Ace Frehley
Voodoo Lounge
March 31, 2008
Kansas City, Mo.

by John Kindred
Staff Writer

Comments: A night of reminiscing of the good ole days presented itself when the legendary guitarist Ace Frehley took the stage at the Voodoo Lounge on March 31. The former Kiss guitarist, who is know twice removed from his glory days as the Space Man from planet Jendrell, has been one of the only casualties of Kiss to eke out a mildly successful solo career post the Kiss circus. His return to the Kansas City area heralded the return of classic Kiss and Frehley solo material to be blasted from his Les Paul to a packed audience at the Voodoo Lounge.

Opening the show was a band who calls themselves The Trews. The group hails from Canada and features vocalist Colin MacDonald, guitarist John-Angus MacDonald, bassist Jack Syperek, and drummer Sean Dalton. The group in their current version has been banging out music since ’02. Touring on the back of their latest studio release No Time for Later the band combines an old school rock vibe with a twinge of today’s modern rock.

The band seemed at least for this tour to have brought along an additional musician to handle backing keyboard and piano arrangements. Elements of the groups live sound produced hints of the Counting Crows and Soundgarden. The Trews performed Humble Pie's "30 Days in the Hole," "Poor OL' Broken Hearted Me," from their album Den of Thieves and "Long Way From Freedom" from the new CD. They also paid homage to The Rolling Stones by playing part of "You Can't Always Get What You Want."

Although not allotted the full volumes of the PA the band still demonstrated a keen sense of energy and skill and quickly captured the attention of the growing audience. Colin MacDonald voice was distinct and strong and as a guitarist both he and his fellow six-stringer and brother John-Angus tore up the stage. Not being familiar with the band’s songs or style was not a deterrent at all for the audience to gravitate to the band’s live vibe.

The Trews set List:
Dark Highway
So She's Leaving
Not Ready To Go - 30 Days in the Hole "Humble Pie"
Hold Me In Your Arms
Paranoid Freak
No Time For Later
Poor Ol Broken Hearted Me
Fleeting Trust/ Gun Control
Tired Of Waiting - Can't Always Get What You Want - "Stones"
Burning Wheels

By the end of The Trews’ set the venue had filled up more with Frehley fans. One gal was decked out as the “Space Ace” complete with a replica guitar with flashing lights. Kiss memorabilia was visible and that set the tone for a set list dominated by Kiss classics.

Frehley’s touring lineup consists of bassist Anthony Esposito (Lynch Mob), Derrek Hawkins (Stabbing Westward, Aerial Love Feed, Closer) and Scot Coogan (Bride’s of Destruction). Opening the set with “Rip It Out” from Frehley’s ’78 solo album, Ace’s visage towered tall on staged despite the lack of his custom “moon boots.” Armed with his signature Les Paul, Frehley took the microphone center stage and directed the audience through his catalog of classic rock songs.

Honestly, Frehley isn’t a genuine front man … at times he would sing too far away from the microphone making his voice distant and unclear and other times he was too close to the microphone and the lead vocals were a loud overbearing distraction from the music. He just didn’t always look comfortable. Frehley is a lead guitarist and he literally torched the fret board with his ‘70s influenced guitar style. Guitarists are always searching for their own unique sound it is quite apparent that Frehley found his identity years ago.

The band rock and rolled through Kiss classics “Hard Times,” “Parasite,” briefly performed a few bars of “I Want You,” “Deuce,” “Love Her All I Can,” “Love Gun” which was sung by Scot Coogan, “Cold Gin,” “Rocket Ride” and the outro to “Black Diamonds.” Obviously he performed “Shock Me” which led into his trademark guitar solo complete with the smoking guitar and flames. From his solo archive came “Breakout” which he dedicated to Eric Carr who co-wrote the song with Ace, “Snowblind,” the autobiographic “Rock Soldiers,” “Stranger In A Strange Land” and “New York Groove.” He also performed a melody which included “Torpedo Girl,” “Speedin' Back To My Baby,” “Five Card Stud” and “Trouble Walkin'.”

All in all Frehley put on a spirited performance, his backup band were beyond excellent and the audience was fully enjoying the show. As with many of today’s artist who tour on past material, no new music was revealed to the fans that night. But rumor has it that Frehley is working on a new album which should be interesting for fans to hear when the music is released. As the song goes, “Ace is back and I told you so!”

Ace Frehley set list:
Rip It Out
Hard Times
Parasite
Snowblind
I Want You (Tag)
Rock Soldiers
Breakout
Into The Void
Medley (Torpedo Girl, Speedin' Back To My Baby, Five Card Stud, Trouble Walkin')
Stranger In A Strange Land
New York Groove
Shock Me (Guitar Solo)
Rocket Ride
Encore:
Deuce
Love Her All I Can
Love Gun
Cold Gin
Black Diamond Outro

Photos provided by John Kindred & Gary Dean Ash

Gary Dean Ash contributed to this article.