[Slowhand] Hampton Court 10th June

[Michael Sawin]

As requested by the Blond Rocker, below is a short review of Hampton Court 
10th June.

Situated right by the Thames but on the beautiful Surrey/Middlesex borders 
in the SW area of London lies Hampton Court, one of London's best kept 
secrets. This totally charming and beautiful Historic house was the favoured 
residence of King Henry the Eighth. If you ever make a visit to England, DO 
visit this Palace which is hardly ever crowded and has far more charm than 
Windsor Castle (check out www.historicroyalpalaces.org and there's a great 
picture of the stage set-up in there somewhere). Each Summer they hold 
series of concerts and the artistes this year are an eclectic bunch with our 
man playing two nights and others such as Art Garfunkel, Tracey Chapman, 
Kiri Te Kanawa, Van Morrison and Jools Holland Band also participating. The 
concerts themselves are held inside an Elizabethan courtyard holding about 
2500 people and because of the high walls of the Palace that surround the 
stage, the sound, although a little reverberating, was crystal clear. I had 
never heard Derek or Eric so loud or well defined and the mix on the rest of 
the band was equally good. Guests (and I do mean guests, as tickets are an 
astounding £90 to £160 with VIP tickets costing at least £300-expensive for 
the UK) are encouraged to come early, eat nice food from Hampers or to quaff 
fine champagne, or to stroll around the magnificent gardens. It was all very 
civilised with fire jugglers and an 'lite jazz' group entertaining the 
crowd. Just like MSG, huh? You could go inside the Maze but the thought of 
being stuck behind a gigantic bush hedge with EC no more than 100 yards away 
is not my idea of fun. As we walked through the various courtyards and Halls 
reasonably early (show time was 9, no support) we noticed Doyle and Derek 
being given a brief History lesson by a tour guide. Chris Stainton and Steve 
Jordan sauntered past. This wasn't a show, this was a family outing!
The only downside, for me, was that there was evidently a lot of people 
there who really shouldn't have been - i.e. they weren't really fans but 
were Corporate tosspots (English slang for non-caring idiots). This was 
evident by the fact that even though we all knew the show started at 9, 
oblivious to the pleadings of the MC, by 10 past, at least 2/300 were not 
sat down but were still wandering towards their VIP section, talking and 
totally oblivious to the the irritating effect they were having on the rest 
of the audience. So finally, with at least a 100 still not on seats, on 
strolled EC and Band and they played an initially subdued set which, after 
about an hour gained momentum and turned out to be quite a good show. There 
was no 'Sheriff' (and you know my feelings on that) 'Anyday' or 'MilkCow'. 
And also no Robert Cray. Is it me, but although I was initially delighted 
that he was the support, he seems be be playing on auto-pilot this tour, as 
does his band-and I've caught him about 20/30 times since 1985 so can be 
some judge on that. His contributions to 'Old Love' (as opposed to the Night 
Music version for example) or 'Crossroads' are ponderous with non of the 
spark he used to have. And for his absence, those two were particularly 
good. As were 'After Midnight' and 'Little Queen of Spades'.
Eric is obviously 'tweaking' the set list and this, I think, is a good idea 
for us AND the band. I hear tell that during rehearsals other gems were 
tried out, including, intriguingly 'Forever Man'. And that, for me, is what 
he is. He's 61, dammit, has a new family, is on tour promoting a new(ish) 
album and is willing to experiment but can still pull out those special 
chops, after all these years.  OK, maybe not as many as in the 'old days' 
but I, for one, haven't felt let down but any of the shows I've seen so far. 
Oh, and there was one nice touch. He dedicated 'Back Home' to Billy.
Apparently the night before had been even more 'Corporate' with some members 
of the audience more interested in their lap-tops or mobiles than watching 
the show-although he did have all his new family down at the front and he 
would occasionally wave at them. Aaahh.
What next? Well-a rest, obviously-and I do think he needs one and then 
onwards to more Euro dates, the U.S. and then Japan. Me? Well, this is World 
Cup month and it was very interesting (and considerate) for the tour 
organisers to omit June from the schedule. I'll be cheering on England 
(En-gerl-and!!) and making plans for a few more Euro outings-Lucca? Perugia? 
Locarno? Verona? Only me and the Bank manager can answer that one.
Set List for 10th June Hampton Court
PRETENDING
SO TIRED
GOT TO GET BETTER...
OLD LOVE
EVERYBODY OUGHTA/MOTHERLESS CHILDREN

acoustic set
BACK HOME
I AM YOURS
NOBODY KNOWS YOU...
RUNNING ON FAITH

AFTER MIDNIGHT
LITTLE QUEEN OF SPADES
LET IT RAIN
WONDERFUL TONIGHT
LAYLA/COCAINE

enc: CROSSROADS