Frampton at the Tent
Last night’s Peter Frampton concert kind of reminded me of hanging out in a van when I was in high school. There were some people I knew, some people who looked kind of familiar and some people I’d never seen before. Most of the guys around me were playing air guitar. There was the smell of pot in the air, at least until some guy wearing way too much cheap cologne sat next to me.
But high school was a long time ago. How long ago was that? I was in high school biology class when my best friend told me about this great new album – a double album! – his older brother had bought, something called “Frampton Comes Alive!”
And how long ago was that? Frampton’s bass player, John Regan, has played with him for 31 years, but still joined Frampton’s band too late for the glory years.
Not that there haven’t been some high points along the way. Frampton’s 2006 CD, “Fingerprints,” won a Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Album. Frampton played four songs off that CD, including a cover of Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun” that was one of the night’s highlights.
Frampton drew from the start and most recent parts of his career. The show began with a Humble Pie song (“Four Day Creep”) and ended with another (“I Don’t Need No Doctor”). Along with the songs from “Fingerprints,” Frampton played two from “Thank You, Mr. Churchill,” a new CD released in April. “Restraint,” he says, is a song about “greedy pigs,” and it’s a little heavier sonically and lyrically than anything on “Frampton Comes Alive!” while “Vaudeville Nanna and the Banjolele” is a sweet memoir about his youth.
But of course, what people came to hear were the songs from his monstrously successful 1976 double album, and he delivered, playing eight of its 14 songs during two hour-long sets. Frampton seemed a little sluggish during some early songs, and it wasn’t until the fifth song, “Lines on My Face,” that (to borrow a phrase) Frampton came alive.
As talented as he is, Frampton’s not a show-off. His keyboard player, Rob Arthur, who played a third guitar on some songs, offered more dramatics than his boss. Frampton let backup guitarist Adam Lester play the lead parts at times. Drummer Dan Wojciechowski also deserves a nod for his sometime frenetic playing.
While Frampton engaged in some amusing chatter, he seemed happiest when he was letting his guitar do the talking; the extended shredding on “(I’ll Give You) Money” was another of the show’s highlight. The audience went nuts when he used the Framptone talkbox on “Show Me the Way,” “Black Hole Sun” and “Do You Feel Like We Do.”
Frampton doesn’t go for visual flash. He wore blue jeans and a black T-shirt with a large grey peace sign on it. His hairline is receding and what remains is closely cropped and white. He looks like any other semi-gracefully aging Baby Boomer.
But all you had to do was close your eyes and it was 1976 all over again.