Concert Details

EC was here in LA tonight, in great voice and exemplary musicianship.  He doesn’t rest on his laurels, and continues to master the instrument he’s been the king of for all these decades.  His playing is better than ever.  His voice is too.  We got to hear Tell The Truth tonight, one of my personal favorites.  I was worried he wasn’t going to play Badge, because he mixed up the setlist and went into Little Queen of Spades before continuing on to the great and powerful Badge.  Other highlights tonight were Old Love (the show’s best song), Hoochie Coochie Man, and Same Old Blues, which saved a slightly lackluster middle, sit-down set.  In my opinion, play Layla better, or don’t play it. For me, it came across like a "give the people what they want" moment. I like the unplugged Layla, but it was a let-down tonight. Enough of the negative comments.  Clapton is (as Dhani Harrison says to him in The Concert For George) the man. Clapton is the man. 

This was the third time I had seen Eric in my life but the first time in many years.  I really did not know what to expect even though the reviews on the where’s eric website were mostly positive.  I went in a bit concerned about the set-list.  He played all the same songs that he has been playing except he did Tell The Truth instead of Before You Accuse Me and he ended with Furthur On Up The Road.  From the minute Clapton came on stage with his powder blue strat  and dressed very casual, we knew that the guitar god was in a zone and we were all in for a treat.  The only things that I did not care for were songs that he did not play.  I thought that the sit down acoustic segment was uneven and the song selection was a bit stale. As for the things that I liked, the band is the most gifted group of musicians I have seen with eric, the back-up singers were amazing, the sound mix was as good as anything I have heard, when eric was on his game  he was the greatest guitarist ever!!! He make is look so easy and he never hits a bad note. So perfect, So good, do not miss this tour.

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Review by Patrick Hammond
I was at the Gibson Amphitheatre for his 1st of 2 shows. Overall, it was a fantastic show as I have come to expect from Eric and he did not let me down. However, this song list was not as strong as I have heard in the past dozen shows that I have seen. Plus, he has played better versions of “Layla” and “I shot the sheriff” and “Cocaine” was a bit slower that usual. On the other hand, he was and still is the Grand Master of guitarists. His playing was superb and he does it so effortlessly. The person who wrote, I believe on the wall, “Clapton is God” must have been a descendent of Nostradamus! I will continue to see him as often as I can and I hope he will continue to tour. I know there will come a time when he will stop touring and when that time comes, I will understand and be extremely disappointed and very thankful at the same time.

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Review by Ira Knopf
An excellent show from start to finish. Eric did not disappoint in his choice of song material as well as his playing. At times, he seemed to be on fire blazing notes coming off his strat. His singing was in fine form and he did not hit a bad note either in his playing or singing. Eric also allowed Tim Carmon and Chris Stainton both on keyboards to stretch out on their solos, so between all 3 (Eric, Chris and Tim) you got a well rounded trio. Steve Gadd on drums and Willie Weeks on bass held down the rhythm section well and Michelle John and Sharon White kept up with backing vocals. Highlights were "Old Love", "Little Queen of Spades" and "Badge" where the audience were on their feet applauding, whistling and cheering Eric on. Great show and I can’t wait until tonight as I will be going to the 2nd and final night of the tour. If any of you get a chance to see the 2011 tour, do so, you won’t be disappointed.