Fans of Peter Frampton snapped up tickets for shows on the American leg of his 2019 Finale Tour knowing that they could be his last. The Grammy-winning rocker had announced he’d been diagnosed with inclusion body myositis, a rare disorder with symptoms that “usually include progressive weakness in muscles of the hand, forearm, thigh and lower leg,” according to the Johns Hopkins Medicine website.
But Frampton has surprised his doctors at the Johns Hopkins Myositis Center by continuing to perform.
“I still sound good — I mean, to me, anyway,” the 74-year-old self-described perfectionist explains on the phone a few weeks before embarking on his Positively Thankful Tour, which includes a Sept. 23 stop at MGM Northfield Park. “I used to think, Well, I don’t want to go out there and be less than I was. And now I’ve changed my outlook on it. I want to go out there as long as I’m enjoying playing.”
In fact, Frampton confirms a media report that his doctors believe a lifetime of playing guitar may be responsible for maintaining his manual strength and dexterity, so much so that they’re suggesting IBM patients take up playing an instrument if they’re not doing so already.
“I might have trouble picking something up or whatever,” he says. “But then when I sit down and pick up a guitar, and I put my hands on the guitar, they still know what to do. It’s quite amazing. I don’t think it’s even mental. I think it’s just completely physical.”
Frampton concedes that his fingers move a little slower, and that he sometimes uses a different finger to play a given note. “It’s off the spur of the moment because I never play the same thing twice in a solo. … I’ve just adapted within each song so hopefully, people won’t notice,” he says. He doesn’t go out on the road for more than two weeks at a time, preferably with a day off between dates. And although he works out for an hour six mornings a week (“If it weren’t for that and my wonderful trainers, I would be probably in a wheelchair”), he now performs seated. The change has yielded an unexpected benefit: It brings Frampton and his band closer to the audience.
“We feel like we’re in the living room playing and [the audience] just came over. … I think they feel more part of the show because they’re drawn in by it, the visual of it,” he says.
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The concert setlist isn’t limited to staples such as the epic “Do You Feel Like We Do.” “I’ve been enjoying going back and dragging out songs that we haven’t ever done live,” he says, citing “The Crying Clown,” off the 1975 album Frampton, as an example. “I love to stretch and try and do some new things, whether it be my own material or a cover.” Nothing from Peter Frampton Forgets the Words, a 2021 album of instrumental covers that includes Frampton favorites such as Roxy Music’s “Avalon” has made the lineup — yet.
“You never know,” he teases. “We might for this tour.”
The 2024 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame performance-category inductee notes that his current outing is serving as prep for his performance at the induction ceremony Oct. 19 at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse. “We’ll be nice and well-oiled by the time we get to Cleveland,” he assures. And after that – well, he’s been writing songs and plans to record a new album. “As long as I can keep my fingers moving, I’m going to keep playing, whether we’re touring or not,” he declares. He credits his ability to meet the challenges that IBM presents to his attitude.
“I’ve always realized that if there’s something insurmountable, there’s nothing I can do about it but to be positive,” he says.
Tickets to Peter Frampton’s Sept. 23 show at MGM Northfield Park ($96-$280) are available at ticketmaster.com. According to Live Nation, $1 from every ticket sold will go to the Peter Frampton Myositis Research Fund.
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