Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton in Toronto!

Foxhound

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I attended the Eric Clapton/Jeff Beck concert on February 21st at the Air Canada Centre (a venue built primarily for hockey games I might add).

This review appeared in the "Toronto Star" the next day:

Ben Rayner said:
Eric Clapton no match for Jeff Beck

Slowhand sleepwalks through set at Air Canada Centre show


This was supposed to be a guitar battle, not a complete capitulation.

Oh, well, we knew going in who the cool kid was gonna be on this Eric Clapton/Jeff Beck co-headlining tour. So I guess the major disappointment stemming from Sunday night's Air Canada Centre gig by the two aged British guitar heroes – one set by Beck, one set by Clapton, one anticlimactic six-string duel between the two – was that Clapton didn't even bother showing up to prove us wrong.

It's not like Beck, who famously succeeded Clapton in the Yardbirds back in 1965, was up there throwing it in his old friend/foe's face, either.

His opening set, while spiked with the kind of artful white-noise fireworks and jazzbo '70s-fusion quirks that everyone kind of anticipates from Jeff Beck, was still a pretty mild-mannered one. He brought a 12-piece orchestra along with his ace bass/drums/keys backing band and kept the all-instrumental vibe soft and cinematic, almost – dare I say it? – Knopfler-esque in its blues-derived inoffensiveness.

During most of his time onstage, he leaned heavily on drowsy material such as Jeff Buckley's "Corpus Christi Carol" and Puccini's "Nessun Dorma" rather than fully uncorking the mindbending, high-volume Strat theatrics he reserved for moments like an awe-inspiring assault on the freaky latter half of The Beatles' "A Day in the Life."

You'd think the prospect of being mildly shown up by Jeff Beck at half-power would have moved Clapton to rally beyond the usual, rote white-blues sleepwalk. But no, the guy might as well have strolled out in his jammies for his set, kicking it off with lackadaisical, seated acoustic versions of "Driftin' Blues" and "Layla," and then failing to inject any electricity into what should have been an electric set of can't-miss crowd pleasers, including a lifeless run at the Dominos' "Tell the Truth," the world's longest and lamest "I Shot the Sheriff," and a perfunctory, groove-deficient "Cocaine" that should have been retitled "Thorazine."

Seriously, this was one of the laziest big-venue performances I've seen in years. Dude didn't bother to break a sweat. Beck came out to inject a little fire into the proceedings an hour later – consistently stepping back from his incendiary lightning bursts of blurred fretwork to let Clapton step in, only to watch Clapton dole out a few rote blues licks and return to the mike for another verse of "Shake Your Money Maker" or "Little Brown Bird." And what was one of the first tunes they turned all those years of honing their era-defining rock 'n' roll axe-craft to covering? Henry Mancini's "Moon River." Say no more.

Now I'm a huge Jeff Beck fan but since I also really like Eric Clapton I came in with an open mind willing to give both fellows a fair listen. But I have to say that for the most part I agree with the writer of the above article - and the big Eric Clapton fan with whom I attended the concert also agrees. I'll fill in the details of my concert experience later tonight.

:guitar:
 
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LG

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That is surprising to me Fox...I would think EC would have felt obligated to at least put out seeing JB was involved...don't know what to say.:dunno:

Not a big Clapton fan myself, I only have Slowhand, he was much better in Cream and Derek & the Dominoes.
 

Groovy Man

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I seen Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck last Friday Night at Madison Square Garden in New York City. And it was great. I have no idea what this writer is talking about. Yes, Clapton opened his set with acoustic tunes after Jeff Beck's amazing set. It did seem mellow, because it was acoustic, but it was good. Then Clapton plugged in and rocked. Then both of them jamed together. It was a fantastic show. And it sounds like the same set list, they played at MSG.

All I know is I had a great time. I went with a small group of friends, and everyone seemed happy after the show.

And if I had a dime for every bad review of a concert I attended since I was a teen, I'd be a millionaire by now. :heheh:
 
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0000

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everyone's entitled to a bad night here and there, I think people expect too much from the legends, but I'm jealous you saw clapton, Fox... I don't care much for Jeff Beck, but I would expect a more explosive show than how it was described by that article...:think:
 

Groovy Man

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everyone's entitled to a bad night here and there, I think people expect too much from the legends, but I'm jealous you saw clapton, Fox... I don't care much for Jeff Beck, but I would expect a more explosive show than how it was described by that article...:think:

Read what I just posted. We posted at the same exact time. :heheh:
 

LG

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Fox sounded like he was in agreement with the critic GM...I am not a big fan so I am ambivalent.:D
 

0000

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Read what I just posted. We posted at the same exact time. :heheh:

I hate it when that happens:heheh:

different night, different venue though, and as much as I like Clapton, some of his acoustic playing will put me to sleep, so I can see where they might be coming from there, I feel he can be a very boring/predictable player at times but other times he'll do something no ones heard before....
and even the small number of shows I've been to have all had someone saying they sucked, and there always will be someone to say it sucked, no matter how good, I don't know if that's a good thing or bad thing:D
 

Groovy Man

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the small number of shows I've been to have all had someone saying they sucked, and there always will be someone to say it sucked, no matter how good,

Maybe it's just around the New York area where I live, but I have hardly ever been to a concert, where the next day, the newspaper said it was a GREAT show. :heheh:
 

LG

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I usually am in agreement GM, sometimes when I read the review the next day I wonder what concert/movie the critic was watching. They write to be contrary for it's own sake as much as from personal conviction.
 

0000

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Maybe it's just around the New York area where I live, but I have hardly ever been to a concert, where the next day, the newspaper said it was a GREAT show. :heheh:
its not just New York, Groovy:heheh:
I usually am in agreement GM, sometimes when I read the review the next day I wonder what concert/movie the critic was watching. They write to be contrary for it's own sake as much as from personal conviction.

I'm almost always in agreement:grinthumb
 

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