Shock-rocker Alice Cooper explained to The Sun recently his questionable presence at Celine Dion's new Las Vegas show.

"First of all, I wanted to see what a $90-million show looked like -- that gets my interest right there," said The Coop, in an exclusive Canadian newspaper interview, leading up to his Massey Hall gig on Thursday.

"I mean, let's admit it. You might not like her music but her voice is an instrument. And it's not my kind of music at all, but you've got to give the devil its due. This girl can sing. And the show is pretty spectacular so I wanted to see the show."

Still, Alice -- who brought his 10-year-old daughter to meet the singer -- found himself in an awkward situation.

"So right in front of (Celine), (a reporter for) one of the big magazines, says, 'Well, what do you think of Celine?' So what am I going to say? I said, 'Hey, she's my favourite singer.' And I punch (Celine) in the arm and she punches me in the arm. So now it gets out that Alice Cooper's favourite singer of all time is Celine Dion. But you know what? So what."