[Slowhand] Minneapolis / St. Pete Review #2

[Almighty Geetarz]

Clapton plays up to his rep
BY ROB HUBBARD

Pioneer Press


It's been almost four decades since the London street graffiti screamed, "Clapton is God!" Since then, those who have made the pilgrimage to see guitar deity Eric Clapton have been left too often to wonder what all the fuss was about. His solo career has been marked by tepid original material and tentative solos that paled next to his explosive early work with Cream and Derek & the Dominoes.

But that's all changed now. Clapton and his seven-piece band performed a concert at St. Paul's Xcel Energy Center on Sunday night that stands as one of the most impressive guitar clinics ever offered in a local arena. At 59, the Englishman is attacking his instrument with an electrifying abandon he hasn't displayed since the early '70s.

Blame it on the blues. While Clapton has always had a deep affection for the genre, he's previously seemed too shy in approaching it, as if he still felt himself a student of such masters as Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and the archetypal bluesman Robert Johnson. But a recent tribute album to Johnson has seemingly unleashed not only a fresh fury in Clapton's playing, but a palpable sense of exhilaration and enjoyment absent from his past local concerts.

After opening with one of those unexceptional '70s songs, "Let It Rain," Clapton set the evening's agenda by tearing into "Hoochie Coochie Man," and offering the first of several breathtaking solos that awed the 15,613 in attendance. The concert soon became a blistering blues symposium, as Clapton delivered scorching solos on "Milkcow's Calf Blues," "Kind-Hearted Woman" and, most memorably, "Have You Ever Loved a Woman?"

The 15-minute jam on the latter may have been the evening's highlight, showcasing the skills of not only the leader, but such Clapton contemporaries as organist Billy Preston (virtually a Beatle back in the day), pianist Chris Stainton (from Joe Cocker's best '70s bands), and the king of session drummers, Steve Gadd.

But Clapton and company showed they understand more than just the blues: "I Shot the Sheriff" was a lot more faithful to the reggae rhythms of Bob Marley's original than Clapton's mid-'70s cover, and the guitarist burned his way through a scintillating solo that started at a simmer and ended in an eruption, inspiring the first of several standing ovations on the evening.

Throughout the concert, Clapton seemed more comfortable with his band, material and mission than he has on perhaps any previous Twin Cities visit. Complementing his powerful picking with emotional vocals, he served a reminder of what all that "God" talk was about way back when, and that he's at last embraced his place as a master of the blues.

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Rob Hubbard can be reached at rhubbard at pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5247. 



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