Eric Clapton – Yas Arena, Abu Dhabi – Friday 11 February 2011
Eric Clapton Live Concert at Yas Marina Island February 11, 2011 – Layla and the Gibson ES 335
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. Rocking Chair
10. Same Old Blues
11. When Somebody Thinks You’re Wonderful
12. Layla – seated Gibson ES 335
13. Badge
14. Wonderful Tonight
15. Before You Accuse Me
16. Little Queen Of Spades
17. Crossroads
18. Further On Up The Road
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
From ThenNationalAe:
Clapton doesn’t disappoint his UAE audience
Erin Conroy
Last Updated: Feb 12, 2011
It was a musical double header in the UAE last night as the guitarist Eric Clapton played to 15,000 swaying fans at the capital’s Yas Arena, and the soul singer Amy Winehouse performed an erratic finale to the musical festivities at Gulf Bike Week in Dubai.
In Abu Dhabi, Clapton opened with Key to the Highway, a version of a Charlie Segar song that he recorded with Derek and the Dominos in 1970.
Photo credit: Sammy Dallal/The National
Other songs included Wonderful Tonight from the 1977 album Slowhand, and the classic Derek and the Dominos hit, Layla.
Eager for the opportunity to hear his early hits, Jane Parke traveled from her home in Sana’a, Yemen to see the concert.
“I have friends in Dubai, so when I heard about the concert I made a holiday of it,” she said. “I have always hoped to see him live.”
Marcel Hamoen, an electrical engineer for a petroleum servicing company in Dubai, called Clapton “the last surviving great guitarist of all time”.
“He is the one who, in the 1960s, completely broke into the blues scene to change its whole influence,” he said.
“There are no guitarists or even musicians today who are not directly or indirectly influenced by him.”
Jon Van Wyk, who flew in from Queensland, Australia, said he was most excited to hear music from his new album, though he said he is a bigger fan of Clapton’s time spent in the bands Cream and The Yardbirds.
“Seeing Clapton has always been on the top of my list of concerts,” he said.
“I have just about all of his albums and have watched many of his concerts online and on YouTube, so I am thrilled.”
The concert was held during a packed weekend of V8 Supercar racing and extreme sport demonstrations at Yas Marina Circuit, and kicks off a tour to promote the blues-rock guitarist’s latest album, Clapton.
Eric Clapton and His Band will hold shows in Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong and Seoul before heading to North America at the end of the month.
Eric Clapton Concert – Yas Arena, Abu Dhabi – 11 Feb 2011 (I Shot The Sheriff – great solo)
While Hosni Mubarak was hustling out of Cairo with his family and several billion dollars Friday night, I was watching Eric Clapton perform at the Yas Arena in Abu Dhabi. That these two men would be the focus of my attention on a February night in 2011 is another testament to how weird my life has become.
Eric Clapton first. The UAE loves celebrities. Amy Winehouse was performing in Dubai the same night. We had Kevin Spacey here last week hosting some sports award banquet. God knows how much these people get paid to come here.
Whatever they paid Clapton, it was worth it. The man is old, but he’s still extraordinary. I liked that he came on stage with a black short-sleeve shirt, loose jeans, white socks and dockers. No bling. It was all music. He and his band walked onto the stage and just started playing. I don’t think he said more than 15 words all night and most of them were to recognize his band members.
He had two keyboard players who were worth the price of admission on their own. He had two black female backup singers that were out of a Motown movie. I’ve seen some critical reviews of Clapton in recent years, but, sorry, the man can do wondrous things with his guitar.
The crowd of 15,000 was an entertaining mix of young and old, East and West. It was quite a scene.
As happens at most concerts, people were taking useless cellphone photos from a mile away, checking their Blackberries for who knows what and talking, talking, talking during much of the performance. They all cheered at “Layla” and “I Shot the Sheriff” and I wondered how sick Clapton must be of singing those songs.
Because he was performing in the UAE, “Cocaine” was not on his playlist.
Eric Clapton in Yas Island Abu Dhabi 11 feb 2011 – Driftin’
First of all, thank you for the breaking news!!
Just a few thoughts after watching the trailer and the excerpt of Sheriff :
1- why does Abu Dhabi have to be SO far? 🙂
2- good to see Sheriff has not been retired :-))
3- sheriff might have well stolen the whole show: scorching solo!!! :-)))
4- apparently cameras filmed the opening song…. will have they been rolling for the remainder of the gig? :-))))
5- wonderful tonight has to need a rest…. there are several other ballads that Eric could perform instead (i.e. Tell Me That You Love Me, Black Summer Rain, Please Be With Me, Give Me Strength, Another Ticket, Next Time You See Her…. to name but a few!!!)
6- I’m counting the days to the stint at the RAH!!!! (btw, I need tickets – one is obligatory but two are preferred – for the shows on May 21st and 27th. If anyone reading this has spares, will you please let me know? Thanks in advance)
Thanks for the Layla video!
Not the electric version that I was hoping for… but well, at least we get the unplugged one with EC playing a Gibson ES335……… which makes this a rare document.