The marquee outside New Brunswick, NJ’s State Theatre New Jersey auditorium this Monday, April 7, 2025 evening shows music lovers the way to a live performance by recent Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Peter Frampton.
Frampton, who initially became known in the late 1960s for his work with the English rock group, Humble Pie, went on to even greater success as a solo artist, notably with Frampton Comes Alive!, his 1978 multi-platinum-selling album.
In the ’70s, Frampton appeared with The Bee Gees in the motion picture, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and played guitar on Frankie Valli’s smash hit, “Grease.” In the 1980s he toured with his school chum David Bowie, and in the ’90s appeared as a member of Ringo Starr’s All-Starr Band.
In 2019, Frampton was diagnosed with inclusion body myositis, a progressive muscle disorder, and announced his retirement from touring but in 2023 embarked on his Never Say Never Tour which he extended into 2024 with his Never Ever Say Never Tour and again into 2025 with tonight’s Let’s Do It Again show.
The lights dim and a video montage illustrating highlights of Frampton’s career appears on the large screen at the rear of the stage. When it concludes, keyboardist Rob Arthur, guitarist Pat Burgeson, bassist Alison Prestwood, and drummer Dan Wojciechowski take their places seated on stage.
The crowd stands and cheers when — with the help of a cane — Frampton makes his way into the spotlight, smiling in reaction to the outpouring of love emanating from the crowd.
After taking a seat, Frampton is handed a guitar and he and the band rocket into “Day in the Sun.” His voice sounding as strong as ever, Frampton sings, “Here’s what you can dream on and it’s all I can give you/Come with me now and leave it all behind,” prior to making his guitar wail on this upbeat rocker.
The crowd cheers and Frampton and the band segue into “Lying.” As the word, “Lying,” flashes on screen in different fonts, Frampton impresses with a fast and furious guitar solo on this straight-ahead rocker. He follows up with “Shine On” where after he sings the anthemic “Shine on/Me, shine on me/Let it shine on” chorus, he and Pat Burgeson duel on guitars accompanied by Rob Arthur’s swirling organ, Alison Prestwood’s tight bass, and Dan Wojciechowski’s beating drums on this 1986 rocker.
Music lovers hoot and holler and Frampton addresses the State Theatre audience declaring, “We love this room — we love the sound here!” Spotlights envelope Frampton on the power ballad, “Lines on my Face,” where he points to the audience while singing, “You are my family of friends!” and the crowd responds with enthusiastic cheers. As the song progresses, he offers up an electrifying guitar solo while images of The Bee Gees, David Bowie, and family members appear on screen.
Concertgoers applaud when they recognize the intro to Frampton’s 1976 hit, “Show Me the Way.” On this number, Frampton comes alive when he incorporates his trademark “talk box” guitar playing technique into his solo. Calling out, “I can’t believe this is happening right here tonight!” music lovers sing along with Frampton on the song’s famous, “I want you to show me the way” refrain.
Frampton, Pat Burgeson, and keyboardist Rob Arthur play guitars on the rhythmic rocker, “Interstellar,” a song which Frampton wrote and recorded with his son, Julian. He follows up with a dramatic instrumental interpretation of “Georgia (On My Mind).” Putting his entire body into his performance, Frampton literally and figuratively rocks in his seat as he plays wild and free on this soulful Ray Charles’ classic.
Announcing, “We do need your help on this next one!” Frampton explains, “Every night, we have a competition to see who is the best audience,” and invites the crowd to “make as much noise as possible at the end of the song.” Here, he and the band tear into “The Crying Clown,” where Frampton croons, “The longer you love, the longer you live/The stronger you feel, the more you can give,” on this 50-year-old folk-rocker.
At the conclusion, concertgoers cheer, applaud, and stamp their feet until Frampton pronounces this crowd his “#1” audience.
Frampton bends the strings of his guitar as he picks out a solo on the island-influenced “Nassau” before he and the band launch into his 1976 hit, “Baby I Love Your Way.” Sounding as youthful as ever, Frampton sings, “Shadows grow so long before my eyes” and smiles as the audience joins in singing as he plays the famous “Baby I love your way, every day” chorus of this breezy pop tune.
Following a standing ovation, Frampton strums his guitar under a bright red light on the intro to “All I Wanna Be (Is By Your Side).” After crooning, “Can’t you see what it’s doing to me, yeah/All I want to be is by your side,” Frampton dances in his seat as the music increases in speed and intensity on this 13-minute version of this appealing folk-rock tune.
Music lovers clap in time as keyboardist Rob Arthur plays the strong chordal piano part on the funky “I Wanna Go to the Sun.” After he cries, “Still singin’ this song/Baby can’t you do me wrong/Music is my food and life/Don’t take it away,” Frampton makes his guitar sing on this 1974 rocker.
Frampton reveals, “When I first heard this next song, it hit me like a ton of bricks and I knew I had to do it as an instrumental.” A black hole appears on screen as Frampton and Co. rocket into a powerful rendition of Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun.” On this otherworldly rock fusion number, Frampton plays a stellar guitar solo while rays of light spin to the band’s intense performance.
Frampton gets the crowd clapping overhead as four-part vocal harmonies float over the driving beat of “(I’ll Give You) Money.” Facing one another, Frampton and guitarist Pat Burgeson trade licks under flashing lights before the performance ends in a frenzy of sound to the roar of the standing crowd.
On Frampton’s 1976 hit, “Do You Feel Like We Do,” audience members happily sing along with Frampton on the tune’s infectious “Do you, you/Feel like I do” chorus.
Following a guitar/keyboard duel, Frampton plays tambourine while Arthur plays a Fender Rhodes keyboard solo, slapping the keys with two hands at lightning speed. After Frampton introduces his bandmates, the number continues with Peter vocally improvising with his talk box announcing, “We’re having a party now! Do you really really feel like we do?” before ending in a pulsing sea of sound and lights.
The crowd stands and cheers and Frampton exclaims, “We’ve had a lot of fun! You guys have been great!” prior to asking, “How about some Humble Pie?” Here, he and the band launch into an encore of “Four Way Creep,” where Arthur and bassist Alison Prestwood alternate singing lead on the tune’s bluesy “I want you to love me” refrain.
The encores continue with Frampton and Arthur sharing lead vocal chores on “I Don’t Need No Doctor.” Following Arthur’s Fender Rhodes keyboard solo, Prestwood is featured on a low and rumbling bass solo, Pat Wojciechowski fires on all cylinders on the drums, and guitarist Burgeson plays a crying blues harmonica solo while Frampton rocks out in his chair.
To conclude the evening’s festivities, for a final encore, Frampton gives a tour de force performance of George Harrison’s composition for The Beatles, “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.”
His guitar crying out with passion, Frampton’s spellbinding performance inspires yet another round of cheers and a well-deserved standing ovation.
Using his cane, Frampton rises and takes a bow with his bandmates. Once all of his colleagues leave the stage, he takes a moment to thank the audience, exclaiming, “Thank you all so much! This has been a fantastic evening with you here tonight,” and promising, “I want you to know I’m gonna keep on fighting this!”
Acknowledging, “When I got diagnosed, obviously it was a bit of a shock, but it’s something where I realized, ‘That’s life — it’s just the cards you’re dealt,’” Frampton concludes by revealing, “It made me realize that while I’m fighting my battle, there are a lot of people out there fighting their battles, too, and what I’ve realized is I’m not going to be anything but absolutely kind to everybody I meet because kindness is king!”
To learn more about Peter Frampton, please go to frampton.com. For information about great upcoming shows at STNJ — including New Jersey Symphony performs The Music of Led Zeppelin on May 4, The Fab Faux performs A Hard Day’s Night and Abbey Road on May 31, and One Vision of Queen featuring Marc Martel on June 13 — please click on stnj.org.
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