No nice photo this time. Friedrick and I attended the Eric Clapton Tour concert in Tulsa this week. I'd consider it a lifetime achievement to finally listen to this music in a concert hall. The acoustics were superb. And there were a few small embellishments and changes but basically these songs were just as recorded in the past.
Eric Clapton is a contemplative stage musician. I expected showmanship, but actually he looked just like every former stage appearance I've seen on TV or video. Very auditory. Connected to the music.
From early about high school and definitely when I was out on my own for the first time in 1974 Eric Clapton has been an emotional connection to music--- songs like Layla are just visceral to everyone who has ever listened to music uninterrupted and focused, with its crescendos and pianissimos and fortes. Clapton's compositions/executions seem easy but are quite complex. Dennis says the notes are sometimes hard, ie in Tears in Heaven.
I was sort of afraid he'd play Tears in Heaven, because my mother passed away a month ago, and that's probably the very song that would send me into grief. But, he only played a measure and then performed Beautiful Tonight. Fine with me!
I'd be remiss not to credit Roger Daltry. Quadrophenia is the first art movie I ever saw, in Boulder in Summer 1980 after a week of backpacking in the San Juan Mountains. I wished to hear Reign On Me but he didn't play that. Then in law school about 1982 I saw Kids Are Alright, The Who movie and loved all the music. The Who's best stuff, I think, was before Tommy. Although, most people know those later songs the best. Won't Get Fooled Again stands out as just one of the paradigmatic Youth Movement songs of my generation, like My Generation also.
My friend Sean predicted that Roger Daltry would kick Eric Clapton's, um, stardom, but I have to say that I found myself tearing up a couple of times during Clapton... not because of the lyrics but because of the acoustical rendition. Yes, the music was THAT good! Roger Daltry was a fiery entertainer with a lot of punk still to spend. Overall, it was an enchanting evening that I'll never forget.
Because tickets were pricey, Friedrick and I gave each other this adventure as our 5th Anniversary gift. We couldn't get away to go to the Carribean this year. It was a wonderful concert. I recommend it if you are near any part of the country where this tour will be going.
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