Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton in Toronto!

[eberg15101]

that picture is perfect lol

but more importantly, nice review, I can't say I like Jeff Beck at all, and I don't know if I'd pay 150$ to see Beck and Clapton... maybe, but probably not, I can't wait to hear the clapton portion of the review though

[Sox]

I have nothing but respect for both Eric and Jeff. I have seen them both a few times though never together and have plenty of their records. What niggles me is what is expected of them time and again, I hear folk in pubs slating Eric its like they put him on a pedestal just to knock him off. Jeff uses his guitar as his voice so there is bound to be more effort in his technique so as to keep the crowds attention, Eric sings and uses his guitar in responce and as an accompaniment two different styles.

[Flower]

Originally Posted by eberg15101 that picture is perfect lol

I agree!

[Foxhound]

12. I had taken in a fabulous Eric Clapton concert at Maple Leaf Gardens in 1995(?) which consisted entirely of Eric covering old blues classics. A set of old blues classics into which Eric could intersperse searing guitar licks would have been a more than adequate way to follow-up Jeff's blistering fusion guitar set.

13. The break between Jeff's set and Eric's set wasn't much more than fifteen minutes. The fellow alley dweller known as Red that I'd brought with me was a big Eric Clapton fan and she was waiting for her idol's appearance with rapt anticipation.

14. Eric arrived backed by a bass player, drummer, Chris Stainton on keyboards (both piano and organ), another keyboardist who may have been handling both synthesizer and mellotron duties since I detected strings that I hoped weren't canned at points during Eric's set, and two black female backup singers. He never did introduce his band though.

15. The first two numbers Eric performed were acoustic - "Driftin' Blues" and the unplugged version of "Layla" which has always struck me as being a completely emasculated version of the original. After a set of Jeff's blistering guitar leads though, I found Eric's opening numbers to be a letdown.

16. Now Eric was never a great singer but he's evidently been losing his voice lately which is why he needed the backup singers to add some punch/projection.

17. After he electrified his most crowd pleasing numbers was the reggae influenced "I Shot the Sherriff" which Eric performed as a full fledged calypso number with the aid of his backup singers. It was about the liveliest number he performed.

18. He played "Cocaine" but I could not have found it all that inspiring because I just had to check to make sure it really had been part of his set. In fact, I didn't notice Eric playing any seering extended guitar solos at all. Red was disappointed in the omission of "Bell Bottom Blues" and "I Can't Stand It" from his set.

19. Eric played for about 45 minutes before being joined on stage by Jeff Beck. With both of these guitar legends sharing the stage together, I expected some serious joint guitar pyrotechnics. But it was not to be. Eric played the bandleader and front man, but Jeff was the hotshot young guitar god throughout the rest of the performance. While Jeff pealed off solos, Eric was content to strum rhythm guitar. Jeff was the flashy one, while Eric was workmanlike. I guess that's why they call Eric "Slowhand".

20. One of the numbers they performed was a very interesting instrumental cover of "Moon River" with Jeff's guitar and whammy bar taking the place of the vocals.

21. Their cover of Sly & the Family Stone's "I Want to Take You Higher" was a crowd pleaser. The backup singers certainly got into that one. My buddy Dave had a dissenting opinion though. He didn't think the tune was done justice without the presence of brass.

22. They performed a well received version of "Crossroads" as their encore in which Eric finally traded some guitar licks with Jeff.

23. They never did perform the original version of "Layla" though which was a big disappointment since Jeff was there to fill in Duane Allman's guitar parts. Neither did they perform Jeff's signature "Beck's Bolero" which was also quite the disappointment since Eric would have been there to fill in the guitar parts that Jimmy Page had originally added to the track.

24. The show was over by 10:35 PM.

25. Red professed her profound disappointment in Eric's performance. In her own words, Eric looked "old and tired" in comparison to Jeff. She had come in with the expectation that Eric would prove to be the star of the show but she left with a newfound appreciation for Jeff.

26. My buddy Dave disagreed. He thought Eric was just fine. But Red and I later agreed that since Dave had probably not seen a big time act for over thirty years and had never even seen any kind of event at the Air Canada Centre, he wasn't going to be difficult to impress.

27. Now Jeff Beck has for many years been my favourite guitarist so I wasn't the least bit surprised. But I'll reiterate a point I've made on a number of occasions. Jeff delivers his best music playing for someone else. Whether for the Yardbirds, Donovan ("Goo Goo Barabajagal"), Rod Stewart ("Infatuation"), Buddy Guy ("Mustang Sally") or Mick Jagger, that's when Jeff comes off the best musically. Unfortunately, Jeff doesn't take direction well from others. That's why he could never have made beautiful music as part of the Rolling Stones for very long. Mick and Keith being control freaks, Jeff would sooner rather than later have ended up clubbing one of the two over the head with his guitar.

It's therefore a good thing that Jeff typically needs no direction when it comes to adding the guitar parts that take a song from the ranks of the very good to the transcendent. The problem is that on his own he very rarely provides himself with any good songs. His signature piece, "Beck's Bolero", was actually written by Jimmy Page. Jeff is a great guitarist, but his music is too outré to capture the imagination of the record buying public. Sometimes I actually think he should be left to experiment by himself in the basement of some monastery.

28. So my final verdict was the same as the one I held before buying the ticket - Jeff is the better guitarist, but Eric remains the better musician.

[Foxhound]

This was the review published in the "Montreal Gazette" on their show the following evening in Montreal:

Originally Posted by Bernard Perusse If it took this long for Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck to get their sea legs, more's the pity that last night's Bell Centre concert was the last on their four-city mini-tour. For two and a half hours, the guitar-slinging legends played up a storm --- separately and together --- ending it all with a hug and then calling it a night. Clapton begins a U.S. tour with Roger Daltrey Thursday and will have no time to reflect on what this short fretboard sprint with Beck really meant. The pre-Montreal reviews were not, to put it kindly, leaning toward enshrining the collaboration. But judging from last night's performance before 11,500 fans, a second opinion needs to be entered into the record. While one might quibble with the set list here and there, moments of six-stringed inspiration and steel-bending beauty were what really dominated the evening. If objections tend to run along the lines of "They could do this in their sleep," the only question can be "You expect Beck and Clapton to break a sweat while soloing?" They did not struggle. They played --- and beautifully. Beck was up first with a 45-minute instrumental set featuring an orchestra and his small band. Opening with the loud fuzzy riff that launches Eternity's Breath, he soon found himself challenged by the Bell Centre's acoustics from hell, which certainly did no favours to the string players, either. Still, Beck's inventiveness and incomparable phrasing slashed through the murky sound, as a blizzard of notes filled the arena with squeals, shrieks, cries of alarm and quiet weeping from his trusty Fender Strat. Redoubtable bassist Tal Wilkenfeld was absent for this tour, replaced by Montreal native and former Prince bassist Rhonda Smith. Ending with his already-beloved version of A Day in the Life and, of all things, Nessun Dorma, Beck left most of the room standing and cheering. Following Puccini with Charles Brown, Clapton launched his unplugged four-song set opener with Driftin' Blues. Following that exquisite performance with dodgier selections like the dreaded acoustic Layla and I've Got a Rock n' Roll Heart flirted with disaster, but Clapton's band provided a seductive swing that elevated the material. Special kudos goes to the always-indispensable Chris Stainton's organ work. The electric section of Clapton's set might have evoked wistful memories of a superior show he headlined at the Bell Centre almost two years ago, but it was hard to argue with the purity of tone in his soloing on I Shot the Sheriff or with the way he shifted without warning to a higher key in a sublime version of Robert Johnson's Little Queen of Spades and started spraying notes everywhere. A final set with both guitarists was, at times, frustratingly short on interplay between the two. For much of it, Beck stepped up and Clapton sang, notably on a wonderful, slightly bluesy take on Moon River. But on a joyous Outside Women Blues and a set-closing I Want To Take You Higher, some sparks flew between the two. Beckologists who knew Hi-Ho Silver Lining was on the set list as an encore might have been disappointed that it was skipped in the long run, but the sole encore, a celebratory Crossroads, showed just how much wisdom there was in the bringing together of two ex-Yardbirds.

[TheFeldster]

Wow, Clapton's changed his appearance since I saw him a few years ago.

When I saw him, I was rather impressed by his performance. But your comment that your friend "wasn't hard to impress" probably rings true for me as well; having not lived through rock's golden age, Eric of today is about top of the range still I think.

Could have been having an off night though... who knows

[Foxhound]

Wow, Clapton's changed his appearance since I saw him a few years ago.

That unfortunately may be one of the contributing factors behind Eric appearing not to have as much energy as does Jeff Beck. Eric no longer looks the part of a rock star. He looks like your conservative old dad. When his conservative appearance is combined with a playing style that's never really been flashy (he is after all called "Slowhand"), he can come off as looking "tired".

[Foxhound]

Here's a few recent videos of Jeff Beck performing live with Aussie bass player Tal Wilkenfeld:

[Lord Grendel]

Don't know if you guys are aware of it or not, but Eric Clapton is about 70% deaf in one of his ears, he won't say which one and has no intention of wearing the new ear protection gear. Saw him interviewed on Larry King and he seemed resigned to the fact eventually he will be like Pete Townshend. I have no idea why he wouldn't take steps to save what he has now.

[Foxhound]

Now here's Eric Clapton these days:

[Foxhound]

Now here they are together:







You decide which of the two is the the wild "guitar god" and which of the two is the rock star past his prime these days.

[Foxhound]

I talked to Dave's older brother Paul today and he volunteered without prompting that he found Jeff Beck's performance to be the more interesting and exciting of the two.

And evidently the reason I can't recall any seering guitar solos being played by Eric is that he turned the instrumental breaks over to Chris Stainton on keyboards while he continued to play rhythm guitar. I wonder if Eric's just sick of playing the relatively few hits he's had after his Cream days time and time again?

[TheFeldster]

He could always play his lesser known songs if he was sick of Layla, Cocaine and I Shot the Sheriff.

I'd love to hear him play stuff that he did with JJ Cale on "Road to Escondido" and BB King on "Riding With the King", but he sticks with the old classics for the most part.

But, in all honesty, I don't think Clapton copes with fame terribly well, particularly since he gave up the heroin. That probably plays a part in him starting to lose interest, particularly when there's someone like Beck there to play the solos for him.

[rollingstoned]

Clapton always plays his best with other legends.

[Foxhound]

Here are some pics of a younger Eric Clapton: