Peter Frampton has taken his live show to London.
Even though Peter Frampton has been responsible for the album that ‘made’ the live album as a genre and was in the Billboard charts for 97 weeks straight, not to mention being the ‘Face of Pop’ in his days with the Herd in 1968 and then getting together with Steve Marriot to form Humble Pie in ’69, Peter Frampton is not the name on everybody’s lips in 2013.
So it was more than pleasing to see the Roundhouse packed to the rafters for a one-off gig last Tuesday night and he rewarded the fans with 2 and a half hours of superb rock.
From the kick off with Something’s Happening the crowd were into the show and Frampton was responding with some fine guitar and easy vocals. For a man in his mid-sixties he is pretty sprightly and he was moving around the stage with ease, interacting with the rest of the band and seemingly enjoying himself immensely. The band was fine, featuring Adam Lester on guitars, Rob Arthur on Keys, Stanley Sheldon on bass and drums from Dan Wojciechowski and they were as tight and supportive as you could wish for. However, the crowd were there for Frampton and he was every bit the front man and the focus for the show.
He touched on all the areas of his long career and showed with numbers like Doobie Wah and Double Nickels that he has more chops than just the voice-box and is one of the most influential guitarists around today.
Looking rather more schoolmasterly that the fluffy-haired superstar of Frampton Comes Alive he had the crowd singing along to the hits and completely into the music all through.
The crowd was not the sixties and seventies survivors one might have expected, the ages ranged from teens to eighties with a mix of male and female and they were all singing along to the big hits like a wonderful Show Me The Way and Baby I Love Your Way but were equally into a powerful and dark version of Soundgarden’s Black Hole Sun.
The set got steamy with (I’ll Give You) Money which featured some superb duetting with Adam Lester and he closed with a brilliant Do You Feel Like We Do.
The encores featured Jerry Shirley (ex-Humble Pie) on Four Day Creep and I Don’t Need No Doctor with the show closing on the Beatles While My Guitar Gently Weeps.
Frampton is a legend and proof that Classsic Rock has its roots in some great music but he is also a current and vibrant musician, fully involved with music and still has a genuine following after all those years.
The set list:
Main Set
Baby (Something’s Happening) (from Somethin’s Happening, 1974)
Doobie Wah (from Somethin’s Happening, 1974)
Lines On My Face (from Frampton’s Camel, 1973)
Show Me the Way (from Frampton, 1975)
Wind Of Change (from Wind of Change, 1972)
Boot It Up (from Fingerprints, 2006)
Double Nickels (from Fingerprints, 2006)
All I Wanna Be (Is By Your Side) (from Wind of Change, 1972)
Baby I Love Your Way (from Frampton, 1975)
(I’ll Give You) Money (from Frampton, 1975)
Black Hole Sun (from Fingerprints, 2006)
Do You Feel Like We Do (from Frampton’s Camel, 1973)
Encore
Off The Hook (from Peter Frampton, 1994)
Four Day Creep (from Humble Pie’s Performance: Rockin’ the Fillmore, 1971)
I Don’t Need No Doctor (from Humble Pie’s Performance: Rockin’ the Fillmore, 1971)
While My Guitar Gently Weeps (from Now, 2003)
Read more at VVN Music
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