News

Winwood / Clapton: Who’s Who In The Band For MSG

14 Feb 08

Former Blind Faith bandmates, Steve Winwood and Eric Clapton will perform together on 25, 26 and 28 February at Madison Square Garden. These two rock legends have put together a stellar lineup of musicians for what will certainly be amongst the "must see" shows of the decade. Winwood and Clapton will be joined on stage in New York City by Chris Stainton (keyboards), Willie Weeks (bass) and Ian Thomas (drums). All three were part of the band which played behind Winwood and Clapton at the Crossroads Guitar Festival in July 2007.

Chris has been an integral part of Clapton’s touring and recording bands for much of the last 30 years, except for a hiatus between 1988 and 1992 and again from 1998 – 2001. Bass legend Willie Weeks joined Clapton’s touring outfit in 2006. Ian Thomas has worked with Winwood previously.

New York’s Madison Square Garden is an appropriate venue for the first full-scale Winwood / Clapton concerts in almost 40 years. The Garden played host to opening night of Blind Faith’s only tour on 12 July 1969. The tour ended in Hawaii on 24 August 1969. Blind Faith was formed by Clapton and Winwood, along with Ginger Baker and Rick Grech. The band lasted less than a year and released one self-titled album.

Pete Townshend will not be appearing at the concerts.

There is no opening act. The concerts begin promptly at 8PM.

As a reminder to those attending these historic concerts, any seats that were purchased in Sections 1 to 4 on the floor will be will call pick up only on the night of the performance, beginning at 7PM. The following procedure was announced when the tickets went on sale in November 2007:
– Purchaser must pickup tickets in person
– Purchaser must present the credit card used in making the purchase
– Purchaser must produce a second form of official photo ID
– There was a four-ticket limit for the concerts. Your guest(s) must accompany you to pick up the tickets
– You and your guest(s) will be required to enter the arena as soon as you pick up the tickets
– You may not leave the building with the tickets. once inside, you cannot leave and return
– There will be no re-entry permitted
– There will be no exceptions to this process