Saw Ace Frehley and Geoff Tate Last Night... and someone else!

[Steve Haynie]

Last night the GPS put me through some very expensive looking neighborhoods to get to the Variety Playhouse in Atlanta.  Ace Frehley was playing, so the crowd was going to be large.  Geoff Tate's Operation: Mindcrime was also playing, so there were two headlining acts at the same show.  The place was packed.  There were probably 20 people under 20 and 1000 over 40.  Three people showed up in Tommy Thayer makeup and costumes. 

Geoff Tate's band played a lot of Queensrÿche songs with some new music.  His band included two guita players, keys, bass, and drums.  One guitar player was Kelly Gray who had played with Queensrÿche.  There was an incredible drummer who I did not recognize immediately.  It turns out it was Simon Wright from AC/DC and Dio.  He just looks older (like everyone else).  There was a young guy on bass that was not John Moyer from Disturbed.  Maybe I should have done more homework on Operation: Mindcrime before the show. 

As for how good they were... The band played everything well, but it was hard not to think about how the band playing Queensrÿche was not Queensrÿche while balancing that Tate has a right to sing all those songs that he co-created.  They were good, but not the same.  Tate, however, was having a good time as the showman he has always been.  To say he "engaged" the audience is accurate.  His performance was for the audience.  Whatever trouble Tate had with the old band was irrelevant during the show.  Fans got a lot of respect from Tate and his new band in the 50 minutes they played.  

Next up was Ace Frehley. 

Scot Coogan played drums and sang two songs.  The bass player was Chris Wyse, someone who has played with The Cult, Ozzy, and Jerry Cantrell.  When he did his solo I was amazed.  Then he sang Strange Ways.  Wow!  This guy should be better known.  Between Coogan and Wyse there was a solid foundation which was good because...

Ace and his sideman Richie Scarlet are not tight players.  I think of Richie Scarlet as a heavy metal Ronnie Wood as he puts a lot into looking cool and willingly replacing exactness with excitement.  The same can be said of Rick Nielsen.  It was also Scarlet who put rock and roll belligerence into the show with profanity and flipping birds a few times.  His solos were tighter than Ace's. 

Ace Frehley made me want to play guitar.  My banjo was fun, but it was never going to have smoke coming out of it.  I have traveled to see him do solo shows and KISS shows, but my expectations have never been too high.  From the start it was going to be a night of having to make do with the Ace in front of me instead of the Ace I had hoped to see.  Ace came in late on each of the opening lines of Rip It Out.  He was late like that a lot for the rest of the evening, with lyrics falling on the beat only half the time.  Another thing that was noticeable was Ace playing sloppy on his solos at the beginning of the show.  Ace's picking technique is like taking swings at the strings with his wrist locked and his forearm not twisting.  As the show went on his soloing got better which led to his solo on a smoking Les Paul near the end of the show being played with hardly any glitchy notes.  Ace managed to pull things out, sort of like the first part of the show was a warm up.  This was not the best Ace Frehley show I have seen, but in the context of Ace Frehley it was a fun show as expected.  He is who he is.  It was what it was. 

Talent does not equal success.  Operation: Mindcrime was tight and all good players.  Ace Frehley had some tight hired guns on bass and drums, but Ace should have practiced as much as those guys had to. 

The show ended at 11:30 PM after Ace's one hour and 45 minute set.  My ride home was going to be two and a half hours, so it was time to GO!  Walking up the aisle I saw someone who looked familiar sitting next to the mixing console.  It was original HFC member Nitebob, someone whose rock and roll history is every bit as important as Ace Frehley's.  I said hello for a minute and worked my way to the car.  If I had more time, I would have talked to him longer. 

 

The set list.

[BTMN]

AWWW!! Man, I bet NiteBob was here a few days ago too. Had a work commitment and couldn't attend the show. Always wanted to say hello to that HFC member.

 

Another great Steve Haynie narrative for sure. Thanks for the ride along.

[Studio Custom]

So it took two very famous musicians to fill a thousand people venue, no wonder there's no money in music anymore.  I remember seeing Queensryche as a headliner in 20,000 seat arenas.   

[tommy p]

Excellent review!  Your assessment of Ace and his band is very close to what I saw a few years ago, except the night I saw him he was clearly drunk.

[cynic]

^^ Anymore, Ace appears "clearly drunk" when he's (allegedly) stone-cold sober.  

[murkat]

even sober, alki's are still drunk

[zorrow]

Glad to hear Geoff is putting his shit together. In my twenties he was one of my idols. I took singing lessons because of him, and always thought Queensryche had a lot of finesse and class. They were a very unique metal band --well, they still are, but Geoff is no longer part of the machine. C'est la vie... as well as his fault too, whatever its extent is.

[MCChris]

16 minutes ago, murkat said:

even sober, alki's are still drunk

And concerning those who say they're sober but appear to be drunk:

How can you tell an alcoholic is lying? His lips are moving.

[Armitage]

I loved Ace Frehley in the '70s... but he's never really recovered from what he's done to himself.

[Studio Custom]

Ace let his Tarrytown home go to foreclosure, probably because he burned everyone within 100 miles of NYC, even his best friends and supporters.  

[Armitage]

I think, like many people, his mortgage became more expensive then his house was worth, so he walked away. A lot of people have done that in the last 10 years.

[geoff_hartwell]

NiteBob is the Man. Does he have a podcast?... Hmmmm.....

Ace has always been cooked. I live in Pleasantville and I was actually swapping a few stories about him tonight with some friends. Funny timing.

Richie is another character, for sure

[velorush]

You know, regardless of how he is now, most of the players my age are players because of Ace.

[Ting Ho Dung]

2 hours ago, velorush said:

You know, regardless of how he is now, most of the players my age are players because of Ace.

That's a very good point. I hadn't thought about it until just now but he may be one of the inspirations for me picking it up so long ago. Alex Lifeson is in the mix too.

On 4/6/2016 at 2:02 PM, MCChris said:

And concerning those who say they're sober but appear to be drunk:

How can you tell an alcoholic is lying? His lips are moving.

It actually never occurs to me to lie. Even when it becomes apparent I should have. But then again, I'm still functional. So to speak. At least before 4:20. Then I just call it quits and begin singing and cooking dinner and telling myself jokes. No lie.