Pearl Jam Welcome Peter Frampton For ‘Black’ In Nashville

Pearl Jam welcomed surprised guest Peter Frampton last night (May 8) at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, bringing up the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame guitarist for a rendition of their vintage ballad “Black.”

Frampton, 75, has suffered for several years with the progressive muscle disorder inclusion body myositis but has continued to perform live. He walked onstage with the help of a cane and performed seated in a chair next to Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready, with the pair trading licks throughout an extended version of the Ten track.

More from Spin:

• 5 Albums I Can’t Live Without: Paul Leary of Butthole Surfers
• Lorde Lays Out Extensive ‘Virgin’ Tour Plans
• A Day in the Life of…Maddox Batson

The musicians even worked in a tease of Frampton’s “Do You Feel Like We Do,” which runs to more than 14 minutes on his iconic 1976 album Frampton Comes Alive!

“This gentleman was someone we looked up to before the Ramones. Some of our first guitar heroes, [like] Jimmy Fage and Pete Townsend, he was right up there,” frontman Eddie Vedder said beforehand. “It was one of reasons why we loved live records, and later we decided to release bootlegs because of his influence. He’s such an incredible human being on top of it. It is our honor, because at this point he’s become a good friend to the group. He’s recorded with Mike and [drummer] Matt Cameron and we get to play with him tonight.”

Last night’s show was broadcast live on SiriusXM’s Pearl Jam Radio and featured just the third performance of the Binaural song “Insignificance” since 2016. The same album’s “Gods’ Dice” was on the printed set list but crossed out; it has only been aired live once in the past seven years. Later, Vedder saluted McCready’s wife Ashley and Cameron’s wife April, who were with the band in Nashville ahead of Mother’s Day on Sunday.

Frampton will begin a short summer North American tour June 13 outside Seattle. He’s also hard at work on his next studio album with production assistance from his son Julian and longtime collaborator Chuck Ainlay.

To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, click here.