Hello,
First time seeing EC under his own name,as the other occasion was at the first of the Cream reunion shows-doesn't four years fly?
His opening act were Austin's finest,'Arc Angels' who boast Doyle Bramhall (The Second),Chris Layton,Charlie Sexton and a bassist whose identity eludes me.Point is,they were as good an opening act as you'll hear.
When the time came for the main event,the house lights dimmed and out strode...Peter Kay!I know he did this for EC's last Manchester visit,and his two minutes of nonsense went down a storm,and when EC and Co. joined him,it looked as though they had enjoyed his banter too:very jovial and relaxed.
I know that EC may be considered to be musical Mogadon by many here,and I can't say that to sit through a DVD of Eric grimacing his way through a solo would set your pulse racing,but to see the man play live is a different kettle.
What I admire about his playing is that he doesn't do overwrought,histrionic,800 mile-an-hour solos.Sure he throws in a load of widdly bits but it is almost always in keeping with the feeling of the particular song,and reassuringly he still gets a massive,crunching tone from his Strat on songs like 'Cocaine' or 'Badge'.
However,it's not all beer-and-skittles.EC does a mid-session sitting down,acoustic 'Unplugged'-style set which is a bit of a curate's egg,consisting of some beautiful picking on traditional blues numbers,but also regrettably,complete dross like 'Lay Down Sally'.
And for Goodness' sake,if there was ever a song that needs to be plugged-in and revved-up it's 'Layla',and I keep remembering Pete Townshend's comment on EC's 'Unplugged' version of 'Layla',after his mate won a load of Grammys for that album,
"Layla unplugged?Bossa Nova @#$%&' karaoke.I @#$%&' hated it!".
All delivered with a loving smile,but in essence he is right.
At different times solos get handed-out to EC'c bandmates-we're talking Chris 'Quadrophenia' Stainton,Willie Weeks,Steve Gadd and Andy Fairweather Low here.Thankfully EC must follow Keith Moon's adage on drum solos,because Steve Gadd didn't bore the hide off us with any unecessary tub-thumping.By the way,that's the last 'Who' reference that I'll shoehorn in.Mercy!
Unfortunately we were treated to 'Wonderful Tonight' but The Gods were smiling as it was an abridged version.Not abridged enough for me,like.
And there is my take on EC:similar in a way to Macca,in that he allowed himself to bland-out and release a load of old pony,when all the time underneath you've got someone who has forgotten more about rock'n'roll,or in Eric's case,blues than almost anyone else will ever learn.
He can still play,though.
Cheers,
Si.