PFCA 35, Wolf Trap, Vienna, VA

On Thursday, Rob and I went to Vienna to see Peter Frampton play and celebrate the 35th anniversary of his album, Peter Frampton Comes Alive. Rob had actually seen him live 34 years ago at Niagara Falls just after the album was released. Of course I can't boast a similar story as back then I was far too young to be attending rock concerts.

Postcards were being handed out advertising a 3 disc set of the whole concert that would be available at the end for a mere $35. Rob happily slapped his notes on the counter.

Waiting patiently and fervently wishing it would hurry up and start.

And then it did. Peter launched into Something's Happening and the arena started jumping. it was wonderful to just sit and enjoy the music. We had beer, a picnic, a gentle breeze wafting through; what more could we want.

As he went from song to song, it just got better and better. I really think his guitar playing has improved with age. He commented on being miffed because his acoustic album, Footprints, was awarded a Grammy, the only album to receive this and the only album without him singing! But tonight his vocals were superb and we marveled at how he found the energy on this tour. He started in March and plays pretty much every other day right through until the end of November, putting on a 3 hour show each evening. And the guy's 61. That's impressive.

Me and Rob enjoying the evening.

These images gives a rough idea of how far away from the stage we were.

Peter finished performing just after 11pm. He'd started at 7:30 and stopped for about 25 minutes. He certainly gave us our money's worth and we were glad we'd got our t-shirts early. I bet they ran out. The show was absolutely brilliant and his songlist for the evening is here.

 

We got in line to pick up Rob's CDs and then walked to a now empty parking lot to collapse into Stuart and head home to Marshall. It had been a fabulous concert but we had noticed that Peter occasionally looked tired and strained. Not surprising with his regime but we then discovered he'd just divorced his 3rd wife. It made me feel proud to be an admiring follower of such a man who under extreme stress and duress still strives and succeeds in putting on a first rate show for his fans. A true star.