Peter Frampton was just another struggling artist trying to make it until he surprisingly blew up with "Frampton Comes Alive" and then destroyed his career with "I'm In You" and the "Sgt. Pepper" movie and has been slowly clawing his way back to credibility ever since. The screen showed footage of Frampton walking with his school chum Bowie while he and his son belted out "Rebel Rebel" and not only did the song sound better decades removed, Bowie oozed a charisma we rarely see in our artists today. Bowie was the whole package: music, image and myth. Furthermore, Bowie kept on growing while so many of his contemporaries became calcified. But that was back before not only politics became tribal, but music too. I LISTEN TO MY FAVORITE AND YOU SUCK BECAUSE YOU DO NOT SUPPORT THEM! David Bowie would have laughed at blind belief. Then again, the intellectual component of music has left the building, while those outside the building keep complaining about their streaming royalties, or to be explicit, their lack thereof.
So it was raining. Before the show the sound system played Albert Hammond's classic hit, and the audience sang along, "It never rains in Southern California"...
Now it used to be summer venues were just that, they started around Memorial Day and faded out not long after Labor Day. But money abhors a vacuum, and now in SoCal these open air venues...go from March to November. Meaning...the weather might just be bad.
To tell you the truth, I wasn't going to go. But Rena convinced me the show would play and it wouldn't be so bad. So I drove over.
And was stunned how many other people made it. Really, in a city where people stay off the roads when it rains, I figured they'd swallow the ticket price. But no, it seemed like most of the people who bought tickets showed up. And let's be clear, this was not the young 'uns, these were people who might get pneumonia and die, but they suited up and went to the gig, the way they have for decades. That's how much the music means to them.
And sure, "Baby, I Love Your Way" and "Show Me the Way" got big ovations, but they were not the only ones. The standing O for the extended "(I'll Give You) Money" was the longest.
Now this is the "Never Ever Say Never Tour." As in Frampton played his final shows, yet here he is again.
But not like his classic rock contemporaries... My favorite is the legendary act that was on its final tour with a new album only a few months away. Needless to say, they're still on the road, and that was a decade ago!
But if you want to see Peter Frampton, go now, because it won't be long before you won't be able to.
At the end of the show Peter spoke to the audience. Saying to be kind, you never know what is going on in people's lives, but also that he was going to fight his disease. As someone with a disease... Your body doesn't know you're fighting it, it's been proven attitude is an almost irrelevant factor. The story with these serious health problems is you surrender. And you make peace with it. It's those that surround you that can't get over it.
So, Peter is helped on to the stage, using a cane to boot. You get it right from the very start, Frampton is not lying, he's hurting. Well, physically, but not in attitude. One of the great things about a Frampton show is his sense of humor, evidenced throughout the gig. There's a casualness that was the antithesis of rock shows back in the seventies, then again, many of those acts haven't survived, or can't go on the road because no one wants to see them.
So, Frampton sits. As does his entire band. Which shifts the experience. Normally, an act performs. Jumps around the stage, tries to get you in the mood to feel the music and have a good time. There was none of this Saturday night. It was just the music, and that added gravitas.
Yes, just the music. No ringers off stage, no backing tracks, it was the same as it ever was, and that was refreshing. Peter and a band. Another guitarist, a bass player, a keyboard player and a drummer. I'd say it wasn't that far removed from the garage, but in truth garage bands are never as tight.
So Frampton played a bunch of numbers in rapid succession right off the bat without speaking to the audience, which made you feel like he still had it. It wasn't an assault, and it wasn't exactly a freight train, it was just a band firing on all cylinders, not needing acknowledgement to do so.
Now when Peter played "Shine On"...
It's on the live album, but this was closer to the original Humble Pie version, with the explosive guitar, with a strut underneath. This wasn't light, but it was catchy, and I guess that's Frampton's secret sauce. There are a ton of hot guitar players out there, but very few can write, and that's what Frampton can do, write songs. Will his compositions be remembered a century from now? Probably not. Then again, other than the Beatles I don't think anything will be popular by then. This was our music, for our time, and it turns out it was only for us. Then again, that was enough.
But that is what Frampton is selling, his guitar prowess. It's actually pretty amazing. Since he's sitting down, that's what you focus on. And he can nail all that picking from the records. And he can eke out notes and tones... That's what you're thinking sitting there, that this is one hot guitarist, who has his own unique style, who might have been sold as a pretty boy but nothing could be further from the truth. Watching Frampton play you could see why he made it, he's just that good. Better than most people think. Which is why George Harrison used him, which is why his fellow musicians respect him.
Now in truth it was a great night because Peter played my two favorite songs, "All I Wanna Be (is by your side)" and "I Wanna Go to the Sun."
Now "All I Wanna Be" is on the live album, but in a truncated, acoustic version. But on Saturday night, this was the album track, from the very first album, "Wind of Change," and it was astounding, because Peter can make all those sounds, he remembers these songs!
As for "I Wanna Go to the Sun"... The way it starts out quiet and slow and builds... Dynamics, those are the mark of talent. Frampton doesn't need to blast you into submission. It's a concert, you're listening.
But the encores...
Well, it was funny, because Peter didn't leave the stage, it was too much effort, he joked about it, and then played the concluding numbers after a short break.
"Four Day Creep"? Man, when Frampton played that lick it was hard to keep your body from moving. There's a boogie, hard rock element which has evaporated from today's scene, but it was so satisfying back then, direct to your body and heart.
And, of course, "I Don't Need No Doctor."
The finale was "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," at this point a Frampton standard, like "Black Hole Sun," which of course he played too.
No Frampton show is complete without "Do You Feel Like We Do," that was the number before the encore, and no matter how many times I've heard it, both on record and live, after the long journey, when Peter and the band kick it full force once again, it's still so SATISFYING!
So if you didn't go...
Well, I was surprised that these were Frampton fans, they clapped for the album tracks, they weren't just there for the hits.
This was not a picnic, a summer trifle, this was about music. From back when music was everything. Frampton and we in the audience were on the same page, we remembered. And like I said, Frampton can still hit all the notes, but this was a live show of yore, where the music itself had so much energy, referenced the recording yet added more, that we were transported in our own capsule into the stratosphere. Nobody else mattered, there was a direct connection between what was on stage and us, and we were liberated, we cast off our troubles and transcended this world which just seems to bring us down.
That's the power of music.
But not everybody can do it.
This was not a party. This was not a video. It's kind of like Max Yasgur said, we all got together for the fun and the music and it was nothing but the fun and the music and that was enough.
Now I advise you to go to these rainy shows with a plastic garbage bag. I dried my seat with some paper towels I got from the bathroom, but I realized if I had a giant garbage bag, I could have cut holes for my arms and been good. Or just laid the thing on the seat.
Now it stopped raining after about fifteen minutes of the show. But it was cold, in the forties.
I was actually prepared for the temperature, I even had gloves with me, but I was not prepared for the elation of the experience, especially after the downer of the rain.
I'd tell you to go to the show, but that's the thing about us baby boomers, we still do! We may look worse for wear, but we still go, we need to connect with the sound, to who we once were, and there's a direct thread from back then to now, and these musicians provide it.
Frampton connected on Saturday night. I think he's finally getting the respect he deserves as a guitar player. But even if you were a casual fan, or were burned out on hearing the hits over and over, I guarantee you if you were there you would have been drawn in.
That's the power of music, when done right.
And Peter Frampton did it right Saturday night.
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