Live Concert Recordings by Eric Clapton
Live Concert Recordings by Eric Clapton
Over the course of Eric Clapton’s 45-plus year career, many official live recordings have been issued. Initially, they were only released on LP. From the late 1960s, concerts were not only recorded for audio release, but were sometimes filmed for theatrical release or broadcast television. Beginning in the late 1970s, filmed concerts were released to the home video market first on video tape and later DVD and BluRay.
Eric Clapton’s first live album came out in 1963 and was entitled Five Live Yardbirds. His most recent that features him performing with his band and guests is the two DVD set, Crossroads: Eric Clapton Guitar Festival 2010. Filmed in Chicago on 26 June 2010, it also features Sonny Landreth, Jimmie Vaughan, Earl Klugh, Steve Winwood, Vince Gill, Sheryl Crow, John Mayer, B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Jeff Beck, and many more.
Eric’s last full length solo concert issued is One More Car, One More Rider. Recorded on 18 August 2001 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, it has bonus tracks from December 2001 at the Budokan in Tokyo, Japan. It was released on CD and DVD in 2002.
Over the years, Eric Clapton has also taken in part in several "superstar concerts" that have been released on vinyl, VHS, CD or DVD. They include the world’s first rock benefit, The Concert for Bangladesh, Live Aid, Knebworth 1990, Music for Montserrat, various Prince’s Trust Concerts, and The Concert for George.
Filmed at the Royal Albert Hall, Cream’s historic 2005 Reunion Concerts were issued on both CD and DVD in October 2005. More recent is a double CD and DVD release from his 3 night co-headling concerts in February 2008 with Steve Winwood at Madison Square Garden which was released in May 2009.
In February 2003, Record Collector magazine listed Clapton’s Top 5 live albums as Unplugged, Live At The Fillmore (Derek And The Dominos), Wheels of Fire (Cream), 24 Nights and Crossroads II: Live In The Seventies.
Additionally, bootleg recordings exist for hundreds of Eric Clapton’s concerts throught the course of his career. Bootlegs are videos, DVDs, CDs, tapes or LPs of illegitimate origin. Artists receive no royalties from the sale of such material and they are illegal. Where’s Eric! does not condone the manufacture or sale of bootlegs, nor recommends their purchase. However, as numerous fans are already resigned to collecting them, whereseric.com features an "essentials list" of bootleg audio recordings covering the years 1963 to 2005. By 2006, the industry was non-existent in America, all but folded in Europe and continued to a much lesser degree in Japan than in earlier times.
The officially released live albums by Eric Clapton and bands he has been in (not including DVDs and superstar concerts where he performed a few songs) are:
The Yardbirds – Five Live Yardbirds
Cream – Wheels of Fire
Cream – Live Cream, Volume 1
Cream – Live Cream, Volume 2
Delaney & Bonnie & Friends – On Tour With Eric Clapton
Derek & The Dominos – In Concert
Derek & The Dominos – Live At The Fillmore*
Eric Clapton – Eric Clapton’s Rainbow Concert
Eric Clapton – 461 Ocean Boulevard Deluxe Edition (has a disc of live tracks not included in the original release)
Eric Clapton – EC Was Here
Eric Clapton – Just One Night
Eric Clapton – Timepieces Volume II – Live in the Seventies
Eric Clapton – Crossroads 2 – Live in the 70s
Eric Clapton – Unplugged
Eric Clapton – 24 Nights
Eric Clapton – One More Car, One More Rider
Cream – Royal Albert Hall 2005
Eric Clapton & Steve Winwood – Live From Madison Square Garden
*1994 CD reissue of "In Concert", the tapes were remastered and songs that were cut from the initial release were restored.
For track listings and more information, visit this site’s DISCOGRAPHY.