Ace Frehley headlined the arena at the beautiful Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut, and had rock icon Slaughter opening the show. Ace Frehley was playing in support of his 10,000 Volts album. This was the second time he played at Mohegan Sun in the last year along with Slaughter. Originally Vince Neil was supposed to open the show but cancelled about a month before. Slaughter filled in as most of the members are in Vince’s band anyway.
Slaughter is most known for their hit song “Fly to The Angels”, with the unmistakable melodic voice of Mark Slaughter. With a huge crowd in the arena, Slaughter hit the stage with “Mad About You” and everyone was on their feet. As always Dana Stum utilizes the whole stage in his performance, and Jordan Cannata is one of the showiest drummers I know, often standing on his seat while playing, especially during the drum solo. They played a fifteen-song set which, unfortunately, was the same as last year when they played here. They played all their hits as well as a few covers. During the middle of the set, they played Led Zeppelin‘s “Immigrant Song”, and they ended the set with “Won’t Get Fooled Again” by The Who. During “Fly to The Angels”, Mark got the audience to light the place up using their cell phones. The last Slaughter song they played which always gets the fans amped up, was “Up All Night”, bringing this crowd of mostly 50-somethings back to their youth. If you get a chance to see these guys, I highly recommend you do.
Slaughter is:
Mark Slaughter – Lead Vocals, guitar
Dana Strum – Bass, backing vocals
Jeff Blando – Guitar, backing vocals
Jordan Cannata – Drums
Setlist:
1. Mad About You
2. Burnin’ Bridges
3. Spend My Life
4. Immigrant Song (Led Zeppelin cover)
5. Eye to Eye
6. Drum Solo
7. Eye to Eye (reprise)
8. Days Gone By
9. Real Love
10. Fly to the Angels
11. Up All Night
12. Won’t Get Fooled Again (The Who cover)
While most bands these days just have an intro tape with some cover song, Ace Frehley got a true, live, rockstar intro. “All right Uncasville… Everybody get out of your seats, let’s make…. some… noise!!!!! Let me hear you. You guys wanted him, you got him… from the Bronx, New York… Ace Frehley!!!!” These guys hit the stage with the 1977’s “Shock Me”, off of Kiss’s Love Gun album. This was the first song that Ace sang himself while with Kiss. The arena was full of people who have been fans of Kiss since the seventies, as well as their kids, and probably grandkids as well. Although touring to support his 10,000 Volts album which was released just under a year ago, most fans were here to hear their favorite Kiss songs. The first song off of 10,000 Volts they played was Cherry Medicine, a love ballad with Ace on vocals. This album was produced by Ace Frehley, and Trixter‘s Steve Brown. Next up was “Rock Soldiers”, one of his Frehley’s Comet songs that I know, and was happy to get to see him perform. If you have ever attended an Ace Frehley show, you know that everyone in the band shares in on the vocals including his amazingly talented drummer, Scot Coogan, who happened to get married earlier in the day on the stage during soundcheck. Scot got up and dedicated “Love Gun”, a song which he sings lead on, to his new wife, Denise Coogan,
Ace made sure to address the plane crash earlier that evening in which six people died as well as the plane crash a few days earlier in Washington, DC., with a ten-second moment of silence to pray for their families. Next was Ryan Cook’s turn to take on the lead vocals on “Detroit Rock City” and he nailed it! Both he, Jeremy, and Scot make a phenomenal touring band to support Ace. After “New York Groove”, a Russ Ballard cover, a short blues jam, and “Cold Gin, it was time for Ace to show off his talent with a guitar solo. Ace ripped for about six minutes while throwing in an iconic riff here or there from several classic rock songs, and of course, his guitar was smoking through the second half of the solo. Ace ended the night with a few rock anthems, to which the crowd was on their feet, fist-pumping, and singing along. “Shout It Out Loud”, and “Rock and Roll All Nite” left the fans with a night they won’t forget.
Ace Frehley and Slaughter rocked the Mohegan Sun Arena to a packed house. Ace has tour dates scheduled through May and Slaughter has dates scheduled through July, including The Monsters of Rock Cruise in March, and M3 Rock Festival in May.
Ace Frehley is:
Ace Frehley – Lead guitar, vocals
Scot Coogan – Drums, vocals
Jeremy Asbrock – Guitar, vocals
Ryan Cook – Bass, vocals
Setlist:
1. Shock Me (Kiss song)
2. Deuce (Kiss song)
3. Cherry Medicine
4. Rock Soldiers (Frehley’s Comet song)
5. Love Gun (Kiss song)
6. Rocket Ride (Kiss song)
7. Parasite (Kiss song)
8. Detroit Rock City (Kiss song)
9. Blues Jam
10. Rip It Out
11. She (Kiss song)
12. New York Groove (Russ Ballard cover)
13. Blues Jam
14. Cold Gin (Kiss song)
15. Ace Frehley guitar solo
16. Shout It Out Loud (Kiss song)
17. Rock and Roll All Nite (Kiss song)
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