Crossroads Fest Pics and Review

This Saturday I had the absolute pleasure of attending Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival located here in Chicago (or more specifically the Chicago suburb of Bridgeview). The night prior to the fest I attended a party thrown by Warner Bros for Clapton fan club members at the Hilton. The party was attended by people from all over the country, all over the world really, and it was a thrill meeting so many of the folks I've chatted with online at the old Cream2005 message boards and the ecaccess site (Clapton's official fanclub) over the last couple years. At the end of the event Clapton's management team sent over a box of Crossroads programs that were quite literally hot off the presses for all of us clubbers who had rsvp'd. A very nice touch! After the party I brought some of the gang back to my neighborhood (Wicker Park) for some drinks over at Estelle's and Nick's Beergarden where we enjoyed the strains of a lively Latin Jazz band.

The next day I met up with a fellow club member at the Hilton and we boarded a limo to the fest. We got there a little before three and after scoping the place out for a bit I took my seat in time for Robert Cray's set. Before long he brought out Jimmie Vaughan and legendary Howlin' Wolf sideman Hubert Sumlin and the three jammed on the Howlin' Wolf classic "Killing Floor" (famously appropriated by Led Zeppelin for "The Lemon Song"). B.B. King was the next to appear and he filled the stadium with his rich, trademark tone and stinging vibrato during "Rock Me Baby". An early highlight was his lengthy and very emotional speech honoring Clapton prior to "The Thrill Is Gone", as Clapton watched from the side of the stage.

John Mayer followed and while I'm not much of a fan of his, I will admit he did deliver some pretty scorching guitar toward the end of his set. Not long after that came another one of the fest's early highlights when Sheryl Crow took the stage and performed "If It Makes You Happy" backed by Vince Gill and former Clapton sideman Albert Lee. I've always liked that song and she sure sang the hell out of it Saturday! A couple songs later she was joined by Clapton for a joyous rendition of Don Williams' "Tulsa Time" (which he recorded for his 1978 album "Backless"). Willie Nelson was next and he delivered a short but sweet set featuring his standards "Crazy" and "On The Road Again" for which he was joined by Crow.

After an appearance by Los Lobos came time for the heavy hitters, the first of which was legendary guitar god Jeff Beck. Beck was phenomenal as was his very young (and very cute) bass player Tal Wilkenfield, but after a forty minute plus set featuring nothing but his legendary guitar pyrotechnics I found myself getting a bit restless for Clapton's set and trust other members of the crowd were as well. Still, there's no denying his instrumental rendition of The Beatles' "A Day In The Life" brought the house down.

After the sun started to set master of ceremonies Bill Murray sauntered up to the mic dressed in Cream-era Clapton garb and you knew it was time for the man himself to take the stage. He did not dissapoint launching into the Derek and The Dominos' classics "Tell The Truth", "Key To The Highway" and "Got To Get Better In A Little While" backed by his most recent touring band which includes Doyle Bramhall and Derek Trucks on guitars, Willie Weeks on bass, Chris Stainton and Tim Carmon on keys, Steve Jordan on drums and this time around a second drummer, Ian Thomas. After these first three songs Clapton addressed the crowd, dedicating the next song to "somebody who couldn't be here tonight but I know he's here anyway" and with that introduction came the instantly recognizable chords to George Harrison's magnificent ballad "Isn't It A Pity", a most unexpected surprise! The performance of this song was epic in it's scope with slide master Derek Trucks echoing the crystalline tone of Harrison's original slide solo, all the while inserting some gorgeous flourishes of his own.

Another Derek and The Dominos classic followed in the form of "Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad" featuring some transcendent guitar interplay between Trucks and Clapton standing shoulder to shoulder at the song's end, guitars seemingly soaring to the heavens above! The Robert Johnson penned "Little Queen Of Spades" came next featuring some of Clapton's most inspired guitar work of the night. There he stood in classic Clapton style- head tilted back, eyes closed, face wrenched in concentration and out came the sublime phrasing and sheer emotional intensity that the name Eric Clapton has been synonymous with for four decades.

It was at this point that Clapton brought out his first special guest, The Band's notoriously reclusive visionary Robbie Robertson. A huge influence on Clapton's own playing post-Cream. The pair jammed on Bo Diddley's "Who Do You Love" before launching into "Further On Up The Road", the song they famously duetted on in Martin Scorcese's 1976 film "The Last Waltz". Witnessing Clapton and Robertson trading licks again after all these years would normally be a pretty hard concert experience to top but the best was yet to come!

It was then that Stevie Winwood joined Clapton and company, first performing the Traffic classic "Pearly Queen" (another rather unexpected surprise) before beginning the heavily anticipated stretch of Blind Faith classics. "Presence Of The Lord" was up first (the very first song Clapton penned entirely on his own and a personal favorite of yours truly) with Winwood and Clapton sharing the lead vocal. "Can't Find My Way Home" came next with much of the throngs in attendance singing along and Winwood's vocals sounding exactly like those of the almost forty year old recording. This was goosebump worthy stuff! For the psychedelic tinged "Had To Cry Today" the two men stood side by side trading delicious lick after lick, just as they had on the original recording, with the band behind them pounding out a ferocious foundation!

Clapton left the stage while Winwood performed another Traffic classic "Dear Mr. Fantasty", long a highlight of his own concerts. It seemed many of those in attendance were taken back by what an impressive guitarist Winwood (who's probably best known for his organ work) is in his own right, but this was something I was well aware of myself, having seen Winwood perform this song previously. Clapton rejoined the band for jam happy renditions of "Cocaine" and "Crossroads" with Winwood staying on and that was that. No "Layla" this time around, but the Blind Faith classics sounded so impressive I'm not sure anyone really missed it.

Clapton made the very classy move of giving our hometown hero Buddy Guy the closing set. I saw a lot of people heading to the exits prior to Buddy's set, but those of us who stayed on couldn't have cared less. Buddy was most definitely "on", launching into a furious take on his classic arrangement of "Mary Had A Little Lamb" before performing his signature tune "Damn Right I've Got The Blues" which featured some of the most jaw dropping guitar work of the entire festival. At this point Clapton (who was all smiles) came back out for Muddy Waters' "Hoochie Coochie Man". Then came the completely predictable but thoroughly enjoyable all-star jam on "Sweet Home Chicago" featuring Buddy, E.C., Johnny Winters, Robert Cray, John Mayer, Jimmie Vaughan and Hubert Sumlin. One last hurrah followed, another Muddy Waters standard "She's Nineteen Years Old", before the entire cast took their final bow and the rest of us began our journey home.

All in all, it was a pretty incredible concert experience filled with all sorts of highlights, but it was the Clapton/Winwood renditions of "Presence Of The Lord", "Can't Find My Way Home" and "Had To Cry Today" that really put it all over the top. My only complaint would be that there was some minor problems with the sound throughout the day. This was particularly annoying during the beginning of Clapton's set as it seemed quite a bit quieter than the previous performance by Jeff Beck, but thankfully they seemed to have that sorted out by the time he brought Winwood on.

I saw camera crews roaming around filming for a forthcoming DVD and I've just learned that a release date for early November has been set. Also set for release this fall is Clapton's autobiography and a just announced, two disc, career spanning greatest hits set.