The Metal Files

KISS was the first band I ever loved and it all started when one of my brothers brought home Dressed to Kill around 1977.  I was hooked and was into heavier music ever since.  Oddly enough, I’ve never seen any version of Ace live be it with KISS, Frehley’s Comet or solo until last night.  I was pretty stoked and bought tix day of show.  Seems to be happening a lot lately.  A work colleague hit me up about going and said he’d drive, so I was in.  We swung by an grabbed Rodney and off we went to the Vibes Music Center/Rock Box in San Antonio.

The first band we saw was The Graham Bonnet Band who played on the smaller stage inside of the Rock Box side of the combined venue.  I had seen them within the last year but didn’t mind seeing them again.  They laid down a solid set that featured mostly Alcatrazz songs as well as a little Rainbow, MSG, Impellitteri and Graham’s solo material.  He still had Jimmy Waldo on keys from the old Alcatrazz days.  He had a shredder of a guitarist as well who nailed all solos damn near perfectly.  They put on a great set.

Up next on the Vibes Center main stage was LA Guns who I’ve seen several times and every time I see them they kick ass.  This is the second time this year that I’ve seen the reunited Phil/Tracii version and as expected they were killer.  Phil’s voice sounds great and Tracii’s playing was top notch.  Michael Grant go to do a couple of solos as well, which is good because that guy is such a bad ass.  No surprises in their set although it would have been nice to hear Show No Mercy.  No biggie.  They kicked ass.

Enuff z’Nuff was starting on the smaller stage and I went over for a bit.  About 15 years ago, my old band opened for them, Faster Pussycat and Pretty Boy Floyd.  Enuff was really good that night but last night I was rather bored.  Chip is the only left out of that lineup that I played with (RIP Ricky Parent).  I was never a fan although their early 2000s release (Welcome to the Blue Island?) has some really good songs on it.  Chip was known for playing 8 string basses but was only using a 4 string last night.  I asked him after the show about it and he said, “Tough to keep up with an 8 string bass when I don’t have a bass tech to take on tour with me.”  Fair enough.  I mentioned that show that we played with them and he recalled, “That shitty little bar in Va Beach?  Yeah, I remember.”  He gave me a shirt without me asking after we talked about his old drummer who was a really sweet guy.  Again, RIP.

Dokken was up next and I hadn’t seen him live since his solo tour in 1991, which is still one of my favorite concerts of all time.  Last night’s version featured Don, Mick, Ira Black on guitar and Chris McCarvill on bass.  There are enough videos out of of Don singing in the last 10 years to know what to expect.  There are some really horrid shows out there.  Don isn’t young by any stretch so I wasn’t expecting 1988 Dokken vocals.  They opened with Kiss of Death and his voice sounded pretty OK.  They rolled through a total only 7 songs and his voice was hit and miss, but I wasn’t really bothered by it.  He was better than I thought he’d be and the band was really good.

While waiting for Ace to come on I ran into Bonnet’s guitarist, Joey.  We got in a conversation about Yngwie and he mentioned sitting in some rehearsals for Yng’s first album.  Whoa.  That must’ve been massive.  So I asked him if he had played on anything from back in the day and he replied with, “I’ve done a few albums with Jag Panzer.”  My brain clipped and I said, “what’s your last name?”  “Tafolla.”  I mentioned seeing them in Chicago last year and how much they kicked everyone’s ass.  Nice guy.

Time for Ace.  The crowd had thinned a bit after Dokken.  Ace came on played through a barrage of KISS songs and a few solo album songs.  He sounded good when he sang and the whole band was solid but something was missing.  Ace really seemed like he was just going through the motions for one.  While getting a drink, a friend asked what I thought.  They had just finished Parasite and I said, “Everyone in the band is awesome.  Perfect even.  And that’s the problem.”  Parasite had no bounce to it.  That song should be a little frenetic, a touch sloppy even.  But last night it was a bit slow and the drummer, who is obviously a killer player, plays perfectly behind the beat.  In my opinion that just doesn’t work in KISS songs.  Strange Ways had that same quality.  Peter had a swing to his playing and it worked perfectly in KISS.  All that being said, I had a good time and zero regrets about going.  I don’t know that I’d ever go see him again, though.

It was a fun night overall.  Got to see a few friends I hadn’t seen in a while.