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RoIt’s been over 25 years that Richie Scarlet, Bill DeMild and I have been friends on a personal level but time has taken its toll as we grew apart, Richie went on to a successful career playing with Ace Frehley, Leslie West’s MOUNTAIN, Sebastian Bach (ex-SKID ROW) and others and Bill and I went on to become family men with children. Bill and I still kept in touch via our site RockEyez, as Bill works our news section. On occasion we get together but this time around it would be totally different seeing Richie Scarlet with the added excitement of seeing him live in New York City at The Cutting Room. What more can you ask for to make a great reunion.
Before we get into the review, I have to thank Richie Scarlet and his wife Joann for the personal invite to the show. We were asked to be at the venue at 9:30pm as Richie was to hit the stage at 10:00pm sharp but as you know that never happens in the world of rock n’ roll. The Cutting Room is a swank, posh club on East 32nd Street in the heart of Manhattan and it’s a little different than many rock clubs as each band kind of have their own show. The first band plays and their fans are let into the theater as attendees of the Scarlet show congregated in the bar area. After the first band exits the main attraction attendees are then let in. The Cutting Room is more of a dinner theatre then a rock club and there is also a $20.00 minimum per person inside the club not including ticket prices. That’s kind of typical for these types of place in New York City.
Anyway, as I said the show was supposed to start at 10:00pm but the first band ran over as expected and Richie ended up hitting the stage at 11:00pm. I have no idea how Richie keeps getting younger as he looks the same as he did 25 years ago! The show opened with “She’s Got Everything” off the “Stage To Stage” release and it really set the tone for the night as I was hoping it would be a good mixture of songs, but I wasn’t expecting just how good the night would go beyond some minor technical problems. Richie Scarlet was on fire playing songs from all eras of his career with a heavy dose of the songs coming from his latest release “I Plead The Fifth”. The third song of the night, “Morning Dew” came off the “Wise Guy From New York” release and was a great addition to the set as Richie showed off some amazing guitar work. One song I was really hoping to hear was “Johnny’s In Love” off “The Insanity Of Life” and other fans kept screaming for Scarlet to play it and there was no letting them down. During the set Richie asked guitarist Josh Galliani to join him on stage for some solos and dueling guitars.
One song that Scarlet really pulled the strings on and it was truly incredible to hear was an instrumental song, “To Sir(Her) With Love”. It’s a song that was written in 1967 and recorded by Lulu for the movie “To Sir, With Love” starring Sidney Poitier!
Richie then asked singer Joe Von T from 5th AVENUE VAMPIRES to come up and sing Alice Cooper’s “I’m 18” and “She Lied”. Joe was ready with face paint to give that great vibe to the show. Also during the show Sean Yseult (WHITE ZOMBIE) and Dava (CYCLE SLUTS FROM HELL) now with (STAR & DAGGER) joined Richie on stage for an all-star jam of sorts.
You didn’t think Richie would let the crowd get away without hearing some Ace Frehley music now did you? “New York Groove” and the KISS classic “Cold Gin” were featured as Richie gave homage as he adorned an Ace Frehley t-shirt. He also hit us with “Shot Full Of Rock”, which was performed with Doug Palmer.
Richie went onto to play a couple more songs off Scarlet solo releases such as “Without Your Love” and “3 O’Clock Blues” and ended the night with a killer song “Lips Like Morphine” off “I Plead The Fifth”. “Lips Like Morphine” is such a great tune that of all the songs Richie played this night that it just really blew me away. The evening was exceptional and I wish I had time to chat with Richie after the show but it was late and even at that Bill and I got home at 1:30am and I had to leave for work that morning at 3:30am. I know it’s not very rock n’ roll to say but I’m getting too old to be a night owl anymore!
People that I would like to thank for this great night are Richie and Joann Scarlet of course for the invite to this amazing show, Bill DeMild that took good care of me by bringing up great past stories and the fun we used to have. I laughed my ass off! Bobby Getch (KISS tribute band DRESSED TO KILL) and his stories and The Cutting Room too.
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