Concert Details

Fan Reviews:

Were you there? Send your review to info@whereseric.com. Please be sure to include your name; anonymous reviews or those using an alias will not be published.

Review by John Ronald / LaSalle QC
After seeing a tremendous show in Montreal on February 22 I’m left slightly mystified about the lukewarm reviews that I’ve been reading from the London and New York shows. This was a top-calibre show from start to finish, with only a few exceptions for me.

In my opinion, Clapton should junk most of the acoustic stuff, because almost nobody enjoys it after the first song or two. And Layla should never be performed as an acoustic number. Having said that, Drifting and Running on Faith were very well done.·Clapton’s set was too short (drop the acoustic songs and play four more electric ones instead).Clapton let Beck take most of the solos in the third part of the concert. Hey, it’s supposed to be a collaboration, so I would have expected a 50-50 share instead of a 65-35.Beck alone was brilliant, Clapton alone was mostly brilliant, and together they were mostly brilliant.

Highlights for me were a new and very interesting arrangement of I Shot The Sheriff that made it fresh again, and an outstanding solo, as is so often featured in Sheriff. Clapton’s sound without the crutch of a rhythm guitarist was much thicker than usual, and this was best exemplified on songs such as Tell The Truth and Cocaine. Although we’ve heard Cocaine so often that some of us hate it, I still enjoy it in concert because of the solos, and in Montreal Clapton delivered a huge Cocaine. In fact, Clapton’s entire solo electric portion was extremely good.

Beck’s playing was often spine-tingling, but for me the highlights were the three “quiet” songs, Mna Na Heireann, A Day In The Life and Nessun Dorma.· The “together” part was highlighted by a surprisingly emotive Moon River, and the encore of Crossroads featured Willie Weeks’ propulsive playing and three fine solos (Eric, Jeff, Eric).All in all, this was a really good concert, and all local media reviews have been near-raves. Something that struck me throughout the show is that Eric and Jeff are genuine stars in a musical sea of mostly mediocrity, and it was hard to keep my eyes off them while they were on stage.

Review by Tim Holek
Having seen their concert the previous night in Toronto, everything about this performance in Montreal was better. We did have better seats for this concert but that alone cannot account for the stage lighting, sound quality, and big video screen camera views, all which were better than in Toronto.

Here are some comments about the Montreal show as well as some comparisons with the Toronto show…..

The camaraderie at this show was part of the overall experience. I met many other ec fans who had been following every move of the tour and who were well informed of the set list.

Ec’s set covered every aspect of his career and included: acoustic country blues, electric blues, reggae, and some of his greatest rock hits. The arrangement of I Shot The Sheriff was the highlight as well as the extended guitar solo that ec performed during this song.

The final part of the show is what we were all waiting for and it was watching/listening to ec and Jeff Beck performing together. Their set, comprised entirely of covers, was a tribute to the blues greats. This showed how indebted they are to the artists who inspired them. I thought this was very respectful and a reminder to us all that without them, there would be no ec or Jeff Beck. Outside Woman Blues and Wee Wee Baby were the highlights. Like fireworks exploding in the sky, during these songs there was so much guitar for the eyes and ears to observe, you couldn’t actually take it all in. Chris Stainton was outstanding all night especially during his fantastic piano solo on Cocaine which was omitted the previous night in Toronto. The inclusion of Moon River has created a debate among fans as to whether it should have been performed. I’m on the side that it was a perfect selection to perform. Just listen to some of the lyrics and you’ll see that ec has lived that life. During the song, many couples embraced. For years ec has been trying to prove that he is more than a guitar god. He is a well rounded musician and this song proved it. Now if they would only release their live set on CD or DVD.

A review in one of the local Montreal papers was a far more accurate reflection of the concert as compared to the review that ran in the Toronto paper. I wonder where the Montreal reviewer was sitting because he claimed that the sound was murky. I thought the sound quality was the best I’ve ever heard at a big venue. It was crystal clear and I could even hear Stainton’s fills on all the songs. My only complaint with this concert was the cost of the tickets.