Thursday, June 28, 2007

Roger Waters, June 26, 2007, Winnipeg

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us


Excellent show and from the 9th row on the floor, great view.

Brilliant guitar playing from Dave Kilminster.

This show was even more of a visual spectacle than I expected. The band utilized a gigantic screen that was as wide as the stage and about 30 feet tall to show constant video footage throughout the entire show. Only in one of the songs, however, the solo number "Leaving Beirut," did the screen show any lyrics. The song was introduced as Waters was stuck in Lebanon as a 17 year-old and was taken in for supper and a bed for the night by a very poor but extremely gracious Arab family. The cab driver husband had one leg and the wife appeared to be a hunchback, who gave up her supper for Waters. The experience never left him and he finally wrote a song about it, that, like several of the songs this evening, had an anti-war angle to it.

There was ample shadowy footage of former band member and group founder, Sid Barrett, who died in July, 2006.

There was quite a bit of anti-war imagery, including footage of the new wall being erected in Israel. Waters spray-painted the wall during his last trip to Israel and also played another show in the region, in a town where the Israelis and Palestinians actually get along peacefully.

An inflatable astronaut appeared during "Perfect Sense 1 & 2." In one video sequence, Earth is seen from space and then an open air stadium gets zoomed in on. Instead of two competing teams, however, the stadium playing field was shown as being a deep body of water with a oil rig at one end and submarine approaching at the other end. Gun fire erupted from the platform but it was destroyed in an enormous explosion after being hit by the sub's torpedoes. Not surprisingly, an inflatable pig appeared during "Sheep," with more anti-war and anti-Bush slogans spray painted on.

Waters sang less lead vocals when the band returned after an intermission to play The Darkside of the Moon in its entirety. Guitarist Dave Kilminster occasionally sang lead vocals as did keyboardist Jon Carin. Kilminster was very strong as one of the 3 lead guitarists, along with Snowy White and Andy Fairweather-Low, who also played bass, once in a while. Fairweather-Low also looked a tad like Elvis Costello, with his balding head and glasses.

One of the three back-up singers sang lead on "The Great Gig In The Sky," and she wailed away for quite a while and really won the audience over.

The encore tracks included Another Brick In The Wall part 2, which had the audience singing along and the evening's closer, Comfortably Numb, which is what many no doubt felt as the show concluded.

I'm not sure how they could have improved the show. I could hear some of the people behind me calling for keyboardist Jon Carin to get off the stage when he sang lead vocals on the Darkside material. Sure, there were several more songs the audience would have loved to have heard, but every good artist leaves them wanting more.

5/5.

Apparently, this was the setlist:
1. In The Flesh?
2. Mother
3. Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun
4. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Part One)
5. Have A Cigar
6. Wish You Were Here
7. Southampton Dock
8. The Fletcher Memorial Home
9. Perfect Sense (Part I)
10. Perfect Sense (Part Ii)
11. Leaving Beirut
12. Sheep

~Intermission~

Dark Side Of The Moon:
13. Speak To Me / Breathe
14. On The Run
15. Time
16. The Great Gig In The Sky
17. Money
18. Us And Them
19. Any Colour You Like
20. Brain Damage
21. Eclipse

Encore:
22. The Happiest Days Of Our Lives
23. Another Brick In The Wall, Pt. 2
24. Vera
25. Bring The Boys Back Home
26. Comfortably Numb

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Manitoba Nights - Jazz Winnipeg Festival - Janice Finlay / Jazz On Tap (dancers)

How would a jazz band sound with tap dancers? I soon found out as saxophonist Janice Finlay, joined by veteran local drummer Rob Siwick, U of Manitoba student Will Bonness on piano and another local guy whose name escapes me, on bass, began her show at the Burton Cummings Theatre.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
Shot at 2007-06-26
Janice Finlay (above) and Bredna Gorlick, choreographer

Finlay, also a composer, performed some memorable original numbers, including "Good Neighbors Make Great Fences," which will hopefully make it onto her next album. Without mentioning his name, they also played Dave Brubeck's "Blue Rondo a la Turk," from his smash 1959 album Time Out. Brubeck plays the Jazz Festival tomorrow.

The dancers were sensational and watching them tap along to the music and improvise on their own, was a treat.

Monday, June 25, 2007

Herbie Hancock/ Kenny Garrett Quartet, June 24, Jazz Winnipeg Festival

Venue: The Burton Cummings Theatre
Audience: 1200

The first act, the Kenny Garrett Quartet, were brilliant straight-ahead jazz. During their first number, which lasted almost 20 minutes, Garrett wailed away on the sax like his life depended on it. After what seemed like 10 minutes, he finally let up and passed the soloing spotlight onto someone else. I thought he was going to drop dead from playing so intense, for so long. Garrett's drummer, the dread-locked Jamire Williams , was incredible, as the bass player and piano player, Nat Reeves and Benito Gonzalez, were no slouches, either. Apart from being able to play straight-ahead jazz like a runaway locomotive, Garrett and Gonzalez reduced the speed considerably for some beautiful ballads from Korea and Japan, featuring Garrett on the soprano sax.

Throughout the show, Garrett kept on beckoning the audience to make more noise or to clap along. There was so much of that going on that I began to wish he would just tone it down a tad and let the audience participate as they saw fit. There was no way that anyone would mistake the electrified crowd as being docile and ready to nod off. Especially not with the huge anticipation of seeing the legendary Herbie Hancock. Garrett's performance was as world-class as it gets.

I'm not crazy about the funky or electronic Herbie Hancock, much preferring his straight-ahead acoustic work. Unfortunately for me, Hancock's performance was a liberal overview of his career and it included that which I do not like and even more new pop material that I could have done without. Still, the audience was polite and cheered perhaps more than I would have. Given his musical pedigree, they gave him a standing ovation when he first walked on stage, which was appropriate and warmly appreciated.

They opened up with the funky tune "Actual Proof" from the early 1970's, followed by an experimental collaboration between guitarist Lionel Loueke's "Seventeens" and Hancock's 1962 smash, "Watermelon Man." While artistically inventive, it didn't quite interest me. Later on, Loueke had the stage all to himself as the band took a break and the African-born guitarist played, tapped and mouthed percussive sounds in an interesting but again, out of place, performance.

Hancock was stunning when playing the acoustic grand piano, but as soon as he touched anything electronic, it was terribly boring to me. Probably the biggest disappointment of the entire set was the performances of pop songs from his recent CD, Possibilties, in which Hancock worked with top pop stars. The ever-grinning electric bassist Nathan East, a veteran session and touring player who has played on many hit singles and albums, sang the Stevie Wonder hit, "I Just Called To Say I Love You," the BB King/ U2 tune "When Loves Comes To Town," and John Mayer's "Stitched Up." While receiving warm applause, he inclusion of these pop songs seemed totally out of place. Herbie Hancock remains a giant among men in the jazz world. Why did he even record such an album? Once you record it, you've got to support it on tour, which is what we witnessed that evening.

The popular Hancock tracks "Maiden Voyage," an introspective, evocative piece and "Cantaloupe Island," a signature piece from the 1964 album Empyrean Isles, closed out the main set.

During the encore, "Chameleon," from the Head Hunters album, Kenny Garrett stepped in and saved the final tune from slipping into mediocrity.

Herbie Hancock would have been excellent with just him on piano, a bass player and a drummer. Maybe next time. Instead of playing safe for purists fans like myself, Hancock went out on a few limbs as would be befitting his rich musical heritage. Miles Davis would have done the same, I suppose.

My rating for the Kenny Garrett Quartet is 5/5.

My rating for Herbie Hancock is 2/5.

Joshua Redman Trio/ The Bad Plus, June 23, Jazz Winnipeg Festival.

Venue: The Burton Cummings Theatre
Audience: 500

Given how long opening act The Bad Plus played for (80 minutes), I suspected that they were actually a co-headliner rather than just an opening act, and they were.

Much has been written about the Bad Plus, both praise and criticism, making them one of the most controversial bands in all of jazz. Many jazz purists are uncomfortable with the band's predilection to cover pop and rock songs, even though they do so in a strong straight-ahead jazz style. They've covered Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit," Blondie's "Heart of Glass," the theme from Chariots of Fire, Black Sabbath's "Iron Man," as well as these two tracks which made it into the set this evening, Rush's "Tom Sawyer," and Tears For Fear's "Everybody Wants To Rule The World."

Drummer Dave King was phenomenal, like TNT with a pair of drum sticks. Even during the quiet songs, he was pumping up and down in his seat, like an animal ready to pounce. Pianist Ethan Iverson was totally adept at playing at any speed, from the ferocious paint-peeler opening number, "Big Eater," to the more solemn moments. Bassist Reid Anderson was lively and the group on track. Iverson was the spokesperson for the band and he addressed the audience utilizing dry wit. Maybe this is how he is or perhaps he's grown a tad cynical over the years given the beatings the band has taken from jazz snobs. Without a doubt, this was a superlative display of straight-ahead jazz virtuosity and I would not hesitate to see them again. Listening to them on CD doesn't quite do them justice, by the way. See them live.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
Shot at 2007-06-30
Dave King

The Joshua Redman Trio, rounded out by drummer Antonio Sanchez and bassist Reuben Rogers, also put on a fantastic show. Redman joked about how he wasn't sure if he played Winnipeg before (he did, about 14 years ago, around the time of the Wish album), and was very friendly and charismatic. During much of his playing, he appeared to be stepping into the air (Giant Steps?), which was obviously a way to help his energy flow.

He stumbled onto some of the tunes from the new album, Back East, from a listening session on his ipod when he came across the 1950 Sonny Rollins album Way Out West, "I'm An Old Cowhand, and "Wagon Wheels." While Rollins the innovator of the sax, bass and drums trio, Redman utlized his own arrangements for these covers, which went over well. The band opened with the first two tracks from the new album, "Surrey With The Fringe On Top," a Rogers and Hammerstein collaboration from teh musical Oklahoma! and 'East Of The Sun (And West Of The Moon)," a crackling display of furious bop.

Both bands 5/5 each.

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Pink Martini, June 22, 2007, Pantages Theatre, Winnipeg

4/5
audience: 1300

After the five person Madrigaia group walked off stage, I think the audience was surprised to see a whopping 13 people take the stage as Portland, Oregon's Pink Martini. Opening with Ravel's Bolero, the audience immediately gave them applause after the few opening notes of Pansy Chang's cello. When trumpeter Gavin Bondy stepped up to the mike and blasted out his notes, the room erupted once again in applause. It was a sensational opening piece that showed the audience, that without a doubt, this band could play.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us


Following this tune, leader and pianist Thomas Lauderdale, who looks not unlike a young Asian Elton John with his glasses and shock of spiky blond hair, introduced yet another member of the band, the focal point, singer China Forbes. Forbes, dressed in a tasteful black dress later on joked about she was shopping at Holt Renfrew and ended up heading back there to try a few more things on. She was very much what the confident, beautiful centrepiece but what surprised me the most was the number of languages she sang in! Like Thomas Lauderdale, she graduated cum laude from Harvard. I couldn't tell, but Forbes' mom is African American and her dad French-Scottish.

A few of the songs originated from decades old movies, some of which they transcribed only to learn they wrote some of the words down incorrectly. While the band could have taken the easy way and simply played nothing but standards sung in English, I have to give them credit for seeking out songs from other cultures and singing them in their original languages. Forbes sang in Japanese, Portugese, French, Spanish, Croation and Arabic. Still, after a while, I grew a little tired of the foreign vocals. A few other members of the band also sang lead vocals,including the trombonist

What I like about Pink Martini is that they don't play it safe. Forbes wasn't afraid to write about men who swept her off of her feet and then never called her. She recounted one such encounter which turned into the song, "Hey Eugene," which had the audience in stitches.

While both Lauderdale and Forbes met at Harvard, they went their separate ways after graduation. Lauderdale was unsatisfied with the music being performed at political fundraisers and formed the band to provide better music. Forbes kept on commuting to the West Coast until finally she decided to settle their and make the band her full time career.

After the show, the band met hundreds of new and old adoring fans in the lobby for a meet and greet and to sign CDs.

Are Pink Martini too eccentric or do they strike the right balance of virtuosity and kitsch for modern audiences who don't want anything resembling the cheese of Lawrence Welk while wishing to revel in the sonic glory and visual spectacle of a mini-orchestra? For me, it's the latter.

Openers local a cappella group Madrigaia sing in several languages and for the first time, played with a drummer. Their best material so far is from their landmark first album, and since they played more newer songs, the show was very good but not quite superb. Still, they no doubt played in front of many people who had not seen them before. Some of them look like they are having a good time, while others look a little apprehensive. Madrigaia performed for Queen Elizabeth at the Forks a couple of years ago and are worth checking out.

Saturday, June 16, 2007

golfing to date

Three decent scores, four bad ones.

Tuxedo - 85
La Verendrye - 115, 113, 114
Elm Creek - 100
Teulon - 110
Windsor Park - 90
Bridges - 117
River Oaks - 113

Friday, June 08, 2007

Concert - Dinosaur Jr., May 28, 2007, Winnipeg, Garrick Theatre

I'm standing outside the Garrick Theatre, waiting for the doors to open to this rush seating event, when some dude walks by and hands me 4" x 5" flyer for a Dinosaur Jr. dvd. Moments later, another dude walks by with a same sized flyer promoting the new record store on Garrick, War On Music, in which it says "Large corporate music retailers put local stores out of business. Take your business elsewhere." Nice timing. The second dude's flyer elicited some good laughs from the crowd.

Opener Lou Barlow was a real treat. He's the bass player with Dinosaur Jr., but he played poignant pop love songs with just his voice and acoustic guitar and it worked really well. Prior to taking the stage, he and his wife and baby were sitting in the upper level, behind me, but no one noticed him. Or if they did, no one approached him.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

The second opening act, a power trio from Dearborn, Michigan by the name of "Awesome Color" (I think), were very intense. Just when you thought you saw it all, they became even faster. How many arms did the drummer have? She lashed out with ferocious beats that simply did not let up. The guitarist/ singer was a cut above the average guitar player and almost recalled moments of Stevie Ray Vaughn, if you can believe it. They were raw, fast and loud but despite all this, there was still a huge crowd of people in the foyer, drinking down the moments until the legendary Dinosaur Jr. took to the stage.

J Mascis, Lou Barlow and Murph the drummer played for about 75 minutes before taking a rest and returning for a 2 song encore, which included "Freak Show," one of their best known songs. At times, Mascis, a master of distortion, sounded like a thousand heavy guitarists all taking flight simultaneously. To some, it's noise. To many, myself included, it was glorious. Mascis spent almost 10 minutes tweaking his sound gear prior to getting the show underway and returned to fine tuning a few more times.

Dinosaur Jr. were seen as an influential band back when Nirvana and the Pixies were the darlings of the alternative rock scene. J Mascis is an extraordinary talent and overall, the band's pop songs were a joy to listen to. Mascis extremely heavy sound owes more to the free spirit of punk than it does to overly serious heavy metal and so the show was fun more than anything else. Just one fan managed to dance a bit on stage as Mascis was looking at the stage floor, before diving off into the crowd. Towards the end of the second band's set, the guitarist lowered his guitar into the crowd to have a fan play along. The guitar made its way to 2 or 3 people and there appeared to be some squabble that was quickly extinguished.

This was an intense, fun show. Will these guys keep on touring and recording? I think that depends on how well their new material is received and how well it sells. Surely, they don't want to become just a nostalgia band, because that is a sure sign that you are washed up. If you've heard about them but haven't seen them, take a chance and go. Just bring earplugs.

My rating for this show is 3.5/5.

Sunday, June 03, 2007

Feist, May 23, 2007, Burton Cummings Theatre, Winnipeg

Opening act Chad Van Gaalen did his best Neil Young impression, but for some strange reason, he failed to play the barnstorming, footstomping glory that is "Clinically Dead" from his album from 2 years ago. That tune alone would have sold several CDs, I'm sure. Unless I'm mistaken, he didn't even say his name.

Leslie Feist is the former member of Broken Social Scene who won the Juno for best alternative album, back when the Junos were at the MTS Centre. She played and I recall that she stopped her set on national tv due to technical problems. Nonetheless, she played to a house full of fans tonight at the Burton Cummings Theatre.

Unfortunately for me, some big lug ended up sitting right in front of me, blocking some of my view. Later on, a couple of yahoos end up sitting beside me. They were in a mood to party. During one of the songs, bird sounds emmanated from the stage. Well, the yahoos decided to "caw" like crows for fun. Moments later, during one of the quieter songs, some goof decided to copycat the yahoos and offered up some cawing of his own. Not nice!

During one of the ballads, the yahoo beside me and his girl made their way to the aisle and began to slow dance. It was a really cute moment and everyone noticed. I could have sworn I heard boos when one of the burly security guards came over to get them to clear the aisle. Feist herself intervened and asked that they be allowed to continue.

More than halfway through the show, I noticed a couple of young women stroll down the aisle and to the front of the stage. Within a minute, the front area was packed with people and the security guards weren't letting anyone else in. As people walked up to them, they were routinely turned away which resulted in "that sucks" being uttered.

One of the highlights of the show was when Feist began to talk about Charlie Chaplin's bio that she read and how it mentiondd to played the Walker Theatre. She then proceeded to play a simply old fashioned tune, accompanied by a Pipi Longstockings lookalike tap dancer! She wasn't wearing lederhosen, but there was thunderous applause for her at the end of the song. As I was exiting the venue, I noticed her at the merch booth. Speaking of merch, the t-shirts were really, really lame. They could have hired a junior high kid to design something better. I left without buying one.

Feist saved her hit single Mushaboom for the final encore. It's her most immediately appealing song, but Feist is definitely not a singles artist. She could pretty much play anything and people would just eat it up. And she did play quite a variety of indie pop, ballads and overall somewhat quirky music. I'm convinced that she'll play to a larger audience the next time she plays the Peg.

Lacuna Coil, May 22, 2007, Garrick Theatre, Winnipeg w Stolen Babies & The Gathering

Italy's Lacuna Coil played the Garrick theatre to a crowd of about 500 fans.

Openers Stolen Babies played a diverse amount of material, including a few with an accordion. Their sound ranged from goth-pop to techno-industrial metal and all sounds in between. Sometimes it worked, other times, it was all right. I dug the fact that they dare to be different.

The Gathering are another female fronted band and despite the fact that they have several CDs out (15) according to the guy at the merch booth who sold me their latest, their name never really registered with me before. However, their laid back, moody metal with keyboard ambience won me over, especially when they went into what seemed to be a 15-minute jam. While it was more repetitive than inventive, the jam had a calming affect on me, like I could just lie down and float away to the music.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Lacuna Coil have two lead singers, one female, one male, and a dandy computer to play all the keyboard parts. Coil weren't better than The Gathering to my ears, just a bit different. Like so many metal bands today, they owe a huge debt to 'Tallica for their crunchy sound, but thankfully, unlike many of the metal bands that I have seen in the last few years, Coil don't try to come across as Slayer / 'Tallica clones with pointless thrash intensity and cookie monster vocals. Lesser bands try to clone successful bands and try to make up their lack of originality by being heavier and faster than the next band. Coil may be similar to Evanescence, but I wouldn't call them a copy cat band. I wonder which band has been around longer.

For around $25, this was a great way to spend an evening.

Riders on the Storm, May 9, 2007, Burton Cummings Theatre, Winnipeg

4/5

Lead singer Brett Scallions is no Jim Morrison, but he put a fair bit of effort into the show. Ray Manzarek and Robby Kreiger were the stars and they played like the masters they are. Krieger looked like a corpse and sounded like he had some kind of cerebal palsy when he introduced Manzarek, but he played the guitar beautifully.

This one young woman sitting near me brought a mirror and help it up as she bounded up and down, possibly hoping to be spotted from the stage. She looked like she would lose control of the thing, the size of a small dinner plate, and smack some guy on the head. Later, she strolled on stage and hugged the singer and dropped to her knees to simulate oral sex on him. At that point, she was escorted off the stage. She appeared again and this time, it appeared that she and her boyfriend were both thrown out.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Prior to the headliners arriving on stage, a couple of seemingly teenage girls got up and danced like maniacs to the swing music, in front of the stage, at the left side. When they were finished, the audience actually applauded for the them! Towards the end of the show, one of them walked on stage, hugged the lead singer and was given his tamborine to play along with the band. She was kicked off the stage whenever she came into the view of the security, but so long as she bopped hidden behind some speakers, she was okay to be on the stage.

Highlights included LA Woman, Riders on the Storm and Light My Fire, all of which evolved into extended jams.

Openers Bangkok 5 (or something like that) from LA , came across as Aerosmith clones, but were very energetic and won the crowd over.
Setlist
O Fortuna intro
Love Me Two Times
Break On Through
Strange Days
Roadhouse Blues
Waiting For The Sun
When The Music's Over
Spanish Caravan
Peace Frog/
Blue Sunday
Love Her Madly
Five To One
Touch Me
LA Woman

Encore
Riders on the Storm
Soul Kitchen
Light My Fire

Dimmu Borgir, May 5, 2007, Burton Cummings Theatre, Winnipeg

4/5

I missed the first band, Kataklysm.

Devil Driver may have a corny name, but they were quite good.

Unearthed were all right.

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

Dimmu Borgir were great. Unlike many of today's black metal bands, these guys incorporate symphonic sounds into their music and it works. And they were also heavy. So many bands today try to make up for a lack of originality with speed and heaviness, but most of the ones I've heard have failed. Their last two albums are the metal albums that I have listened to the most over the last couple of years. I don't follow the metal scene closely, but Dimmu may be a cutting edge band on the rise.

Front Line Assembly, April 23, 2007, Pyramid Cabaret, Winnipeg

3.5/5


Openers were Synkro and Distorted Memory, a duo, were excellent with plenty of atmospheric techno meets growling vocals. Seems like an odd combination but it worked and it sounded really good. I tried to buy some of their CDs, but they were sold out at the merch table.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Veterans Front Line Assembly came with an actual drummer and while louder, they didn't sound quite as good. FLA have two keyboardists, one vocalist, a guitarist and a drummer. Together, they make industrial-techno music, occasionally with some vicious, razor sharp and crunchy thrash metal guitar playing. The Metallica influence is everywhere.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

FLA have an enormous catalogue of material to select from, but even so, some of the tunes just seemed weak, definitely lacking the ability to impress. On the other hand, a minority of what they played was brilliant and well worth the $21 price of admission.

Most disappointing about the evening was the lack of people for what is surely one of the world's pre-eminent industrial techno bands. I would guess that there was less than 200 people there, maybe even less than 150. Okay, it was a Monday night, but still, FLA should draw about 2000 people in Winnipeg. They should be able to sell out the Burt easily.

I saw a 40-something couple from last Friday's Interpol show. There were some folks in their 50s and 40s but most of the fans appeared to be 20-something.

Interpol, April 20, 2007, Garrick Theatre, Winnipeg

3/5

Interpol have a sound unto their own. Unfortunately, a lot of their songs sound too much alike.

I was quite surprised when they took a break after playing for only 40 minutes and then played a brief encore. Their entire set was about 70 minutes long and they didn't play "New York City."

Sold out crowd of around 700.

The opening act was a duo from Vancouver who's name escapes me. They combined primative, industrial techno sounds with distorted guitar for a really fun set.

Next up, Front Line Assembly, followed by Dimmu Borgir, Dinosaur Jr, Riders on the Storm, Feist and Cara Luft. I may sneak in Lacuna Coil in there, too.

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
photo by awe. de facto.

Pioneer to the Falls
Obstacle 1
NARC
Say Hello to the Angels
Mammoth
Slow Hands
Leif Erikson
The Heinrich Manuever
Evil
Not Even Jail
--------
Length of Love
Stella Was a Diver and She Was Always Down
PDA

Eric Clapton March 28, 2007 MTS Centre, Winnipeg

4.5/5

I'm docking him half a star for not playing more songs that I knew. Other than that, this was a magnificent display of guitar playing, better than anything I have ever seen. Eric Clapton is a peerless musician. Is he the best guitarist in the world? For the bluesy style he plays, I would say absolutely without a doubt. Clapton shared the stage with another guitarist who was also amazing, Doyle Bramhall II.

The show had both electric and acoustic sets and while everything sounded great, there was huge anticipation for Clapton to play some of his better known tracks, like I Shot The Sherrif, Lay Down Sally, It's In The Way That You Use It, Forever Man, and After Midnight.

The closer was Layla, which was an extended jam. The encore opened with Cocaine and closed with Crossroads, both of which turned into jams, the latter with Robert Cray joining in.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Opener Robert Cray was one of the few contemporary blues guys who actually got airplay on rock radio. He became the bluesman people who knew nothing about blues liked. His opening set was fine. Cray's vocals were very sensual and more R'n'B leaning than traditional blues.

The Band:
Eric Clapton - guitar, vocals
Doyle Bramhall II - guitar
Chris Stainton - keyboards
Tim Carmon - keyboards
Willie Weeks - bass
Steve Jordan - drums
Michelle John - backing vocals
Sharon White - backing vocals


Setlist:

01. Tell The Truth
02. Key To The Highway
03. Got to Get Better in A Little While
04. Little Wing
05. Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad

Sit Down Set
06. Driftin' (EC Solo)
07. Outside Woman Blues
08. Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out
09. Running On Faith
10. Motherless Children
11. Little Queen of Spades
12. Further On Up The Road
13. Wonderful Tonight
14. Layla

Encore
15. Cocaine
16. Crossroads (with Robert Cray)

website page counter