RETURN OF THE COMET, the band made up of former Ace Frehley band members, made their debut at the Debonair Music Hall in Teaneck, NJ on June 28, 2019 in what was only their 5th show ever. Comprised of none other than original Comet members Tod Howarth, John Regan and Richie Scarlet along with more recent Ace band drummer, Steve Budgie Werner, the group pulled out some classic songs that have not been heard in years. I had a special affinity for the first three Ace albums (Frehley’s Comet, Second Sighting and Trouble Walkin’) and Howarth, Regan and Scarlet were huge parts of those records.

Hearing songs like “Calling To You”, “Time Ain’t Running Out” and “It’s Over Now” all originally sung by Howarth was a real treat again. Tod always lent a more AOR-friendly sound to those early Ace albums when compared to the more down and dirty rock side of the Ace-sung tunes. Not to say Return of the Comet stuck to AOR songs in their set as they covered a nice cross section of songs from those early albums with tracks like “Shot Full of Rock” and “Lost In Limbo” (both originally sung by Frehley on the “Trouble Walkin’” album as well as the Scarlet sung “2 Young 2 Die”.

The crowd was even treated to the lead single from the “Trouble Walkin’” record with the cover of ELO’s “Do Ya”, that was sort of a neat surprise but the cover songs didn’t stop there as the band pulled out “With A Little Help From My Friends” (in Joe Cocker form) as an encore, which was very apropos considering these four friends were connected due to being involved with Frehley on one lineup or another for just about as long as Ace has been a solo artist himself. And those weren’t the only rarities dug out as the song “I’m An Animal”, which was on old Ace demo from 1984 (featuring Scarlet on vocals) was featured as well as the song “Breakout” (as an homage to the one and only, late and great Eric Carr).

All in all it was a trip down memory lane and brought life to some Ace and Comet-era songs that would otherwise never be heard again and for that I give a special nod to Tod, John, Richie and Steve. Thank you.

The band is working on bringing the show to more areas of the country as I write this so be sure to follow along at www.returnofthecometband.com for tour updates and other happenings.