[Slowhand] msg shows

[Claptofan]

I looked forward to len's posting, but am actually in
some mild disagreement with his view on the MSG shows.
 Not in total disagreement...but let me give
perspective.  I have been an EC diehard since 1992
when I went to Shea stadium to see Elton John, who
happened to be playing with Eric Clapton... and walked
away knowing my life had been altered to a different
course as EC's tone and music literaly shook me.  My
entire adolescence was filled with  awaiting the next
EC tour and buying up every album and bootleg I could
find.  when he bagen touring I was lucky enough that
my first shows were the blues set in the Garden 10/94,
followed by the most incredibl;e concert I ever
witnessed - Irving Plaza 11/94 when my two best
friends and I begged and pleaded for hours until they
sold us tickets.  

When the 1998 shows rolled around, i followed Eric
from boston, to philly to Ny to Toronto - always
envisioning three hour long shows and classic songs
like white room, why does love got to be so sad, or
new rock songs like bad love or pretending to just
surface out of nowhere.  Of course, this never
happened, and my enthusiasm for following EC around
from city to city began to dampen as he seemed to be
playing the same exact show every single night.  First
I forgave him b/c in 1998 he had the orchestra, but he
didn;t have the orchestra in toronto that year, but he
played almost eh same exact set (although he played
drifting instead of key to the highway).  

then came the 1999 crossroads show, which had songs
like Little Wing, which seemed to pop up because his
guests requested them (sheryl crow also got him to
play little wing and white room in central park later
that summer).  i thought this was the new chapter for
him - longer shows, more guests and more spontaneous
music.  So when 2001 rolled around I got tickets for
(i moved during these years, btw) indianapolis,
milwaukee and the 2 chicago shows.  Once again,
visions of cream, dominos, FTC - everything rolled
into one amazing show popped into my head.  to his
credit, he changed the show a lot by the time he had
gone from indianapolis to chicago - but against his
credit, he basically cut songs without adding new
songs.  where 'travelling light' and 'don;t want to be
lonely tonight' were - was now nothing, and the set
list still contained tired versions of layla, cocaine
and WT (always my least looked froawrd to parts of the
show).

So, now we enter 2004 and a disappointing RJ cover
album, and I am thinking that this time, with a ticket
price of 125 for floor seats, i will stay away, see
one show from the cheap seats and allow my life to not
get fully taken over by EC ( i have a new baby girl
who seems to like having me around at nights).  When I
saw the set list from the europe shows with songs like
walk out in the rain and got to get better in a little
while, as well as bell bottom blues (electric style
inctead of acoustin like in 2001) I got completely
over excited and bought "best available" to all three
shows.

I agree totally with Len in that while sitting through
the shows, there is a loss of excitement, becuase I
know exactly what is coming.  I know that the people
behind me who want to hear Double Trouble have
ABSOLUTELY no chance, I know that my cousin who was
dying to hear 32-20 blues had ABSOLUTELY no chance to
hear that RJ song.  And I find myself getting annoyed
in accepting that Eric does his set pre-packaged,
because I know Nathan East, Eric clapton and Steve
Gadd can play any damn song they want to play at any
damn time.  so it bothers me that I accept this dictum
of Eric playing the same set night in and night out,
always ready to take a song off his list and not
replace it with something.  

I must say, however, that the way Eric is playing
right now is far different than anything i have seen
except maybe the Irving Plaza shows (of course, i
don't go back to the cream or dominos days).  I don;t
know if it is his wife, his baby girl, the fact that
doyle is in the band and is clearly a student of
Claptons as he plays the fills exactly as they sound
on the albums, the fact that he put out an RJ album
(clearly something he wanted to do for a long
time)...but whatever it is, I hope it stays with him
for a long time.  the set list was far superior and
more vaired than any previous show I have seen; the
band sounded younger and more true to the original
rock sounds than they have ever sounded before; and
his playing was ethereal at times.  We all know and
have criticized Eric for playing it light or just
going through the motions at times in his touring. 
But I did not feel the same could be said for the
three shows at the garden.  He playing was ferocious -
and not just on sheriff and HYELAW, but also on kid
hearted woman, cocain and layla, and walk out in the
rain (one of my absoulte favorite soungs, i wished and
wished he would play 'tell me that you love me' as
well, but of course i already knew i had ABSOLUTELY no
chance of that.)  more importantly, he seemed to be
having a blast, dancing around stage, sweating bullets
and "not breathing during his solos"

as a last comment, my wife has had the (un)fortante
position to be dragged to these shows over the years,
and she always loves the first concert, then wonders
why I go to the next ones if they are all the same. 
this time i only took her to the last show, and she
was stunned at the way Eric was moving, smiling and
especially playing.  

so i  agree with len, but disagree at the same time.

anyway, that's my feelings on this tour - interested
to hear others - eric epstein  


	
		
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