![\"\"](\"https:\/\/metalnexus.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/AceRocktropolisMN2024TRB11.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\nNestled amidst the rolling hills of East Tennessee, Freedom Hall Civic Center in Johnson City has played host to some of the biggest names in rock and roll. Since 1974, nearly everyone from\u00a0Elvis<\/strong>\u00a0to\u00a0Ozzy<\/strong>\u00a0has plied their wares there, with several generations of fans coming of musical age within its walls.\u00a0Rocktropolis 2024<\/strong>, featuring a headlining performance from Rock And Roll Hall Of Famer\u00a0Ace Frehley<\/strong>, proved to be a more than worthy celebration and continuation of this history,\u00a0Scotty Austin<\/strong>\u00a0of\u00a0Saving Abel<\/strong>\u00a0kickstarted the evening\u2019s festivities with a rollicking, high-octane set. <\/p>\n Guided by freewheeling adrenaline, Austin was in fine voice and schtick, working the crowd like the seasoned pro he is and leading his group through songs by\u00a0Trash The Brand\u00a0<\/strong>as well as covers of works by\u00a0Pink Floyd\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0Billy Idol<\/strong>. Recent\u00a0Vinnie VincentInvasion<\/strong>\u00a0recruit and local hero\u00a0Faysal Scott Smile<\/strong>\u00a0commandeered the band for a run through\u00a0KISS<\/strong>\u2019 \u201cAll Hell\u2019s Breakin\u2019 Loose,\u201d and Austin wrapped his raucous performance with a crowd-pleasing version of \u201cRebel Yell.\u201d It wasn\u2019t perfect, but it was damn sure close enough for rock and roll and it was a whole load of fun.<\/p>\n Josey Scott\u2019s set was as tight as Austin\u2019s was loose, with his road-hardened band ripping through a chunk of the Saliva catalogue with a well-honed energy and precision. On hits like \u201cLadies and Gentlemen,\u201d \u201cAlways,\u201d and the singalong \u201cHero,\u201d Scott reminded why he was regarded one of the era\u2019s most compelling performers, mixing hip-hop swagger with pure rock power into a potent, pungent potion. I had forgotten just how many of those songs I knew; by the time the one-two punch of \u201cClick Click Boom\u201d and \u201cYour Disease\u201d brought the show to a close, I was thinking that maybe Scott\/Saliva is the rap-metal Collective Soul; one of those bands that manages to remain unsung while having a literal ton of hits.<\/p>\n So many glam metal frontmen tried to walk the diamond path laid by David Lee Roth, perhaps none more purely and successfully than Sebastian Bach. Rock n\u2019 roll lifer Bach, who for the past thirty-five years has somehow stayed in his early-to-mid 20s, is an eternal showman and a perpetual dervish; from the moment he stomped on stage to the strains of his most recent single \u201cWhat Do I Got To Lose?,\u201d the hard rock icon owned the crowd, many of whom over the next hour or so seemed to have been transported back a few decades themselves. With a few exceptions from his fantastic new album Child Within The Man, the setlist was dominated by tunes from Skid Row\u2019s first two albums, from the bawdy \u201cBig Guns\u201d to the epic \u201c18 & Life,\u201d the sultry sleaze of \u201cMonkey Business\u201d to the near-thrash of \u201cSlave To The Grind.\u201d The three-piece backing unit (which includes Bach\u2019s son Paris on drums) ably provided a rock-solid platform for the strutting, sparkling, mic-whipping Bach to perform his magic act, the audience remaining enthralled all the way through the set-ending \u201cYouth Gone Wild.\u201d As a kid, I remember reading (probably in RIP magazine) that Sebastian Bach had been genetically engineered to be a rock star; judging from what I saw at Rocktropolis, the experiment continues to be a rousing success.<\/p>\n Greasepaint and pyro budgets aside, for a full five decades now,\u00a0Ace Frehley<\/strong>\u2018s calling cards have remained largely unchanged: a Les Paul slung low and cranked high and an insouciant, staggering swagger that places him squarely in the House of\u00a0Keith<\/strong>\u00a0alongside his contemporaries\u00a0Perry<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Thunders<\/strong>. Both were on full display as Frehley and his band, introduced by VIP meet & greet guest\u00a0Bobbie Brown<\/strong>, roared through a set of KISS classics, with a few chestnuts from his solo career sprinkled in for good measure. With the opening salvo of \u201cShock Me\u201d into \u201cDeuce\u201d the Rock Soldiers were called to attention, and for the next hour or so the guitar legend led them delightedly through their paces, bridging the 70s (\u201cParasite,\u201d \u201cShout It Out Loud\u201d) and the 80s (\u201cRock Soldiers\u201d) all the way to today (both \u201cCherry Medicine\u201d and the title cut from his most recent album\u00a010,000 Volts<\/em>). Ace has assembled an absolutely stellar group of players, with Ryan Cook (bass), Jeremy Asbrock (guitar), and Scot Coogan (drums) each contributing spot-on vocals and elite musicianship while still putting on one hell of a rock show; their version of \u201cNew York Groove\u201d was the best I\u2019ve ever heard.. Of\u00a0course<\/em>\u00a0there was the smoking guitar solo during \u201cCold Gin\u201d (featuring snippets of \u201cCommunication Breakdown,\u201d \u201cSmoke On The Water,\u201d and the James Bond theme, among others), and the evening ended exactly the way you\u2019d hope it would: a spirited romp through \u201cRock And Roll All Nite,\u201d with Sebastian Bach and Josey Scott joining in on backing vocals. No tapes, no tracks, no tricks, at 73 years old Ace Frehley delivered an unadulterated blast of solid rock that left the throngs fully satisfied, which is more than I can say for some acts a third his age.<\/p>\n Nestled amidst the rolling hills of East Tennessee, Freedom Hall Civic Center in Johnson City has played host to some of the biggest names in rock and roll. Since 1974, nearly everyone from\u00a0Elvis\u00a0to\u00a0Ozzy\u00a0has plied their wares there, with several generations of fans coming of musical age within its walls.\u00a0Rocktropolis 2024, featuring a headlining performance from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":288506,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[119299],"tags":[2969,62474,119300,656,28884,31078,12976],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-288505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tour-reviews","tag-ace","tag-bach","tag-frehley","tag-metal","tag-nexus","tag-sebastian","tag-tennessee"],"yoast_head":"\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"