Hosted the kickoff of the Ace Frehley Space Invader tour in NJ last night. If you followed on Twitter I did song for song coverage and posted a ton of photos. Also posted a few on my FB. Like most tour kickoffs there were a few technical issues during the show but it wasn’t really a huge deal and Ace had fun with it. He is also working in a new band and I think after a couple shows under their belt things should be very tight. This band really is great! Richie Scarlett back in the fold is a huge addition. I always loved Richie’s playing, performance, voice and attitude on stage and he is a perfect wing man for Ace. Their two Les Paul’s sounded amazing all night and there was some cool dual guitar stuff as well. Scot Coogan also is a great re-addition to the band. He is a killer drummer and has a phenomenal voice which enables Ace to play many Kiss/Paul Stanley vocal era songs that he was a part of like “Love Gun”, “King Of The Nightime World” and others. Hearing Scot belt these out was really pretty awesome, especially when you consider how well he plays at the same time! Ace is only doing Kiss material he played on and was a part of and it sounded great with Scot singing. New bassist Chris Wyse sang lead on Strange Ways and he is a great player and rounds out what is a killer band with all able to sing lead. Because of the technical issues the nearly 2 hour set was trimmed and Deuce and Detroit Rock City were not played, but Ace told me he will toy with the set as he goes. 3 songs from Trouble Walkin were in the set including opener Lost In Limbo and two from the post Kiss debut (Rock Soldiers and Breakout which was dedicated to Eric Carr who co-wrote it). Nothing from Second Sighting or Anomaly. Cold Gin was the set closer. I posted a photo of the set list on my FB. I know there has been an outcry from some fans for deeper obscure Ace / Kiss tunes liked Dark Light, etc. He may very well work some of that up as he goes. But the simple truth is with any band playing deep tracks live it makes about 10% of the crowd happy and loses everyone else, so there must be balance. Trust me, I LOVE deep tracks from bands and I’m burned on the usual hits. But the huge majority are not. One example is when Ace played Too Young To Die, a great track I love from Trouble Walkin. About 80% of the crowd had no clue. It is a balance every band has to deal with. The major amount of people buying tickets just don’t know the deep stuff. So that’s why you get Kiss hits scattered in with the solo hits and deep tracks. Four songs from the new album were in the set, the title track, Toys, Gimme A Feelin and Change, although Change was scrapped due to a tuning issue (like I said, first night mess ups). As I walked with Ace to the stage to intro him he said “oh shit, I forgot to put Rip It Out in”! So no doubt that will be added very soon. The plan is for Ace to do the announced dates, then break for the holidays, then do more US shows and European festivals next year. I hope this band sticks together and enough people come out to support this tour and have it make sense and grow. It really was a fun, raw, loud rock show that was loud and punchy and loaded with a great variety of Ace/Kiss classics. All confirmed dates at www.acefrehley.com I’ll be at the second night at BB Kings in NYC. Win tickets to those shows in ET’s Box Office on this site.
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Hi Eddie,
Any chance of Ace coming up to Canada to do some shows?
I know ‘Space Invader’ cracked the top 20 in Canada the first week out.
Last time he was in Montreal, Quebec was back in March 2008.
Gerry, Ace is barred from Canada because of an incident @ Francois dupier.
I saw Ace last night at Sugar Loaf, NY. He was awesome. I do have to disagree with Eddie slightly on the “deep tracks” argument, in that I would probably err a little more on the side of a hardcore Ace fan being more in tune with his entire catalog. I would be happy hearing him play anything (an I was), but my two cents on any changes would be to do just a tad less non-Ace Kiss and throw in two of the following three: 2000 Man, Hard Times, Talk to Me. Then swap out Lost in Limbo for Rip it Out as the opener. That would be perfect. I liked hearing the deep tracks like Too Young to Die and Breakout, and the above songs are definitely more well known than those to the average person. Strange Ways and Parasite were big highlights for me, as well.
On another note, the band sounded really good, and more importantly, Ace’s voice and playing were pretty much spot on. We hear all this BS from Paul, and when Ace is performing at the top of his game like this it just makes Paul look even more foolish. Now wild Real Paul Stanleys on the floor, LET ME HEAR YAAAAA!!! (That guys is awesome whoever he is)
Glad to hear your thoughts and level of enthusiasm for Ace at Sugar Loaf. I’ve watched a lot of video on from Brunswick and Sugar Loaf. It seems like he is spot on, very nimble and lightening fast with his guitar work and solos, but to my ears, it was very obvious that on some songs at least (like Snowblind), his register is much lower and flat – almost tired-like or not trying as hard. I was surprised at the drop off, but he nearing his mid 60’s, but again his guitar playing and band make up for that one area where I noticed a drop off. Agree?
I was at the sugarloaf show last night. The highlight for me was 2 Young 2 Die. The lowlight for me was Breakout. I understand that Eric Carr wrote it but that doesn’t make it a good song. Also NYG never sounds good live. Would have loved to hear Rip It Out, Wiped Out, Hard Times, Save Your Love but I fully understand why they don’t play them. There really is no need to do DRC either.
I kinda chuckled when Ace said “it’s been a long time since I played with those idiots”.
Any videos online from that show?
Yeah, they’re idiots living in mansions and ace is a genius living in eddie trunks garage. I live in the area part time and the kids all get scared when Ace roams the neighborhood ramblin incoherently. Reminds me of Vinny the chin Gigante.
Really? You live in San Diego and have been in Ace’s neighborhood? Please send photos of him doing that so we can see what you claim..
Eddie, It is true. Mr Frehley does walk around in a robe talking to himself. It was on the local news.
Is that before or after he flies off the Jendel?
Ok now that was funny! Vinnie the chin lol
Hey Ed , are you sure your not just being nice with this review because Ace is a personal friend of yours ? I heard he was absolutley horrible , a waste of a $65 ticket .
You got that right big Lou. The guy is pathetic. Gene and Stan Eisen got rid of that scum for a reason
You are an A for saying that Mister !!!!
Eddie,what about Hard Times? That would be a cool song for Ace to put in his set. He does have alot of material that he could incorporate in his set.You dont think so until you actually look at all his songs!