The Lost Realm

Jennifer and I had the opportunity to acquire row 23 aisle seats for the concert. We had a great time, the set list featured a variety of songs stretching from his early solo career days to his most recent album release “Back Home”.

Robert Cray was the opening act, and put on a good show.  He was very personal, introducing us to each song:  It almost made the ACC seem more like a small venue than the stadium that it is.

Following the opening act, we had a pause of about 15-20 minutes while they got the stage ready for Eric.  I’m not sure if they were having problems or what.  It just seemed odd, given that when I watched him at the ACC in 2004, I don’t remember nearly as long a prep time between Robert Randolph to Eric Clapton.

Once he took the stage however, any frustration over the prep time was lost.  His 2004 band was nearly entirely changed, becoming increasingly more youthful.  Doyle was still there on guitar, but also joining him was Derek Trucks  who plays for the Allman Brothers band, as well as his own Band:  The Derek Trucks Band.  Steve Gadd was replaced on drums by a young fellow who seemed much more enthused about playing with Clapton than Steve seemed to.

The majority of the concert turned into a 3 way guitar battle between Doyle, Derek and Eric much to the crowds pleasure.  If you get the opportunity, look into some of Derek Trucks albums, he’s quite the guitarist, and between Doyle and himself, he was the only one (in my opinion) to give Clapton a run for his money.

The highlight of the show for me, however, had to be the encore act.  Clapton’s band was joined on stage by Robert Cray and we had a 4 guitar rendition of Crossroads (one of my all time favorite songs).  I nearly floated out of the arena following that.

We both had a great time, and I’m hoping with his new album due out in November that we might see another tour in 2008.