British superstar ‘comes alive’ on Niagara Falls casino stage

If you were a teenager in the mid-1970s, it wasn’t so much that you were familiar with the album, Frampton Comes Alive!, the seminal album by British rocker Peter Frampton. The truth is you owned it, perhaps even twice because you wore out the first copy.

A tribute to the album’s staying power, readers of Rolling Stone magazine ranked Frampton Comes Alive! No. 3 in a 2012 poll of all-time favourite live albums. The article’s text stated, “He was loved by teenage girls, and their older brothers. He owned the year 1976 like nobody else in rock.”

Music lovers will be able to see how well his songs hold up when he lands on the OLG Stage at Fallsview Casino Resort in Niagara Falls on July 29 at 9 pm.

Frampton’s musical influences started earlier as he went through the same English school as David Bowie, who was three years senior. Frampton’s father was Bowie’s art teacher and the musical pair would often join forces at lunch hour to play Buddy Holly songs.

In 1969, Frampton was the founder of the band Humble Pie before splitting away for a solo career. While Frampton had little commercial success with his early albums, his world exploded with the release of Frampton Comes Alive! in 1976.

The album featured the classic singles, Baby, I Love Your Way, Show Me The Way, and Do You Feel Like We Do, the latter two tracks also featured his use of the talk box guitar effect.

It was released in early January 1976, debuting on the charts on February 14 at number 191. The album was on the Billboard 200 for 97 weeks, of which 55 were in the top 40, of which 10 were at the top. The album became the top-selling album of 1976, and it was also the 14th best seller of 1977.

Surprisingly, Frampton has continued to release new albums through the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s though none has had the impact of his monster one.

In 2019, Frampton announced he will be retiring from touring with his ‘Peter Frampton Finale – The Farewell Tour,’ hence the name of his present tour – “Never Say Never 2023”. For tickets, check HERE.

However, here he is – talk box and all – from 1975 performing Show Me The Way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLgeTtYwQ7o