Eric Clapton - PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel NJ - Thursday 22 May 2008

UPDATED 23 MAY 2008

After a short break the tour resumed on Thursday, May 22 with a concert at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, New Jersey. Opening for Eric was Robert Randolph & The Family Band, who also opened for the 2004 World Tour.

Report from a fan:

Truth be told, the performance was not as good as Tampa. Set list was the same as Hollywood, except for the order. Outside Woman Blues was played after Little Wing and before Double Trouble. After Double Trouble, they did Don't Knock My Love.

Highlights were Hoochie Coochie Man, Double Trouble (of course), Little Queen of Spades, and (surprisingly) Cocaine.

The band seemed less energetic and less well rehearsed than they were in Tampa. Overall, the performance was less fluid, and even though Eric played well at times, there was less of the great "jam band" feeling I described in Tampa. In particular, the sit down set dragged and seemed dull. (Rocking Chair is like listening to Over the Rainbow.)

Irrespective, it is still great to hear this set of songs (Tell the Truth, Little Wing, etc.) even on an off night.

Setlist:

01. Tell The Truth
02. Key To The Highway
03. Hoochie Coochie Man
04. Little Wing
05. Outside Woman Blues
06. Double Trouble
07. Don't Knock My Love
08. Drifin'
09. Rockin' Chair
10. Motherless Child
11. Travelling Riverside Blues
12. Running On Faith
13. Motherless Children
14. Little Queen of Spades
15. Before You Accuse Me
16. Wonderful Tonight
17. Layla
18. Cocaine

Encore:
19. I've Got My Mojo Working (with Robert Randolph)

Eric Clapton PNC Bank Arts Center 5/22/08 Pix and Video

Review from NJ.Com:

Eric Clapton gets his mojo working in solo show
Eric Clapton has been in a collaborative mood for the last eight years, recording albums with B.B. King and J.J. Cale and presenting reunion concerts with Cream and his former Blind Faith partner Steve Winwood. But his sold-out show last night at the PNC Bank Arts Center, which opened the Holmdel amphitheater's summer season, was a straightforward Eric Clapton concert. And a very good one.

Backed by a six-piece band, he avoided, for the most part, the kind of pop-oriented hits ("Forever Man," "Change the World") that many of his most devoted fans consider beneath him, and immersed himself in the form of music that has always inspired him the most: the blues. He performed just a few of his most famous songs ("Layla," "Wonderful Tonight," "Cocaine"), but lots of blues standards ("Hoochie Coochie Man," "I've Got My Mojo Working," "Key to the Highway," "Before You Accuse Me") and two songs by his biggest blues influence, Robert Johnson ("Little Queen of Spades," "Traveling Riverside Blues").

This will probably be the most no-nonsense show the PNC Bank Arts Center will host all summer. Clapton, who hadn't presented a New Jersey concert in 16 years (but will also perform at Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa in Atlantic City, Sunday), displayed little outward emotion, rarely moved away from his microphone stand, and said nothing except for a few pleasantries. His guitar playing was masterfully fluid, but also economical; his solos never degenerated into the kind of pointless displays of virtuosity that are common in rock.

Second guitarist Doyle Bramhall II (who also sang duet and backing vocals) and keyboardist Chris Stainton took a lot of solos, with Bramhall specializing in stinging blues-rock licks, and Stainton stretching out in a bouncier, more genial style. Bassist Pino Palladino and drummer Ian Thomas formed a solid, unobtrusive rhythm section, and Michelle John and Sharon White added soulful backing vocals.

They opened with "Tell the Truth," from Clapton's short-lived early-'70s group, Derek and the Dominos. The Dominos treated this song like a fervent, Sam & Dave-style soul-shouting exercise, but this group transformed it into a relaxed blues shuffle. A few songs later, though, they did a good job at re-creating the majestic arrangement of the Dominos' version of Jimi Hendrix' "Little Wing."

Clapton took his first great guitar solo of the night -- a model of slow-building intensity -- on a cover of Otis Rush's "Double Trouble," and followed it with a fast, funky version of Wilson Pickett's "Don't Knock My Love."

He sat on a stool and accompanied himself with an acoustic guitar for a solo "Drifting Blues." The band then returned for the rest of the "unplugged" segment, which included a sweet and dreamy version of the Hoagy Carmichael-written "Rockin' Chair," as well as "Motherless Child," "Traveling Riverside Blues" and "Running on Faith."

The final, fully electrified portion of the show was highlighted by Clapton's slashing slide-guitar riffs on "Motherless Children" (not related to "Motherless Child") and his most passionate singing of the night, on "Layla." At the end of the elegant instrumental coda of "Layla," the band shifted suddenly into the show-closer, "Cocaine."

Pedal-steel guitar player Robert Randolph, the Irvington native (and current Morristown resident) who opened the show, reappeared for Clapton's lone encore, "I've Got My Mojo Working," adding some fleet-fingered solos of his own above the band's rumbling beat.

Another review at APP.Com

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