August 10, 2019

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Peter Frampton is still on the top of his game, both musically and vocally.

 

The sixty-nine year old guitar wizard is out on his Finale- The Farewell Tour this summer and he made a stop at Blossom Music Center on Thursday evening.

 

Frampton has decided to make this his last tour because he has been diagnosed with a degenerative muscle disease which might make him unable to play within a year.  However, Frampton gave no indication of this disorder as his fingers were all over the fretboard and his vocals were spot-on all evening long.

 

Opening the show with “Baby (Somethin’s Happening),” Frampton got the 11,000 or so spectators thinking back to the opening track to 1975’s Frampton Comes Alive! album.

 

Everyone got on their feet for “Show Me The Way” and Peter even put a little local spin on it when he went to the talk box and said “Hello, People Of Cleveland!” before going into his talk box solo.

 

Throughout the show, Frampton told many stories about how songs came about and he mentioned a lot of artists that he has worked with in the past.  

 

He did mention that he released a blues album eight weeks ago and it had been number one on the Blues Album chart for six weeks after its release.  He said that Ray Charles did the definitive version of this song and he also saw Steve Winwood perform this song when he was only sixteen and he killed it.  He noted, “I’m not going to compete with that, but I am going to play it for you.” With that he played a soulful instrumental of “Georgia On My Mind.”

 

After that he picked things back up with a rockin’ version of the Freddie King classic “Me and My Guitar.”

 

A surprise in the set came when he covered Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun” as an instrumental.  He finished the song on the talk box singing the chorus. It was incredible!

 

This is why you see live music; to experience things that you wouldn’t normally expect.  It was one of the highlights of the entire concert season so far this year.

 

He ended his set with his two biggest hits, “Baby, I Love Your Way” and an extended version of “Do You Feel Like We Do.”

 

Frampton and his band returned to encore with three more songs which included “I Don’t Need No Doctor” and the appropriate “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.”

 

It was another stellar performance from a guitar legend. 

 

Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Experience opened up the show with some classic Led Zeppelin tunes.  Bonham’s band has played in northeastern Ohio at least five times over the past three years. Although the band sounds great, it may be time to step away for a year or so. 

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Review and photos by Greg Drugan

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