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Events and Reports - Skanderborg Festival 2008 - Eric Clapton live at Skanderborg festival, Denmark August 10. 2008
I arrived at the festival in the afternoon just in time to catch Danish Hard Rockers Pretty Maids. Pretty Maids delivered a show above average and singer Ronnie Atkins sounded great. The highlights were Rodeo off "Future World" and Another shot of Your Love from their latest effort "Wake up to the Real World", which proves that the old geezers still know how to write a great song.
When the festival announced Eric Clapton as Sunday headliner the one day tickets for Sunday started selling like hot cakes and for the first time ever Sunday sold out first.
Clapton took the stage around 8.30 in the evening and he treated the fans with 90 minutes of well played Blues Rock that rarely is heard better. It soon became clear that Clapton wasn't here to play a set consisting of his greatest hits, but rather a set relying on his Blues roots. Key to the Highway and Hoochie Koochie Man has been covered by several artists, but no one plays them with the same magic as Clapton. Clapton was backed by a swinging band led by guitarist Doyle Bramhall II. When you go see Clapton you want to hear Clapton's guitar playing and therefore I was a bit surprised on how many leads and solos Doyle Bramhall got to play. Piano player Chris Stainton also got plenty of time to shine and impress us.
There was no doubt that tonight's setlist was picked by Clapton himself and not the "casual" Clapton fan exemplified by the concert's unplugged interlude, which didn't include Tears in Heaven. Instead Eric Clapton and his band played Blues-traditionals with a fantastic version of Motherless Child as highlight.
After more than one hour Clapton played a loose version of Before You Accuse me, where after the signature riff for Wonderful Tonight followed. That earned Clapton the biggest applaud of the day, since some of the audience was getting a bit impatient since Clapton has so many "hit" songs in his catalogue that he ignored. Clapton even changed the last bar of the riff for Wonderful Tonight, which might indicate that he was a bit tired of playing the same tunes always.
Even though Clapton and his band had been playing 12 bar blues most of the night they surely knew how to rock. Layla was played note for note and in same guitar driven shape as recorded 38 years ago. We got the full version of Layla and it was my personal highlight, since it had such edge and bite. "New" Clapton drummer Abe Laboreil Jr. lit up Paul McCartney's last world tour and while Laboreil was restricted on the blues songs he really got Layla rocking.
Clapton ended with Cocaine so no one left unsatisfied after this trilogy of hits. Clapton said thank you to the crowd and despite him saying "welcome" after third song he was a man of few words, since he didn't say anything at all but he let the music do the talking.
The festival site is beautiful built in forest with several stages. The average festival attendee is also a bit older compared to most festivals so Eric Clapton was the perfect name in perfect surroundings.
Again I have to apologize for the lack of photos. Clapton didn't allow any photos so just like with Lenny Kravitz's performance RevelationZ Magazine's photographer was left high and dry.
Set List:
01. Tell The Truth
02. Key To The Highway
03. Hoochie Coochie Man
04. Here But I'm Gone
05. Outside Woman Blues
06. Driftin'
07. Nobody Knows You
08. Motherless Child
09. Running On Faith
10. Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad
11. Little Queen Of Spades
12. Before You Accuse Me
13. Wonderful Tonight
14. Layla
Encore
15. Cocaine
| | Written by Michael
Thursday, August 28, 2008 |
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