Concert Details

Fan Reviews:

Review by Ian Saunders / Glasgow
Set list same as Belfast and Dublin. Eric’s playing was sublime, helped by (from the second row) excellent sound quality. I deliberately hadn’t looked at any previous set lists, so the inclusion of Gary Moore’s Still Got The Blues was a pleasant surprise. Eric also paid an almost un-noticeable tribute to Cornell Dupree, the jazz guitarist who died a few days ago, by mentioning his name midway through on of the solos during the acoustic set (I think it was on Same Old Blues). Having seen EC many times, it’s always interesting to see how he re-invents some songs, often with a few simple, subtle changes. Wonderful Tonight is a good example – the Glasgow version is already on YouTube – with Eric gently strumming the guitar in parts of the song – a bit of an anorak thing to spot, I know.

One minor quibble – several of the songs featured, in various orders, a guitar solo, piano solo, and keyboard solo. Tim Carmon & Chris Stainton are both excellent musicians, but it did become a bit repetitive. I’d rather hear more Eric!

I may be wrong about this, but at the end, Eric seemed a bit unhappy about something. There was no band introductions, other than a few mentions of Tim and Chris after solos, and after Cocaine, he seemed to make some kind of signal to someone, and walk off very quickly, and did the same after a slightly subdued encore of Crossroads. There wasn’t the usual collective band bow either. None of this spoiled an excellent concert, which proved that he is still the greatest rock guitarist around.

Cheers Eric, thanks for the memories.

Review by Peter Irvine / Glenrothes
As a long time fan and a regular at Clapton concerts I did not leave the SECC Glasgow with the normal buzz. I think the reason was EC did not have a second guitarist to play with. Where a solo would usualy go to the second guitarist it went to Tim Carmon. The guy is a great organist but it was a bit repetitive. Eric was once again great, but he did not appear to be happy, whether it was the band or the crowd I do not know. At the end of the gig it looked like he could not wait to get off the stage. Would I go back to another Clapton gig? YES! … Roll on the next tour

Review by Mal B.
For someone who has seen Eric on every UK tour since the mid seventies, last night was a low point!. Admittedly I knew the set list in advance of the show, but it was all too predictable, underwhelming and at times simply boring! The show rarely got out of 1st gear, and just when it may have shown some signs of spark, the extended sit-down set interupted things. The one highlight however was the Gary Moore tribute..’Still Got the Blues’, but this would have benefitted hugely from Eric being plugged in! The band of course were as professional as ever, but they are what they are,…studio musicians first and foremost. The two keyboard players taking their cues soloing, with Tim Carmon’s synth solo on ‘Old Love’ as irritating as ever, and Steve Gadd’s metronomic drumming style simply dull and lacking any imagination. Eric was his normal distant self throughout, almost forgetting to thank the Glasgow faithful on a few occasions, and then walking off like the ‘diva’ he can sometimes be at the end without so much as a bow, following a lacklustre encore of ‘Crossroads’ which appeared to be begrudgingly delivered. Not much else to say, maybe "I’ve seen too many shows?" but I’m now relieved that I’m not wasting my time, money and effort to make the trip down to London to see more this year. ‘Auto-pilot’ by the 3rd night of the tour does not bode well for the rest. As for the future, we’ll see, but I may have seen my last EC ‘solo hits’ show for quite some time.

Review by Andy Dixon
I have to agree with other comments about this concert. Eric guitar playing brill. Sound and set great, but no rapport between Eric and fans! First time I have come away feeling a bit let down, but guess even the greatest can have a not so good day.

Review by Scott McClure / Glasgow
What a concert – Clapton might not actually be God but there is no one (aside from Buddy Guy and BB King) in my opinion who does the blues like him. I will always count myself fortunate to have witnessed a guitar and blues genius firsthand. We sat 2 rows from front and were transfixed by his natural ability to put feeling into every note. Old Love was unbelievable, Queen Of Spades spine tingling I had goosebumps for certainly the first four songs, Hoochie Coochie Man being a favourite of mine.

I am a massive Clapton fan, however, and this is picky, for all I love the blues and really appreciate and understand the inclusion of Chris Stainton (keyboards), Tim Carmon (keyboards), who were both brilliant, the arrangement of the songs was predictable- SORRY! Each time after a short intro solo from Eric, Chris gave us his solo then Tim too – then big Eric solo – EVERY time! Just a little predictable.

One of the things I love about Clapton is that every note he plays is felt by him, you never suspect it to be a ‘filler’, it’s a reflection of his feeling, I think, in fact those with me too, that the predictable arrangement took away from that. We also felt that the acoustic part was a little too long almost killing the wonderful opening pace, but it was excellent, what about starting Layla acoustically then finishing it the old way?

One final thing, Eric did not interact with the audience at all, plenty of thank you in his usual style, but no acknowledgement of the audience, having not been to Glasgow for sometime and bearing in mind the loyalty of his fans over decades a little thank you Glasgow would’ve been appropriate. However I must add that I loved the concert and will try as hard as I can to get to another soon. Please don’t think I’m disrespecting the master that is Clapton, just being honest and honestly, even with these little negatives I can’t and will never get enough of him.

Review by Peter Smith
I think Clapton is back on top form and, in my book, always worth seeing these days. So I decided to make the trip to Glasgow on Thursday night. I was also tempted by the support act Andy Fairweather Low. I’ve seen Andy many times over the years in Clapton and Roger Waters’ bands, but haven’t seen him solo since the 1970s. I arrived at SECC around 7pm, bought my programme, and took my seat in Row S of the centre block.

Andy Fairweather Low and his band took us through his greatest hits including Bend Me Shape Me, La Booga Rooga, Wide Eyed and Legless, and If Paradise is Half as Nice. He’s also a very accomplished guitarist which he demonstrated to great effect in a couple of bluesy instrumentals. A good opener.

I’ve seen Clapton many times since the 70s (probably about 15 or so). There were times I felt he was going through the motions in some shows in the 90s, but the last few times I’ve seen him he has been playing really well, with great, fluid guitar playing and getting back to what he started with; the blues. And this concert was no exception.

The set started with some great blues songs, with Clapton playing with feeling and passion. Great keyboard solos from Chris Stainton and Tim Carmon. The set is predictable, and seems to be the same as he has been playing throughout the tour, with a mix of blues, old favourites and an acoustic set in the middle. High points for me were Hoochie Coochie Man, Badge and I Shot the Sherriff. Low points; I’m still not keen on the unplugged Layla (lets have the electric version next time please, Eric) and I did get a little tired of the keyboard solos which seemed to figure in almost every song. Also Clapton seemed subdued and was straight off the stage at the end (it wouldn’t hurt to say a few words to the crowd). Overall, however, this was a pretty good show; Clapton has become the modern equivalent of the old bluesmen who got him started in the beginning. Long may he continue to come and play for us.