Peter Frampton was forced to take matters into his own hands at a recent concert, when two fans refused to stop taking pictures of him on stage.
And after repeatedly gesturing to the couple to refrain from taking shots and getting no response, the musician eventually grabbed the phone and launched it into the air.
Frampton, who is currently on the Guitar Circus tour supporting his new album Hummingbird In A Box, was playing at the Palladium in Carmel, Indiana when the incident occurred.
Prior to the gig, the theater announced there would be no flash photography or filming allowed. However, a couple arrived late, sat in the front row and began taking pictures and recording the performance. Despite not hearing the message, Frampton made it very clear he wasn’t happy, repeatedly gesturing at the couple to stop. They ignored the guitarist and carried on until the situation came to a head during the track Do You Feel Like We Do.
Onstage Magazine continues the story, “You could see the look of desperation and frustration on Frampton’s face and at the end of the song, he walked over with a huge smile on his face, bent down and said, ‘Hey, can I see that? Can I see the photos you’ve been taking?’ The guy handed him the phone and Frampton stood up, spun, and flung it to the rafters. The phone went flying to the back of the stage and the crowd erupted in cheers.”
After the concert, Frampton took to Facebook to post some first-hand accounts of the incident, saying: “Here are a couple of reports from the show and thanks again. We had a great show. Love the theater and the sound was great. We’ll be back.”
Frampton released Hummingbird In A Box last month – a seven-track project which came from a collaboration with the Cincinnati Ballet, while the English musician also released a stream of album track Friendly Fire last week.
additional source: classicrockmagazine.com
“Desperation”….sounds like when he was living in a dumpy apartment in Hollywood in ’85, near broke doing session work. Mile High Stadium 75,000 to the Bluebird Theatre and 197 people…..same show, less people.
Apparently, they didn’t “feel” the way Frampton did, LOL! 🙂
One of the most underrated guitar players ever. After this article, I like him even more.
If he did not like the photo taking from the couple who obviously missed the message about not taking photos he should have politely said “Please stop taking photos”, the gesturing of fingers or tossing someone’s phone is juvenile. Cell Phones are not cheap if it was broken the guy could have sued him. You have to be careful with some people nowadays who are not too shy about slapping someone with a lawsuit.
Good for him, i’m so sick of this cell phone obsessed nation
Me too.
Yeah, I guess Frampton “showed” them the way! LOL! 🙂
Pete,
i agree, we are a social media obsessed society now! alot of artists hate it when people are staring at a screen on a tablet or smart phone when they are playing , it just seems wrong somehow…. also they don’t want s-ty recordings /pics appearing on youtube – i think Peter Frampton had to have made it clear to this couple he wasn’t happy with the situation, and most level headed people would honor his wish’s and not pull out the camera’s
Agree. Take a break from the phones people and enjoy the moment. There are tons of pics of everyone on the internet at everybody’s fingertips. (Typing this on my cell haha)