UPDATED 3 JULY 2008: A full report on the tribute at Grosvenor House, 8th May is now available on the Bunbury cricket homepage, together with a review of Eric Clapton’s special concert:
To close the night in suitable style, Ian’s esteemed friend and companion Eric Clapton kindly obliged by performing a live set just before the strike of midnight for the unique assembled audience. Eric took to the stage to deliver a selective, predominantly acoustic ‘unplugged’ blues set, in the company of members of his current touring band. EC performed with Pino Palladino on bass, Ian Thomas on drums, with Sharon White & Michelle John delivering backing vocals.
EC’s set list transformed featured sober classics from albums ‘Unplugged’ and ‘From The Cradle’ to a different level, with Pino and Eric’s musical intuition and technical acumen being faultless throughout the hour- long set. Notable new additions explored by Clapton in his repertoire were Hoagy Carmichael’s ‘Rockin’ Chair’ and Wilson Pickett’s ‘Don’t Knock My Love’. The reassurance of familiar classics, ‘Wonderful Tonight’, ‘Cocaine’ and ‘Crossroads’ truly brought the house alight as Eric declared “Bless you Beefy†to close the tributes to Ian. The sincerity of EC’s seated acoustic prowess on numbers including ‘Motherless Child’ and ‘Running On Faith’ added to the ambience of the occasion and brought the Bunbury’s tribute full circle. The occasion offered a truly efficacious integration of the worlds of music and sport to achieve a greater good in honouring Sir Ian Botham’s seminal talents.
Band: Chris Stainton (keyboards), Pino Palladino (bass), Ian Thomas (drums), Sharon White (backing vocals) and Michelle John (backing vocals).
Set list:
Rocking Chair (acoustic)
Nobody Knows You (acoustic)
Motherless Child (12 string)
Running On Faith
Key To The Highway
Hoochie Coochie Man
Don’t Knock My Love
Little Queen Of Spades
Before You Accuse Me
Wonderful Tonight
Cocaine
Crossroads
An account of the Eric Clapton XI v Bunbury CC match Sunday 8 June 2008 can also be found at the Bunbury homepage
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