Eric Clapton and his music

Bog, Тоже самое говорит моя бабушка.

Following a short-set by support act The Robert Cray Band, Eric Clapton and his band took the stage in Antwerp, Belgium on 31 May. The set list's running order changed quite a bit this evening. Old Love, I Shot The Sheriff and Milkcow Blues were dropped from the set. Eric and his band were in great spirits, playing well and there were smiles all around. Fans in attendance at the Sports Paleis heard outstanding versions of "Bell Bottom Blues", "Little Queen of Spades", "Let It Rain" and "Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad." Once again, Robert Cray joined EC on stage for the encore, "Crossroads".

Setlist
Pretending
So Tired
Got To Get Better In A Little While
Bell Bottom Blues
After Midnight
Little Queen of Spades
Let It Rain

sit down set
Back Home (acoustic)
I Am Yours
Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out
Running On Faith

Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad
Everybody Oughta Make A Change
Motherless Children
Wonderful Tonight
Layla
Cocaine

Encore
Crossroads (with Robert Cray)

Review #1

I think I saw God last night. Yes, EC was in Antwerp for his Belgium part of The "Back Home" tour. I discovered EC with the single "Behind The Mask" from the August album in 1985, I was only 12 years old, but I was touched by a beautiful guitar riff. Since then I'm a fan. The first time I saw him play live was in 1992 in Gent. It was magic to see and hear him live and I can guarantee you he is still magical. EC is still the best and that's been proven last night here in Antwerp. What a great band and what a show. You can see he is enjoying himself on the stage.
And what to see about the set list. He changed a few songs from the previous shows (no Sheriff was shot, no Old Love and no Milcow Blues). Instead he played a outstanding version of Bell Bottom Blues, Let It Rain and Why Does Love Got To Be So Bad. He also changed the running order.

Nice to hear again the old ones like Pretending, Running On Faith and certainly Motherless Children, one of the highlights of the concert for me. Other brilliant moments : Little Queen Of Spades , Layla (what a guitar riff) and Crossroads (with Robert Cray). All because of the amazing guitar playing of Eric, Derek and Doyle. He's got a really great band now : Derek, Doyle, Chris (Stainton) and Steve Jordan on drums.

He played not so many blues songs, but instead he gave the gig e really good rhythm. After all he's got so many good songs he can play (White Room, I sot The Sheriff, Old Love, Tears In Heaven, She's Gone, River Of Tears, Holy Mother, Badge to name a few). Maybe we could ask EC that the next time he can do a 4 hour concert. I want also to mention that EC has a very good warm up with Robert Cray. He's got the blues in his body like EC. Thank you Eric for giving me (us) some great music and great live shows. I hope he will continue to make albums and do some more tours in the future. Now I'm sure. GOD IS NOT A DJ, HE'S A GUITARPLAYER.

Review #2

Buying a ticket for an Eric Clapton concert is a little like ordering a German car, you know you will get quality and craftmanship. and this is exactly what happened yesterday : a perfect first part with Robert Cray and his band (in my opinion one if not THE best singers of the blues scene). Offering very good song and not to be classified in the 3 chords category. Then comes Eric : a very "American" sounding band with an opening number that's there for a purpose ("Working on the sound of the band tryin' to get the music right...") and some very nice medleys. a few numbers I would not have expected and a very previsible end of concert but I guess that's what every average clapton fan wants to hear !

The highlights for me : the twin slides of Eric and doyle on "Motherless Children", the first number of the acoustic set in duo with Derek, Derek's slide work on "Lil' Queen of Spades" and Derek's solo building in "Cocaine" (he uses the two last notes of a phrae to start a new one and so pushes his final solo to the very top).

By the way what seems to be a very impressive line up turns out to be a little too much (even for the musicians themselves : three guitar players is a whole bunch and Doyle and Derek sometimes do look as if they don't know what to do). Also in the first part of the concert they seem to follow the same type of pattern : Eric sings - Doyle takes a solo - Derek takes a solo - Eric takes a solo - Eric sings. But all in all a very good evening with the cream of the crop and a splendid discovery : thank you Eric for putting Derek Trucks in the spotlights : the guy is a mean slide player and he looks like an angel with devil hands !

Review by George Coppens / Antwerp, Belgium

After a night of sleep I'm still exited about the concert. Robert Cray as expected was very good, but everybody was waiting for the main man. The setlist was very different from the previous concerts. I was a little disapointed that "Old Love" and "I Shot The Sheriff" were replaced by other songs. I really wanted to hear "Old Love"; I have seen it on DVD but never heard it live.

Doyle and Derek are two outstanding guitarplayers but there is only one EC. I think EC was in a great form and had fun on the stage. Concerts like this should last forever.

At first I was a little disapointed Eric replaced Steve Gadd and Nathan East but I must say Steve Jordan is a hell of a drummer. This was the 4th year in a row I saw EC performing and must say that like wine, he gets better every year. I hope he will come again next year. And yes on guitar EC IS GOD.

Review #3

I returned home last night with mixed feelings. Certainly there were some precious jewels on the familiar carpet, like "Queen of Spades", "I Am Yours", "After Midnight" and "Running on Faith", but other songs from the set were performed with just a little too much of an automatic pilot attitude. "Cocaine" was the very low of the set, going
on and on and completely lacking any direction or conviction. Eric seemed indeed very relaxed, but at a certain point this easy feeling came across as a lack of interest. And a handfull of "Thank You"'s was the only direct contact with the crowd. The sound mix was below average where we sat, but that is not unusual in the Antwerp Sports
Palace.

The band played very tight, but could certainly do with a more limited line-up. Doyle and Tim could have been dropped without any significant effect on the overall sound. And the horns were much too far in the mix. On the good side we saw a fantastic Steve Jordan, putting his entire soul into every beat and replacing the more clinical perfection drum style of Steve Gadd with a very emotional bluesy beat. On the guitar Doyle was really outpaced by Derek in both diversity and speed. With Derek on board I think Eric can leave Doyle home for future tours.

All in all, a handfull of real gems and two great new band members, but this was not one of the best EC shows that I have seen. I think I am gonna watch the Reptile show on DVD tonight.

Review #4

Been to the Antwerp show and although I'm not a fan I have to admit that both Robert Cray and Eric Clapton know how to play that guitar. "Got to get better" was by far the best song of the show to me. Unfortunately,the interaction with the audience was zero, nada. The only thing Eric did was saying "merci beaucoup" although he should realize that Antwerp is a Flemish region.

Review #5

Dear friends...
After reading all the reviews I was expecting a strong concert. I must say I was very disappointed. I saw Eric in the early nineties and that concert was in my memory unforgettable. But in Antwerp I saw only a few performances I could really appreciate (Motherless Children). Even classics like Bell Bottom Blues and Layla didn't sound convincing.

A lot of the solos (guitar as wel as piano) were boring and seemed to be repeated in other songs. The singing of Eric was not always as you could expect. The show started well, but after three songs the sound became a bit chaotic. Maybe the sound quality of the Sportpaleis is not so good. Well, in general it was a disappointment.

Review #6

Just back from the Antwerpen concert from yesterday. So here are my personal comments :
First of all, E.C. setlist generator is working again and he dropped 'I Shot the sheriff' from the setlist which was replaced by 'Bell Bottom Blues'.

Overall a good performance. Noticed that the songs were played faster, specially the last 5 tracks. At the end an encore with Robert Cray on stage who performed a good opening (but several times remembered people to buy his new album called '20').

The band as you know is new but the are working after some concert quiet well together. As Ken Norris mentionned some days ago 'Willie Weeks and Steve Jordan push harder than Nathan and Steve.' Sorry Steve and sorry Nathan but the new guys push much much harder then you and everyone wins.

Derek's playing is quiet amazing. But more from the mid of the setlist. Had the feeling that his slide guitar fits better to some songs than to other. For instance, the beginning of the piano solo from Pretending is now accompagnied by Derek on slide and that's, from my point of view, not the best thing to do. The introduction has been for years been played by solo piano and piano and slide together is not working fine together.

Eric needs 3 songs to get in and starts playing his first great solo around 'Got To Get Better In A Little While'. The roof was put on fire during 'Queen Of Spades' and burned to the end. The songs from 'Everybody Oughta Make A Change' to Crossroads were played in an amazing speed whith quite lot of great solos ... played by Doyle, Derek and EC. So everyone of the three have their playing time. Derek a lot of background playing, Doyle this time some main solos and the rest (mainly from the mid show to the end) by EC.

A new sound and much more saturated and louder (thanks to 3 guitars), a new stage light show and at the end a great show. Having seen Eric now playing for the 8th time, I thought during the last tour that Doyle's presence helped a lot to improve the global playing. Thanks to Derek, Willie and Steve everything improved again in a positive way so don't be afraid to go and see the old man playing.

EC wrote in his tour program and that are my final words for today :

'... so if you're old and decrepit like me, you'llbe right at home ... if however, you're under forty, you might not recognise some of the songs we'll be playing, hopefully you'll like them anyway, but I guarantee that whatever you hear, will be definitely played with feeling...' .... Eric C.

RAH SHOW

France...