Ace Frehley, Angel and Bad Marriage @ Cinema Capitol Theatre, Rome, NY 4-12-24

A triple bill of rock and roll came through Rome, NY area this past Friday night. Ace Frehley, Angel and newcomers Bad Marriage played the Cinema Capitol Theater. This was my first time to the venue and I was happy to see that the local promoter taking more chances of bringing rock shows to this area that usually pass by. Due to having three bands it was an earlier start time than normal (7pm).

First up was Bad Marriage. The band hails from the Boston, Massachusetts area and has recently added former Tesla guitarist Tommy Skeoch to their lineup. The band employed a triple guitar attack. You don’t see too many bands with three guitar players so it was cool to see. The band played a 45 minute set that included 10 tracks. They had an old school flavor to them as they cranked out tunes like; “Bad Blood,” Second Hand Smoke” and “Match Made in Hell.” The latter song guitarist Mike Fitz said the song was wrote about his relationship with singer Jonny Paquin. They closed out their set with a cover of Skeoch’s old band Tesla in doing “Little Suzi.” The band worked their asses off and think they garnered a few fans while doing so.

In the middle slot was Angel. Almost 6 years to the day (April 11, 2018 to be exact), I saw both Frank Dimino and Punky Meadows join forces to play a show together. Fast forward and now they are back touring under the Angel moniker. What was extra special this time around as they had former Angel member Felix Robinson with them. Robinson only committed to play 5 shows with them as they were waiting their new bassist (Tommy Caradonna) to join the band. This was the second last show he was doing. The other members of Angel are Danny Farrow on rhythm guitar, Charlie Calv on keyboards and Billy Orrico on drums. The band started off with a bang as they played “On The Rocks” which came off the 1977 album “On Earth As It Is In Heaven.” A few technical difficulties were quickly ironed out and Angel was off and running. “Can You Feel It ” and “Mirrors” were then played. The band said very little while letting the music do most of the talking for them throughout their set. They did say that they thought “Don’t Leave Me Lonely” should have been the lead single for ‘White Hot,’ instead of the track “Flying With Broken Wings.” “Rock and Rollers” was a highlight for most of the die hard Angel fans in attendance. Of course, Angel can’t end their set without playing the song that they are most associated with, which is the “Tower.” The playing by both guitarists especially Meadows was fantastic. After all of these years his chops still are in tip top shape. Dimino also was a highlight as his voice is still as powerful as ever. The rhythm section of Robinson and Orrico held it down as well. This was a solid set by Angel!

Headlining the set was Ace Frehley. Frehley has just released his 9th studio effort titled “10,000 Volts” to heavy fanfare. There were a lot of variants of the album and most of them have sold out. Frehley worked with Trixter guitarist Steve Brown on the record and he has garnered many accolades on it. The true question was what songs would be played off ‘10,000 Volts’ and how would he balance that with his own solo material? The band still remains a quartet as it consists of Ryan Spencer Cook on bass, Jeremy Asbrock on rhythm guitar and Scott Coogan on drums. Frehley took to the stage in great spirits as he opened up with “Shock Me,” which was a shocker. This usually has been a song that was played later in his set and used primarily for the smoking guitar. A few songs later came the new track “10,000 Volts.” I thought it sounded good. Up next was another Frehley solo song “Rock Soldiers.” This unfortunately is where most of the solo songs ended. Besides “Rip It Out,” no new songs or solo songs were played. The setlist was heavy on his former band, KISS. I know its been forever but I hope to hear “Into the Night” or maybe a new track “Fighting for Life,’ which can be another Frehley classic if given the chance. Besides the setlist, I though Frehley sounded good and was in a good mood throughout the show. He tossed out many picks, towels and water bottles to his fans. He even fooled around playing a few chords to Led Zeppelin’s “How Many More Times?” The smoking guitar was brought out for “Cold Gin.” They closed with KISS classics in “Deuce” and “Rock and Roll All Nite.” This was one of the better shows I seen him do in a while. Good to see him happy and healthy and let’s hope that he can change up the setlist and play some more songs from his catalog (including some new tracks) the next time I see him around.

Ace Frehley Setlist:

Shock Me (KISS song)

Rocket Ride (KISS song)

10,000 Volts

Rock Soldiers

Love Gun (KISS song)

100,000 Years (KISS song – snippet)/Parasite (KISS song)

God of Thunder (KISS song – snippet without Ace)/New York Groove (Hello cover)

Rip It Out (KISS song)

Detroit Rock City (KISS song)

How Many More Times (Led Zeppelin cover – snippet)/Cold Gin (KISS song)

Guitar Solo