[Slowhand] San Jose 7/31

[Dave Dell]

Eric was on fire basically all night and played an absolutely amazing solo
on "Sheriff".  It was unlike any of the other times I've heard him play
it....starting with some gentle staccato style chords and riffs and building
& continuing to build to an unbelievable crescendo of passionate playing
that seemed to take control of even Eric by the time it was over.  Even he
sighed after sitting down for the blues numbers either out of the effort
expended in the solo, or in amazement at the magic he had just produced. (or
both)

The rest of the show was great too, but nothing matched that moment and I
didn't expect anything to.

My only criticism would be the sound mix which was way too loud in my
opinion.  The vocals often got lost on the rock numbers and even the lead
lines got obscured at times by the high volume assault.  The vocals on Mojo
were severely distorted for much of the song.  Worst of all the mega high
volume totally messed up my recording : )  I got a couple of the quieter
songs that are listenable, although still with distortion in places.  The
Staples '01 show (my last EC concert) was at a far better volume, in my
opinion, but this one featured a lot more passionate playing by Eric, so it
was a trade off.  Even though I enjoyed Staples very much, along with all
the other EC shows I've seen, this one was very special and memorable.

Dave