Legendary guitarist Peter Frampton is currently out enjoying his 2023 “Never Say Never” tour. When I say “enjoying,” I really mean he is out there with all smiles. The reason being, is that a few years ago, he was diagnosed with Inclusion Body Myositis (IBS). That is a disease that is progressive neuromuscular disorder which causes muscles to weaken and atrophy. For his 2019 Farewell tour, he really thought that the disease would have taken over where it would prevent him from future touring. Well, lucky for him it’s been slowly progressing where he is still able to play. He can’t walk as well as he did (walks with a cane) and now performs sitting down. So, to say I was excited to see Frampton pay under these circumstances was an understatement.
He took the stage at 9pm sharp. He used a cane walking slowly waving to the crowd as a single spotlight shined on him. He made his way to his chair and opened with a few chords of his 1986 hit “Lying.” A few tracks later he was handed a a beautiful black Gretsch guitar that he said he got from Steve Marriott (his former member in Humble Pie.) Frampton talked about wanting to do some tracks that the band hasn’t performed live or haven’t done in quite a long time. One of those tracks was the “Crying Clown” off his self-titled 1975 release. This track encapsulated his vocal range as it showed he still can hit the high notes. At one point, there was gentleman who was sitting in front of the front of the stage who got up periodically to get drinks. Frampton, stopped at one point to ask if we should get a keg for him? At times, Frampton was shown to be funny and charismatic. This particular instance was before he went into the classic “Baby, I Love Your Way.” He put on a wonderful guitar clinic for “By Your Side.” A woman shouted that it was her honeymoon. Frampton was quick to respond; “Why are you here? Shouldn’t you be in bed? Well, we will try to keep it to a minimum so we can get off quick.” Which drew a lot of laughs. The entire set was a jovial Frampton playing and talking to the crowd. Telling stories and making comments. For years, Frampton has covered the Soundgarden classic “Black Hole Sun.” This is the first time I seen him do this song since Cornell passed back in May of 2018. His passing added emotion to the track. A nice homage was paid by Frampton at the end as a photo of Cornell appeared on the video screen. He and his rhythm guitarist Adam Lester played off each other for (I’ll Give You) Money. There was no traditional encore due to Frampton’s ambulation issues, so the band kept playing. He ended the night alone without his band playing a stirring instrumental rendition of the Beatles classic “While my Guitar Gently Weeps.”
After a whopping 2 hours and 15 minutes (the longest show I ever seen at any casino), Frampton showed in an emphatic way, that he can still deliver a high-quality performance. This was the best sounding show I have heard this summer concert season. Who knows what tomorrow may bring but Frampton plans on touring if he can still do it. Hopefully, it’s for a lot longer time!
Setlist:
Lying
Shine On (Humble Pie song)
I Got My Eyes on You
Lines on my Face
Show me the Way
Georgia (On my Mind ( Hoagy Carmichael and his Orchestra cover)
The Crying Clown
Nassau
Baby, I Love Your Way
All I Wanna Be (Is by Your Side)
Can’t Take That Away
Black Hole Sun (Soundgarden cover)
(I’ll Give You) Money
Do You Feel Like We Do
Four Day Creep (Ida Cox cover)
I Don’t Need No Doctor (Nickolas Ashcroft cover)
While my Guitar Gently Weeps (The Beatles cover)
We would like to thank Steven Cahill from the Fallsview Casino for the credentials to review the show.
