News
EC Concert News: First Night In Monaco
23 Aug 08
Eric Clapton and his band performed the first of two concerts at Monaco’s Sporting Summer Festival on Friday, 22 August 2008.
The small stage and tables at le Sporting Monte Carlo, Salle des Etoiles were open to the sky so it was possible to stargaze. The 800 concert-goers sat at beautifully decorated tables, as an elegant sit down dinner preceded the concert.
The concert started at 10:30PM and ended at the stroke of midnight. The set was changed around quite a bit to fit the 90 minutes allotted by the Sporting Summer Festival. After opening with an unusually short version of "Layla", the band continued on with solid renditions of "Hoochie Coochie Man" and "Here But I’m Gone". The latter song has been garnering rave reviews from fans since it was added during this leg of the European Summer Tour.
Heidi Widmer, a regular contributor to Where’s Eric! magazine and website, was in attendance. She noted that before performing "Driftin’", EC asked the audience, "How was dinner? What did you have?" For the curious, we’ve included the full menu below. After the song was over, and also during "Got To Get Better In A Little While", many roses were thrown onto the stage in appreciation of the performance. Eric’s greatest hits were touched on with the inclusion of "Wonderful Tonight" and "Cocaine."
Heidi noted that the stand-out number of the evening was "Got To Get Better In A Little While" (which featured excellent solos from EC and bassist Willie Weeks) and that everyone left in a happy mood at midnight.
Support was The Sporting Orchestra featuring Ty Stephens.
Complete Setlist / 22 August 2008
Sporting Summer Festival Night 1
01. Layla (short version)
02. Hoochie Coochie Man
03. Here But I’m Gone
04. Outside Woman Blues
05. Drifitn’
06. Nobody Knows You When You’re Down And Out
07. Motherless Child
08. Travelling Riverside Blues
09. Running On Faith
10. Got To Get Better In A Little While
11. Little Queen Of Spades
12. Before You Accuse Me
13. Wonderful Tonight
14. Cocaine
Encore:
15. Crossroads
Dinner Menu (served at 8:30PM):
Starters:
Lobster poached with crisp vegetables
Olives and Rocket Salad
Reduced Shellfish Coulis
Creamy Coco Beans with Parmesan Cheese
Main:
Loin of Veal with Condiments Provenal-style
Amandine Potato with Morel Mushrooms
Preserved Vegetable Flan wtih Basil
Green Asparagus Roasted with Pancetta
Dessert:
Crunchy Milk Chocolate with Seasonal Fruits
Apricot Sorbet
Sporting Monte Carlo Delicacies and Chocolates
Coffee
Eric’s summer tour concludes with a second performance at the Sporting Summer Festival on 23 August.
Share Your Eric Clapton Concert Experience With Fans Around The World!
If you’re heading to the final show on the tour this summer or if you attended one earlier in the tour, Where’s Eric! wants to hear from you! Share your concert experience with fans around the world. Send the following details to the Where’s Eric! Team at info@whereseric.com:
– Show date and venue name
– The complete set list (this information is essential to ongoing archival work)
– Your review
– Images from the venue or of memorabilia like tickets, handbills, programmes, posters
– Include your name and city so it can be featured with your review (no aliases or anonymous submissions)
If you are unable to send us a complete concert review, please consider participating by submitting the show’s set list (include date please) to info@whereseric.com.
——————————————————————————————
A Note About Purchasing Concert Tickets:
Where’s Eric! strongly advises fans to purchase tickets only from official ticket sources as ticket touts / brokers / scalpers are inherently unreliable. Ticket ads placed by Google are not endorsed by Where’s Eric! and fans are strongly advised against patronizing ticket re-sellers and do so entirely at their own risk. Official ticket sources can always be found listed with each date within the Clapton Concert Calendar on this website.
——————————————————————————————