Eric Clapton and his Band

On the 23rd of January, Abigail and I saw Eric Clapton and his band. The show was great, and more to come on it later, but first a little background information. Abigail has taken up the guitar, under the tutelage of our friend and excellent guitar player Jason Melgaard. So, when the chance to see Clapton came about, Abigail, Jason, and whole bunch of other people were pretty excited. I was not so excited. I've seen a lot of music in the past few years, and the best shows I've seen have been by newer musicians (The Constantines, Les Savy Fav, Cursive), while some of the worst have been by old timers trying to relive the glory days (The Rolling Stones, The Allman Bros. minus half the original band, and so on). Of course, there are a few who, as they've grown older have maintained some relevance. I'm reminded of Dylan and Tom Waites, both of whom have created grammy winning albums in the '90s and 2000s.

So, I assumed that Clapton would come to Seoul and do a greatest hits concert plus the "Unplugged" album with a focus on "Tears in Heaven"-type music. Plus, at 90,000 and 120,000 won ($95 and $125, respectively) I thought the price was to much to bear. Abigail and I, headed by my headiness, decided to save the money.

The day of the show, some of our colleagues called and offered us their tickets as their daughter was sick with pneumonia. So we went. It was awesome. In addition to Clapton on guitar, Derek Trucks, the son(?) of one of the Allman Bros. The concert was full of old blues songs and some pretty hard rocking stuff. One of the things that I appreciated the most was that Clapton brought along some new talent with him instead of filling the stage with a bunch of old guys who he could easily outshine. Clapton, Trucks, and Bramhall all had their own specialties, and Clapton never stole the glory or hogged the stage. It was really cool to see the three of them playing together. Far from being a bland, tiresome throwback concert, Clapton and the band tore it up and looked like they really were having fun. Additionally, I think he was surprised at the reaction from the Koreans, who really seemed into it.

Here's a link to a review of the concert plus the lineup and and the set lists, if you're interested.