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Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival


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Wow, that was a fun night inside MSG. I couldn't do it justice, nor could I piece back together all the different combinations of guitar players we witnessed. Suffice it to say, the Allmans simply killed it in the headlining slot, with Clapton joining them for a guitar romp through Why Does Love Got to be So Sad. John Mayer blew the roof off the place with his take on the Beatles Don't Let Me Down with Keith Urban, which followed a song where he completely channeled Garcia and turned the Garden into a Dead show circa 1990. He brought the house down. And then there was Buddy Guy, Booker T and Steve Cropper, Robert Cray, Gary Clark Jr. I'll have to go through the Crossroads tweets to put it all back together, but it was a great night. With the revolving stage and side stage interlude sets hosted by Dan Akyroyd, there was never a break from 7:30 till the Allmans finished at 12:20.

 

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I didn't yet comment on night 2, but silence does not equal apathy. Another very fun night. Starting right off with Derek coming out to join Sonny Landreth right out of the gate. I hadn't considered that the players from night 1 would be around and play again. Can't keep it all straight in my mind, but do know that one of my faves, Los Lobos, were a highlight. Clapton joining them on Tin Can Trust was superb.

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I read Keith Richards sat in with Clapton - how did Keith sound,  worldrecordplayer?

Sorry Calvino for not responding sooner.  Busy at work in Boston yesterday morning and then...

 

Anyhow, I am likely to be a minority view on this, but after the fun of the surprise of seeing Keith on stage, and I love Keith as much as anybody, at that point in the proceedings I was ready to hear Clapton and his band do their set, rather than be a backup band for Keith (and Robbie Robertson who followed).  It was a spectacular surprise to see Keith.  There had been rumors of Jimmy Page, but I had not heard a word about Keith. The lights were out between performers, and this was the only time they didn't have someone playing acoustic on one of the side stages while the stage rotated and the next band got set up.  I figured it was time for Clapton to play, and then I noticed the performers in place and saw Doyle's leftie guitar, so knew it was Clapton.  Then noticed people down front of the stage going nuts, jumping up and down etc.  The place was totally dark and then the lights come up and there's Keith in closeup on the screens.  Place goes absolutely bonkers of course.  Keith sang 2 songs (Key to the Highway and I forget what came next) and Clapton pretty much let him take all the guitar solos.  As I said, personally, I was ready to hear Clapton and his band do their set, and Keith is not the greatest singer, etc.    

 

So that's my take on Keith, fun to see him, but didn't want to hear him sing 2 songs at the expense of Clapton leading his band through their set.  And it got worse (again, so I thought) with Robbie Robertson, whose first song was terrible and a real buzzkill.

 

But that's not to be overly negative about 2 nights in which I heard countless stellar guitar moments and combinations of musicians.  It was a great 2 nights of music, so glad I went.

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Wow, that was a fun night inside MSG. I couldn't do it justice, nor could I piece back together all the different combinations of guitar players we witnessed. Suffice it to say, the Allmans simply killed it in the headlining slot, with Clapton joining them for a guitar romp through Why Does Love Got to be So Sad. John Mayer blew the roof off the place with his take on the Beatles Don't Let Me Down with Keith Urban, which followed a song where he completely channeled Garcia and turned the Garden into a Dead show circa 1990. He brought the house down. And then there was Buddy Guy, Booker T and Steve Cropper, Robert Cray, Gary Clark Jr. I'll have to go through the Crossroads tweets to put it all back together, but it was a great night. With the revolving stage and side stage interlude sets hosted by Dan Akyroyd, there was never a break from 7:30 till the Allmans finished at 12:20.

 

I was there, what an awesome and fun night!  I kinda thought "Don't Let Me Down" was boring, and never once did I think he was channeling Garcia, I did note he was using Jerry's sounds, two completely different things, and it didn't come anywhere close to a Garden show of '90, hell I wouldn't even rate it a '88 or '94 show :shifty  .  I thought the crowd's applause was more because the two cheesy guys just joined together and played a Beatles song and not so much for how they played the song.  Gary Clark and Buddy Guy totally stole the show.

 

I couldn't make Saturday, I was totally bumming about missing Robbie Robertson, I've never seen him, sounds like I didn't miss anything.

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I was there, what an awesome and fun night!  I kinda thought "Don't Let Me Down" was boring, and never once did I think he was channeling Garcia, I did note he was using Jerry's sounds, two completely different things, and it didn't come anywhere close to a Garden show of '90, hell I wouldn't even rate it a '88 or '94 show :shifty  .  I thought the crowd's applause was more because the two cheesy guys just joined together and played a Beatles song and not so much for how they played the song.  Gary Clark and Buddy Guy totally stole the show.

 

I couldn't make Saturday, I was totally bumming about missing Robbie Robertson, I've never seen him, sounds like I didn't miss anything.

Hey Bosco, re: the Garcia channeling,  I was referring to the song before Don't Let Me Down.  My buddy and I heard it loud and clear, as did people posting on the Allmans forum (who referred to it as Fire on the Mountain).  I get you didn't hear it, but it was unmistakeable and loud and clear to us.  Then I read a RS interview with Mayer from about a month ago where he spoke about spending the last year in Montana just listening to the Dead.  No doubt in my mind it was a purposeful tribute to Jerry.  Maybe it will be on the dvd and you can give it another listen.  

 

BTW, I thought Friday was so great, I don't know that any single player "stole the show."      Speaking of Gary Clark Jr., too bad you missed him with his full band on Saturday, you would have loved it.  

 

Re: Robbie, I watched a video of I Shall Be Released, better than I thought at the time, but his first song really sucked.  I don't know if I commented before, but I didn't particularly like Jeff Beck's set either.  Didn't really care for the violin, and I couldn't hear Tal.  Saw him a couple of years ago at JazzFest (or was it last year?) and thought his set was much better. 

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I know the song your are talking about believe me, like I said he was using Jerry's sounds, it even made me comment to my friend about how Healy had just gotten $4500 on EBay for one of Jerry's MuTrons when the going rate is around $600 or so.  He definitely nailed the "sound" right down to the rippely echo effect, but to me "channeling" would require that Jerry feel and vibe which was not present.  I'm just not a big John Mayer fan, maybe because I did sound for him way back when, I just find him to be a very sterile guitar player with not much going on, yes he's very talented and yes I do like some of his songs when they come on the radio, but in general I find him boring.

 

Hey Bosco, re: the Garcia channeling,  I was referring to the song before Don't Let Me Down.  My buddy and I heard it loud and clear, as did people posting on the Allmans forum (who referred to it as Fire on the Mountain).  I get you didn't hear it, but it was unmistakeable and loud and clear to us.  Then I read a RS interview with Mayer from about a month ago where he spoke about spending the last year in Montana just listening to the Dead.  No doubt in my mind it was a purposeful tribute to Jerry.  Maybe it will be on the dvd and you can give it another listen.  

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I know the song your are talking about believe me, like I said he was using Jerry's sounds, it even made me comment to my friend about how Healy had just gotten $4500 on EBay for one of Jerry's MuTrons when the going rate is around $600 or so.  He definitely nailed the "sound" right down to the rippely echo effect, but to me "channeling" would require that Jerry feel and vibe which was not present.  I'm just not a big John Mayer fan, maybe because I did sound for him way back when, I just find him to be a very sterile guitar player with not much going on, yes he's very talented and yes I do like some of his songs when they come on the radio, but in general I find him boring.

I have not been a John Mayer fan, other than when he plays as the John Mayer Trio.  Which was part of the surprise of Friday night for me.  And I like him a lot more after reading this:

 

Have you been writing new music?

No, but I've been listening to stuff and just falling in love with certain things. I've been listening to the Grateful Dead nonstop. Mark my words, the Grateful Dead are gonna make a comeback, because of how that music cleanses your palate. When everything is processed and quantized and gridded out – to hear "Tennessee Jed" played with that lope is a real palate-cleanser. They take their time, sometimes too much. This free expressive sort of spirit – I listen and I want to find a mix of that openness. I kind of want to go to that show, if it still existed. But I wish that there were tunes that I was more familiar with. I wish that I could be the singer. I wish I could have harmonies. And I wish that I could make it seven minutes instead of 13 minutes. Now I'll get the opportunity to kind of try that.

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  • 3 years later...

I came across the below in my library system - not as good as the Stones one, but really good stuff. Otis Clay's version of Wonderful Tonight is top notch - always have been a sucker for the tune. Layla is another interesting stand out. The cd is worth searching out

 

       1. Miss You - Larry McCray

  2. Blues Power - Koko Taylor
  3. Wonderful Tonight - Otis Clay
  4. Lay Down Sally - Carl Weathersby
  5. Strange Brew - Buddy Guy
  6. Before You Accuse Me - Bo Diddley
  7. Roll It Over - Joe Louis Walker
  8. Crossroads - Honeyboy Edwards
  9. Old Love - Otis Rush
  10. Too Bad - Pinetop Perkins
  11. Tears In Heaven - Ann Peebles

 

  12. Layla - Eric Gales/Derek Truck

511ZSM5GBYL._QL70_.jpg

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