[Slowhand] Denver Post Review of 7/24 show

[Almighty Geetarz]

Article Published: Sunday, July 25, 2004 review 

Clapton concert nearly flawless 

By Ricardo Baca 
Denver Post Popular Music Critic 

Post / Andy CrossRock and blues singer-guitarist Eric Clapton gives a quality performance at the Pepsi Center on Saturday evening.	


It's hard to find fault with almost anything Eric Clapton does. 
He tours incessantly, but he warrants each tour by working out creative collaborations, righteous concepts and a continuously innovative fusion of the music he's been making all along in the recording studio.

He tours with top-shelf musicians and knows how to please the crowd with "Layla" and his distinct cover of "I Shot the Sheriff." And he's also pretty handy at the guitar.

In fact, after two hours of Clapton at the Pepsi Center on Saturday night, my only complaint is that "Wonderful Tonight" came off as an uninspired love song that's lost its relevance to its author.

But most of the show was expectedly on point. Clapton, looking up to his mike all the while and keeping his throat open and his head tilted toward the cheap seats, worked through the classics and, more important, tracks from his new record.

"We'd like to do a couple of Johnson songs," he told the crowd as he and his two guitarists took to chairs on the foot of the stage. And with that, they launched into a five-song mini-set from his recent disc "Me and Mr. Johnson," which made for the most interesting 20 minutes of the show.

The album is Clapton's tribute to the late and mysterious bluesman Robert Johnson, and it was obvious when he started with "Me and the Devil Blues" that he wasn't just channeling Johnson so much as Clapton was filtering Johnson and his music through his own personal sense of aesthetics. His upbeat soul on "They're Red Hot" was an excellent switch (on the album, "They're Red Hot" leads into "Me and the Devil Blues") and had Clapton looking rejuvenated and youthful.

The moodier, more haggard sounds of "Milkcow's Calf Blues" were laid out expertly by Clapton and his percussionist, who played with grace. And the growling "If I Had Possession Over Judgment Day" was the highlight of the night with Clapton shouting, stomping and sassing his way through the spiritual. His passion was overflowing, and he was happily driving that bus straight to Hades. The final song of the short set, the pretty "Kind Hearted Woman Blues," brought things back to order and allowed Clapton to show off his voice, which can still be more potent than his guitar.

"Walk Out in the Rain" came early in the set, and "Got to Get Better in a Little While" and "Layla" came late. All were played with tightly focused precision and were the brand of live music expected.

Contact popular music critic Ricardo Baca at 303-820-1394 or rbaca at denverpost.com . 


		
---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
New and Improved Yahoo! Mail - Send 10MB messages!
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/slowhand/attachments/20040731/2c3d2eba/attachment.html