11/26: ACE FREHLEY IN NYC LAST NIGHT

Hosted Ace Frehley last night in NYC. It was his second night at BB Kings and the place was jam packed sold out. Very holiday vibe in the room with it being Thanksgiving week and many of the NYC fans were in great spirits to see one of their own rock again! As you would expect the band got much tighter since when I last saw them a couple weeks ago on the tours first night. There were also a few changes to the set list that I think were positive including adding Rip It Out as the opener and dropping Lost In Limbo. Otherwise the same balance of classic Kiss songs and Ace solo songs. Ace was clearly having fun on stage and decided to fire back a little at his former band mates. When you consider the sniping in the press this isn’t a surprise. After a set of Kiss/Paul songs (Love Gun, Strutter, King Of The Nightime World) sung so well and in the original key by drummer Scot Coogan, Ace said to the crowd; “there’s some Kiss sung better than Paul can sing it, the way it supposed to be, what the hell happened to him”, followed by a cackle and an “ouch” from the crowd. Before “Deuce” Ace said to the crowd; “Gene thinks rock is dead? What the hell is wrong with him? he’s out of his fuckin mind”, again followed by the cackle. Ace played many key Kiss songs he wrote and sang (Parasite, Cold Gin, Shock Me, Rocket Ride, Strange Ways) and then ones he just played on like the Paul and Gene stuff. I for one am glad he is doing that. He was a part of all of the material he plays and his solos and guitar sound are a HUGE part of what made the material great, regardless of who wrote it or was the singer. If he suddenly started playing Lick It Up or Heaven’s On Fire I would agree it is weird, but the 70’s stuff was played on and made great by the original 4 and they have every right to perform it of course. After the show I encouraged him to work up “Into The Night” and also told him of the hard core fans desire to hear Dark Light live. He said he’s consider both and found it amusing people would want Dark Light, a deep song from an album most hated. But he didn’t rule out giving it a shot. New songs included Space Invader, Toys, Change, and Gimme A Feelin. Interesting to note I met a couple members of the Kiss crew who were in the crowd watching. Apparently they are here because Kiss is playing (to a track) on a float tomorrow. It was a fun, loud, raw, rock show and the band is really coming together well. They play a few more dates here in the US, then European festivals, then more shows being discussed for the US next year including rumors of a possible package tour I can’t yet reveal. I was only at last nights show but during the 1st night in NYC Anton Fig jumped up with Ace and played Breakout which would have been cool to see. You never know how much the older legends are going to keep going so catch them when you can!