distance: the songs are performed with a sound and arrangements adapted to the current lineup. Such an approach particularly suits audiences familiar with the members' individual careers, as well as those who follow Hollywood Vampires as a band in their own right. The Zagreb concert will show for the first time how this concept works in front of an audience in Croatia.
What could be heard tonight at Arena Zagreb
The official set list for Zagreb has not been published in advance, so the final selection of songs cannot be confirmed before the concert begins. However, recent performances on the European tour provide a good indication of what the band is currently playing. Virgin Radio published the set list from the concert in Milan held on September 1, just two days before the Zagreb performance, which included original tracks I Want My Now, Raise the Dead, My Dead Drunk Friends, The Boogieman Surprise and Who's Laughing Now. The same program also included Alice Cooper's I'm Eighteen, Aerosmith's Livin' on the Edge and Walk This Way, The Who's Baba O'Riley, The Doors' Roadhouse Blues, Bowie's Heroes and AC/DC's Highway to Hell. The Milan concert ended with a performance of The Train Kept A-Rollin'.
Such a repertoire shows that Hollywood Vampires are not presenting only their own discography on this tour. The program is built around connections between the band members and the broader history of rock, while vocal roles change throughout the evening. Johnny Depp takes over lead vocals on certain songs, Joe Perry also gets his own prominent moments, while Tommy Henriksen can take on vocal parts in addition to guitar. Alice Cooper remains the dominant stage figure, but the Hollywood Vampires format is not conceived as his backing project. It is precisely the changing roles and different musical sources that give the concerts the character of a joint performance by several established artists rather than a classic solo concert with guests.
New live album arrived shortly before Zagreb
The current tour also coincides with a new release by the band. Record label earMUSIC released the live album At Montreux Jazz Festival on August 14, 2026, recorded during Hollywood Vampires' performance at the Montreux festival in 2018. The release contains 19 songs and includes both original material and covers, among them Motörhead's Ace of Spades, David Bowie's Heroes, and songs by The Who, AC/DC, Aerosmith and The Doors. The album thus documents the performance model on which the band has built its identity for years: their own compositions stand alongside songs by musicians who shaped their individual careers and the broader history of rock. Its release only a few weeks before the Zagreb concert additionally draws attention back to the live side of the project.
Hollywood Vampires' official discography shows that over the years the band has not maintained a release schedule typical of permanently active rock groups. This is understandable considering the members' schedules, their primary projects and the fact that Hollywood Vampires have relied from the beginning on occasional joint cycles of work. That is precisely why their return to European stages in 2026 carries more significance than a routine annual tour. In announcing their return, the band openly emphasized the nearly three-year break, while concerts during the summer and early autumn have once again brought their different careers together in a single project. Zagreb joins that sequence as a new destination in the group's history.
Arena Zagreb, arrival and temporary traffic regulation
Arena Zagreb is located at Ulica Vice Vukova 8, in the southern part of the city. The venue's official website states that the facility is connected to central Zagreb by public transport and can be reached by tram, bus or car. Visitors are nevertheless advised to check current routes and traffic conditions before setting off, because ZET publishes changes to certain tram routes at the beginning of September, while the City of Zagreb separately introduces temporary traffic regulations. For those coming to Zagreb from other cities or countries and staying after the concert, it is useful to check accommodation offers in Zagreb in advance, especially because the event ends later in the evening.
The City of Zagreb has also announced special traffic regulations related to the concert. According to the city's notice of September 1, the temporary closure of part of Ulica Vice Vukova and Ulica Lanište between the two main roundabouts, as well as certain carriageways immediately alongside the arena, was approved for September 3 from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. The city also warns that additional changes are possible depending on the police safety assessment. Since the officially stated closure period is earlier than the concert's 8 p.m. start, visitors arriving in the afternoon and evening should follow current traffic information rather than assume that all routes will remain completely unchanged. At major arena events, allowing extra time for arrival remains a sensible option, especially for visitors who need to find their entrance, the correct stand or standing zone.
Croatia's concert scene meets Hollywood Vampires for the first time
Although Alice Cooper, Joe Perry and Johnny Depp have been globally known names for decades, Hollywood Vampires as a group have never previously performed in Croatia. That fact was one of the central elements of the official announcement of the Croatian date, and Eventim and Arena Zagreb continue to list the concert as the group's first visit to the country. The move from Pula to Zagreb changed the city and type of venue, but not the event's fundamental significance: it is the premiere Croatian performance of one of the most unusual contemporary rock supergroups. The timing within the tour adds further interest, as Zagreb comes immediately after a performance in northern Italy and before the tour continues toward Austria and Central Europe.
For visitors, the most important practical information is that the concert remains scheduled for tonight, September 3, 2026, at 8 p.m. at Arena Zagreb. Previously purchased tickets for Pula remain valid under the new category allocation published by the organizer, while the official ticket sales channels now list the event exclusively at the Zagreb location. Since the set list has not been officially published, all details about the order of songs remain open until the band takes the stage. However, the concerts already held on the tour and the current repertoire show that the evening should combine original Hollywood Vampires songs, material connected to the careers of Alice Cooper and Joe Perry, and a series of covers that function as a tribute to the people and music from which the project emerged. After more than a decade of the band's existence, that concept will be presented to an audience in Croatia for the first time tonight.
Sources:
- Hollywood Vampires - official announcement about moving the concert from Pula to Zagreb and confirmation that the date, time and tickets remain valid (link)
- Arena Zagreb - official information about the concert, the new allocation of ticket categories and refund conditions following the venue change (link)
- Hollywood Vampires - official announcement adding the Croatian date of September 3 to the 2026 European tour (link)
- Hollywood Vampires - official announcement of the comeback tour across the United Kingdom and Europe after a break of almost three years (link)
- Arena Pula / Archaeological Museum of Istria - official announcement with information about the band's formation in Los Angeles in 2012 and the concept of paying tribute to deceased rock icons (link)
- Alice Cooper - official website, interview in which Cooper describes the original Hollywood Vampires circle from the 1970s and names some of its members (link)
- Hollywood Vampires - official discography and information about the albums Hollywood Vampires, Rise and At Montreux Jazz Festival (link)
- earMUSIC - information about the live album At Montreux Jazz Festival, released on August 14, 2026, and its repertoire (link)
- Virgin Radio Italia - set list from the Hollywood Vampires concert in Milan on September 1, 2026, used as context for the current tour repertoire (link)
- City of Zagreb - official notice about temporary traffic regulations in the Arena Zagreb area on September 3, 2026 (link)
- Arena Zagreb - official information about the location and ways of reaching the venue (link)
- ZET - current information about daytime tram lines and network changes from September 2, 2026 (link)