Tampere Arena, which was to have hosted the December 11 show, cancelled it because a perceived conflict with the venue's "Christian-based policies".

"The [Lutheran-based charismatic revivalist] group Nokia Mission and others use Tampere Arena for their events, so the venue's management did not want Alice Cooper appearing in the same hall. The contract which we received from Tampere Arena specifies that no artists may perform there who 'incite evil and the power of darkness'," promoter Kalle Keskinen told YLE.

Tampere Arena CEO Harri Wiherkoski announced the concert's cancellation on Friday. He said the contract was not signed after he read in a newspaper that Alice Cooper would be performing there. Wiherkoski says two previous concerts have been barred from the hall for the same reason.

"We never imagined that a rock veteran who has performed in Finland in four separate decades without any problems and who has spoken in public of his own religious convictions would not be allowed to perform at Tampere Arena in 2009," says Keskinen.

The 61-year-old Cooper began his career in the early 1970s, reportedly taking his stage name from a seventeenth century witch. He has often evoked horror-movie and macabre themes in his music and stage shows. However in later years, he has described himself as a born-again Christian and an avid golfer.

Cooper last appeared in Finland in November 2007, when he played in Helsinki and Oulu and at Powerpark in Alahärmä, Ostrobothnia.