Amazing!
Sixty-one-year-old Peter Frampton came alive again Monday night at Bakersfield’s Fox Theater. It was as if he’d never aged a day since his break-through hit album Frampton Comes Alive! some 36 years ago now. His voice still sharp as ever, Frampton strolled through FCA! front to back, as it was on the album.
But while Frampton, who will turn 62 next month, was weaving his lyrical magic through hits like Show Me the Way, Baby I love Your Way, and Do You Feel Like We Do?, the real show was in the seats.
Average age of this crowd was well-above 50, though there were the occasional Gen X and Gen Y among the masses (probably there as mom and dad's designated driver). This is a crowd one would assume would act like responsible adults.
Think again.
Despite several admonitions to not make sound or video recordings during the performance, I could see dozens of cell phones glowing steadily in the darkness below my perch in the front row, stage left, of the balcony.
Most weren't snapping photos, and they weren’t texting the grandkids either.
People were recording video, despite the best efforts of security and even Frampton himself. At one point during his opening song, Something’s Happening, Frampton walked stage left and in between guitar riffs, he motion for security to stop a guy who had been standing near the stage recording with his cell, but who had returned to his seat when Frampton had approached, where he continued to video the performance.
Security took care of him and a few other violators as well. But by and large, people ignored the video embargo and took home snippets of the performance.
The damnedest thing about it is this: For $35, you could get a recording of the evening’s show, in its entirety, within minutes of the end. For this tour, Abby Road Live has been recording the concerts at each venue on the Frampton Comes Alive! 35 Tour. Only 1,000 three-CD sets are pressed at each venue, and you also can download it from Frampton’s website for the same $35.
OK, so it isn't a video. But unless you've smoked way too much weed or have fried youre brain cells with some other form of chemical recreation, the memory alone is worth far more than any shaky cell-phone video from the 20th row.
I guess my point here is that we've come to expect the kind of behavior those individual with cell phones in hand on record, or on camera/video exhibited. And the fact is, it is piracy. No different that downloading a movie without paying for it. And that is illegal.
More than that, it sets a poor example. And personally, I think it is juvenile.
Grow up, people. Be responsible in every aspect of your life, at every opportunity.
And for the record, my copy of FCA! 35-Bakersfield is no. 21/1,000. And the video replaying in my mind as I listen to it is priceless.
Sixty-one-year-old Peter Frampton came alive again Monday night at Bakersfield’s Fox Theater. It was as if he’d never aged a day since his break-through hit album Frampton Comes Alive! some 36 years ago now. His voice still sharp as ever, Frampton strolled through FCA! front to back, as it was on the album.
But while Frampton, who will turn 62 next month, was weaving his lyrical magic through hits like Show Me the Way, Baby I love Your Way, and Do You Feel Like We Do?, the real show was in the seats.
Average age of this crowd was well-above 50, though there were the occasional Gen X and Gen Y among the masses (probably there as mom and dad's designated driver). This is a crowd one would assume would act like responsible adults.
Think again.
Despite several admonitions to not make sound or video recordings during the performance, I could see dozens of cell phones glowing steadily in the darkness below my perch in the front row, stage left, of the balcony.
Most weren't snapping photos, and they weren’t texting the grandkids either.
People were recording video, despite the best efforts of security and even Frampton himself. At one point during his opening song, Something’s Happening, Frampton walked stage left and in between guitar riffs, he motion for security to stop a guy who had been standing near the stage recording with his cell, but who had returned to his seat when Frampton had approached, where he continued to video the performance.
Security took care of him and a few other violators as well. But by and large, people ignored the video embargo and took home snippets of the performance.
The damnedest thing about it is this: For $35, you could get a recording of the evening’s show, in its entirety, within minutes of the end. For this tour, Abby Road Live has been recording the concerts at each venue on the Frampton Comes Alive! 35 Tour. Only 1,000 three-CD sets are pressed at each venue, and you also can download it from Frampton’s website for the same $35.
OK, so it isn't a video. But unless you've smoked way too much weed or have fried youre brain cells with some other form of chemical recreation, the memory alone is worth far more than any shaky cell-phone video from the 20th row.
I guess my point here is that we've come to expect the kind of behavior those individual with cell phones in hand on record, or on camera/video exhibited. And the fact is, it is piracy. No different that downloading a movie without paying for it. And that is illegal.
More than that, it sets a poor example. And personally, I think it is juvenile.
Grow up, people. Be responsible in every aspect of your life, at every opportunity.
And for the record, my copy of FCA! 35-Bakersfield is no. 21/1,000. And the video replaying in my mind as I listen to it is priceless.
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