In two days, in two different parts of New York State, legendary guitarist, Peter Frampton played at The Capitol Theater in Port Chester, New York, and then at the Paramount in Huntington, Long Island the following night.
Frampton who is currently on his Never Say Never tour played the final of three shows in the lower Hudson Valley and Long Island and I had the terrific opportunity to attend three of those two.
Frampton, who rose to fame with Humble Pie in the late 1960s and early 1970, broke out on his own as a solo artist with the release of his live album, 1976’s “Frampton Comes Alive!”
During both of his shows, the setlist stayed the same despite different crowds. I’m not surprised by the same setlist, at this point in the careers of most rock stars, they usually keep the same setlist and or maybe rotate a song or two during a show.
What surprised me most was Frampton’s pure energy and charisma. A few years back, Frampton was diagnosed with inclusion body myositis which requires him to walk on the stage with a cane and perform sitting down in a chair.
Despite sitting down in a chair, Frampton brought all the material from his Humble Pie days and his days as a solo artist to both venues giving 110% of his effort to each show.
At the start of both concerts, Frampton took the stage a little past 8:00 p.m. and didn’t finish his last song, which was a Beatles cover of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” until around 10:45 p.m.
The energy from his wonderful band makes it such an enjoyable concert. In the 40 or so concerts that I’ve been to, Frampton has been one of the most skillful guitarists that I’ve ever seen and it’s not even close.
Frampton had something for every fan of every era of. He played “Shine On,” “Four Day Creep,” and “I Don’t Need No Doctor” by Humble Pie. He included “Show Me the Way,” and “Baby, I Love Your Way,” which were arguably two of his biggest hits.
Right before the start of his fourth song, “Lines On My Face,” Frampton paid tribute to long-time bassist and former member of Kiss guitarist, Ace Frehley’s former solo band, John Regan who passed away at the age of 71 in April of this year.
It was a sweet moment when as the band played, pictures of Regan appeared on the screen behind the band and it was overall a nice moment which was capped off with Frampton reaching towards the screen acknowledging his former bandmate.
Following “Lines On My Face,” the sixth song Frampton played was “Georgia (On My Mind)” which was a Hoagy Campbell cover. Throughout the show, I was impressed by the diversity of his music. Frampton also played “Black Hole Sun” which was a Soundgarden song and paid homage to former Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell. Even though both songs were on two separate records of his, it’s really cool to see the diversity of his music.
Frampton, who turned 73 this past April still has amazing vocals. There are some vocalists now, I won’t name names, whose voices didn’t age spectacularly but that is not the case here. If you close your eyes and no one told you that you were at a Peter Frampton concert, you might think that you are standing in front of two speakers listening to a recording, that’s how in shape his voice is.
Overall, these two shows were such a thrill to watch. It’s not very often you get to see a living legend like Frampton is, let alone see one twice in two nights and I was so glad I was able to get this opportunity.
Frampton puts on such a great show. From the sound quality to the lighting and overall performance, Frampton’s show was one of the best shows I saw this year. Even though the year is far from over, I find it extremely hard for another act to upstage Frampton.
Simply put it, Frampton came alive in New York.
