Concert Details

Fan Reviews:

Review by Ian Holton / Freiburg, Germany
After driving through Basel for quite some time trying to find the St.Jakobshalle and then waiting outside and inside for several hours we were very excited when Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood appeared on stage at around 8:15pm with their band. From our first row standing space I was immediatly able to see by the way Winwood and Clapton acted and talked to each other that both were in a good mood and that we were probably in for a great concert.

The first song "Had To Cry Today" was a bit disappointing, but by "After Midnight" they really got going. Personally my highlights were "Glad" and "Gimme Some Lovin’" and I was quite happy to see "Slide Song" replaced with "Crossroads" with Clapton of course playing a fantastic solo. Apart from "Had to Cry to Today" the only other part I didn’t really enjoy or was dissapointed with was the outro of "Presence Of The Lord".

The band line up is as to be expected of great, however I was slightly disappointed with Chris Stainton at times, and he did make one or two hearable mistakes and sometimes I thought the keyboard sounds felt out of place. Steve Gadd was awesome as was Willie Weeks, it was just ashame that most of the times he was heading semi-behind Gadd. Michelle John and Sharon White have great voices which work together very well with the two main voices and round of the whole experience perfectly.

Regarding the venue one had to be prepared to be dissapointed and one has to wonder why they either didn’t play Zurich or even in the outdoor Arena right next door in Basel (which I know from experience is also quite suitable for concerts). The acoustics were terrible in most seats and the atmosphere didn’t really travel very well.

All in all a great evening with Winwood and Clapton both in great form!

Review by Sandra-David-Jak
Overall an good concert, but if you are above all a Clapton (and not a Winwood) fan, wait until next time Clapton gives a concert with his own band, or (hopefully) with people like Dereck Trucks, Buddy Guy, etc in Europe. On too many occasions EC sounded only a little more than a Winwood accompanyist. Not enough of the classic Clapton songs, too many songs from Traffic, too much rock, not enough blues. Winwood’s voice is not the same as it used to be. A few brilliant solos by Clapton, and an excellent acoustic set almost made up for these shortcomings. Members of the Clapton band were good as usual, too bad the keyboard virtuosity of Chris Stainton (see his classic Cocaine solo) was elsewhere mostly covered by the presence of Winwood at the piano / keyboards.

Review by Philippe Antognini
First of all I’d like to thank Steve, Eric and the band for having re-created a bunch of new versions of their old songs! I was also in the front row and very glad to have such an exiting view. Standing in front of the central part of the scene was amazing, (also acousticly speaking) "Had to cry today" felt a little bit like a warming-up song, maybe it was, but I think it’s very difficult to put these two lead-guitars together in the solo-part.

I was very happy to discover some songs that I’ve never heard before (born in ’76, sorry) like "low down" or "Tuff Luck". Personnaly I think, Eric felt the most comfortable with his "Dominos" song, "Key to the highway", which was outstanding! As I closed my eyes I heard and felt the same rough energy as listening to the "Layla" album!

Crossroads was almost as tight as in "Montreux 1986" with Phil Collins (I prefere that version because it’s a little bit slower.) Steve Gadd is an amazing drummer. A multi-talent, as perfect with Eric Clapton as with Michel Pettrucciani (Bern 1997). "Georgia" was fantastic; Steve’s voice was very very good and I think we all heard that he was the first guy of this side of the Atlantic who brilliantly covered that song. It was cool to have the band playing with him and giving him some solid background!

I was a little bit disapointed of "glad" "well allright" and "How Long". It was too much "we ‘re happy when it’s done" like. But here again, big respect for having re-invented some of this versions which other artists would just play in the same way everytime!

The highlight of the evening was definitly Eric’s solo in "Driftin" Never saw him playing such fast since his "Nothing but the blues" tour and "Vodoo Chile": Steve was a little bit too "shy" ’cause he could have made a "hammond organ-y" like on the original recording.

Eric suddenly was out of breath and had to sit down (some one should have given him a glass of water) I was asking myself if the break between Paris and Basel was too short (distance: 500 km) and if the gig in Paris was maybe better? I think the "song switch" decision came in the last minute and was for the same reason but thanx Eric for being "Human after all". Anyway, the best "setlist" since "Legends" 1997 in Montreux!