Vinnie Vincent’s setlist for canceled Feb. 2019 shows would have had three ‘Lick It Up’ LP songs + “Unholy”

Vinnie Vincent’s setlist for canceled Feb. 2019 shows would have had three ‘Lick It Up’ LP songs + “Unholy”

Hair Nation frontman Jim Crean was recently interviewed by Jimmy Kay for Canada’s The Metal Voice. Crean was scheduled to be the lead vocalist for Vinnie Vincent‘s much anticipated comeback shows in Nashville, Tennessee, USA on February 8 and 9, 2019. Unfortunately, on or about January 29, 2019, Vincent canceled his two comeback shows with no real explanation.

In terms of the show cancellations and the planned setlist, Crean advised (with slight edits):

“Carmine Appice played with Vinnie Vincent back in the eighties before he was in Kiss. I think the guys from Kiss, Gene and Paul, called Carmine up back then to find out what Vinnie was all about before he got the Kiss gig and they always remained friends over the years. Then this whole thing came up where Vinnie came out of seclusion for 30 years and somehow the agent got a hold of Carmine and asked Carmine if he would like to do a couple shows with them. So then Carmine got Tony Franklin. After they booked shows, one was at Graceland Tennessee but Vinnie cancelled it and so then they had these other two dates booked and they got postponed. Robert Fleischman, the initial Vinnie Vincent singer, was gonna do the shows but then he decided he didn’t want to do it. So then, they were looking for a new singer and so Carmine was out on the road with me and Carmine had mentioned to me. Carmine said I should demo some songs with me singing and send it out to Vinnie. I said ‘Okay’ so when I got back to New York, I sent Vinnie‘s agent a couple songs. I never spoke to Vinnie. It was all through email. Actually, I sent an email to Carmine, then Carmine sent to his agent and then to Vinnie. Carmen called me up and he goes ‘Yeah, I submitted like four different singers to Vinnie and they were big-name guys, and Vinnie said out of four or five guys, he liked you the best.” Then, I got a phone call from Derrick Christopher, Vinnie‘s agent, and he said ‘Vinnie wants to use you for this, for these two upcoming shows in Nashville.’ We then came up with a figure that we needed to make it work and we came up with a tour schedule, the whole nine yards and rehearsal schedule. In regards to a setlist, it consisted of a lot of Vincent songs and a few Kiss songs. The Kiss songs that were on the setlist were “Lick It Up,” “Unholy,” “A Million To One” and “Exciter.”

We demo’d three songs (but it wasn’t Vinnie playing these songs). They came really good. Then, they made the announcement with the three of us as Vinnie‘s all-star band that Vinnie was going to go out there and shred. Carmine talked to Vinnie in depth about it. After that, Vinnie decided that he just wanted to make these upcoming shows, just a shred show where he just goes out there and just they jam. So basically, Tony [Franklin] and Carmine Appice just kind of keep a beat and Vinnie just plays.  I guess a little later, he decided that he just didn’t want to do that either.

In all of this, I have to say the fans were really excited about the whole thing. I got a lot of positive response from the Kiss fans because they’re the biggest and best fans in the world. They’re so loyal. They’re awesome. Actually, I made a lot of fans and friends over this to be honest with you. It was cool and an honor. I did a demo and then somehow, I don’t know who, put it out on the internet. Somehow, it got released on some Kiss page of me singing one of the songs and the Kiss fans [were] really behind it. it was like ‘Wow! This is great! This guy can really sing it great.’ So that was cool. All this wasn’t about that for me. It was about helping Vinnie get out there and show people that this guy can still rock. Tony and Carmine — we’re [a] pretty solid band for him to come out there and but the show was gonna be about Vinnie and that’s how I was gonna present it. This is about a great guitar player.”

Of note and according to Wikipedia, Vincent has co-writing credits on three of the nine tracks on KISS‘ Creatures of the Night album, eight of the ten songs on Lick It Up (1983) album, and three songs out of 12 on Revenge (1992).

With respect to the reasons why Vincent canceled his comeback shows scheduled for February 2019, Crean opined:

“I can’t speak on Vinnie Vincent‘s behalf. I never met him but I  have my ideas and I have my suspicions, and so does Carmine and Tony. There’s a lot of heavy shredding that went into Vinnie‘s songs. When I sat down learning those songs, I dissected every part of these songs even with the guitar. I would sit down and work out to make sure that everything’s gonna be super tight and we’re gonna come out and really do a great job for him. When Vinnie did that Kiss cruise and I seen some video footage of that and he didn’t really play any leads or anything like that. He just kind of came out and he looked a little nervous, like he was kind of unsure. Tony, Carmine and I have never taken a break from the music scene. We’ve been doing it years we’ve all been doing this for a very long time actively consistently touring. Derrick Christopher, Vinnie‘s agent, said to me ‘I think Vinnie‘s gonna be a little standoffish at first but then once he sees and he hears you guys, and you guys get in the same room together, he is gonna be so into it.’ I think that would have happened. I really think that Vinnie would have came out and it would have really been a good, good career move for him but I do think that maybe he had a little doubt.

Sometimes when you write songs thirty years ago and you make them so difficult to play, you don’t think of what’s gonna happen in 30 years from now. I think maybe he just was a little worried. I just want to make it clear that me, Tony and Carmine were gonna come out and really be super tight and deliver it for Vinnie. I know there was some rumours floating around that we couldn’t make the practice, there was gonna be no practice, no rehearsal. That’s not true. We spent a lot of time talking back and forth to how the songs, the keys arrangements, and I spent a lot of time learning those songs to the point where I was very confident that I would have went out and did a very good job for him. Again, if  Vinnie would have went through with these shows, I think it would have been a very good move for him because the fans would have loved it and I think the fans would have really accepted however it sounded. If Vinnie came out and he wasn’t exactly like he was thirty years ago, I think the fans would have still accepted him for just coming out on stage. I truly do think that because his fans are very loyal to him and they just want to see him play.”

You can read excerpts from the interview with Jim Crean at The Metal Voice‘s website or listen to the interview below:

Jim Crean Interview- Talks New albums & Explains Vinnie Vincent Show Cancellations

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