Diary of an Ardent Fan

I never thought I could say this but I FINALLY saw Eric Clapton in concert.

He played at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee.

Jimmie Vaughan (Stevie Ray Vaughan’s older brother and also a member of The Fabulous Thunderbirds) opened the show with a very rocking set of songs.

He and his band really cook. Fun set.

Then came Slowhand himself.

Regardless of the controversy of his opinion of vaccines these days, which I highly disagree with him on, I still think he is a phenomenal talent and he lets the music do the talking.

His band is great (Paul Carrack, ex singer of Mike And The Mechanics, Squeeze, and Ace as well as a solo artist) is one of his keyboard players and sings lead on the last song of the set.) and he lets everyone in the band shine.

He played hits, blues songs, an acoustic set, and jammed a lot.

He still kicks butt.

I’m glad I finally saw him.

Jimmie Vaughan and even Marcus King (a young star on the rise) jammed with Eric and his band at the end.

Again, I never thought I would ever see Eric because he hasn’t really toured, aside from doing a handful of shows, in the last several years. So I figured I better make the drive to Nashville (roughly 6 hours from my house). Well worth it.

My next concert is Alice Cooper and Ace Frehley next Tuesday.

More to come.

Eric Clapton Band Members:

Eric Clapton (Vocals/Guitar)
Paul Carrack (Keyboards/Vocals)
Doyle Bramhall II (Guitar)
Nathan East (Bass)
Sonny Emory (Drums/Percussion)
Steve Gadd (Drums)
Chris Stainton (Keyboards)
Sharon White (Backing Vocals)
Katie Kissoon (Backing Vocals)
Jimmie Vaughan (Guitar on Last song of show)
Marcus King (Guitar on last song of show)

Eric Clapton Set List:

Pretending
Key To The Highway
Hoochie Koochie Man
I Shot The Sheriff
Driftin’ (Acoustic)
Man Of The World (Acoustic)
Nobody Knows You When You’re Down And Out (Acoustic)
Tears In Heaven (Acoustic)
Layla (Acoustic)
Got To Get Better In A Little While
Wonderful Tonight
Little Queen Of Spades
Cocaine
Encore: High Time We Went (sung by Paul Carrack and Jimmie Vaughan returned to play guitar and Marcus King played guitar too)