I know I'm slow on my concert reviews but damn things are busy and hell I have no deadline, so here is my review of the Steve Miller Band and Peter Frampton show at Rogers Place I saw a couple Saturdays ago. I went to this show with Janis and my buddies Buzzard and Eor.
I've never seen either band, and had they played separate shows, I probably wouldn't have gone to either one. But as a double bill, hell ya, count me in. Both these artists were huge in the 70's.
The night started with Peter Frampton, a British musician who got his start with the band Humble Pie back in 1969. He really hit his stride with the album Frampton Comes Alive! released in 1976, one of the biggest live albums ever having sold over 8 million copies in the US alone. I think everyone has heard or owns a copy of this.
Peter and his band hit the stage opening with three songs that I didn't know, I was starting to think this might not be a very good show. But by the third or fourth song he finally played a song I knew, that being "Show Me The Way" from the live album, now he had the fans excited. After that song he did an instrumental version of the Soundgarden song "Black Hole Sun", that surprised me. Frampton went on to tell a story about the first time he heard this song and had to pull off to the side of the road while driving and just listen and take in the song. He later befriended Chris Cornell the lead singer of Soundgarden and has even performed this song with him before. Something else I didn't know as that Peter had recorded this song for an all instrumental album Peter released in 2006 called Fingerprints, which also went on to win a Grammy in 2007. It was a cool version he and his band performed, he even pulled out the talk-box at the end of the song to sing the last few lines of the song. When Peter used the talk box you really knew you were at a Frampton concert then!
After that he played more songs from Frampton Comes Alive!, "(I'll Give You) Money" and "Baby I Love Your Way)", followed by "Do You Feel Like We Do" which really had the crowd moving and singing along, the song went on for a while too. Frampton closed out his set with a song he did with Humble Pie "I Don't Need No Doctor", that was awesome. Peter's hour long set started slow but only got better as the show went on. At 68 years old Peter looks great and can still play. I quite enjoyed his set.
Peter Frampton live at Rogers Place in Edmonton.
The Steve Miller Band were the headliners, opening the show with the songs "The Stake" and "Swingtown" from his 1977 album Book Of Dreams. Their stage was very sparse with next to nothing on the stage. Also at this show which I should have mentioned earlier, there were no large screens showing the band. It was kind of old school, as most bands now have screens for those with shitty seats, like we had.
It seemed like every song Steve Miller played was a hit, it was like listening to his Greatest Hits album, another iconic record that every classic rock fan probably owns. Songs such as "Abracadabra", "Take the Money and Run", "Dance Dance Dance" which did have lots of the audience up and doing. "Space Cowboy", "The Joker", "Rock N Me", "Fly Like an Eagle" it was just one hit after another. I kind of forgot how many big hits he had in his day. A cool part of the show was when he brought Peter Frampton out and did three blues songs together, jamming them out. Peter and Steve are really quite good guitar players.
For the encore Steve and his band belted out "Jungle Love", "Threshold" and "Jet Airliner", see what I mean, it was one big song after another through out his whole set. The crowd of about 8,000 were eating it up. Looked to me like Steve stole the show, but for me it was Frampton that I enjoyed more. All and all a great double bill, despite having shitty seats. Good times!!!
Steve Miller Band live at Rogers Place in Edmonton.
Steve Miller and Peter Frampton jamming out some blues covers.
T-shirt front.
T-shirt back.
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