Last night was, well, how should I put it? Ah, yes. Amazing.
I knew that Eric Clapton was a God on the guitar, but damn, last night he just blew me away. He just put himself somewhere in my mind that not many musicians go and he is there with good company. For 2 hours he rocked Key Arena and I was just amazed. I can’t say that enough. He played a very balanced mix of the old stuff as well has some of his new material.
I had the pleasure of attending this concert with Amanda Case and I think that if I was only half as excited to go as she was I would have gone crazy. One thing that I usually do when I go to concerts is that I wear earplugs. However, this time I forgot them and I was glad (for once) that I did. This concert was meant to be heard raw and loud. My ears were ringing when it was over, but it was a ring that I was more than glad to hear. The ring contained the remnants of the rock rendition of “Layla”, “Wonderful Tonight”, or the ripping of the opening number of “I Feel Free.”
Just his presence on stage was commanding. He just took control and dominated. That musicians that supported him were quite talented as well and the black man on the electric organ was just crazy. I have never heard rock/blues played like that before and he was just awesome. He had one solo, I wish I remembered the song, that just blew me, and everyone else in the stadium, out of their seats. You couldn’t help but just get smothered with the sounds that were coming from the stage.
This concert has to be one of the best if not the best concerts that I have ever been to. I can’t think of another concert that matched up to this level. It is one thing to listen to his classic music like Unplugged on CD, but to see it live is completely another story. It is a story that comes once in a blue moon and is to be savored with every ounce of your being.
Even though it is sad to leave a concert when it is over, your adrenaline keeps you playing the songs over and over again in your mind. But, the best thing about leaving a concert like this is how you will remember it when you listen to the music on their recordings. I do this with almost every concert that I go to and I know that I will be doing this for Eric Clapton. Now, I just wish I had some of his music on my iPod. *sigh* That is about the only thing that I can complain about right now.
I am not familiar with his new CD Me & Mr Johnson but he did a few acoustic songs off of that album and they were pretty amazing. Makes me think I should go out and purchase that CD. Opens browser to Amazon.com.
I am still on this high that I just don’t want to come down from. I just want to go home, chill and listen to his music, but I have other stuff to do which will get in the way of this. But, I am still in this very high state of blissfulness that I just don’t want to come down from. The occasional lab patron asking for headphones kinda takes away from that but I think I’ll be living this up for a while and I am more than looking forward to it.
Anyways, this concert was, simply put, Amazing. I don’t know how many of you enjoy his music or how amazing he is as an artist, but I am lucky that in my lifetime I was able to say that I saw the great blues guitarist Eric Clapton live and in concert.
Interesting Fact: The Mr. Johnson in the title of his new CD refers to Robert Johnson, the most influential blues guitarist of the early 1900s. It is said that Johnson reportedly went down to the “Crossroads” and made a deal with the Devil. When he returned, he was able to play anything he wanted on the guitar. To local folks, going to any crossroad was just asking for trouble, as the intersection of two roads was considered a bad place.