Concert Details

Fan Reviews:

Review by Brian / Belfast
Here we are again, the second show in two weeks (1st night in Glasgow and the last night RAH) 3500 UK Pounds for two nights entertainment and it was worth every penny. I already new the set list so when the first chords of old love where played it was just fantastic. If i had to pick out any song or solo i think the blues numbers done it for me, but the whole thing was amazing ( acoustics in the RAH are probadly the best i,ve heard). Eric seems to be getting better with age.The audience ran to the stage towards the end of the show so my friend and i where happy to oblige (some of you might of noticed us we where the ones standing on the chairs dancing) it was just a super night , Eric made that because he was at the top of his game.

Review by Maciej Zolynski / Poland
I went to the Eric’s concert on the 25th and 26th of May. I came to London for the Thursday’s concert from Poland especially to see Eric in action. After the first show I’ve decided to stay one more day there, and join Eric on the 26th!! It was the best concert I’ve ever seen!Right now I’m back in Poland and I’m trying to book the tickets for the Berlin or Prague show:) The solos of Doyle Bramhall II, and Derek Trucks were superb, but when Eric started his – everyone was impressed!

Review by Edward Stanley / London
This was my second time seeing Eric at the RAH this year as I was lucky enough to get a cheap ticket from eBay so I could relive the wonderful memories from my last visit to the RAH on the 16th May. The set list was great with some changes from the earlier dates. The set list included a breathtaking version of ‘Old Love’ and a great performance of ‘Let It Rain’. These were the highlights for me along with ‘I Shot The Sheriff’, ‘Layla’, ‘Wonderful Tonight’ and ‘Motherless Children’. The band played brilliantly and Derek was fantastic again. Robert Cray seemed to be having fun and he fit in perfectly with the band for the Encore. I left the RAH with a lot of great memories from the first night and last night. Once again, thank you Eric and Co for another wonderful experience and good luck with the rest of the tour.

Review by Ben Phillips / Devon U.K.
What an awesome night of skill, fun, emotion and fullness of musical spirit and love. A great joy to see all members of the band enjoying themselves and EC putting guitar solos to very well deserved younger talent. Went to Birmingham also and that was in the same category. All songs great but good to see a large spectrum of the great man’s repertoire being performed. Robert Cray excellent… not that often you get to see such good blues musicians at one time on the same stage. Thanks to EC access of giving me the chance to get some tickets. Last night cost me nearly 500.00 UK Pounds with travel, tickets and baby sitting etc. but well worth the expense. Still got my t-shirt from 1987 somewhat tight to the torso, must have shrunk in the laundry. Once again the God is awesome.

Review by Ray Harris
After an excellent set by Robert Cray out came the ‘magic carpet’ and on came ‘The Master’. I have followed this man for 40 years and he never disappoints but this line –up is excellent and the set list is to die for. Robert Cray on stage for ‘Old Love’ playing as he did on the Journeyman album and Derek Trucks covering for the Duane Allman role on Layla. Doyle taking more of a back seat but playing superbly with delicate in-fills and Wow at one point two Gibsons being played on stage! I was privileged to have a front row centre ‘dream’ seat thanks to my brother and sister in-law and was struck by how at times Eric appeared as almost humble to be playing – so understated and so generous to the younger players on the stage. They used to say in the 1960’s that “Eric could make time stand still” well last night he made 2 hours plus disappear in what seemed like an instant!

Review by Dereck Telfer-Bell / Banbury, Oxfordshire
I made my second visit to the Royal Albert Hall to see Eric Clapton, the first of which was 12 years ago when Eric debuted “From The Cradle” material. In the back of my mind I was concerned that the show would not live up to the standard of ’94 vintage; how wrong I was! Eric and his band were simply awesome last night and I found the whole show completely flawless. Without doubt the best musical experience I have ever had, Eric surely is akin to a fine wine, he just keeps getting better & better! The highlight for me was “Little Queen of Spades”, simply incredible. His band were also of an awesome standard and huge credit should go out to Derek Trucks, surely a big star of the future!!

Review by Ryan Howard / South Africa
Friday night’s performance saw Eric and his band fire on all cylinders. Eric sang with heart and played with gusto bringing the every member of the audience to its feet for the first time this week. You could sense something special in the air from the first numbers as Eric prepared to see the Royal Albert off with something not to be forgotten. Never before has Eric looked so young – enjoying his music, bopping around the stage with the energy of a man half his age. It was a privilege to have been there and to tell others that a happy Clapton is an unrivalled and awesome sight.

Review by Chris Stevens / Bradford, Illinois
My nephew and I traveled from central Illinois in the US to see the closing Eric Clapton show at the Royal Albert Hall. Why? We’re Clapton fans. We had traveled to Nashville to see his show there in 2001. And where better to see ‘The Man’ than at the scene of the greatest live abum ever, “24 Nights.”

I must say we appreciated the Robert Cray band as well. The Clapton show was simply awesome. As he has the last couple of times I’ve seen him, he lets his band stretch out which only adds to the show. No wonder he’s the true king. He has loyal subjects and he lets his knights shine.

I have to admit the setlist was not two, but three cool. I mean after all, “Got to Get Better in a Little While” as the second song? Go Eric. Perhaps that’s why I remain a loyal fan and travel so far, his show is never the same old same old type of hype and crap, but rather always a refreshing look at his life’s work. I’m sure we’ll be back for more, probably in Chicago as it is only a couple of hours drive from us.

Review by Herbert Paul
Eric Clapton brought to a close his UK tour and a 7-night stint at London’s Royal Albert Hall with a great finale. After catching 5 of the 13 shows played throughout the UK tour, I’ve run out of superlatives to describe Clapton’s 2006 performances. His playing and singing throughout have been on a par and at times better than ever before.

The new band has a great vibe to it and is driven by an awesome rhythm section. At times Clapton has been happy to relax back into the shadows and just watch his band play, giving others a chance to shine in the spotlight – especially the brilliant Derek Trucks and Doyle Bramhall II. However, when it’s been Clapton’s turn to perform he has left no doubt that he is still the main man, playing and singing from his heart and soul.

The last night at the Albert Hall opened with the best version of Pretending I’d heard during the tour. The sound quality in the Choir West section where I was sitting was fantastic, especially on Eric’s vocals.

So Tired was followed by a brilliant `Got To Get Better In A Little While. For me, this has been one of the standout numbers of the tour. Again, Clapton’s vocal was really strong and his breathtaking solo bought a standing ovation from sections of the crowd. Head back, eyes closed and left foot sporadically twitching on the “magic carpet”. He reached deep inside himself and pulled out a phenomenal solo.
Old Love remained in the set-list but unlike its two previous recitals at the RAH this week, Clapton was joined on stage by the songs co-writer Robert Cray. The two exchanged bluesy guitar licks throughout the number and both took extended solos which again brought a huge ovation from the capacity crowd in the auditorium (Eric didn’t use the wah-wah pedal during his solo on Old Love this time).
An excellent I Shot The Sheriff was followed by the only change to the set-list from the previous evening, where Let It Rain return in the place of Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad. By this time EC had attracted a fan to the front of the stage who started with a Wayne’s World “We’re not worthy” bow. He then repeatedly ignored the request of the Albert Hall security to return to his seat and persisted in breaking out into spontaneous dance moves. He couldn’t put Eric off of his performance though.

With the fan back in his seat, a laughing Eric went into Back Home and the acoustic set during which he dedicated a beautifully performed I Am Yours to his four daughters. The biggest cheer during this section of the show however, was for the opening chords of Nobody Knows You When You’re Down And Out.

The rest of the concert remained in the same mould as previous nights. After Midnight wasn’t as good as previous nights but the following Little Queen of Spadesfeatured some amazing guitar from EC, DB II & DT. Doyle seemed to really be playing well on this number, a better solo than on previous nights.

The crowd on the Arena floor rushed the stage for Wonderful Tonight and remained on their feet throughout an electric version of Layla. Cocaine was sadly marred by some guitar feedback problems with Eric unable to get close enough to the microphone to sing during the last verse. With this problem rectified by Lee Dickson, the band returned for the encore with Robert Cray and again performed Crossroads.
Crossroads seemed to get closer and closer to the Cream version the longer the tour went on and finished the UK stint on a high with the band signing off in style. Eric now takes this tour onto Europe and then the rest of the world. Hopefully the next shows I get to see will be in Japan this November, so fingers crossed. Once again thank you very much Eric Clapton and enjoy the shows all you lucky people seeing him over the next year.