Slowhand
My brother used to live in southern California and we used to go to a lot of concerts together. We saw Springsteen, Mellencamp, Billy Joel (3 times), and Boston. We saw Neil Diamond at the Greek Theater and if you think that's lame then you don't know anything about rock and roll, hot august nights, or singing along with thousands of people to "Sweet Caroline." The first concert I ever saw was Simon & Garfunkel at Dodger Stadium. I'm sure there were others. We saw a lot of shows. But there were a few that escaped us, a few that we longed for, kind of like finding a pristine copy of X-Men #94. You know...the brass ring.At the top of the "Must See" list was, and still is, Pink Floyd. A couple from my school went to Live 8 this summer and saw Gilmour, Rogers, et. al. I hate them. This was a week after they saw both Coldplay and U2 in Dublin. I hate them a lot.
Next on the list was Eric Clapton. A few years ago he played Staples Center in LA. Rich invited me. I invited Marshall Hamm and Sean Gresham. We bought tickets. This was to be Clapton's last big tour and we had seats for the very last show. Seats for Saturday. Seats way up high. Late Friday afternoon, Rich called: "Where are you guys?" I told him we were going to wait and come up Saturday morning but we would be there in plenty of time for the show. "But," said he, "the show starts in four hours." I RAN to find my tickets. Saturday. His was for Friday. Ain't miscommunication a bummer?
Sean, Marshall, and I drove down Saturday. Rich said the show was awesome. I felt lousy for messing things up. But we went and saw the single greatest concert of my life. And I'm not kidding, I've seen a LOT of shows. I'll list 'em some time, that should be exciting for you. Nothing topped Clapton. I won't go into detail. In fact, if you want to see the show, pick up the DVD of "One Car, One Driver." It's not just from the same tour, it's the exact show we saw on that Saturday night from start to finish. You just haven't lived until you see Billy Preston come out from behind the keyboard and dance around to "Will It Go Around In Circles?"
Nobody plays guitar like Eric Clapton. Not BB King. Not Page or Hendrix. Certainly not Eddie Van Halen (please). Not even Gilmour or Knopfler or Stevie Ray although they come (came) pretty darn close. I love Satriani and Eric Johnson. But c'mon. I'm talking about Slowhand here. He's a master. The best ever. A real blues man.
I picked up his new CD yesterday. It's not great. He's back to the late 80's, early 90's schtick. But no worries. I have lots of other CD's to choose from. And I could listen to "Runnin' On Faith" or "Hoochie "Coochie Man" or "River of Tears" a million times in a row.
I read somewhere that Clapton was married in a church in a small ceremony following the baptism of his daughter from a previous marriage. I'm pretty sure he believes what I believe. Go listen to "Holy Mother" sometime and I think you'll agree. I hope I'm right because I really want to see him play live again. Somewhere where there'll be no more tears.
posted by Thurman8er @ 2:03 PM
2 Comments:
sweet...
I discovered Clapton late in life so I just have the unplugged and Cream of albums. I don't get it all, but would be hard pressed to define an artist's beliefs based on a couple of songs. The same album can often offer opposing views, although I cheer when things seem to take an eternal bent.
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