News
Clapton & Band Rock Lodz
8 Jun 13
Eric Clapton’s Fifty Years Further On Up The Road Tour stopped at the 14,000 capacity Atlas Arena in Lodz on Friday, 7 June. Support, as for all European shows, was Andy Fairweather Low. EC’s fans in Poland have checked in with Where’s Eric!, including Kamil W. who saw EC for the first time last night. “I was honoured to see Eric live in Lodz yesterday. It was the first time I had a chance to see him live but always dreamed about it. It was even more spectacular with all the best of the best musicians that Eric decided to tour with this time. After so many concerts its difficult to add anything unique about the set list. Eric played Lay down sally which was fantastic. Eric extraordinarily reread his classic tunes, for example from the Cream period. Emotionally this was one of the greatest events in my life. Listening to My Father’s Eyes, Layla (acoustic) and Cocaine and all the other great stuff live was mind blowing.” Dominick, who was at his fourth show of the tour, wrote “After 2 concerts in Royal Albert Hall and 1 show last week in Berlin now it was time for Poland. I have to admit that for my it was the best concert I’ve been on this tour. Eric was very laid-back and this meant that he played fantastically. Concert as a whole was virtually the same as the previous one but the small details stand out from its predecessors. It was evident that he had a mood to play in this day and regaled us with beautiful solos throughout the concert. It was an interesting moment on Little Queen of Spades. I knew that it should be great solos by Chris, Doyle and Eric. After Doyle’s solo, guards and medical service moved over the railing 3 meters in front of Eric a woman who fainted. Eric had to start to play his solo however he look what happens with this woman. He played solo but it was clear that the thought are with what is happening in front of him. When woman on her own went with medical service then Eric drifted with great solo. Andy joined the encore and they had great time. During High Time We Went. Eric, Doyle and Andy sang the chorus to the one microphone laughing all the time.
Pawel C added, “The concert started with Clapton’s epic “Hi!” and then it all turned into a trip through all of his music creation. Hello Old Friend, a rather balanced opening song, put a smile on everybody’s face. Greg Leisz to me became the star of the evening after a series of slide solos on the pedal steel guitar. He seemed to be very laid back and to play every sound in a cozy way. Tell The Truth made the crowd rock a little and people’s jaws were falling down at Slowhand’s stunts on his beautiful white and black Stratocaster. Clapton was playing a solo in every song, but still everybody, not counting the rhythm section which works like a perfect engine, had their “5 minutes”.The charming Michelle John and Sharon White ( think they are a crucial part of the concert, plus their look and voice compose in a beautiful harmony) were adding a lot of fire to every song, especially on Cocaine, Crossroads and Badge.
I have to admit that the acoustic part was a little bit dizzy. Started off with Drifting, Clapton transpired the soul of the acoustic blues.Next Layla played with a swing rhythm, but it felt tired. Eric said “Everybody takes a turn” and after piano, organ, guitars played improvisations limbering up the song. Still it lacked its natural, smooth energy. Everybody was looking at the playlist put on Carrack’s organ when the camera was on him, so everybody knew what is going to come. I feel that some people where disappointed that there wasn’t Tears in Heaven, but Lay Down Sally filled the gap.
What happened after the acoustic part was simply blues-rock poetry. The virtuosic improvisation by Stainton put the Queen of Spades to a higher level and kept the audience attention to the very end. Love in Vain, in my opinion, was the best blues song played during the concert. That was just embodiment of Robert Johnson in Clapton – he really knows how to play it! Doyle Bramhall was doing amazing slide solos, and it seemed that he couldn’t hit exactly the high sounds in the chorus of Sunshine of Your Love and used falsetto. There was a funny moment in the final jam where Andy Fairweather started playing the Rolling Stone’s “Satisfaction” riff, so that Clapton and Doyle joined him and they all ended up laughing. The show was ended, musicians bowed, and the band got off the stage maybe for the very last time. All in all – It was a night of the best music in the world. That is MUSIC. Real deal.
Eric and his band next perform in Munich on Sunday, 9 June. The tour ends 19 June in Prague. For a complete list of tour dates, visit the Tour Page.
If you are going to see EC one of the remaining European concerts on the tour, don’t forget to help keep your fellow fans around the world up-to-date by sending set lists and your reviews. After all, WE! can’t do it without YOU! Send your set lists, reviews and photos to info@whereseric.com. Full length fan reviews will be posted in the 2013 Tour Archive as they arrive.
7 June 2013 Set List – Eric Clapton & His Band
Atlas Arena, Lodz, Poland
01. Hello Old Friend
02. My Fathers Eyes
03. Tell The Truth
04. Gotta Get Over
05. Black Cat Bone
06. Got To Get Better In A Little While
07. Come Rain Or Come Shine (EC & Paul Carrack – vocals)
08. Badge
09. Driftin’ Blues
10. Layla
11. It Ain’t Easy (Paul Carrack – vocals)
12. Wonderful Tonight
13. Lay Down Sally
14. Blues Power
15. Love In Vain
16. Crossroads
17. Little Queen Of Spades
18. Cocaine
19. Sunshine Of Your Love (with Andy Fairweather Low)
20. High Time We Went (with Andy Fairweather Low)
Find daily facts about Eric Clapton’s career with EC Rewind // On This Day. Click the red circle with white arrow at upper right on any page of whereseric.com