Peter Frampton (Veronica Henri/QMI Agency)

Frampton came alive - but on his own terms - at the Molson Canadian Amphitheatre on Saturday night.

That would be accomplished British singer-songwriter-guitarist Peter Frampton, now 61, who is currently on the road with the Frampton Comes Alive! 35th anniversary tour celebrating his monster-selling 1976 double live album.

The sad part was that only 3,500 people turned out for the show, perhaps scared off by the road closures due to the weekend’s Hondy Indy across the street.

Or maybe a lot of Frampton’s fans already caught him last July when he played Massey Hall, in what was one of my favourite shows of that year.

Whatever the reason for the small crowd, it was clear from the start of the marathon, three-hour night of music (excluding a 20 minute intermission) that the frank and funny Frampton wasn’t going to put up with any idiotic behavior on the part of the audience.

“Meet and greet afterwards, “ Frampton informed an overeager fan at the front of the stage. “I’m not a stuffed toy here.”

Playing on a stripped down stage with a four-piece band, including bassist Stanley Sheldon who played on the original Frampton Comes Alive!, the vital-sounding British musician basically played the 25th anniversary edition of the record in its entirety in the first set.

Highlights included the exquisite Lines On My Face, Show Me The Way - with his talk box making its first appearance - I Wanna Go To The Sun, Nowhere’s Too Far, I’ll Give You (Money) - and the set standout, Do You Feel Like I Do?, with the talk box back again, and the entire audience on its feet.

Also good was just Frampton alone on his acoustic guitar for Wind Of Change, Just The Time Of Year, and All I Want To Be (which was repeated later in the second set, plugged in and with the full band.) This was accompanied by some pretty wonderful vintage concert footage of Frampton in all his long-haired, open-shirt glory playing on screens behind him.

The only problem was that there were times where audience members didn’t seem to “get” the format, as yet another approached the stage, this time with a request.

“Why do I feel like I’m opening a supermarket?” asked Frampton.

And when he sang, Baby I Love Your Way, another front row member attempted to have stand in front of him for a photo before Frampton turned his back and mouthed over his shoulder: “Don’t do that.”

Comically and musically, he was on fire, with his dry sense of humor and underappreciated guitar skills on full display.

But if the first set was for the fans, the second set seemed more for him as it was a far more challenging listen.

Frampton and his band, rounded out by keyboardist-guitarist Rob Arthur, guitarist Adam Lester and Toronto drummer Dan Wojciechowski, ventured into instrumentals, tunes from his 2010 album, Thank You Mr. Churchill, including the nostalgia-inducing Vaudeville Nanna and the Banjolele; his former band Humble Pie’s Four Day Creep; Soundgarden’s Black Hole Sun, with Frampton back on his beloved talk box, and the encore which saw him deliver a thrilling, heartfelt version of The Beatles’ While My Guitar Gently Weeps.