Nov. 15 - Greensburg, PA (SpACE Invader)

[Admin]

Plan meet-ups, discuss/review the show, share the set list, report live from the show!



Go Ace!

[Nately120]

I'm a-goin! Back, back in the Greensburg groove!

[justcoz]

Is he on stage yet? Friend of mine tweeted that Ace had been an hour late, fans were getting pissed, and cops were there.

[justcoz]

My uncle just texted that Ace went on. Said nobody has gone on this late at this venue and staff were livid and called police because they felt fans were getting rowdy.

[MONSTER Magnet]

Ace Frehley retweeted
Palace Theatre @PalacePA · now 9 hours ago
Catch @ace_frehley tonight @PalacePA , Torn and Frayed opening at 8pm! Doors open at 7:15pm via @elkoconcerts



Johnnie Roma ‏@johnnieromo now3 seconds ago
Hey Frehley Frehley. Space Ace Sporting Silver Space Pants Tonight! @KISSopolis @DDeVe00 @justin_jhall @mitchlafon

[ShotFullOfRock]

I did the VIP in Greensburg. The whole thing was pretty much a clusterfuck right from the start.

I get to the venue at 5:30pm and they say that will call doesn't open until 7:00pm when the doors open. Stupid. At about 6:45pm I make my way back over there's a huge line of people and many of them are VIPs First they tell the VIPs to line-up in one spot only to tell us we're in the wrong place and had to make our way over to the other side of the will call area. Ace's rep was completely disorganized. It took over 45 minutes to get the VIPs in the door because they were so slow finding the tickets and passes for each person. 45 minutes standing outside in the cold while the regular ticket holders are already in the building. I still can't figure out what took so long except that they had to search for tickets for every person and often couldn't find them.

I finally get my ticket and laminate (no lanyard) and see that my seat is ROW N in the venue. I did a double take. Yes, it says ROW N which is 16 rows back on the floor. What happened to a "concert ticket in ACE’s personal guest area?" I guess this meant nothing. This was a large motivator for me to do the VIP since reserved seating was a pain in the ass and I wanted a great seat. I expected a ticket in the PIT. It turns out, tickets I purchased my friends through the regular sale were 6 rows closer than mine! Un-fucking-believable.

I was furious about the ticket and demanded to talk the tour manager, John, who said he couldn't help me. Fuck. Strangely, nobody else at the meet n' greet seemed nearly as upset as I was about the shitty seats.

We finally are led upstairs to large hallway/room. Tons of people. I later hear there were over 60 VIPs. Absurd. You need to limit the VIPs to what you can handle and as the night went on it became apparent they couldn't handle that many VIPs.

They hand us out all our VIP swag, individually. Poster, 8x10, sticker, cd, t-shirt, picks. No bag or anything to put it in, so if you didn't bring one you're shit out of luck. None of the signed items are pre-signed so that means each person is going to have 3 things to get signed in addition to their "one personal item" if they hold them to their word. With 60 people in line, yeah right.

So we wait... and wait... and wait... the opening band finishes their set and Ace is still nowhere to be found. By this point I've been waiting over 2 hours between the wait at will call and the wait up in the VIP area. He finally shows up at 9:00pm and says that he didn't get his wake-up call. I later overhear one of the venue managers later say that Ace told him when asked where he was, that "he was tired and had to take a nap".

Ace starts signing, but it's taking a long time... even though it seems pretty rushed. Tour manager John eventually comes around and gives everyone extra picks because of the long wait and is apologetic. At about 9:40pm they're only a little more than halfway through the line and word gets back that the venue is getting upset and he has to start the show. They announce that those who haven't met Ace yet will need to come back after the show and they mark our laminates.

The show was good... but my seat completely sucked. Really a downer that I paid this much and was so far back.

After the show, we gather where they told us and they said that the experience will be much better now because they are going to take us in groups of 4 to Ace's dressing room. This actually was better than the earlier cattle call. Ace was very relaxed and friendly. I was in the room with just Ace and the handler girl who was asking your name and taking pics. I ended up only getting two personal things signed... my Kisstory and a poster... as it was too hard to juggle everything else and I really just wanted those things signed so no big deal.

Overall... it was a painful experience with hours of waiting and they did not deliver on everything promised (i.e. great seats). If I knew then what I know now, I almost certainly wouldn't have done it. I would have just gone to one of the conventions and done that instead.

I did want to meet Ace, get a picture and get a few things signed... and that part of the experience turned out nicely largely by luck... so I'm thankful for that at least.

[justcoz]

Both my uncle and friend loved the show but said the experience was torturous. Some of my buddy's stories made me laugh though. At 7:00 they started hanging out with a group of people they had just met, telling stories about growing up as KISS fans. Everyone wanted to see Ace get one last run with KISS. He was unanimously everyone's favorite member. After sitting through the delay, and speculating that something had happened to Ace when he hadn't gone on stage and cops came, the one guy goes, "And this is why we'll never see Ace in KISS again."

There were also a lot of jokes about getting Tommy Thayer ready to fill in for Ace tonight. What's sad is the immediate speculation was Ace had already fallen off the wagon three dates into the tour. When Ace started his set, I got a text that read "Ace sounds good and looks straight. Band looks wasted."

I really want this tour to work for Ace given I love Space Invader and want Gene and Paul to feel threatened or at least jealous of a good run from Ace. But it's amateur shit like tonight that just haunt the dude. The Palace and Elko Concerts will probably never want to work with him again. And these are the kind of Ace stories that only add fuel to Gene and Paul's jabs in the press. My buddy also told me they were checking to see if KISS went on in Vegas before Ace.

Went from being mad that I couldn't go to both relieved and totally amused by the text updates.

[strangeways747]

The show was good... but my seat completely sucked.

Set list?

[acesmiddlefinger]

It would seem that Ace never learns his lesson. The exact same timing problems reared their head the last time he played in the UK. His management must take the majority of the blame for overbooking VIP's.They know how many people to book and If Ace isnt prepared to start early then a limit must be set. Ace could come out on stage and play a killer set and yet most people will remember the late start and the problems they had getting home.

Stinks of bad management.

[Evo999]

Totally unorofessional. And this is the straight, clear-headed Ace? How anyone can expect him to be back in Kiss is beyond me.

[Diss]

That's a shame. Sounds like amateur management all-around. With the prices for those VIP packages, doesn't look like they're going to turn anyone away. 60 VIPs does seem like way too much unless Ace is going to be at the venue hours before showtime.

Come on, Ace, get this stuff together.

[MONSTER Magnet]

WHOSE SUPRISED???

[Ikons]

Someone forgot to wake him up from his nap? Are you serious? I'm sorry you got a shitty experience for your money.

[MONSTER Magnet]

[peopleselbow]

Now I'm dreading Chicago. i got the VIP.

This is complete bullshit and as stated here, why Gene and Paul don't want to deal with him.

[kissthat]

How was the attendance, wasn't this the show that had been selling 2 for 1's for quite a while ?

[ultimix]

Regarding the VIP Experience... WTF!!!!!!

thank you for your review.... has me shaking my head

Mark

[Genefan77]

Aces meetngreet package seemed like a solid deal plus your supposed to get killer seats.Unless things change Im passing .Kiss's meet n greet though more money you get great seats One on one time acoustic set run proffessionaly. more value and a great time

[ShotFullOfRock]

How was the attendance, wasn't this the show that had been selling 2 for 1's for quite a while ?

Attendance was very good. Had to be a near sellout. I did not see anything about 2 for 1s for this show.

I only saw a few sporadic empties a the very rear of the side sections. The crowd was enthusiastic too. And I have to say, for all those saying Ace shouldn't do KISS tunes (and I wish he only did a few), they get the biggest crowd reactions by far. Him and the band absolutely kill them too. "Deuce" was awesome.

Hopefully, as the tour goes on they will correct the issues with the VIP.

[nibbler1982]

How was the attendance, wasn't this the show that had been selling 2 for 1's for quite a while ?

Might be the biggest gate of the tour. Last I counted attendance was at 901. As for my records I'm going with ~1,000.

[DOUBLE DYNASTY]

SETLIST?

[Wicked_Chester]

So, I was at the Greensburg show last night. First time seeing Ace live as a solo act. Here's my take on it...

From earlier posts, you already know there was a ton of confusion trying to get into the theatre. I was not a VIP ticket holder, so perhaps it was a bit less confusing for me and my bud. It was just very odd that the theatre doors were wide open, theatre staff in place waiting to tear tickets, but no one was going in. Everyone seemed to think they needed to stop at the tiny little ticket window before entering. We ended up just "excusing" ourselves through the lines and walked right in. Sorry to all of you VIPers who had to wait out in the cold.

Once inside, we checked out the merch stand. There were some cool shirts and lots of autographed stuff (photos, CDs, books) that I thought were reasonably priced, but I passed on it. We grabbed a cold beverage and made our way to our seats, 7th row center orchestra. Opening act started right at 8:00pm, their name I do not know because I couldn't understand what the hell the lead singer was saying every time he mentioned it. They were, however, rather good. They had a sound that I would describe as part New York Dolls, part Stones, part early Aerosmith. The singer had his best "moves like Jagger" going on, dancing and clapping the entire time. I thought it was a great start, until... the stage manager kept walking out telling the opening band to "play two more songs!". This was a bad sign. Rumblings through the crowd were that Ace wasn't even in the building yet. It got to be about 50 minutes past Ace's scheduled start time when over the PA a voice saying "Ace will be out around 9:50-10:00, hey it's rock and roll!". Ugh. That announcement was met with more than a few boos and "fuck you's" being shouted. I realize this is only the third night of the tour, but this wasn't starting out well. The reasons for the delay were offered by previous posters. After reading those reasons here this morning, I'm happy as hell that I decided NOT to get the VIP tickets. On to the show...

Same set list as the first two nights, with the exception of "Change" - it was dropped completely. How unfortunate for me as it's one of my faves from 'Space Invader'. "Lost in Limbo" is an ok song, but odd as an opener and honestly, I thought it was played quite sloppily. The band did come together by the third song, though. Vocally, Ace sounded ok - when he actually sang. He pretty much just mouthed the words (the ones he remembered anyway) and spent most of the show staring at his fret board. Perhaps this is just how Ace is as the frontman. I dunno. He was humorous with his between song banter, occassionally letting out that famous Ace cackle. Musically, like I said, the band got tight around the third song, but Ace's guitar was really low in the mix. His solos were more up front, but a handful of them were uncomfortably messy. I know that that is some of Ace's charm, but I felt somewhat embarrassed for him at times. Richie Scarlet was a cool dude, very energetic and he and Ace clicked well with each other on stage. It was outstanding to finally hear "Breakout" live with Ritchie on vocals, one of the highlights for me. Scot Coogan was a very entertaining drummer to watch, but he seems to like to hear the sound of his voice - a lot. Every chance he could get, he screamed an "oh yeah!", "come on!", "sing it!". It became rather annoying to me by the end of the show. He sang the Paul KISS songs well, but I thought that Ace's jab at Paul saying Coogan sang them better was lame. Chris Wyse on bass has the highlight moment of the night for me. His mini bass solo was super cool and he handled vocals on "Strange Ways" superbly. All in all, it was a cool set list, where the new tunes sat well with the old.

So, the show was a mixed bag for me - a cool seat, a late start, decent set list, sloppy playing/vocals at times. I certainly don't want anyone to think I'm trashing Ace. I'm not an Ace hater by any means. I was super excited for this show, but maybe my expectations were just set too high. Maybe it's just early tour hiccups that will get ironed out. Maybe the really late start just set a bad tone for me, personally. I just dunno. Looking back, I'll say it was worth the $45 I paid for the ticket, but I'm not so sure I'd do it again. I've always rooted for Ace and, as much as I like Tommy (yes, I LIKE Tommy in KISS) I always thought that a Paul/Gene/Ace/Eric line up would be an outstanding finish for the band. Sadly, last night's show is probably more than enough proof to me as to why Ace will never be back in KISS.

[rlivo]

That sounds like SHIT. Sloppy and lazy.

[KissKing73]

Unfortunately, this is all Ace can obtain regarding management. Ace isn't big enough, or brings in the kind of money that buys the level of management needed to pull off a professional experience. I'm not surprised, nor would I buy any type of package from Ace. The cost is more than just the financial element of it, but also your time and peace of mind.

I'm happy Ace is sounding good, and seemingly staying sober, but this is as good as it gets unfortunately. There is no way Ace is at the level to be back in Kiss, and after all this time, it's put to bed for me.

The next few months will reveal many things.

[RockSoldier52]

Shit, Ace should hire me. I have no managing experience, but I can sure as hell take a list of names and get shit figured out hours before a show. Seems like it would just take a lot of common sense and motivation.

In other news, I think someone needs to light a fire under Ace's ass. I'm glad he's out playing, but in half of the videos he doesn't seem that into it. Maybe he is at certain points and I'm just not seeing them yet. Maybe age is catching up with his charisma. The last videos I saw of him really on fire were from the initial Anomaly tour. I hope I'm shown that I'm wrong in Chicago.

Pretty good quality video of Snowblind.

[Ikons]

Looks like he still hadn't woken up from his nap.

Ace doesn't move a lot on stage and that works fine with KISS because you have Gene and especially Paul to offset the lack of energy. When HE is the frontman he just comes off as bored. I really like the song Space Invader but there's no energy on stage there.

[Nately120]

Meh, I was just happy to see Ace alive and on a stage (doing new music, no less). I was hoping he would play Rip it Out and/or Speedin' Back to My Baby but that's a nitpick.

[GERG]

I kinda wanted to go but I didnt want to make the hour long trip down there..reading about all the craziness that went on prior to the set makes me glad I didnt. I saw him last time he was in Pittsburgh at Station Square, I believe it was a Rib Fest.

[Philly Cheese]

Totally unorofessional. And this is the straight, clear-headed Ace? How anyone can expect him to be back in Kiss is beyond me.

Thank you.

[Philly Cheese]

That sounds like SHIT. Sloppy and lazy.

This guy treats his shows like freakin' rehearsals. Make a damn effort.

Seriously, the apologists who continue to defend this guy are out of their minds.

[keepmecomin]

Was at the show- my uncle even flew in from Denver so we could go together. We had seen Paul at the same place- and were blown away in 07- so we were super excited for the show.

Did not have VIP - but still- the will call/ticket/VIP/outside for 60 min wait sucked. Finally, someone with a brain cell decided that will call should be a separate line.

He did not go on until 10. The opening band was ok- but any "warm up" was lost in the next hour waiting for Ace. Setlist was ok- but, to me, Richie was a distraction. For Ace being so laid back- it was like Richie felt he needed to be the ring leader. His over the top antics really took attention away from Ace...that being said, Ace wasn't doing much to attract the spotlight.

A few of the songs received very little response from the crowd- almost like a breather between the KISS tunes.

Still don't know how I feel about Love Gun, Detroit Rock City and KOTNW on the list. I mean, since he WROTE Parasite, Cold Gin, or had a "signature" moment on the song...ok...but it seems weird to me. (Not any weirder than Tommy doing Shock Me)

Overall, I have seen him 4 times since 95 and this was the weakest show- by far. I saw him at a Rib Fest in '11 and it was a much better experience. I have never considered missing an Ace show, but this one left a sour taste in my mouth.

[Robdaddy]

Hey man.......it's rock 'n roll.....this is what's SUPPOSED to happen...