Eric Clapton Mission Concert

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Eric Clapton Mission Concert

Post by Rog »

Last night I sang with Eric Clapton!!

Of course, so did 26,000 others, but I was the best :)

For me, a thoroughly enjoyable show at a good volume.

Warning ~ personal opinion review follows - ymmv.

The night started with 4 young mainly acoustics + vocals singers. Although there was some talent there, basically very few people seemed interested in listening to them - Next!

Next was Pearl, with our own Crushing Day holding the guitar work down. As expected, Iain's work was sublime. Sensitive to the song, beautifully pitched to assist the song, rather than combat it. I like that - a lot! Props also from me to the drummer. We normally don't praise drummers, but being a bassist, I can feel when there's a bloody good drummer on board and imo, he was very fine. Iain, please pass along my appreciation of his work.

The mix was such that the bassist didn't power through to my satisfaction, so I wasn't able to hear enough of him. The keyboard player was, to me, a normal keys player, well talented but not particularly outstanding. The band was, of course, all about the two girl singers. They had plenty of energy and seemed to be good writers, but unfortunately, I very quickly tired of their constant 2 part harmony. They started with the normal call to "rock and roll", but r'n'r they didn't. After the second or third song, I'd had enough and judging by the chants of "get off" & "next" from the younger people around me, so had they. This was a shame, becuause I really wanted to like them, due to Iain's involvement - it seems disloyal to find them boring vocally, somehow. Maybe the PA was to blame, as the vocals sounded really bad from where I was.

Then the act everyone was there to see - EC.

A nine piece ensemble, comprising: Eric Clapton (guitar / vocals), Doyle Bramhall II (guitar), Derek Trucks (guitar), Willie Weeks (bass), Steve Jordan (drums), Chris Stainton (keyboards), Tim Carmon (keyboards), Michelle John (backing vocals), Sharon White (backing vocals).

I've read here than some players don't understand why Eric is so big, he's just a average player. Well, my belief is that if they'd seen him live, they would change their tune. I loved it! Great Fender tone. Great EC blues licks. Great volume. Great feel. Swinging from one song straight into another. Bloody great stuff!

But, there were criticisms. Eric has very little stage presence and apart from "Thank you" several times and a short comment about the weather, preferred to just play and sing. This seemed to surprise & disappoint many people, judging by the comments I heard as we were walking back to the car. We thought the PA was a tad shrill in the vocals and tended to wash them out, a condition also noticed a lot with Pearl. Room for improvement there. Many people commented on the fact that no-one in the band seemed to smile while they played.

Bus those are bugger all to moan about, compared to being treated to some damn fine music. Eric gave everyone else in the band a chance to solo, possibly too many chances, especially Derek Trucks, who seemed to get the Lion's share. I've never heard of him before and to me there was a Southern Rock influence in there which shone through. Nothing wrong with that, of course. Playing an SG with slide and fingerpicking every song. Quite a talent! Doyle Bramhall, another guitarist I didn't know, was a nice player also, although being left-handed, we all knew he was espousing the Devil's message, so we booed him! (LOL)

There was a regrettable incident with some fat bastard wearing a pink shirt who flashed his enormous bare Kilkenny-fuelled gut to the crowd! He later browsed through the merchandise tent and got lost trying to get back to his wife. Yes, we all saw it. You know who you are. My lips are sealed... ;)


For me - $98 well spent!,
Last edited by Rog on Mon Jan 29, 2007 7:22 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Sicklehut »

I was wondering how the EC gig went ...

I think he doesn't really have to say much to have stage presence ... he has enough to boot by just standing there on stage :D

I think Derek Truckers is phenomenal ... I prefererd his playing, tone and style to Doyle.

Oh do we get a prize for guessing who that fat bastard is :lol:
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Post by Bg »

cheeky!

I got a call on my mobile (although reception was well dodgy). Pervy Rog had been spying through the crowd letching at babes with his binoculars and happened upon me. So I showed him ma belly!

I really enjoyed Pearl, the missus is going to buy the CD I think and I liked Iains tasteful playing and solos :D

EC was good but it just seemed like he was going through the motions to me, with two other fantastic guitarists in the band he didn't have a lot to do really. He played a couple of solos that tingled my spine but other than that it was pretty much as I expected.

DT was damn fine and certainly was the finest player on the night for me.

DB2 had some great moments but I don't think he was let off the reins as he used to be before DT came along, which is a shame as I think he can be the equal of Mr Trucks.

A good night had in all :) The downside was Iain's terrible tone, the Crate amp sounded particularly harsh.... nah not really, despite the 3 min sound check they had it sounded great. Could have done without the angst ridden teenage Leonard Cohens but I'm sure their respective families were proud.
So, is that low alcohol or no alcohol at all? mmmm, no alcohol, do you want to try it? Noooooooooo.

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Re: Eric Clapton Mission Concert

Post by Sicklehut »

Rog wrote:There was a regrettable incident with some fat bastard wearing a pink shirt who flashed his enormous bare Kilkenny-fuelled gut to the crowd!
The only thing regrettable about that particular incident is the pink shirt
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Self what a great day it is for Rock and Roll ...

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Post by Gelato »

That was indeed a great day's concert-going :)

Some of the opening acts were good, and some weren't IMO YMMV. I had hoped Daniel Munro (the Leonard Cohen guy ;)) would play some tracks off his album, as they are much more upbeat than the songs he did play, but he still was good. I thought the last guy was OK, but I couldn't really hear his vocals too clearly.

Pearl were fantastic. Iain's playing (and not at all harsh tone), was great 8) More guitar changes than The Edge, but each one was to the perfect guitar for the song he was playing ;)

EC was very enjoyable. I obviously stopped listening to Clapton a long time ago, cause I knew less than half the songs he played :? Last time saw him, I knew them all... I hadn't seen or heard of Derek Trucks before, but he certainly stole the stage. As Rog said, I think he played too many solos in the context of the fact that all those people were there to see Eric (but judging by the horrific display of 40 years+ people that were obviously having their first night out in the last 12 months and partook of a bit too much of the estate's finest, and then proceed to "dance" like they were a couple of decades younger, they didn't all know which one Eric was at all times :roll: ).

My only real gripe was that the sound (where I was sitting) was terrible. It sounded like a couple of the speakers had blown, and everything, including vocals were running through the drive channel of a Marshall Valvestate :? But I was pretty much inline from where BG was sitting, so maybe it was a case of getting what you pay for :lol:
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Post by philipnz »

Interesting that the Herald called it EC's first NZ concert which makes me wonder who I saw in the supertop around 1990. Certainly remember buyng EC tickets.
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Post by Rog »

Gelato - I think it was the sound which spoiled Pearl for me. The vocals were just so trebly they really grated. Its a shame, but I guess getting great sound at every point of a large area like that is bloody hard?
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Post by TMG 03 »

It was a great concert. Sounded bloody sweet from my seat.

The first set blew me away as they all but one came from the Layla sessions and who better to fill in for Duane Allman but Derek Trucks. Maybe the best slide player around these days. You can see why he plays with the ABB. I have seen DBII before with the Fab thunderbirds and he was great then. Last night I think he looked a little out of sorts as two company and threes one to many. But glad I got to see the two of them on the same stage.

The evening had a slide slant to it with several tunes where recorded with slide originally

Last night was the third time I have seen EC here in NZ and it was by far the best. You got to had it to him, he let the others have their time in the spotlight but when it was his turn, he wiped the floor with them. His guitar sound up where I was standing outstanding. THere was no PA issues I could ear of apart from when the support acts got the odd feedback. His guitar cut the mix perfectly. that thick fender LP tone :wink:

He didn't say much if anything but he went on at 8.30 on the dot and pretty much played non stop which is what he does best. It was worth every penny


I never seen so many drunk people before in my life. Most of them around us sat the concert out sobering up.

Roll on Roger Waters tomorrow night. :D

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Post by Rog »

Re Iain's amp. I like the green jewel light! It looked so cool on stage!

BG - what you said about EC just going through the motions was something I said to Ann. Its a sweet gig for him - fly in, do what you do almost every day and fly out again rather richer. Can't blame the guy for that as he faces the old age pension...
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Post by TMG 03 »

Rog wrote:Gelato - I think it was the sound which spoiled Pearl for me. The vocals were just so trebly they really grated. Its a shame, but I guess getting great sound at every point of a large area like that is bloody hard?

Pearl were great apart from the Vocals. :cry: THe sounded flat then sharp then flat again. I gave up and went to the loo. Listened to CD's version of miss you from a portoloo up by the Estate, which was great. Richie Sambora would have been proud. :wink:

Oh, the other thing about Pearl was they all wore black and had a black background and CD even had a black strat at one point. You just could not see them. Shame I was was trying to point CD out to some 40+ people who gave up. :cry:

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Post by Bg »

I thought the sound was pretty good but a bit quiet for my tastes and ears ;) I don't think I'd spend the extra cash in future for seats as they were all tie wrapped together and anyone who stood up were subjected to security guards - which is annoying if you feel like dancing! And probably equally annoying for anyone playing, must look like nobody cares...

Rog Waters will be excellent, we'll be close enough to the wall of flame to singe my eyebrows :D
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Post by Bg »

The cameraman was shite - no matter who was playing during pearl, 99% of the time was focused on the girls. During EC, no matter who played the solo, he closed in on Clapton. What a fool.
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Post by Rog »

We found that up on the hill was actually a pretty good place to be. Could see everything and everybody. TMG, 'Miss You' was Pearl's best song for my tastes, too.
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Post by Rog »

As for Iain's guitars. At first I thought the goldtop was the best sound, but after he used his black Strat for a couple of songs, I saw why he chose that. Great tone! What's its specs, Iain?
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Re: Eric Clapton Mission Concert

Post by willow13 »

[quote="Rog"]Eric gave everyone else in the band a chance to solo, possibly too many chances, especially Derek Trucks, who seemed to get the Lion's share. I've never heard of him before and to me there was a Southern Rock influence in there which shone through. Nothing wrong with that, of course.


I pretty sure derek trucks is the son of one of the drummers in the allman brothers band 8)
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