Eric Clapton Tour 2011 – Valley View Casino Center, San Diego – March 6 2011

Eric Clapton Tour 2011 – Valley View Casino Center, San Diego – March 6 2011

Eric Clapon @ Valley View Casino Center (03/06/2011) by pharaoh248 on Zooomr

Setlist
01. Key To The Highway
02. Going Down Slow
03. Hoochie Coochie Man
04. Old Love
05. I Shot The Sheriff
06. Driftin’
07. Nobody Knows You When You’re Down And Out
08. River Runs Deep.
09. Same Old Blues
10. When Somebody Thinks You’re Wonderful
11. Layla
12. Badge
13. Wonderful Tonight
14. Before You Accuse Me
15. Little Queen Of Spades
16. Cocaine
17. Crossroads

The band
Guitar, Vocals – Eric Clapton
Bass Guitar – Willie Weeks
Keyboards – Chris Stainton
Drums – Steve Gadd
Backing Vocals – Sharon White
Backing Vocals – Michelle John
Keyboards – Tim Carmon

Support
Los Lobos

Videos

I Shot The Sheriff

Here is the SignOnSanDiego.com review by George Varga.

Review SignOnSanDiego: Eric Clapton Concert Delights And Frustrates

Eric Clapton’s status as one of the greatest and most imitated guitarists of the past four decades is a matter of record, but who knew he was such a big tease?

At his nearly two-hour-long concert Sunday night at Valley View Casino Center (formerly the San Diego Sports Arena), the three-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee repeatedly pulled back just when it seemed he was ready to rev things up and really cut loose. What resulted was a demonstration of finely honed craftsmanship taking precedence over exploring unknown vistas, and it was both fascinating and frustrating, sometimes simultaneously.

Put simply, when someone performs with the seemingly effortless instrumental mastery that this 65-year-old legend did throughout his 17-song set, it doesn’t seem unreasonable to expect transcendence.

That is precisely what Clapton delivered at his two most recent concerts here, in 2007 at the Sports Arena and in 1998 at SDSU’s Cox Arena. In both of those instances, he ignited on stage, soaring from one peak to another with a winning combination of grit and grace, fire and finesse.

At Valley View Sunday, there were more plateaus than peaks, much to admire, but little to marvel at. The artistic consistency that resulted was commendable, certainly. But there were times where one wished for a little less refinement and a little more spontaneity, a departure from Clapton’s comfort zone into the realm of risk-taking.

When those departures did occur, the artistic and visceral rewards were palpable. Just how palpable was demonstrated by the ingenious manner in which he and his four-man, two-woman band transformed Bob Marley’s loping reggae classic, “I Shot the Sheriff,” into a brisk, ska-fueled song that featured some of Clapton’s most inventive playing of the night. Equally impressive was the elegant, blues-drenched “Old Love.” It featured a wonderfully slinky guitar solo that found him alternating between perfectly bent notes and spiraling lines, as he glided ahead of the beat one moment, floated above in soft repose the next, before kicking the intensity up several notches.

Clapton’s impeccable playing and singing were a testament to good taste, as he demonstrated on such favorites as “Wonderful Tonight” and “Badge.” Accordingly, some of his most impressive guitar work came in the concert’s softest and most understated moments, be it his nimble finger-picking during a superb acoustic version of Charles Brown’s “Drifting Blues” or his two brief but incisive electric solos on “Same Old Blues” (a song written by J.J. Cale, his longtime Valley Center pal and musical partner).

But what proved both fascinating and frustrating Sunday was how, nearly every time the music reached a boil, Clapton would quickly bring it down to a simmer. When organist/synthesizer player Tim Carmon and former Joe Cocker pianist Chris Stainton kicked things into high gear – as they did most notably during their rousing solos on back-to-back readings of Robert Johnson’s “Little Queen of Spades” and Cale’s “Cocaine” near the concert’s conclusion– it seemed reasonable to expect Clapton to respond in kind.

Instead, he reined the music back in, much like an elder master reminding his younger charges about the importance of craft and discipline over impetuous abandon. (Never mind that Stainton is a year older than his famous employer.) Clapton’s guitar solo on the concert-concluding “Crossroads,” the Robert Johnson-penned Delta-blues classic popularized in the 1960s by Cream, clocked in at exactly one minute. That was, incidentally, longer than a good number of his solos on other songs.

Such restraint by the star of the show may be admirable from an aesthetic level. And, lord knows, Clapton long ago proved he can eloquently express almost anything he wants with just his fingers and six strings. (That may explain why, apart from introducing Carmon and Stainton late in the evening, the only words Clapton said to the near-capacity audience of 11,036 were “Good evening” and “Thank you.”)

But while less can often be more, there are times when throwing caution to the wind and letting things rip, rather than being a musical tease, can be more satisfying for artist and listener alike. Here’s hoping Eric Clapton’s next San Diego concert doesn’t err on the side of caution and restraint. (With any luck, Los Lobos – which delivered a spunky opening set Sunday – will also be along for the ride.)

Read more: SignOnSanDiego.com

Another review: OCReloaded