The Josh Innes Show - RIP Ace

Episode Date: October 17, 2025

Ace Frehley died. I didn't see KISS with Ace. KISS has some Eagles tendencies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When you're with Amex Platinum, you get access to exclusive dining experiences and an annual travel credit. So the best tapas in town might be in a new town altogether. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Terms and conditions apply. Learn more at Amex.ca. All right. Let's see here. One final pod for the week. Let's take a look at what the USA Today has to offer us. Oh, does the USA Today have a winners and losers? I totally forgot about winners and losers. Everyone's favorite segment from last night. Bang! Oh, no, wait. Hold on. I don't know if that's a winners and losers or not. It says, who runs the AFC North? Just maybe Joe Flacco dot, dot, dot, and the Browns? Wait, so I don't think there's a winners and lose. No!

Is there not a winners and losers from this game last night? That's like the ultimate winners and losers game. What are we doing? Oh, this sucks. Let me click on this and see if this is actually like a hidden winners and losers story. If not, what are you doing, USA today? Just cut my balls off. Just castrate me.

Not even chemically castrate me. Grab some garden shears and cut my balls off. If you don't give me a freaking winners and losers. I don't think we have a winners and losers. This is not a secret hidden winners and losers. and winners and losers. There is no winners and losers. I don't know what to do with myself.

It is what I come to expect and I'm desirous of it. It's all I want. It's what I covet. It's what I yearn for is a winners and losers segment from USA today on a Friday after Thursday night football

and this is the punch in the dick if this isn't the biggest bag over the head punch in the face. I'm fuck. I'm heartbroken I don't even know what to do I guess I have to shift now I have to shift

I have to pivot as they say let me play a couple commercials and I'll see where we'll pivot this is an outrage this is out fucking rages I have more to come it's hockey season and you can get anything

you need delivered with Uber Eats well almost almost anything so no you can't get a nice rank on Uber Eats But iced tea, ice cream, or just plain old ice, yes, we deliver those. Goaltenders, no, but chicken tenders, yes, because those are groceries, and we deliver those too, along with your favorite restaurant food, alcohol, and other everyday essentials. Order Uber Eats now.

For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. You know what we haven't actually talked about is that Ace freely died last night. My poor boss, Casey, bless us heart, he's a wonderful guy. But last night before they knew that Ace Freely had died, an email had gone out that said he was doing poorly and was in critical condition, right?

But like the email was great because Casey sends it and it says, sad news that Ace Freely is in critical condition. His show in Detroit has been canceled. Like, figured guys on life support critical condition. Hey, his show in Detroit has been canceled. And then like 10 minutes later, oh, by the way, Ace Freely is dead. So now we're sure that his show in Detroit was canceled? Can we confirm per league sources?

He is dead and he will not be performing. But he was 72. He hadn't been in the band since 2002. So every time I've seen Kiss, I never saw Ace Freely and I've never seen Solo Ace Freely. I was actually supposed to do the stage announcements at this Ace Freely show. It said it was going to be at some bar. And I was supposed to do the stage announcements, but obviously that will not be the case as Ace Freely is dead. Ace Freely is like your favorite guitar player's favorite guitar player, you know, and he's like your typical rock guy, whereas like Gene and Paul are like super duper businessman and like the business of Kiss is a big deal to Gene and Paul.

Like Ace Freely was just the dude that wanted to play fucking guitar. Like the business of Kiss didn't concern Ace Freely and he was a drunk anyway. He and Paul Stanley were like the, like if Gene and Paul were the Glenn and Don of Kiss, then these two were the Don Philips. then these two were the Don Felder and Randy Meisner of Kiss, right? That, like, we're just always kind of at ends with the two leaders of the band and eventually we're out of the band. Then came back to the band, like for the Hell Fries is over tour. Although I don't think Randy Meisner came back for Hell Fries over, but Don Felder did. And just like when Kiss got back together in the mid-90s, when Tupac brought him out on stage at the award show and they're in full makeup.

And people are like, holy shit, Kiss is back. Really, the parallels between Kiss and the Eagles are pretty similar. I'd never even thought of it, but they're certainly in that world. But when you look at that, they brought them back, and then he was in the band for about another five, six years, and then left the band in 2002. He and Peter Chris did. And then that's when they brought in Eric Singer to be the new cat man. And I think Tommy Thayer is the guy that is the new, what do they call Ace?

What was he the Star? And he went to the Star Child. He was the, what the hell did they call Ace? Ace was the, what was it, the Space Man? Duh, he was the Space Man. but you look at that and it's like you kind of break down their their kind of line and the way they kind of went their trajectory it's kind of Eagles like they didn't sell as many albums as the Eagles and the Eagles went away for 15 years kiss didn't go away for 15 years they just took off their makeup for about 15 years and kept making albums and kind of adjusted with the times whereas the Eagles were a band that made solo shit in the 80s these guys all went out to state and Kiss the times I've seen Kiss and I think I've seen them three times first time being in 2003. It was in 2003. I think it was on, I think, what was a farewell tour, which, again, it's always a fair. No, I guess this wasn't a farewell tour. I don't know if it was or not. But me and my dad went, we met backstage and we met the band. Somewhere, I think, we have a picture with all of them. But at this point, Ace wasn't in the band. No, this was, I think, 2004. It was in New Orleans. Ace wasn't in the band, and neither was Peter Chris. So it was Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer. Nice guys. They were in the full. makeup when we met him. But then you got, and then there's always been Gene and Paul. But I never

saw them like that. And then the last time I saw them was in St. Louis on, I guess, what is the real farewell tour, unless they come back as holograms or something like that, which is also possible. And they still put on a good show. I mean, largely, they put on the same show they've been putting on for 100 years. And now I think it's kind of, you know, copy and pace, kind of rinse and repeat. Like, there's nothing new or original about what they do. But I don't know that people were going to see Kiss for new and original, right? I don't think people were signing up to see kiss because they wanted to see something new or innovative. It's a nostalgia act. Like, they just wanted to go see the makeup and see Gene Breathe Fire and they want to hear Love Gunn in Detroit Rock City.

And that's what they want to do. And that's okay. Like some acts like that, like, I don't think they ever got to a point where Kiss was embarrassing. They never got to a point where they sounded like shit. There are a lot of bands that sound like shit. There are a lot of bands that when you see them, you're like, okay, this band is not good. Like, like, look, I, I love Motley Crew. Motley Crew sounds like shit. Like, they're a joke when you hear them in concert. But you go because it's Motley Crew and you want to hear Dr. Feel Good and it's fun, right?

And it wouldn't be the same if some other asshole we're singing Dr. Feel Good and it wasn't Vince, right? So you deal with that. But if you look at the, if you look at Kiss, I never thought they sounded bad in concert. Like I never thought Paul sounded bad. He seemed to take care of himself. You know, he and Gene were not like hardcore drug users or whatever, right? That was kind of, well, at least Gene wasn't. famously, they were not dudes that did drugs, alcohol a ton.

So, like, they took care of themselves pretty good, and they sounded fine. Like, at least with Kiss, and again, I get that Ace died. He hasn't been in Kiss in almost 25 years. But if you look at the band, and I've seen a lot of these 80s bands and 70s bands, and they look old, and they sound old, and they sound like shit, and the voices are gone. And then you hear Kiss, you go, hey, at least they still sounded good. And they played well, and that was the perk of having kind of younger dudes playing drums and playing guitar, is they still sounded good.

And again, it was a very copy and pay show. They might mix the songs up a little bit, but for the most part, you were getting the same set list year in, year out. They might add a song, take out a song. They'll open the show with a different song. Like when we saw them in 2004, they opened with Love Gun. And it was fucking great. And I think they opened with maybe Detroit Rock City when I saw them last, I think is what that was. I can look that up because there's set lists all over the internet.

So I saw them twice. and I think the two times I saw them were about 20 years apart. Let's actually look at that set list. So November 29th, 20203. There's Rosemont, Illinois. Do you have the St. Louis concert in here, friends, that I can look at? There's Canada. Let me see what the...

I mean, it's all going to be the same set list, so I can just look at it. All right, here we go. Into the Road Tour. It opened with Detroit Rock City. Shout it out loud. Deuce, War Machine. Heaven's on fire. I love it loud.

Say yeah. Cold gin. Lick it up. Calling Dr. Love. Making love. Psycho Circus, let's see, God of Thunder, Love Gun, I was made for loving you, Black Diamond, Beth, do you love me, rock and roll all night, and God gave rock and roll to you? Like, it's a good set list.

Like, but then the other time I saw it, it was a very similar set list, but they opened up with Love Gun, which is fucking great. I love Love Gun. But anyway, so point being in all of this, and this became more of a kiss thing than an Ace Freely thing, but look, I'm a big kiss guy. I like kiss. I did kiss. So there you go.

All right. Anyway, more to come. Thank you.