ACE FREHLEY, Astoria London, Friday 11 April 2008
REVIEWED BY ALTE
| We all know where the Astoria
on London's Charing Cross Road is, and we've all heard that its days
are apparently numbered. But it's still showing bands as much as it
ever did, and tonight it's Ace Frehley - yup - Ace - Frehley - solo
tour, and clean from any alleged additives (many inferred meanings
there, intended!)
I arrived at the Astoria a good while after the doors opened, expecting to be able to dander in or perhaps wait in a short queue. I was wrong, very wrong. I could hear Tigertailz on stage, but people were still queuing round the block to get in. And halfway through the show, when I walked around (looking for a merchandise kiosk), I could see that downstairs and indeed upstairs were jammed. Ace Frehley was playing to the fullest Astoria I have seen.
'Hard Times' followed. Then 'Parasite' came next - but my God, Kiss never played them as good as this! Ace's band were shooting high (second guitarist Derrek Hawkins, bassist Anthony Esposito, and drummer Scot Coogan) like a Saturn V rocket. Then it was back to Ace's first solo album (the best of the Kiss solo albums in my opinion) with 'Snow Blind'. We knew that Ace would delve some more into some Kiss back catalogue, and 'I Want You' was the next one (with his drummer Scot Coogan sounding eerily like Paul Stanley) segueing into Ace's 'Rock Soldiers' and then 'Breakout'.
Ace paused for a moment, and with poker face, announced the next song as being one he wrote with "my last band". With a mischievous grin, 'Into The Void' began. I had seen this song played before as Kiss on the Psycho Circus tour, but at the time it didn't seem to cut it live. But tonight with Ace in commanding orbit, the song stood tall, and claimed its place as a strong Ace song. Ace our favourite spaceman (next to Neil and Buzz?!) was clearly
enjoying the And you know that, that sound, that only Ace can get from his guitar - that unnerving moaning rolling menacing roar, that smothers you like a sonic tidal wave of fear, much like the malevolent nightmarish sounds heard in The Forbidden Planet, of the Great Machine of the Krell and of the invisible monster from the ID? Well, I can honestly say that I never been to a gig before, where the guitar sound has made the hairs stand up on my neck and a fleeting bolt of fear tear through my gut. This Spaceman, was in full flight.
His guitar solo began now, and it was some of the most emotive and simply stunning playing I have seen from Ace - he never played this well (or got the chance to perhaps?) with his 'last band'. And whom did he remind me of - well, he would easily give Messrs Meniketti and Moore a run for their money, for sure. With the end flourish of his trademark guitar belching smoke into the hall, I knew I had seen a guitar player who should be recognised in his own right, and not by who he played for in the past. (One demerit though, Mr Frehley - the smoke effect you were using, stank, and I mean stank. It didn't smell of the usual pyrotechnic, it just stank, of rotting something.) 'Rocket Ride' closed the main set, but we all knew the encore was going to be a treat in itself. Ace returned to the stage, his stage. 'Deuce' sounded better than Gene, and 'Love Gun' sounded better than Paul. And as for 'Cold Gin', well no one can sing or play that song with so much power and sass as Ace. This, the final song segued into the outro from "Black Diamond'. The show was closing, the rocket ride was over, the applause was deafening.
His new album I now await with great expectations (pun intended!). His tour T-Shirt I now await with desperation on eBay. There was no merch at the gig - though from the way Ace is now, I wouldn't be surprised if it was because they had simply run out of stock. Oh - one last thing. If you ask me now (as a Kiss fan of many many years), to put my cards on the table and say who I would recommend going to see play Kiss songs - it's Ace, and not his 'last band'. Seriously. The set list: Deuce
|
Tigertailz
were fine, don't get me wrong, and they certainly blitzed London
with their love bomb, but everybody (including Tigertailz) knew
why we were all here tonight. The intro tape began, and the woman's
narration began the countdown to zero (roared along by the crowd).
The lights went out. The crowd strained to see. And then the stage
exploded in light as Ace and his band launched in to 'Rip It Out'.
The rocket ride had begun!
Soon
we had the seamless medley of 'Torpedo Girl', 'Speedin' Back To
My Baby', 'Five Card Stud', and 'Trouble Walkin'', - songs I never
thought I ever hear live, until tonight that is. God they were good.
And then the triumvirate of Ace classics came to their turn. Ace
reappeared with a change of guitar - the 'Vegas' guitar as I call
it, that flashing billboard-guitar of lights, and so began 'New
York Groove'. The crowd and band sang as one, rocking and dancing
to that infectious song, with Ace declaring at the end "Hey,
this is the London Groove!". With a nod to Jagger and Richards,
he followed with '2000 Man' barely able to hear himself over the
crowd "well my name is a number, a piece of plastic film…!"
as he strummed the opening chords. And for the next song we had
the one solitary dodgy preamble of the night, about being electrocuted,
but how else can one introduce 'Shock Me', we loved his banter all
the same.
Ace
left the building having played a blinder. We left the building
having seen a legend. Now it was time to pause for reflection in
the Crowbar, er, bar. There I read through my notes of the songs
I had seen. Before London, I had trawled the web for what his setlists
had been in the States, and I noticed that he would change things
around. But as I read down my scrawled list, I grinned when I realised
that tonight, London, had been a special night - Ace had played
every song they were doing, and he had added in '2000 Man'. Wow.