Sports Paleis, Antwerp, Belgium
31st May 2006


Review by : Peter Van Hoeck

This was the 4th time I saw Eric play, the 3 previous times in Belgium as well (1 time with Mark Knopfler as "back-up" guitar player and another time with Andy Fairweather-Low). I didn't quite see why he needed 2 supporting guitar players this time. Moreover, where other reviewers seem to praise Doyle Bramhall I was particularly impressed with the other one, whose name I don't know. When seeing him play the slide right from the opening tune it was quite obvious that a lot of early (especially Derek & the Dominoes) material would be on the set list. Some surprises where the songs I had never seen him perform live like 'Why does love have to be so sad', 'Let it rain', 'I am yours' or 'Got to get better in a little while'.

While some songs were performed quite in a routinely manner (e.g. 'Wonderful tonight') or at a tempo that - to my taste - didn't favour the song ('Cocaine') the bulk of the set was played with a lot of enthusiasm and excitement. Just one minor comment would be that I could hardly hear the horn section, but maybe that should be blamed on the venue.

I think we're quite lucky to still have real musicians like Eric Clapton around who deliver a live show that surpasses and is different from anything that appears on CD or record. Great gig!


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