Peter Frampton Holds "Farewell Tour" Due to Degenerative Disease – Variety



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When Peter Frampton issued a press release on Thursday announcing his "farewell tour", there was reason to be cynical, given the crowd of rockers who put this label on their sales to the sale of hen tickets for what might or may not prove to be their last-but-late attempt. But even though the initial alert did not mention it, the singer-guitarist had a better reason than most of the others to warn his fans that this was probably the case. Frampton wants to have his last licks before the progression of a rare degenerative disease that, he says, will surely affect his game.

He told "CBS This Morning: Saturday" that he was suffering from a rare and incurable condition called inclusion myositis, which slowly weakens muscles over time. Although the disease was diagnosed for the first time three and a half years after his fall on stage, it was not until last fall that he noticed the acceleration of effects. So he decided it was time to tell his fans that this was their last move. see him in good shape.

"If I still call it" farewell tour ", it's because I know I'll be at the top of my game for this tour and I'll manage to get through that and people will not say: & # 39; Oh! you know, he can not play so well. But we do not know for how long, "he told Anthony Mason, co-host. Although he is confident he can deliver this summer and fall, "in a year, maybe it's not so good. I'm a perfectionist and I do not want to go and say, "Oh, I can not, it's not good, it would be a nightmare for me," he said. "I've been playing guitar for 60 years. Started at the age of 8 and I am now 68 years old. So I had a very good race. "

Frampton acknowledged that his children had problems with this medication when he told them the diagnosis, "but I said," Listen, it does not put your life in danger. Life has changed. "… they were phenomenal, everyone. Each of my ex-women has been wonderful, I must say, "he added with a laugh.

The tour begins June 18 in Tulsa and ends October 12 in San Francisco. Although most dates are in theaters and amphitheatres, he will visit two arenas as iconic as "Frampton Comes Alive": Madison Square Garden on September 13 and the Los Angeles Regional Forum on October 5. (Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin tribute band will open the shows.)

Frampton told CBS that most of the time, his legs and fingers were more affected – hence the falls that led him to seek a diagnosis. "Going up and down is the hardest thing for me," he said. "I'm going to have to get a cane … and then the other thing I noticed, I can not put things above my head."

Frampton told Rolling Stone that he expects the condition to affect his ability to play but not his sung voice. "Another part of the disease can affect swallowing, but only 50% of people have swallowing. I do not have one, thank God, he said. As for the rarity of the disease, "it's a shop – I hate to use that word, but it's – a disease. Only 24,000 people in this country know that they have it. But I'm sure there are many more who think they are getting older like me. "

It does not exclude a European extension next year, if its condition allows. "Perhaps we could do the same thing in a limited way in Europe in the spring of the following year, but I do not know it yet," he told the magazine. "I will play as long as I can play, but this will be the last extended tour. I can not say what I will do next year. "

He struck a chord with CBS. "I think of all the times in my life when something devastating happened to my career, my family, or myself. I took off, got up and changed direction, "he said.

And so he does not exclude a tour after the farewell, though he notes that the meager healing prospects make that nothing is more comparable to what it would be for some other rock bands that found in them even to say goodbye. .

"Maybe if the drug test works, there will be a miracle tour," said Frampton, who is experimentally treated at Johns Hopkins. "I wish, but I'm realistic too, so that's why … it's really the goodbye tour."

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