A Blast From the Past
One Night In London
I found myself recently in London for a few days. Technically on business. But honestly, a business-centric boondoggle, as my wife soon found out. The secret's out. Just another excuse to travel without obtaining a precious-is-few hall pass.
One evening, while the wife took in a hot-ticket Westend play about good, evil and the normalization of Fascism. Not wanting to feel like punching a Nazi in the face, as I am want to do, I happily opted to hoist a few pints at a local where no one knew my name. She gave David Tennent's performance in Good a ****1/2 star review. I always give Fascism a thumbs down, though.
A blast from the past occurred the next night that proved both gut-wrenching and heart-warming. So through Hyde Park we went as a blood-red moon ascended over London to Royal Albert Hall. There we would bear witness to Peter Frampton's London finale of his "Farewell Tour."
Yes, that Peter Frampton, the icon. A mid-70s rock god. His teenage heartthrob magazine tear-out images adorned many high-school girls' lockers back in the day. Along with The Who's Roger Daltrey and Zep's tight-pants-wearing Robert Plant. Ahh, the pre-disco, pre-punk hard-rock 70s era.
I was a Humble Pie fan years before Peter made it spectacularly big as a solo act. Steve Marriott's sky-high melismatic vocal riffs on "Black Coffee," "Hot n' Nasty," "Thirty Days in the Hole," and "I Don't Need No Doctor" still echo in my ears. Or maybe, it's just my tinnitus?
Now Peter Frampton, despite his legendary guitar-playing abilities, exited my musical sphere of consciousness long ago. Well before his starring with The Bee Gees in the egregiously bad 1978 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band rock opera movie. Or perhaps it was his ill-conceived yacht-rock insipid follow-up album I'm in You after his blockbuster 1976 live album Frampton Comes Alive!
But for one night, on the 3rd of February, 1976 to be exact, Peter Frampton reigned supreme in my world.
You see, I had been in sunny Southern California with my mom and had just flown back to frozen Detroit to begin my final semester of high school. As we did back then, I took the shuttle bus from DTW to the Detroit-Windsor border/tunnel stop, which sat 400-meters away from Cobo Hall. The 70s rock 'n' roll mecca of The Doors, Bob Seger, Alice Cooper, J. Geils, and more. It was the last night of Peter's triumphant Frampton Comes Alive tour and tickets were long gone. But, still. And as luck would be, somehow, I got two from a lovely lady who couldn't bear hers going unused. She offered them to me and I bought them sight unseen. Set me back a whole $7.50 apiece. The show started in just a couple hours.
After busing it home, I called and invited a gal (no smartphones to IM back in '76) I had recently come to know. We were still at the sniffing stage. After hearing the hoops and screams from her and her siblings, I happily realized I was her new hero. We quickly got our asses back across the Canada-US border as the lights dimmed and entered the venue just as the crowd's anticipatory roar was crescendoing. Such an exciting moment. A scene.
Anyway, I knew they were floor seats, but when the usher kept walking us closer and closer to the stage, Andra's eyes bugged out. I was stunned as we sat down, literally six feet from opener Gary Wright singing his hit single "Dream Weaver." The first row seats 1A & 1B!
Andra became my long-time girlfriend that night; that is until she moved to Switzerland. And Frampton delivered, too. He was America's #1 rock act, selling over 11 million copies of his "Frampton Comes Alive" double-live album. The most ever at the time. A good time was had by all…
Now, about last night…here's the gut-wrenching part. At 72, the legendary guitarist Frampton sadly suffers from a progressive degenerative muscle disease called inclusion body myositis (IBM). After the diagnosis, Peter came out of retirement in late 2019, hoping for one last rock n' roll kiss-off before his guitar-playing days ended. Instead, however, Covid-19 put a kibosh on his tour dates. But somehow, he hung on long enough to make good of his rescheduled Royal Albert Hall dates…an emotional goodbye to his London fans.
The show was filmed with dozens of cameras for prosperity and started with a 3-minute newsreel-like video retrospective of Peter's extraordinary career: His rise to fame in the late 60s, the rowdy Humble Pie years, youthful poster good looks, and all those headlining sold-out solo gigs. The personification of a 70s-era rock god. Excess and all. Then, the lights went up, and Peter was escorted, no assisted, to a seat center stage to play his guitar and sing for us to a roaring standing O.
I was seriously verklempt during his first few songs. It was just so emotional seeing this icon now a humbled man center stage. Eight quick years ahead of me. Still full of evident joy in performing. Still able to play his guitar like only a few ever dreamed, and still singing his songs with his familiar solid voice. But his shell, his body, was being rather unkind to him. "Wobbly legs," he said. We humans; so fragile we are.
After the shock, we settled in for the musical ride. And what a ride it was: Frampton's 50+ years of setlist material, signature talk box, infamous black 1954 Les Paul "Phenix" guitar, and a few other surprises—like a wicked cover of Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun" all included! Just a great night of blues-heavy music. Befittingly so. And yes, the familiar hits were there, too. The crowd was most appreciative. It was so utterly heartwarming.
The man, the true rock icon he is, played with bravado, style, self-deprecating humility, and stunning skill…for two and a half hours! Then, he said goodbye, but I hope not farewell.
And we got to experience it in one of the great music halls in the world—Royal Albert Hall. Thank you, Peter Frampton, for a few more cherished memories, from 1976 to 2022.
Royal Albert Hall Setlist:
Baby (Somethin's Happening)
Lying
Lines on My Face
Show Me the Way
The Lodger
It's a Plain Shame
Georgia (On My Mind)
All I Wanna Be (Is By Your Side)
Breaking All the Rules
Black Hole Sun
(I'll Give You) Money
Baby, I Love Your Way
Do You Feel Like We Do
Encore
Four Day Creep
I Don't Need No Doctor
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
By the way, the opening act, a Welsh band called Cardinal Black, was exceptional, and I expect to see them again. Brought to mind the stylings of Marc Broussard from New Orleans, a house favorite.
Thanks for the privilege of your time, it is the most precious thing we have, and I appreciate it. Be well.
William D. Chalmers © 2022 GreatEscape Adventures, Inc. All Rights Reserved.