Peter Frampton Comes Alive at the Birchmere

by Rick Landers.

Peter Frampton fans huddled at the front of the Birchmere well before the doors swung open for his August 12, 2008, show at the club in Alexandria, Virginia. When the crowd swarmed in through the doors, the excitement kept buzzing until he left the stage after a solid two hour show of Frampton hits, some rock and a little bit o' soul.

With a nod to Motown’s legendary Funk Brothers, Frampton got the crowd in a deep groove with “Shotgun,” on a hot red Gibson ES-335. Accompanied by John Regan (bass), Adam Lester (guitar), Dan Wojciechowski (drums) and Rob Arthur (keyboards, guitar, vocals), Peter let out a bit more inner city heat with another Motown hit the studio group played on, Stevie Wonder’s “Sign, Sealed, and Delivered (I’m Yours).”

Peter noted, “The Funk Brothers were the most inspiring musicians to me.” He added that some members of the famous studio group will make special appearances on Frampton’s next CD.

Switching between his big bodied ES and a black Gibson Les Paul with triple threat humbuckers, the band rolled out some cuts from his 1976 double album, Frampton Comes Alive. “Lines on My Face” slowed the tempo down a bit nicely before revving things up with his biggest hit, “Show Me the Way,” complete with the talk box that gave Peter a distinct signature vocal sound for his fans try to humorously imitate.

Helping the audience catch its breath were a couple of acoustic tunes with Peter pulling out two Martins. The first a beautiful finger picked solo that ended in a bright harmonic. Telling all that one of the “most exciting things I worked on was All Things Must Pass with George Harrison,” Frampton dedicated “Wind of Change” from his first solo album to his friend.

Peter was handed the red Gibson ES and began, “All I Wanna Be (Is Be By Your Side),” that kept the electric boost at an acoustic level and those old romantic lyrics tightly arranged and in a good spot.

Grinding out a funk heavy “Boot It Up,” from his 2007 Grammy award winning album, Fingertips, Peter was getting into some heavy chops while Arthur’s organ moaned and squealed. The tunes one of those deep grooves that pushes forward while careening all over the road with session breaks demanding the players to strut some stuff.

Calling Chris Cornell (Soundgarden, Audioslave) his favorite singer with incredibly written songs, Peter waded into a heavy instrumental dirge of Cornell’s “Black Hole Sun,” with Lester on a single cutaway PRS and keyboardist Rob Arthur turning to a Gibson Nighthawk to add more six-string to the procession.

Back to Frampton city-center with “Baby, I Love Your Way,” and the crowd erupted into song that would have unleashed lighters had they had half a legal chance. Thirty years in the bins and the song still has great legs.

Harnessed to a sweet Les Paul Gold Top, Peter pushed out a heavy “I’ll Give You Money.” I swear he changed one of the lyrics to add a humorous “I’ll take you shopping,” but, that could have been a sound bounce anomaly or even an audience member’s personalized cover version.

Frampton’s show kept the pace going with a crowd favorite, “Do You Feel Like I Do?”
They roared with approval and clapped in rhythm with Peter banging a tambourine and singing, “I want to thank you!”

A standing ovation later and a move off stage didn’t stop the audience from demanding more. Peter and his band returned with a Frampton imprinted and extended version of George Harrison’s sensuous “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” with a blend of another funk groove.

The evening came to a raucous close with Peter returning to some of his roots, or maybe to end as he began with some Funk Brothers, on Humble Pie’s 1971 rock version of the 1966 Ray Charles’ Motown hit, “I Don’t Need No Doctor.”

The Birchmere house lights lit and Louis Armstrong’s “Wonderful World,” informed the audience that Frampton’s two hour show was over. But not quite, as Peter’s songs spilled into the parking lot where a few folks could be heard singing some that continued to resonate and charm.

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