I saw the opening show on Feb 25th and he seemed rushed to get the show over with. Very short show for someone of his legacy.

When it was over my wife and I had the feeling of "That's $200 we'll never see again"

I'm not so sure that he has not been sick at some of these recent US dates. As I mentioned on the EC/Jeff Beck O2 thread, EC at the EC/JB show at MSG/NYC was drinking something all night and at least twice motioned to crew that he needed more and he was brought another glass of tea or whatever.

I attended his solo show in Orlando, FL last night and he seemed in much better form to my ears than his show with JB at MSG a couple of weeks ago. Last night was a really good show and was the last of an abbreviated U.S. tour.

From here I believe EC teams up with Winwood for some european dates so congrats to those that will be attending. The EC/Winwood US shows have been a lot of fun and excellent concerts.

Again as usual your a fan or not, and all these "experts" saying they know how to play guitar and then judge Clapton. That's funny stuff man!

I've seen a number of Clapton shows over the years, and he's not a guy focused on crowd pleasing antics. You can take anyone to see the Stones; they always enjoy it - "Mick has so much energy!" "My ears are still ringing from those explosions" "When the stage moved they passed right over us!!" "Those giant Honky Tonk Women were awesome!" "I was covered in confetti at the end!!".

It's tougher with Clapton shows - I still remember back in 2006, when I saw him at the Budokan, he had Derek Trucks and Doyle Bramhall with him and without saying a word to the audience, he opened the show with these four Derek & the Dominoes numbers:

Tell The Truth
Key To The Highway
Got To Get Better In A Little While
Little Wing

I was sitting there amazed and my wife says "Pretty boring so far." We've been married 20+ years, so I let it go.

Good post drbryant! I saw him on the same tour in Singapore and was stunned! My boss, who is a great musician and we play in a band together saw the show as well, and said he was bored, he just didn't get it! That show was stunning!

Talk about someone who ran out of ideas and should have retired DECADES ago. Very boring in concert.

Like many people he's his own single worst enemy, and therefore shouldn't be left on his own. Clapton's best tours have been the ones where he played WITH other guitarists (and secondly for an audience).

Quote
MKjan

Quote
stoneswashed77

Quote
Tumblin_Dice_07

Quote
stoneswashed77



keith and jimmy hendrix. clapton is nowhere near in their universe.

clapton is good at copying blues players. especially buddy guy.
he is no original. never played a new lick. he is not a rhythm player. not a good writer.

you think Keith is better than Clapton? haha.......I love Keith, don't get me wrong, but he's no Eric Clapton.

thank god he isn´t. i prefer keith any day. and i think he is the way more important, innovative and influential and therefor better guitarist.

His riffs, the timing, the perfect placing, Richards has it way over Clapton.

Can't figure this reaction. Anybody who has ears can tell Clapton is a much better guitar player than Keith. Keith might have been a better rhythm guitarist in his heyday and he's certainly a better song writer, but he can't come close to Clapton as a lead player. But then again, this is a Stones board and some will claim Keith is the greatest player to ever pick up a guitar just because that's what they wanna believe.

I don't see how anyone can defend Clapton playing a 90 minute set.. come on..thats shit!

I much prefer Keith to Clapton.. ANY DAY OF THE WEEK.

and the reason is that Keith's got some roll whereas Clapton is all rock.. and you either understand what I'm saying or not

Clapton is a phoney.. Even he would tell you that (and has said that!)

Quote
drbryant
I've seen a number of Clapton shows over the years, and he's not a guy focused on crowd pleasing antics. You can take anyone to see the Stones; they always enjoy it - "Mick has so much energy!" "My ears are still ringing from those explosions" "When the stage moved they passed right over us!!" "Those giant Honky Tonk Women were awesome!" "I was covered in confetti at the end!!".

It's tougher with Clapton shows - I still remember back in 2006, when I saw him at the Budokan, he had Derek Trucks and Doyle Bramhall with him and without saying a word to the audience, he opened the show with these four Derek & the Dominoes numbers:

Tell The Truth
Key To The Highway
Got To Get Better In A Little While
Little Wing

I was sitting there amazed and my wife says "Pretty boring so far." We've been married 20+ years, so I let it go.

drbryant, last sentence tells it all - good one!

I've seen EC about 4 times at the Budokan. I am always blown away at the love the Japanese fans have for EC and his music. I think it has a lot to do with how loyal he has been throughout his career to tour Japan at least every other year.

this thread makes me laugh. keith better than clapton

stoneswashed77 , are you sure you play the guitar and not a racket?. Maybe you need 30 more years...

when a veteran speaks...

Quote
capsula
stoneswashed77 , are you sure you play the guitar and not a racket?. Maybe you need 30 more years...

that´s very brave to say considering you never heard me play.

how good are you and why do you think you can judge that better than me.

i actually really play racket too, tennis racket to be concrete.

"i play guitar for 30 years i know my shit".
so if you drive a car for 30 years you can basically relate to mario andretti then?

Quote
bernardanderson
"i play guitar for 30 years i know my shit".
so if you drive a car for 30 years you can basically relate to mario andretti then?

that´s bullshit. whether picasso is good or not. who judges that??

only people who paint on the same level??? bullshit.

are music critis or art critics musicians, painters themself? no they are not!!!

and if you think you have to play good or paint good to be able to judge then i would say it is very very likely my judgement is worth a lot more than most peoples opinions here.

He needs to show some appreciation to the audience. At least Neil Diamond (who is a huge phony) pretends to be sincere to his audience. I am not comparing the two.

A night out on the town, 2 Clapton tickets, travel time, etc...he just put down the guitar and gave a half-ass wave (not as bad as a Don Henley wave with him back turned). At least give the impression he is glad you came out to see him.

It's show business...Clapton has the business side down.

I guess what I am trying to say is that I get a bigger "thank you" from the girl at Burger King.

Clapton is God. He is one of the reasons I picked up a guitar. So for all you naysayers and supposed guitar players when you have Eric's ability then come back on this board and say he is a crap guitar player, go on, I dare you.

With regard to Dr Bryants comment about his wife saying it's boring....I think if it were me she would no longer be the present Mrs Bryant. I too took my wife to see Eric at the Albert Hall and we had front row seats in a box on the 1st tier, dead in front of the stage and she was bored the whole gig. She didn't say anything it was written on her bored little face....;-)

ps I love my wife..... a lot. but then she gets bored at the Stones and it's only when Charlie goes past on the travelator/bridge thingy that she screams, waves and hollers.....women huh?!?

NickB

You can't always get what you want.....

www.myspace.com/thesonkings

"that´s very brave to say considering you never heard me play"
It's true, I haven't heard you. But I know from your comments that you don't understand music or feeling, and that's the first chapter for playing.

Quote
capsula
It's true, I haven't heard you. But I know from your comments that you don't understand music or feeling, and that's the first chapter for playing.

hahahahaha, that´s very funny. sounds like something one can say about someone who dislikes the rolling stones but not about someone who dislikes eric clapton where
it´s obviously more about technic than about feeling.

i must admitt i like clapton,
mostly for the reason he i so unbelievebly practiced and good guitar man
he has some undefined class in his music,
and, that i dont mind his short troueses etc....