While Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley along with Eric Singer and Ace imposter Tommy Thayer hung up their touring boots in December 2023 to become digital avatars, Ace Frehley is out touring and entertaining fans live in person in 2024 with a KISS-heavy setlist and a fantastic new solo album, 10,000 VOLTS, set to drop in February.

The show seemed to please most fans, however to be truthful, Ace's performance is a shadow of what it once was. Vocals are often mumbled. He isnt quite at the mic frequently and so lyrics are missed. Also true, while Scott Coogan is an able drummer, Ace has had better bands in the past including rosters with Richie Scarlet, John Regan and Tod Howarth. Today, Ace's band consists of former Gene Simmons solo band members Ryan Cook, Jermey Asbrock.

Yet, Ace still has that cool Bronx swagger he is known for. He knows his place in rock history. The solo with smoking guitar and the light up guitar for New York Groove are staples of his shows to this day. Fans eat this up. So again, while this was not Ace at his solo peak, at least he is out here playing theatre size stages, keeping it real without backing tracks and not faking it on guitar.

ACE FREHLEY SETLIST
Shock Me (KISS)
Rocket Ride (KISS)
10,000 Volts
Rock Soldiers
Love Gun(KISS)
Parasite (KISS)
New York Groove
Rip It Out
Detroit Rock City (KISS)
Cold Gin (KISS)
Guitar Solo
Shout It Out Loud (KISS)
Deuce (KISS)

ENCORE:
Rock N Roll All Nite (KISS)

Support act was Kore Rozzik and while many Anderson, IN fans in attendance seemed to enjoy the show, it was not my thing. Somewhat theatric, the band seemed to take some cues from Alice Cooper and W.A.S.P. and mixed that with modern metal technique.

ACE FREHLEY
KORE ROZZNIK

LIVING COLOUR SETLIST:
Middle Man
Leave It Alone
Ignorance Is Bliss
Time's Up
Nothing Compares 2 U (Prince)
Sugar Hill Medley: White Lines (Don't Don't Do It) / Apache / The Message
Glamour Boys
Love Rears Its Ugly Head
Type
Cult of Personality
Should I Stay or Should I Go (The Clash)

EXTREME SETLIST:
It (a Monster)
Decadence Dance
Rebel
Rest in Peace
Hip Today
Teacher's Pet / Flesh 'n' Blood / Wind Me Up / Kid Ego
Play With Me (with Queen's "We Will Rock You" intro)
Other Side of the Rainbow
Hole Hearted
Cupid's Dead (with Sam Cooke's "Cupid" snippet)
Am I Ever Gonna Change
Thicker Than Blood
Midnight Express
Hurricane
More Than Words
Banshee (with Queen's "Fat Bottomed Girls" vocal intro)
Take Us Alive / That's All Right
Flight of the Wounded Bumblebee
Get the Funk Out

ENCORE
Small Town Beautiful/ Song for Love (with intro from Van Halen's "Women in Love...")
Rise

EXTREME	Stayed for 1 song
LIVING COLOUR

Interesting night of music - not all of it my particular taste. Nita Strauss and her band opened the show with a combination attack of shred metal and screaming vocals. Nita is an accomplished musician on the modern guitar scene and one of the guitarists in Alice Cooper's band.

NITA STRAUSS SETLIST
Summer Storm
Our Most Desperate Hour
Mariana Trench
Alegria
The Quest / Drum Solo
The Wolf You Feed (with Kasey Karlsen)
Through the Noise (with Kasey Karlsen)
Dead Inside (with Kasey Karlsen)
Victorious (with Kasey Karlsen)

The audience was an interesting mix of young and old, some wearing TOOL tshirts while others wore Van Halen shirts. A few Triumph shirts were also spotted. There were metal heads and old timers there to see the son of arguably the 2nd most influential, if not the most influential guitarist of all time.

Mammoth wvh spread out across a wide stage, not interacting much at all with one another. The hulking figure of Wolfgang Van Halen was center stage and often silhouetted to the audience. Much of the music is absent solo fret work and one has to believe that is a conscious decision. While hard rock, the music has occasional pop leanings as well. The show was good overall, just not something that created the euphoric "gotta see this again" feeling.

MAMMOTH WFH SETLIST
I'm Alright
Right?
Epiphany
Miles Above Me
Like a Pastime
Horribly Right
Optimist
Stone
Distance
Think It Over
Mammoth
You're to Blame
Take a Bow

ENCORE
Another Celebration at the End of the World
Don't Back Down

MAMMOTH wvh
NITA STRAUSS

First time in Dallas, first time at the famous Longhorn Ballroom for one show with Reckless Kelly and Matt Hillyer. Great evening of music with Reckless deuting some soon-to-be-released music alongside many fan favorites. This is also the first leg of the last Reckless Kelly tour, as the band plans to retire from the road in 2025.

RECKLESS KELLY SETLIST
Lost Inside The Groove
Back Around
Seven Nights In Eire
1952 Vincent Black Lightning
Break My Heart Tonight
Radio
Down The Road
Lonesome On My Own
Ol' Blue Truck
Ragged As The Road
The Girl I Knew
Break Up Blues
Night Fell
I Know A Place
Wicked Twisted Road
Wild Western Windblown Band
You Don't Have To Stay Forever
Good Luck And True Love
Nobody's Girl

ENCORE
Crazy Eddie's Last Hurrah
Vancouver
Dim Lights

As mentioned, The Longhorn Ballroom is a famous spot in Dallas for many reasons. The venue features a who's who list of performers since the 1950s including memorabilia showcases featuring the likes of Waylon Jennings, Allman Brothers and Johnny Winter, Loretta Lynn, Stevie Ray Vaughan and others. In the 1950s, the Longhorn was owned by Jack Ruby and in 1978, The Sex Pistols performed here on their American Tour.

RECKLESS KELLY
MATT HILLYER

Not a G3 Tour but instead two old friends enjoying a guitar tour together. Unreal fretwork and showmanship from both. And the finale featuring You Really Got Me and Enter Sandman...you had to be there.

STEVE VAI SETLIST
Avalancha
Building the Church
Little Pretty
Tender Surrender
Lights Are On
Zeus in Chains
Teeth of the Hydra
For the Love of God

JOE SATRIANI SETLIST
The Extremist
Surfing With the Alien
Satch Boogie
Sahara
Nineteen Eighty
Big Bad Moon
Flying in a Blue Dream
Blue Foot Groovy
Always With Me, Always With You
Ice 9

STEVE and JOE TOGETHER
The Sea Of Emotion, Pt. 1
You Really Got Me (The Kinks cover)
Enter Sandman (Metallica cover)

JOE SATRIANI
STEVE VAI

Violent Femmes celebrating first two albums in entirety

HALLOWED GROUND SET
Country Death Song
I Hear the Rain
Never Tell
Jesus Walking on the Water
I Know It's True But I'm Sorry to Say
Hallowed Ground
Sweet Misery Blues
Black Girls
It's Gonna Rain

VIOLENT FEMMES SET
Blister in the Sun
Kiss Off
Please Do Not Go
Add It Up
Confessions
Prove My Love
Promise
To the Kill
Gone Daddy Gone
Good Feeling

Encore:
I Held Her in My Arms
American Music

VIOLENT FEMMES

Accomplished drummer Steve Smith is most widely known as a member of Journey from three different periods: 1978 to 1985, 1995 to 1998 and 2015 to 2020. Of course the first period from 1978 to 1985 produced the majority of Journey's radio hits and beloved albums, Infinity, Evolution, Departure, Captured (Live) Escape and Frontiers. However tonight's show features Smith in a different genre and setting altogether with his jazz combo, Vital Information, which has actually been around and productively recording/touring since 1983 with the release of the debut album, Steve Smith and Vital Information. While the band has undergone many line-up changes, tonight's roster is Steve Smith (drums) Manuel Valera (keyboards) Janek Gwizdala (bass).

One of Indianapolis' live venue treasures is the Jazz Kitchen, rated among the top 100 jazz clubs in America and for good reason. The venue is small and intimate and offers a full dining experience with outstanding food and bar options. There are two seating options as well, featuring the main dining room and most shows feature a reduced cost ticket in the bar area.

STEVE SMITH AND VITAL INFORMATION SETLIST:

STEVE SMITH and Vital Information

A warm night at the Dynamite Jet Saloon and the big show tonight is Eddie Spaghetti. The full Supersuckers band played electric last night in nearby Logansport, IN. Tonight is an acoustic engagement with Eddie Spaghetti and Metal Marty Chandler...a poolside evening with a lot of requests and some rarities.

EDDIE SPAGHETTI and METAL MARTY

Metal shredder turned songwriter JD Graham at the Dynamite Jet Saloon for another great summer evening of music and friendship. Graham draws inspiration from mostly his own real life hardships to create songs of trial, loss, frustration, misery; all are moving stories in their own way. It is also fair to say he shared a few happier songs. If you haven't heard his music, check him out on your favorite streaming platform. The evening ended with a spectacular DJS fireworks display that rivaled even big city celebrations!

J.D. GRAHAM

The summer has been kind this year with perfect weather for outdoor shows, at least the ones I have attended. This evening was an evening with the BoDeans, no opening act. Plenty of fans on hand for a very enjoyable show that of course closed with the familiar theme song from the hit televison show, FRIENDS, Closer To Free.

BoDEANS SET ONE:
Fadeaway
Ya Gotta Go Crazy
The Ballad of Jenny Rae
My Hometown
Angels
Flyaway
Paradise
Good Work
Only Love
Dreams (incl. Modern English “Melt With You”)

BoDEANS SET TWO:
Idaho
Tied Down and Chained
Stay On
You Don't Get Much
Absolutely
If I Could Hold You Tonight
Texas Ride Song
Good Things
Drift Away (Mentor Williams cover)
Closer to Free

BoDeans

Back to the Jazz Kitchen for a dinner and show. Try the etouffe with shrimp, its outstanding. Peter White and band are here this weekend for the first of 4 shows at the Jazz Kitchen. White has been around quite a long tim einthe music business going back to almost 50 years in England. Notably he was a composer and band member with Al Stewart for 20 years before embarking on other projects and ultimately jazz guitar. Despite mentioning his associations with Stewart a number of times during the show, White did not include any of those numbers in his set. We were of course hoping for Year of the Cat or Time Passages.

PETER WHITE

Rounding out the week with Carter Sampson at the Dynamite Jet Saloon in Monticello, this is my 4th show this week (hard rock, new rock, jazz, and now country).Its becoming a bit more challenging to bounce back after a show night and certainly 4 in one week would have been a breeze iyears ago, not so easy now but always fun.

Carter Sampson played two sets and the evening was calm except for a car that went screaming down the hill mid set. Otherwise Sampson played a mix of originals and covers. My favorite of the evening was her version of Moon River.

CARTER SAMPSON

Jeff Lynne and his Electric Light Orchestra landed at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in downtown Indianapolis for a sensational show. While this was not the most expensive ticket I ever purchased, it is one of the most expensive in a long time.

To paint the picture, central and east downtown Indianapolis have become rather sketchy. Years ago it was fun to go downtown for dinner or a nightclub and the vibe was vibrant. Not so vibrant anymore. Tonight I found myself looking over my shoulder more than usual. The corner of Georgia Street and Meridian reeked of urine. Several empty downtown buildings. While plenty of people were out and about, there was a sens eof caution in the air. All to be expected in a large metropolitan city, like Chicago or New York but Indianapolis is still hayseed to those places.

The concert was outstanding, while Jeff Lynne seemed a bit fragile at times. Plenty of support came form the band/orchestra including back up singers. Visually the concert was stunning with high tech lights and video throughout the show.

JEFF LYNNE'S ELO SETLIST:
One More Time
Evil Woman
Do Ya (The Move cover)
Sweet Talkin' Woman
Strange Magic
10538 Overture
Showdown
Steppin' Out
Rockaria!
Can't Get It Out of My Head
Fire on High
Livin' Thing
Last Train to London
Telephone Line
All Over the World
Turn to Stone
Shine a Little Love
Don't Bring Me Down

ENCORE:
Mr. Blue Sky

ROONEY SETLIST:
Blueside
If It Were Up to Me
Stay Away
Second Chances
Don't Be a Hero
Tell Me What We've Learned
Are You Afraid?
Do You Believe
I Should've Been After You
When Did Your Heart Go Missing?
I'm Shakin'

JEFF LYNNE'S ELO
ROONEY

Typically American Aquarium draws a large crowd at the Hi-Fi Annex outdoor venue but tonight we are indoors at the Hi Fi for a 9:00pm show start.

Abby Hamilton kicked things off with a 45 minute set of well crafted original songs. American Aquarium came next with a tour de force show and a robust setlist.

The following setlists may not be exactly correct for each artist but very close.

AMERICAN AQUARIUM SETLIST:
Crier
All I Needed
Cape Fear River
The Long Haul
Casualties
St. Mary's
Cherokee Purples
The World Is on Fire
The Curse of Growing Old
Before the Dogwood Blooms
Losing Side of Twenty-Five
Wolves
Starts With You
Crooked + Straight
Betting Man
Messy as a Magnolia
Southern Roots
The Luckier You Get
Wichita Falls
I Hope He Breaks Your Heart
Burn.Flicker.Die.

ENCORE:
The First Year
One Day at a Time
Abe Lincoln (Backsliders cover)
Katherine Belle

ABBY HAMILTON SETLIST:
1968
I Miss You
Good Thing
Fried Green Tomatoes
Flood
Whatever Helps You Sleep
Big Time

AMERICAN AQUARIUM
ABBY HAMILTON

BEAT The 1980's music of KING CRIMSON performed by Adrian Belew, Steve Vai, Tony Levin and Danny Carey. The three albums included were Discipline, Beat and Three of a Perfect Pair with the 1974 fan favorit Red as one of the encores. Truly a Halloween treat fro the intellectual music lover.

BEAT SET ONE:
Neurotica
Neal and Jack and Me
Heartbeat
Sartori in Tangier
Dig Me
Model Man
Man With an Open Heart
Industry
Larks' Tongues in Aspic (Part III)

BEAT SET TWO:
Waiting Man
The Sheltering Sky
Sleepless
Frame by Frame
Matte Kudasai
Elephant Talk
Three of a Perfect Pair
Indiscipline

ENCORE:
Red
Thela Hun Ginjeet

BEAT