Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and guitar legend Ace Frehley made his first appearance in 4 years in the WNY area at the UB Center for the Arts this past Tuesday. Frehley is currently on tour in support of his 6th solo album and highest charting record to date called “Space Invader.” Frehley put together a different touring outfit this time around. He enlisted Chris Wyse formerly of The Cult on bass, Scott Coogan on drums and added his old guitar player Richie Scarlett back in the fold on guitar.
Some fans started to become restless as it was about an hour and ten minutes after the opening band ended that Frehley finally took the stage (Later finding out there was a good reason why he was late as you read on.) They were unaware that his pre show meet and greet was pushed back, resulting in the delay, therefore he didn’t walk onto the stage until around 9:30pm to the melody of “Fractured Mirror.” This is a song that Frehley fans have been dreaming that he would do live, unfortunately, still no such luck on this night too. He instead started out with “Toys,” a song off of “Space Invader.” In fact, the first two tracks were new and very well received by the audience. Frehley seemed to be in great spirits joking around with his bandmates during the performance.
With Scarlett back, it not only adds a chemistry element that goes back to the Frehley’ s Comet days but a visual element too. Scarlett can work a crowd all on his own and teaming back up with Frehley again puts a jolt back into his live performances. Scarlett also took lead vocals on both “Breakout’ and a track “2 Young 2 Die” that he said was written for the late great Thin Lizzy front man Phil Lynott. Wyse turned in a killer bass solo and then took lead vocals on “Strange Ways.” Drummer Scott Coogan is a solid drummer who has played with Frehley in the past. He sang the Paul Stanley songs, taking lead vocals on both “Love Gun” and “Detroit Rock City.”
What’s an Ace Frehley show without some sort of theatrics? The Center for the Arts got to see one of rock and roll’s first well known guitar tricks when Frehley ignited his guitar to bellow smoke from it during “Shock Me.” A few songs before, the lights dimmed so Frehley’s light up guitar would take center stage for the song “New York Groove.”
Longtime KISS fans were abuzz as a special guest made an appearance at the show. That “special guest” was a long lost guitar that Frehley “alleges” was stolen way back in the late 1970’s. The 1973 Gibson Les Paul deluxe was nicknamed “Blackie” by Frehley. It was his main guitar for a handful of years until he bought a cherry burst which then became his signature guitar. “Blackie” was “allegedly” altered by Frehley in which he turned the tobacco burst into a black custom made guitar. Supposedly Frehley wasn’t happy with the outcome of his choice. He then proceeded to state it was stolen after the transformation. Who knows this to be true or not? So much can be said about it and what happened to the guitar, so I will just stick to what happened at this show. Jeff Donahue (from Canada) is now the current owner and made arrangements with Frehley’s management to bring it to the show with the hopes of him playing it. He did just that during “Detroit Rock City.” I thought the guitar held up well and sounded pretty good, not knowing its handling for the last 35 plus years. It was cool to see a piece of rock history in the hands of Frehley, even though the appearance of the guitar is obviously different. Frehley had a real good reason why he was late to both his scheduled meet and greet and taking the stage that night.
What a difference sobriety can make. Frehley is now 9 years sober and I can confidently say this performance is the best I have ever seen him. The combination of a great band, a good selection of KISS classics with choice solo cuts made for a hell of an evening of classic rock!
Setlist:
Toys
Gimme a Feelin’
Rocket Ride (KISS song)
Parasite (KISS song)
Love Gun (KISS song)
Breakout
Space Invader
Snowblind
Rock Soldiers
Bass solo
Strange Ways (KISS song)
New York Groove (Hello cover)
2 Young 2 Die
Shock Me (KISS song)
Ace Frehley Guitar solo
Rip It Out
Encore:
Detroit Rock City (KISS song)
Deuce (KISS song)
We would like to thank David Wedekindt from UB for helping with the credentials to review the show.
