Concert Details

Fan Reviews:

Review by John Franken / Westport CT
First of all, it was easy to hear some of the more subtle touches by all of the musicians thanks to the great sound. Greg’s mandolin and slide and Michelle’s and Sharon’s soaring backing vocals especially on EC’s new song, Got To Get Over. The keyboards of Chris and Paul were never muddied together. You could hear EC touching the strings in the acoustic set. For the electric, EC’s guitar was loud and upfront. It was an unbelievable show; one of the best of the 9 or 10 I’ve seen over the years. EC is playing like a guy less than half his age. My favorites were Got To Get Better In A Little While, I Shot The Sheriff, the acoustic Wonderful Tonight, Sunshine Of Your Love and High Time We Went.

For me, having seen EC more than a few times, it was refreshing to hear the reworking of Wonderful Tonight. I was always suprised he didn’t do that at the Unplugged taping so many years ago. The crowd sang along to Goodnight Irene – seemed like everyone there has been listening to Old Sock alot or is familiar with the boot video of the Chas & Dave Holiday Show. 

The band is the best he’s had on the road in recent years – Steve and Willie drive them along like a well-oiled machine. I think the combo of Steve, Willie and Doyle push EC to greater heights. 

It was an amazing night. Can’t wait to the RAH Shows – I’m going for the first time!

Review by Pam Millen
Last night’s show was incredible!  EC was so “present”!  The band is a delicious layering of sound and so tight!  It just blew our socks off!  It seemed that EC was highly inspired and he went from strength to strength.  It was RAH quality on the road.  After hearing “Old Sock”, we were not expecting much “shredding” from EC, but we were so happily surprised, every song was so ON!  But I have to say, it was a tender moment in that crowd when he sang “Tears in Heaven”.  I don’t know how he holds it together when he sings that, it was so emotionally raw.  

Review by Mitchell Frost
As an avid (“avid” might be an understatement) clapton fan, I can tell you without reservation that the show was a mixed bag in comparison to past performances. Now that’s not to say that even at this stage in his career that Eric’s show isn’t one of the best if not the best concerts you could ever hope to attend. It is easily that. The band is second to none in talent. However, when I saw him in St. Louis back in 2006, it was a high energy affair with Eric jamming non-stop, playing solo after solo. He plays a lot less lead guitar now and shares more with his band than ever. That is great and all, but the crowd was begging for Eric to hit the roof with his unmatched playing and time and time again he deferred to Doyle  or another band member. The days of an 8 minute blues number in which Eric takes solos that last eight or even sixteen bars instead of just two might be behind us.

His voice sound unreal, so good that it will give you chills. I am just surprised that his playing has become less fluid and effortless. He seems to be playing with a lot more sheer volume but with less overall connectedness like in 2001 “One More Car One More Rider Tour” or even as recently as 2009 when he played at Budokan, Japan. Honestly, his version of “drifting blues” was sad to watch- I’ve seen him play this acoustically with such achingly beautiful skill, and this version seemed phoned in. The reason Wonderful Tonight is such a great song to listen to is we hear Slowhand’s TONE and playing style that nobody else has. It was a real shame to see him strumming the basic chords instead of playing lead – or taking extended solos like he has in the past on this song and others. The whole acoustic set subdued the crowd to unusually quiet levels and every Paul Carrack song came off as a dud.

As a guitar player and musician, I was disappointed because I love when Eric does what nobody else can do with the guitar. The fact is, those moments were few and far between. I love every Clapton album, and listen to his live recordings constantly. I’m hoping the crossroads festival next week will push him to play like he has in past years. I know he absolutely is capable of showing more brilliance on stage. Last time I saw Clapton, half of my section had tears in their eyes because his playing pulled emotion and feeling out of us that few musicians on the planet can conjure. Everyone left the arena saying “no doubt, Clapton IS the best guitar player in the world.”

The murmur in the crowd as I left the arena last night in contrast seemed to be “Who is Paul Carrack? Why was the sound mix so awful for The Wallflowers?”

Highlights- Tell the truth, stones in my passway, and the brief solo clapton played on queen of spades (he normally absolutely slays this song but Doyle and Chris Stainton actually got more applause and interest from the crowd), and high time we went was a lot of fun.