Concert Details

Fan Reviews:

Review by P. Weichman

Clapton, as in previous concerts, opened with a seated "acoustic" set. His opening song was a great solo performance of Key To The Highway. After this, he was joined by the band for the next song, Reptile. The band really jammed on this song. The last two acoustic songs, Bell Bottom Blues and Change The World, sounded better live than on record.

Clapton switched to his electric set playing the multi-color Strat on all the songs. His guitar solo on My Father’s Eyes was incredible! Clapton’s bluesy version of James Taylor’s Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight, that he does so well led into the old blues part of the show. Clapton is at his best when playing classic blues numbers such as Hoochie Coochie Man and Have You Ever Loved A Woman. Have You Ever Loved a Woman was probably the most powerful performance of the night. Clapton’s soloing was amazing! You could really sense the band was feeling the groove too. However on the next song, Cocaine, Clapton simply went through the motions and the last refrain was left for the crowd to sing. He redeemed himself on the following song Wonderful Tonight. His guitar soared above the band on the high notes. His final song of the electric set was Layla. This song was not as strong as the original recording, but David Sancious’ playing on the extended coda was great!

Clapton encored with Sunshine of Your Love, the second best performance of the evening. Andy Fairweather Low complemented Clapton well on guitar and back-up vocals throughout the show, especially on Sunshine. The rhythm unit of bassist Nathan East and drummer Steve Gadd were solid throughout the evening. Clapton’s band was outstanding even though Billy Preston was unable to play because of illness. The sound inside Conseco Fieldhouse was excellent. However Clapton did not seem to be pleased. He even quit playing in the middle of a song to adjust the knobs on his amplifier. As the band was leaving the stage after the final song, Clapton walked over to his guitar tech, Lee Dickson, and gave him a real earful!