This past Saturday, former KISS guitarist Ace Frehley played the newly renovated Reg Lenna Theater in Jamestown, NY. This is the 3rd show on back-to-back to back concert dates. There have been some changes to Ace’s band as of late. Longtime drummer Matt Starr has joined Kix and Frehley’s former drummer Scott Coogan is now back behind the skins again. Also, bassist Zach Throne is currently out on tour with Corey Taylor. Current rhythm guitarist Ryan Spencer Cook has switched from guitar to bass now making it a four-piece band. The only non change is Jeremy Asbrock is still on rhythm guitar.
A lot of buzz was surrounding this show. As when we entered the lobby to the venue, there were space terrestrial women dressed up in space leotards with half their faces painted in the iconic spaceman makeup. There was also a big birthday card for the attendees to sign as Ace celebrated his 72nd birthday 2 days prior. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer took the stage around 8:30pm and went into the KISS classic “Parasite.” A great riff-oriented track to open the show. A few tracks later, I was happy to hear “Speedin’ Back to my Baby.” This is one of the hidden gems on Ace’s first solo effort back in 1978 and is rarely played live. The song sounded great as rhythm guitarist Jeremy Asbrock took lead vocal and did a bang-up job on it. Coogan, who sang leads when he played with Ace before, did so on the track “Love Gun.” Once this song was finished, the space girls returned to present him with a birthday cake and the card that was signed by his fans. After this, Coogan returned to his kit finding that his drum pedal broke. So, Ace filled the time talking to the audience. One of the things he revealed to them was that his band would be playing the Monsters of Rock Cruise in 2024. As Ace exited towards the end of the song “Emerald,” the other three guys finished it by jamming the end of the KISS song “Let Me Go, Rock ‘n’ Roll.”
Another gem that was pulled out form the depths of despair was the KISS tune “Getaway.” The track off KISS” second album “Hotter Than Hell” has only been played twice by KISS live. Ace has been playing it a lot in 2023 and it went over extremely well and wetted the appetite of the KISS die hards. Asbrock also handled lead vocals on this as well. It was Ryan Spencer Cook’s turn on lead vocals as he handled “Detroit Rock City” and he also hit it out of the park. Again, it was a three-piece jam without Ace for the beginning of “New York Groove” as the band played some of “God of Thunder.” They also played a partial of Black Diamond towards the end of “Cold Gin,” this time with Ace leading the way. They closed the set with one of Ace’s favorite KISS songs in “Deuce.”
I loved that the band incorporated some jams of KISS of songs within the confines of the setlist. So even if the full song couldn’t be played, you got a taste of it. Plus, its something fresh and exciting, something that the Ace sets have lacked the last few years. I can honestly say this was one of the best shows I seen him do in quite a while. A great selection of songs was played, he dusted off lesser-known tracks and incorporated some jams as I stated earlier. The band sounded great! Even though I do miss Throne on the bass, the four-piece worked here. Frehley said they are coming back to the Reg Lenna to play. I bet I can speak for all of the concert goers and say, we hope it’s not too long of a wait!
Setlist:
Parasite (KISS song)
Snowblind
Rip It Out
Speedin’ Back to my Baby
Rock Soldiers (Frehley’s Comet song)
Love Gun
Emerald (Thin Lizzy cover)/Let Me Go, Rock ‘n’ Roll snippet(KISS song -jam without Ace)
Rocket Ride (KISS song)
Getaway (KISS song)
God of Thunder snippet (KISS song – intro with Ace) /New York Groove (Hello cover)
Detroit Rock City (KISS song)
100,000 Years (KISS song -jam without Ace)
Shock Me (KISS song with Ace guitar solo)
Cold Gin/Black Diamond snippet (KISS songs)
Encore:
Deuce (KISS song)
Thanks to John Ostronomy for the photo pass and to both John and promoter Doug Sittler from Sittler HQ for the hospitality.
