Eric Clapton - Set-list Paris, May 26, 2024

Electric:

01. Blue Dust

02. Key To They Highway (Charles Segar)

03. Hoochie Coochie Man (Willie Dixon)

04. Badge (Cream)

05. Prayer Of A Child

“Acoustics”:

06. Back Home

07. Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out (Jimmy Cox)

08. Golden Ring

09. Tears In Heaven

Electric:

10. Got To Get Better In A Little While (Derek and the Dominos)

11. Holy Mother

12. Crossroads (Robert Johnson)

13. Little Queen Of Spades (Robert Johnson)

14. Close To Home (solo Nathan East) (“Close To Home”, written by Lyle Mays, was performed primarily by Nathan East, with Eric joining him to serve as an intro to “Cocaine”)

15. Cocaine

Encore (electric):

16. Before You Accuse Me (Bo Diddley)

Band Lineup:

Eric Clapton – guitar / vocals

Doyle Bramhall II – guitar / vocals

Chris Stainton – piano / keyboards

Tim Carmon – Hammond / keyboards

Nathan East – bass / vocals

Sonny Emory – drums

Katie Kissoon – backing vocals

Sharon White – backing vocals

It’s not easy for people from the provinces, especially from the west, to get to the Accor Arena! I wish those whose GPS or other digital aids are failing a lot of fun: everything is done to discourage good intentions, including the lack of directions to a car park that has been reserved in advance. Yet another expense to add to the cost of the evening! Furthermore, given the time and day of the concert, please allow for serious travel delays due to the chronic (and somewhat deliberately caused, follow my gaze...) traffic jams in this part of the country.

Despite all these obstacles (which also explain why we are moving less and less, too bad for the artists!), we finally arrive safely. This may be the last chance to see Eric Clapton, “God himself”, in concert! Let’s hope there will be others!

The question remains how to direct the walk that awaits us, because here again, no sign guides us. As we approach, a sort of flow nevertheless emerges... which leads us first, in the absence of signage, to the entrance of an ice rink! Tenacious, we follow the shape of the building and finally arrive at the entrances: it remains to be seen which one is the one we must take, but there we are finally better guided. The security service is good-natured, we had to print the tickets at our own expense before leaving but it goes through without a problem. A quick visit to the merchandise store, just to renew the wardrobe, where the long line nevertheless moves quickly thanks to affable and competent staff, and entry into the room. The friendly and efficient welcome allows us to quickly find our seats, the long-awaited evening can begin. From where we are, up high and slightly to the side, we have an unobstructed view of the stage, which is not the case for the spectators just opposite, who are bothered by a huge bundle of cables falling from the ceiling in the middle of the space! We were warned that the star of the evening would not start before 9 p.m., we think we have plenty of time: not at all!

The lights go out just before 8pm to make way for the first part. This is the artist Rover, singer-guitarist accompanied only by a drummer, that Rover will present, the rest of the orchestration depending on recordings. I admit that I did not know him at all, but the artist seems to have sympathetic musical influences. On the other hand, the sound is not at all up to par, with in particular bass that saturates and is much too oriented towards infra-sounds. The rendering of the accompaniments is very altered. Nevertheless, the voice comes across quite well, and this is not the least asset of Rover, who lines up relatively complex soaring arias sung in English, half-pop/half-progressive, and fortunately rather melodic. The character exudes a certain sympathy and makes the effort to communicate his joy at having been chosen to start such a prestigious evening. All these efforts ended up winning the audience's support and earning him a justified success. Nevertheless, despite the pleasantness of the melodies, the succession of his pieces a little too similar in form also showed a form of monotony in the inspiration (or was it the constraints linked to this performance?) as in the sound envelope, original but repetitive, with always the same perpetual layers and the omnipresent flanger of the guitar. Let us remember in these difficult conditions a real personality, sympathetic, melodic compositions, and a convincing voice that would have deserved a better sound environment. After about twenty minutes of intermission to allow some bladders to be relieved, the insufficient number of toilets, especially men's, also causing formidable queues, the lights go out again, just before 9 p.m., the room shudders and the big moment so awaited arrives.

As in most concerts of this tour, the group begins its performance with "Blue Dust", an instrumental that perhaps allows the sound team to fine-tune all the parameters defining the balance of the group in the presence of the audience. Above the stage, six rectangular screens, four just above and two on the sides inclined towards the side steps, allow to follow the evolution of the musicians, the association of the four in front also allowing a form of large image on a single plane. The bluesy instrumental also allows to launch the concert by sending to the audience the signal that here we go, here we go. The last latecomers can rush back into the room and see the group move on to the famous "Key To They Highway" by Charles Segar, originally belonging to the repertoire of Big Bill Broonzy, which Eric greatly contributed to popularizing by placing it at the end of the first disc of his very famous double album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs. We feel the machine seriously starting up, it sweeps hard but carefully avoids the heavy stuff, it pulses with power: the group is in its element, as confirmed by the following title, just as famous, "Hoochie Coochie Man" composed by the reference to the double bass Willie Dixon and interpreted for the first time by Muddy Waters in 1954. 70 years is not yesterday, but the young Eric was already there, even if he was then only 9 years old. The title appears on his 1994 studio album From the Cradle. Tonight, Doyle Bramhall stands out with a very nice solo mixing slide and finger notes. Generally speaking, Eric lets the other musicians express themselves, but without hiding behind them. It usually starts with his old accomplice Chris Stainton for a piano solo, and it includes both Doyle Bramhall who has long since earned his stripes in the band, and Tim Carmon, mainly on the Hammond organ, with a few escapes towards a percussive synth. Then at the end, the boss himself takes charge of concluding the debates, with one or two sharp interventions demonstrating that he does not intend to leave his part to his accomplices. After this very bluesy start and a few introductory notes by Eric, the first arpeggios of "Badge" emerge, co-written with George Harrison, and which bears the Beatle's mark by borrowing its general tone from George's bravura piece with the Beatles ("While my guitar gently weeps") but whose slightly modified arpeggios will also be found with the Beatles in "Here comes the sun" and "You never give your money". Recorded in 1968 with George on second guitar under a pseudonym for contractual reasons, the piece will find its place in the album Goodbye in 1969. The piece confirms that Eric's voice has lost none of its timbre and consistency. Throughout this concert, it will show its quality, without cracks, still delivering a certain power and benefiting from the musician's skill to cheat a little. You might have some trouble hitting a few high notes at 79, but when the substitution is so well done… The female backing singers, Katie Kissoon and Sharon White, the faithful Nathan East and Doyle Bramhall also take care of compensating for the lost harmonies, which ultimately gives a very satisfactory result.

The concert seems to be launched on chrome rails with this very good version of a largely fifty-year-old title when everything stops then in a somewhat surprising way, and the furniture is changed to allow Eric to settle in for the acoustic part of the concert, after only four songs. A little early for many, this change does not augur well for a long concert… Nathan East grabs the double bass that had been on stage since the beginning, and Eric switches to finger-picking and launches into “Back Home”, the track that concluded his eponymous album from 2005, before taking up “Nobody loves you when you’re down and out”, an old century-old and very swinging blues by Jimmy Cox dating back to the early 1920s and best known for his version by Bessie Smith in 1929. The title was recorded for the first time by Eric on the double album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs already mentioned, and was the first where Duane Allman was able to intervene, reproducing what he used to play when his brother sang it. The Master plays it mainly at the top of the neck (the big screens help!). Chris Stainton particularly stands out on the piano, the piece lends itself admirably to it. The chef's special came when old fans then identified a fresh intro, but with a familiar structure, leading to "Golden Ring", a formidable and moving ballad with Louisiana accents appearing on Backless, released in 1978. All my youth… I have always loved this title, practically never played since 1978, which tells the story of the end of the love triangle formed by Eric Clapton, George Harrison and Patti Boyd, the last two divorcing in 1977. Imbued with the suffering of all those years of coveting his best friend's wife, Eric had translated it into this intimate gem, taken here with all the essential delicacy and sensitivity. Chris Stainton leaves his piano to reproduce the accordion parts on a synthesizer and that evening at the Accor Arena, memories helping, the entire audience could see that the title had kept all its magic. Grandiose… From romantic suffering to parental tragedy, Eric then continued with the highly anticipated "Tears in Heaven", a poignant catharsis of his son Conor's fatal accident in 1991, once again masterfully performed and which will remain an essential classic of the artist. After this superb acoustic interlude, return to the electric formation, with a formidable version of "Got to Get Better in a Little While", anything but soft. Coming out of the emotion generated by "Tears in Heaven", the audience finds itself faced with the shock of an orgy of decibels. Contrast and roller coaster. This relatively little-known piece had a turbulent destiny: first recorded in the studio for the second album by Derek and the Dominos, which never saw the light of day, the title only appeared in 1973 in a live version on the album In Concert. Eventually, a studio version ended up being released ages later in 1988 on Crossroad, a solo compilation by Clapton. Phew! In any case, the evening version was not lacking in energy, and what we had suspected since "Key To They Highway" was confirmed: despite his 79 years, Eric has kept his very electric background from the Cream or Derek and the Dominos era, and, imperial on this piece, he does not disdain to take pleasure in "putting the watts", as they say. The Master's Stratocaster spits out saturated and funky notes, the wah-wah pedal kicks in like during the finest hours of Cream, the rhythm pulsates, the group puts all its know-how, and it is great, to put the audience back on the chrome rails left for the wonderful acoustic interlude and give a very electric dynamic to its performance. The group continues with "Holy Mother", a title co-written with singer-guitarist Stephen Bishop and coming from the 1986 album August , of which it was one of the "singles". The time was then for the collaboration with Phil Collins for the production and the drum parts. The version delivered here, all in sensitivity, allows the three backing singers (Katie, Sharon, and... Nathan!) to install a gospel atmosphere that the synth pads of Chris Stainton, a little too faithful to the studio version, fortunately do not manage to dissipate while Eric concludes the piece on a very pretty chorus.

After a very saturated intro by Eric solo, giving no clue as to what is to come, the riff of the famous "Crossroads" , which Eric recorded with Cream in... 1968, emerges at a moderate beat. We are far from the tempo of the wild versions of Skynyrd from the great era, but it still moves forward, with this irresistible swing that makes you want to tap your foot in time, and with the welcome support of the choirs. Eric, then Chris, Doyle, Tim, and Eric again take charge of illustrating the chart magnificently, before immediately moving on to another Robert Johnson title: “Little Queen Of Spades”, a slow and sticky blues from the tribute album Me and Mr. Johnson (2004) : 20 years already! Eric begins the words on the guitar with a lot of feeling, a quality that we find just afterwards in his singing. Chris Stainton then shines delivering a very beautiful solo. After another verse, Tim Carmon takes over, Doyle continues and Eric concludes brilliantly.

Then comes the other surprise of the evening: Nathan solo performs the very short "Close To Home" before starting the intro of "Cocaine", the famous anti-drug title by J.J. Cale that needs no introduction, released in 1977 on the album Slowhand, then as a single in 1980. As often, Eric takes the first solo, before a new sung passage and the moment when the group expresses itself in turn: Doyle then Tim on the synthesizer with a sound reminiscent of wah-wah, and Chris, and a short vocal return for a long version (more than seven minutes) of this flagship title. This is the moment when the group chooses to leave the stage. The crowd of course loudly demands an encore, which will be granted in the form of Bo Diddley's title "Before You Accuse Me", the last title of Journeyman (1989), very efficient, which follows the known pattern of the band's interventions: first solo for Eric, followed immediately by Chris, then Doyle, Tim, singing again, before a short double solo by Doyle and Eric reproducing the melody of... "Dust my broom" and serving as a coda. Only one song as an encore, but a magnificent concert, with a lot of energy and sensitivity, rather bluesy in spirit, and which will remain in the memories of the spectators present. At the exit, some will regret the absence of "Layla", whether in acoustic or electric version (which I prefer), and of a few other songs that made the artist famous, we will not mention them here, but at his age, Eric cannot stay four hours on stage and perform all the most famous songs that have marked his career.

A very nice memory in any case!
Y. Philippot-Degand

Eric Clapton @ Accor Arena, Paris - May 26th, 2024

Eric Clapton @ Accor Arena, Paris - May 26th, 2024