Eric Clapton - Crossroads Guitar Festival 2007
Performance 
Production
|
Eric Clapton - Crossroads Guitar Festival 2007
Performance |
|
Eric Clapton's second Crossroads Guitar Festival was held on July 28, 2007, in Chicago, Illinois and like the original one was to benefit the Crossroads Centre in Antigua. We know from the first festival that the Crossroads Centre is an addiction treatment facility located on the beautiful Caribbean island of Antigua, and was founded by Eric Clapton back in 1998. We also know that the first Crossroads Festival was one of the greatest, blues-based, guitar-oriented festivals ever undertaken, and it produced one of the best concert DVD's of the year in the aptly titled Eric Clapton: Crossroads Guitar Festival. Not to outdo themselves, this year's version of the festival was simply titled Eric Clapton: Crossroads Guitar Festival 2007. This one was not just similar in name, but it was also equal in stature. Again, many of the world's greatest living guitarists joined the legendary Eric Clapton onstage for this one day event, and amazed the capacity crowd that filled Chicago's Toyota Park stadium, which is normally home to the Chicago Fire professional soccer team. Many of the same players from the first Crossroads Festival showed up for this one too. Two of Clapton's biggest guitar heroes, B.B. King and Buddy Guy, will always have an open invitation to these festivals, and they were featured prominently here. Guy and his band were even awarded the coveted closing slot of the night, although I would not have appreciated having to follow Eric Clapton at his own festival. He was not intimidated. As with the first festival, I thought it was a mistake for Clapton to not close the show. At the 2004 festival, which took place in Dallas, Texas, he allowed ZZ Top to close the show in honor of their homegrown Texas prominence. This year, with the festival taking place in Chicago, Clapton respectfully deferred to Guy, who is perhaps the greatest living Chicago blues guitarist who is still going strong. That was certainly a noble and unselfish gesture from Clapton, but he was the clear headliner of these festivals. I have to say, this was one of the most impressive Clapton performances I have seen in a long, long while. It certainly didn't hurt that he had guitar gods in the making Derek Trucks and Doyle Bramhall II playing alongside him in his band, which allowed for some of the finest guitar jams this side of his Derek & The Dominos stuff with the late, great Duane Allman. I am still kicking myself in the ass for missing last year's tour with these guys. The absolute festival highlight was, without a doubt, Clapton's performances with his old Blind Faith bandmate Steve Winwood. They tore through three of the self-titled Bind Faith album's best know tracks, "Presence of the Lord", "Can't Find My Way Home", and "Had To Cry Today", which left me grinning from ear to ear with amazement. Winwood also performed his Traffic classic "Dear Mr. Fantasy", proving that he can easily hold his own with most of the guitarists at the festival, and then joined Clapton for a rousing rendition of "Crossroads". The performances were so powerful and well received that Clapton and Winwood have already agreed to a three show run together at New York's Madison Square Garden, in February of 2008. I have an extra child to trade anyone for tickets to one of those shows. Call me - but hang up if my wife answers. Although the Crossroads Guitar Festival 2007 DVD includes 38 songs, which cover more than four hours, it was still entirely too short. Just thinking about some of the performances that were not included, most notably more of Jeff Beck's 11-song set, left me pretty frustrated. For reasons unbeknownst to me, Beck only provided two his explosive performances, "Cause We've Ended As Lovers" and "Big Block", for the DVD. I say it's high time that this guy finally releases his own concert DVD! Beck's two performances were obvious highlights of this DVD for me. His band was comprised of Tal Wilkenfeld (bass), Jason Rebello (keyboards), and Vinnie Colaiuta (drums). When I first saw him and his band walking backstage on their way out to perform, I initially though that Tal was perhaps Beck's 14 year old granddaughter. It wasn't until I witnessed her incredible bass guitar prowess, along with a few revealing side view camera shots - let's just say she was dressed for a hot summer evening - did I realize that she was much more mature. It turns out she is actually 21 years old, and can she ever play the bass. Like the first Crossroads Guitar Festival, there was something for everybody to enjoy at this show. Along with all of the predominantly blues-based guitar legends on hand, artists also ran the gamut from pop superstars, like Sheryl Crow and John Mayer, to country legends like Willie Nelson and Vince Gill. Bill Murray served as the festival emcee and provided some hilarious comedy bits between each set. My favorite was when he introduced Clapton dressed as the man himself, in full, psychedelic, Cream-era regalia. The only thing really missing this year was something as heavy as Steve Vai's 2004 set. The production quality of this DVD was outstanding. Two exceptional DTS 5.1 surround and PCM stereo tracks were included, and the widescreen presentation looked superb. The camera work really captured the atmosphere of the show, and nearly made me forget I was watching it on my TV. A disappointingly thin booklet is provided that only includes the setlist, a few paragraphs about the Crossroads Centre, and some pictures from the festival. The only bonus material was a short 7-minute feature that provides highlights of a few performances from the Crossroads Village Stage. I could have sat through another four hours of this stuff too, since it featured killer performances from some outstanding, lesser-known, artists like Tab Benoit, Orianthi, Todd Wolfe, and many others. The DVD I purchased from Best Buy also included a bonus disk containing two additional performances by Eric Clapton. This is some great stuff folks. Do not hesitate to run out and buy it. I just wish they would put out an "ultimate edition" that includes every performance from both festivals. I don't care if it takes 20 DVDs and costs $200 - just bring it on. It would be worth every penny. Reviewed by Paul M. Roy - December 2007 |
|
Technical Details |
|
|
Audio Transfer |
Video Transfer |
|
Set List (Performers) |
|
|
Running Time: 269 Minutes |
DVD Release Date - November 2007 |