MEDIA
Poughkeepsie Journal of Poughkeepsie, NY 87-06-05 (p. D-14)
East Coast Rocker 87-06-10 (p. 3)
LOCATION: Poughkeepsie, New York
VENUE: The Chance
OPENER(s): White Lion
HEADLINE: Frehley's Comet
ATTENDANCE: Unknown (sold out)
Rip It Out
Stranger In A Strange Land
Something Moved
Cold Gin
Love Me Right
Into The Night
New York Groove
Rock Soldiers
Breakout
Shock Me
Calling To You
We Got Your Rock
Deuce
Rocket Ride
First show of 1987 and the first show for new drummer Billy Ward. The setlist comes from the show report in KISS Klassics no. 4 (August/September 1987).
There was a feature on Frehley's Comet in the Poughkeepsie Journal (87-06-19, p. D-15) but the piece by Mike Raab had precious little to say.
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Poughkeepsie Journal of Poughkeepsie, NY 87-06-05 (p. D-14)
East Coast Rocker 87-06-10 (p. 3)
Photo by Brian Rademacher
LOCATION: Poughkeepsie, New York
VENUE: The Chance
OPENER(s): White Lion
HEADLINE: Frehley's Comet
ATTENDANCE: Unknown (sold out)
Unknown
Even though the first mention of this show in the Poughkeepsie Journal and the ad, as seen above, noted that this would be a "special Frehley show for teens" (87-06-05, p. D-14), a later calendar entry in the same paper only described it as a "special show Sunday for those 18 and older". (Poughkeepise Journal of Poughkeepsie, NY 87-06-19 p. D-17) The show had an early start time of 7 PM.
I've seen a setlist for this show but the provenance of that list of unclear. There is no mention of this second show in the report in KISS Klassics no. 4 (August/September 1987), only that Rademacher and DeMild were invited by Eddie Trunk—then an A&R rep for Megaforce—to see the first show.
According to Eddie Trunk (The Hard Report 87-06-19, p. 39), both the shows at The Chance were sold out.
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Ticket to the all-ages show at The Chance.
Note that Ace Frehly is playing.
East Coast Rocker 87-06-17 (p. 21)
LOCATION: Baltimore, Maryland
VENUE: Hammerjacks
OPENER(s): White Lion
HEADLINE: Frehley's Comet
ATTENDANCE: 1,000+
Four songs are mentioned in the review:
Cold Gin
Shock Me
Deuce
Rocket Ride
It's a little odd that White Lion's promotional tour itinerary has this show listed as Hammerjacks in Washington, DC. Then again, the calendar entry for Hammerjacks doesn't mention the band on the Friday before the Monday show (see below).
The review of the show noted that the "14-song, 90-minute set was well done, and the surprisingly large crowd seemed pleased with his comeback effort". (The Evening Sun of Baltimore, MD 87-06-24, p. C-6)
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The Sun of Baltimore, MD 87-06-19 (Maryland Live section p. 10). No mention of the Frehley's Comet show.
LOCATION: Old Forge, Pennsylvania
VENUE: Autograph's
OPENER(s): White Lion
HEADLINE: Frehley's Comet
ATTENDANCE: Unknown
Rip It Out
Stranger In A Strange Land
Something Moved
Cold Gin
Love Me Right
Into The Night
New York Groove
Rock Soldiers
Breakout
Shock me
Calling To You
We Got Your Rock
Deuce
Rocket Ride
This show was one of the best publicized that Frehley's Comet did all year. It started with a feature on June 5—that got the date both right and wrong forcing a correction a week later—and then there was a virtual blizzard of ads right up to the night of the show. Despite that huge build-up there is no review of the show.
Setlist courtesy tolvis.
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The Times Leader of Wilkes Barre, PA 87-06-05 (p. D-2)
The Citizen's Voice of Wilkes Barre, PA 87-06-10 (p. 71)
The Times Tribune of Scranton, PA 87-06-14 (p. F-9)
The Citizen's Voice of Wilkes Barre, PA 87-06-23 (p. 56)
LOCATION: Syracuse, New York
VENUE: Lost Horizon
OPENER(s): White Lion
HEADLINE: Frehley's Comet
ATTENDANCE: Unknown
Rip it out
Stranger in a strange land
Something moved
Cold gin
Love me right
Into the night
New York groove
Rock soldiers
Breakout
Shock me
Calling to you
We got your rock
Deuce
Rocket ride
Setlist courtesy tolvis. There exists a bootleg recording of this show which features an FM radio ad for the show. According to the very brief mention of this show in the Syracuse Herald Journal this was another all ages show.
In several interviews over the years Ace mentioned that he wanted a second guitarist and vocalist because it was too much work to sing all the songs himself. He proved that point well during this tour by having Tod sing Love Me Right.
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LOCATION: Brooklyn, New York
VENUE: L'Amour
OPENER(s): White Lion (?)
HEADLINE: Frehley's Comet
ATTENDANCE: Unknown (sold out)
Most probably unknown...
The setlist noted for the date below is based on a recording of one of the nights at L'Amour but we don't know which one. Since there's no reference to a day or a date or another show during the recording, it's more likely that it is from this first show. A performer will usually reference having played the night before—like Ace's comment that "We blew the roof off this place last night, we're gonna do it again tonight" on the second night at L'Amour in 1985—but it's rarer to mention a subsequent show. However...
According to Kim Neely's review in East Coast Rocker the last song played for this show was Rocket Ride: "The band ended their set with "Rocket Ride," and despite the fact that the audience screamed and chanted for nearly 10 minutes afterward, Frehley's Comet did not return to the stage". It's obviously possible that the taper just ran out of tape and missed the last song, we just don't know. But the lack of that song on the available tape has led me to assume that it is, in fact, from the second night. Evidence to the contrary is welcome.
Overall Neely was pleased with the show despite noting what he thoughts was a "stripped down light show and stage set"; that aside the performance got top marks: "The Ace is back with a vengance. Anyone having doubts about that shoukd see him live". Neely's review also mentioned that both shows at L'Amour were sold out.
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The Courier News of Bridgewater, NJ 87-06-26 (p. B-10)
East Coast Rocker 87-06-10 (p. 21)
LOCATION: Brooklyn, New York
VENUE: L'Amour
OPENER(s): -
HEADLINE: Frehley's Comet
ATTENDANCE: Unknown (sold out)
Stranger in a strange land
Something moved
Cold gin
Love me right
Into the night
New York groove
Rock soldiers
Breakout
Shock me
Calling to you
We got your rock
Deuce
As noted above, one of these shows was recorded but we don't know which one. I've put the setlist here based on the review mention above. Said setlist is courtesy tolvis.
Neither do we know which show Ida S. Langsam attended for her review in Kerrang, except that she, like Kim Neely above, mentions Rocket Ride as the closing number. Unlike her fellow scribe Miss Langsam was impressed with the stage setup: "The first thing that struck me was the wonderfully creative, artistic and futuristic-looking stage design. Despite the confines of a small, cramped stage, there stood—to the left and right—a bank of monitors set at precarious right angles atop a triangular construction housing spotlights. It looked very spacey and, well, very ACEy at the same time."
There is no opening act listed in the ad or in any of the newspaper mentions of these shows (most notably in the calendar entires in East Coast Rocker 87-06-24, p. 11). They're both listed on the White Lion itinerary but there is both an ad and a calendar entry that suggests that White Lion actually played a headline show in Pennsylvania on June 27. (York Daily Record of York, PA 87-06-25, p.B-8) Pending further confirmation I'll leave the opening act as uncertain.
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The Courier News of Bridgewater, NJ 87-06-27 (p. B-10)
Billboard outside L'Amour from some time in May 1987
LOCATION: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
VENUE: Summerfest
OPENER(s): -
HEADLINE: Frehley's Comet
ATTENDANCE: Unknown
Rip it out
Stranger in a strange land
Something moved
Cold gin
Love me right
Into the night
New York groove
Rock soldiers
Breakout
Shock me
Calling to you
We got your rock
Deuce
Rocket ride
Frehley's Comet played the Mainstream Rock Stage sponsored by radio station WQFM (or 93QFM depending on the source), closing the proceedings at 10 PM on Monday. The show was broadcast on WQFM and a recording of this broadcast ended up as the vinyl bootleg Rock Soldiers.
There was an official release of this broadcast by Echoes Records in October 2015 under the name Milwaukee Live '87 which is (or at least had been) available on Spotify.
Even though Summerfest received a lot of press coverage both leading up to and during the event, Frehley's Comet were mostly just listed as performing; the mention below is really the most that was said of their show. This date was included on White Lion's promotional tour itinerary but there is no mention of them—not a single one—in the Milwaukee papers in either June or July of 1987, so I consider it highly unlikely they played.
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Milwaukee Sentinel of Milwaukee, WI 87-07-01 (p. 1-11)
Meet-and-greet on the afternoon before the show.
Photo courtesy Paul Goratowski.
Steve Ponch meeting Ace after the show.
Photo courtesy Steve Ponch.
LOCATION: LaPorte, Indiana
VENUE: LaPorte Civic Auditorium
OPENER(s): White Lion
HEADLINE: Frehley's Comet
ATTENDANCE: Unknown
Rip it out
Stranger in a strange land
Something moved
Cold gin
Love me right
Into the night
New York groove
Rock soldiers
Breakout
Shock me
Calling to you
We got your rock
Deuce
Rocket ride
The band was billed as either Ace Frehley, Ace Frehley and his band Comet, or Ace Frehley and his band Frehley's Comet. It was also billed as Frehley's Comet Tour '87 which is mildly funny since the backstage passes for this tour called it the Tour of the Planet 87.
Setlist courtesy tolvis.
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The South Bend Tribune of South Bend, IN 87-05-31 (p. C-2)
The South Bend Tribune of South Bend, IN 87-06-27 (p. A-8)
Ticket for the show at LaPorte Civic Auditorium
Pacific Coast Concerts handbill courtesy Kisstorians
