Concert Details

Fan Reviews:

Review by Jarrod Dickenson
I was at the San Antonio show tonight, and it was amazing. The set was like most of the others from this tour, consisting of a lot of Dominos tunes. Combine the amazing songs, with his new band, and of course the genius that is known as Eric Clapton, and you have one unbelievable show! I have seen EC live 3 times now (all before my 21st birthday mind you!), and this one tops them all. I was so glad to see him dig out some of the old tunes from the Layla album, and Derek Trucks elevated the night to a whole other level. Hopefully the next tour will be a mixture of Dominos tunes and possibly some John Mayall/Bluesbreakers numbers! Anyway, here is the list. During the encore Jimmie Vaughan came out and played Cocaine and Crossroads, and Robert Cray joined the group for Crossroads.

Review by Jake Desmond
WOW! What an incredible night…and to top it all off to have 5 incredible guitarists on stage performing the encore was unbelievable. Let me tell you that Capton, Bramhall, Trucks, Cray and surprise visitor Jimmie Vaughan blew everybody away. No doubt it is thegreatest end to any concert I’ve ever been to in my life!

Review by Dave Hobson
What a great concert!… Eric and friends put together another outstanding and memorable evening for music fans as well as guitarists. This is my third Clapton concert and I am an original fan dating from the 1960s, following the development of his talent and virtuosity through the years. Even without the additional talent surrounding him, Eric just gets better over the years and this evening was no exception. With the addition of Cray, Trucks, Bramhall and Vaughan, this simply had to be the best evening of guitar talent assembled together on the planet last night!

From the opening performance by Robert Cray to the second encore that included Cray and Jimmy Vaughan with Eric, the music built on itself and resulted in an outstanding musical evening that was pure magic. Robert Cray’s opening including his incredibly done song "Twenty" was the best performance by an opening act I have heard in years and left me wondering how Eric’s blues numbers would stack up against such a strong performance. When Eric and his band took the stage, there was no doubt that we were going to hear something that was reminiscent of Derek and the Dominoes and beyond…and that is exactly what happened. Trucks and Bramhall showed their individually rare talents and abilities to hold their own with Eric as well as play together with him in ways that have not been heard for a long time, especially on the electric version of "Layla."

Thanks for a great concert! You made an old guitarist and bassman very happy to have purchased the ticket! Best wishes for another outstanding tour!

Review by Jim O’Brien / Round Rock, TX
Clapton is still one of the finest guitarist to ever strap on a Strat but the young Turks do a lot of the heavy lifting on this tour. Doyle Bramhall II is a better player now after a couple years under the tutelage of the master than he was when touring with Roger Waters, he’s given a lot more room to move with Clapton and he does so with ease. Derek Trucks brings a whole other element to the show and gives Eric lots of room to just watch and smile. It’s obvious that EC is a big fan of young Mr Trucks.

The band is tight, real tight…the songs have refreshed arrangements. I don’t necessarily like all of the new arrangements but I admire the playing. "Key To The Highway" and "Further On Up The Road" have a sort of barrel-house jaunt to them now. I prefer them straight on they way I’ve always known them. "Little Wing" was done to perfection with all three taking long solos. "Layla" has been shortened and there is an extra key change in the second half that sounded strange to my ears. Derek fills the Duane parts magnificently as he did in "Why Does Love Have To Be So Sad" and "Got To Get Better In A Little While". If you’re a fan of Derek & The Dominos than this is a must see tour for you. It’s obvious the chemistry between the three guitarists is very special and Clapton seems to eye them with pride. This is a real passing of the torch type of a gig.. you can really feel it. The "OMG" (ed. note: OMG is an abbreviation for "oh my god") moment for me was Eric’s solo acoustic handling of Charles Brown’s "Driftin’ Blues." I also thought "Nobody Knows You When You’re Down And Out" just rolled effortlessly.

The local rumor of a possible J.J. Cale appearance proved false but the "Cocaine" encore with Jimmie Vaughan followed by "Crossroads" with Jimmie and Robert Cray really rounded out the evening. Show clocked in at around 1:40 and 15-17 songs.

As a long time huge fan of Derek Trucks it was great to see him just blow the roof off the place over and over again in front of fans who’ve never even heard of him. I spent a good portion of the walk back to the car telling people about "The young hippie kid with the red guitar" He WOWed them all

Review by Review by Tom Turner / Floresville, Texas
This was my first time to see Eric Clapton, and all I can say is WOW. This was an incredible show. I have waited all my life (45 years) to see Clapton, and seeing this show was well worth the wait. From the opening notes of "Tell The Truth" to the closing notes of "Crossroads", the concert was spectacular. Eric Clapton was playing at his best, and the band (and what a band he has assembled) were firing on all cylinders. Jimmie Vaughan even showed up to jam. Again, this was well worth the wait.

Review by Bernard Vasek / Austin, TX
Robert Cray opened the show with a safe 30 minute set. After a 30 minute intermission, EC & band strolled out onstage to open with a powerful version of Tell the Truth, the first of 7 songs they would perform tonite from the Derek & the Dominoes songbook. With Derek (no pun intended) Trucks taking all the Duane Allman leads (he should have plenty of experience as having been a member of the Allman Brothers Band since 1999), he brought alot of fire to the show.

Clapton resurrected Cream for a run of shows in London and NYC the last few years. Even though this was not billed as a Derek & the Dominoes show, it sure felt like one, having been too young to have seen them. What’s next EC, Blind Faith?

The show was neatly broken up into 4 segments give or take 30 minutes each to give it a breezy March feel to it. The first segment included 5 Derek & the Dominoes songs including ones written by Big Bill Broonzy & Jimi Hendrix.

Then came the mostly unplugged sit down set with a solo turn by EC on a song by Charles Brown, Driftin’ Blues. Next up the other musicians joined him for a song written by Blind Joe Reynolds, Outside Woman Blues, which Eric did with Cream on Disraeli Gears. Yet another song from Derek & the Dominoes and then closing out that set with a hit from his 1989 album Journeyman.

My personal fave of the nite opened the third segment of the concert, the traditional song Motherless Children which opens up his 1974 comeback album 461 Ocean Boulevard. Everone was back to electric & the show really ignited at this point and stayed that way for the rest of the night. Robert Johnson’s Little Queen of Spades was next & just about everbody in the band had extended solos. Further On Up the Road was next, perhaps a nod to his friend & influence, the late great Texas guitarist, Freddie King. It was followed by Eric’s beautiful love song, Wonderful Tonight, always great to hear. The main set’s closer was next, Layla, which got everyone on their feet. Having seen Eric many times over the years, sometimes you get the abbreviated version but tonite we got it wholely with Joe Cocker’s Mad Dog & Englishmen veteran, Chris Stainton, doing an admirable job on keyboards. I really thought that Eric might bring out Austinite Bobby Whitlock who played the original keyboards on Layla, but that did not happen.

Instead we got another Austin surprise, Jimmie Vaughan, when he joined the band for the two song encore. First up was Cocaine, the J J Cale penned song, which was quite the extended jam with the 4 guitarists onstage. Finally Robert Johnson’s Crossroads, first done by Eric with Cream, closed out the show with guitarist #5 Robert Cray, also joining in. All the other musicians in Eric’s band did a great job including Austinite Doyle Bramhall II on guitar and music veterans Willie Weeks, Steve Jordan, Tim Carmon, and 2 female backing vocalists.
Overall it was a very good show, especially for me hearing alot of the Derek & the Dominoes songs live for the first time. Even if someone went & was expecting to hear all the usual hits, I think they still would have walked away with a smile on their face. Derek Trucks gets the MVP award.

Review by Bill Shannon / Ontario, Canada
I attended the EC concert last night in San Antonio.It was the sixth time I have seen EC and was absolutely amazed at how good it was.I thought the concert in Toronto in 2002 was the best I had seen but this one beat it hands down.The new band was awsome and it was the first time I had seen Derek Trucks,a truly amazing talent.I really liked the way the whole concert was done.Starting off with some really good numbers to get the crowd going right from the start then the "sit down set" and finishing the way they did was a true master production. Little Queen of Spades really did it for me,great guitar work from EC,Doyle and Derek well supported by the rest of the band.A truly amazing night .I first saw EC with Cream in the 60’s and I must say the man gets better with age.

Review by S Coad, San Antonio
Wow… holy freaking wow. I expected good. I expected really good… I did not expect *that*. I don’t think you could ever expect that. I don’t think it would be fair to the performers to *expect* that, but they delivered it. For 3 solid hours they delivered it and it was awesome. Incredible. Amazing. Unbelievable.

They all played. Robert Cray opened… and wow. Clapton’s band played… and wow. Clapton played and just wow. It was three solid hours of one of the best blues-y guitar rift filled displays of musicianship ever. Ever. I think it speaks volumes of Clapton that we felt as though we were seeing a whole band, a whole music ensemble, not just Clapton and the people who back him up. He let everyone take center stage and there were solos by the piano guy, the keyboard guy, the drummer, the bass guitarist and the rest of the guitarists. Even the back-up singers got their moments to shine. There are no words to convey it. I am so sorry that everyone I know couldn’t be there. It was that good.

Oh, and when he finally sang "Wonderful Tonight"… oh my goodness, it took my breath away. It was one of the most beautiful performances of that particular song that I have ever heard. I never get tired of hearing the poetry in those lyrics or hearing the longing in the guitar. It sent chills all over me and hit me right in the center of my soul. Thanks, Eric and the others for an unforgettable night.

Review by John Jordan
On March 3rd, San Antonio Tx was my first Clapton concert. I got 2 tickets for christmas. It was well worth the wait. My brother in law went with me and he was as excited as i was. Robert Cray and the band did a fantastic job opening the show. Cray’s voice is so powerful, and the guitar sound was out of sight. When Clapton took the stage the place went nuts, or at least i did. Tell the truth was on the money Eric’s voice filled the arena and the band was in perfect unision. I called my friend during Little Wing. i love how Clapton opens the song. The sit down list was farout. Clapton showed he sill had all the tricks in is one man performance on Driftin. Outside Woman Blues rocked it had a good up right rythm, and Derek Trucks is a mad man of slide guitar. Motherless children was untouchable everyone hit the notes. Slides were on the money, it felt like a punch in the stomach. When clapton open Layla the crowd screamed, and I almost flew out of my set cause i got so excited. Usually Clapton plays a little scale or something to warm up to Layla. As soon as Wonderful Tonight was over, he dove right in to the intro. It hit everyone like a ton of bricks. The encore was amazing when i saw Jimmi Vaughan on stage i didn’t know what was going to happen. Cocaine was for me was one of the best on of the show. Robert Cray did a great job on crossroads. All the guitars sounded terriffic. Even though Clapton let the young guys take some of the solos, he still kicked their butts when he took off. Thank you Eric for coming to Texas. Thanks to my brother in law for the tickets. Now my life is complete. Advice for those going to the concerts. Get into in the more you participate the better the band plays, and take binoculars they put you right on stage.