04/05/24
The Midland, Kansas City, MO
We Don’t Need a Doctor. We need more Peter Frampton!
It was a windy, crisp night for Grammy winner and 2024 Rock n Roll Hall of Fame Nominee (why has he not been inducted yet?) Peter Frampton to make a stop at one of Kansas City’s iconic theatres, The Midland Theatre for his “Never Say Never” tour.
Peter opened his two-and-a-half-hour set with an impressive video collage while playing Golden Goose. The video collage was nice to reminisce about, and from the “oohs” and “ahhs” from others in attendance; they enjoyed it as well.
Tonight was not my first Peter Frampton concert, but I will say this: in my thirty-seven years of attending concerts, tonight’s show is the best Frampton concert I have seen, and I would put it in my top 5.
The sound mixing was so impeccable throughout the night. I was so mesmerized and caught myself with a big ass smile on my face many times, but after a quick look around, many others in attendance felt like I did. You know the concert is good when there are a lot of sing-a-longs and smiles.
At 73 years old, Peter’s voice is still strong, and guitar jamming still happens, but from a chair. During story time, Peter talked about the 2019 “Finale: The Farewell” tour and how aging made him stop touring. In 2023, Peter decided he was ready to start touring again because although he now must sit, his fingers still know what to do, so on with the show.
As Peter put it, this tour is about going deep in the vault and bringing the deep cuts out. But it wasn’t long for fans to hear one of Peter’s most iconic songs, “Show Me the Way,” and the use of his famous “talk-box” from the 1976 album Frampton Comes Alive. Talk about a trip down memory lane. Also making the list were “Baby, I Love Your Way” and “Do You Feel Like We Do”.
The night’s jaw-dropper was listening to Peter cover “Black Hole Sun” by Soundgarden. The video wall turns into a spacey trip toward a Black Hole Sun and down into winding tunnels to reveal Chris Cornell’s in-memory photograph. Talk about spine-tingling.
The encore songs that closed out the night were “Four Day Creep” (Ida Cox cover), “I Don’t Need No Doctor” (Nickolas Ashford cover), and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” (The Beatles cover).
