On april 11th I went to London to see Ace Frehley live during his new Rocket Ride Tour!!! It’s been 20 (!) years ago when Ace was the last time in the UK for a solo-gig! So I had to be there.
After a trip of 5 hrs with the Eurostar, I was directly in the heart of London, went to my hotel to check-in and than to a restaurant for something to eat. Around 6 pm I was at the Astoria, a old (dirty) venue, but what I’ve understand, had quite some legancy in London…When I saw the line at the Astoria, that went back to around a corner, I thought, oh boy…it will be hard to get a good spot with all those people for me. But, thanks to Billy & Dan from the UK forum, they pulled me into the line, with now only 25 people before me! Thank you both! It was great to talk face to face to them and a lot of other KISS/Ace fans as well, during the wait (I’ve met a lot of people who are – daily – visitors of my site and got a lot of compliments from them and that’s always good to hear. Not only at the show, but also next day; on the street, Starbucks ect) Around 7 pm the doors went open and before I know it I was in the venue, leftside of the stage, almost at the front and I’ve taking some great pics. There was also a balcony. The place was packed, I think it was a sold out show with 2000 fans there…
At 8:45 it was time for the Spaceman, it all started with a countdown from 10 to 1 and there he was…Ace Frehley…kicked in with Rip It Out and the crowd went nuts! Ace was in a good mood and spirit. Hard Times followed and the music was loud! But I didn’t care, it was so awesome to see Ace this close in action! With Parasite the crowd in the middle went crazy (there was a lot of pushing going on ect – but luckily enough where I was it wasn’t) and I saw serveral people who where pulled out of that pushing crowd by secrurity who couldn’t take it anymore. It’s a shame that some people trying to ruining it for other fans…
But back to Ace, as I said before, he was in a good spirit and the band had a lot of funn on stage. For me it was almost unreal that this is/was the same person as in KISS! Looked like these are 2 different people, lol. Ace loosed some weight and he was looking great! Snow Blind (one of my favorite songs) went over to I Want You…Ace dedicated Breakout to the greatest KISS drummer, mr. Eric Carr who’s rocking in heaven now. And the fans agreed with that. There was also a medley with some great songs, like Torpedo Girl or Speeding Back To My Baby (another favorite by me) Than Ace started his signature song…New York Groove…complete with the lighted guitar (-solo) of course, ended it with saying it’s actually the London Groove now.
Also another highlight of this show was Shock Me with Ace’s smoking guitar solo and smoked he does, lol. This was awesome to see from almost 2 mtr were I was standing…Last song before the encores was Rocket Ride and the fans still loved it! When the band came back they started with Deuce and it looked that the roof went off, followed by Love Her All I Can and Love Gun, Ace thanked Paul Stanley for writing such a great song! Last song was Cold Gin with a Black Diamond ending and at 10:15 everything was over…But what a time I’ve had, it was loud but great! As I heard from fans who where at the Sheffield show (a day earlier) this London show was way better! After the show was over, fans talked outside the club and in pubs about this historical show. BTW London looked on friday/saturday that it was taking over by the KISS Army, with fans from Holland, Germany, Russia, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, France ect.
Here’s the setlist: Rip It Out, Hard Times, Parasite, Snow Blind/I Want You, Rock Solders, Breakout, Into The Void, Strange Ways, Medley: Torpedo Girl – Speeding Back To My Baby – Five Card Stud & Trouble Walkin’, Stranger In A Strange Land, New York Groove (Lighted Guitar) Shot Full Of Rock (Part) 2000 Man, Shock Me (Smoking Guitar Solo) Rocket Ride. Encores: Deuce, Love Her All I Can, Love Gun & Cold Gin/Black Diamond…
Enjoy the photo’s…
Ace Frehley Live In Cologne:
Ace played the same setlist as in London but the band sounded much better! Also the music wasn’t that loud again. This time I enjoyed Ace’s show from a little distance. Ace had a lot of funn. When he did his guitarsolo something went wrong after the smoking guitarpart, and Ace called it some "technical difficulties". The show lasted about 90 minutes. I had a great time, bad that only about 450 people showed up! But KISS played in Berlin that same night…(Pics will be posted later!) When Ace arrived at the venue he had to walk throught the people outside, so he walked right by me, tried to talk to him, but secrurity hold everyone back, but Ace give a tumb up, lol. There was also some merchandise for sale, 2 T-Shirts and 2 posters.
*(c) 2008. All personal photo’s may only be used by others if is reference/linked to this site or me, otherwise ask me first!
