It took more than two decades to see Eric Clapton again in Barcelona, an eternity for his fans who last night, once again at the Palau Sant Jordi, enjoyed an evening that many no longer expected. Good blues and solos from a legendary guitar that, due to the quality of what was heard, could well have started with the “we said yesterday” that El último de la Fila used a few days ago, in their own return from the world of the living. “It seems we come for the same thing,” greeted a woman old enough to be a grandmother at the entrance of Sant Jordi to an acquaintance, who responded firmly: “to see the master.”
In great shape, Slowhand returned to the lands he hasn’t moved from in decades, accompanied by a band of loyalists – five musicians and two backing vocalists – among whom were three participants from his last Barcelona appearance, back in March 2004. Doyle Bramhall on guitar, Nathan East on bass, and Chris Stainton on keyboards stepped on the Sant Jordi stage again alongside Sonny Emory on drums and Tim Carmon on Hammond. Sharon White also returned to the backing vocals, where she was accompanied by Katie Kisson. A classic band on a classic stage to listen to revolutionary blues chords from the 70s that time has also turned into classics.
The last active – and living – survivor of the generation of Beck, Page, Zappa, Hendrix and company, Clapton began his journey remembering Cream with Badge, seasoned with the first guitar solo and generous instrumentation that announced the direction of the concert, with few songs but rich in their development. This was the case with Key to the Highway, rescued from the years with Derek and the Dominos, where the piano and Hammond keys danced with the guitars of Bramhall and Clapton himself exchanging prominence.
Another notable figure of the blues aristocracy like Muddy Waters was present in the heavy rhythm of Hoochie Coochie Man, with the Stratocaster roaring and the choir keeping time with Clapton’s voice, just like in I Shot the Sheriff, with the Stratocaster scratching Marley’s reggae to transform it into a rock piece just as he did in 1974, when this version opened the doors of the United States to the Jamaican.
‘Before you accuse me’ closed the encore that Clapton did not perform in Madrid because someone threw a disc at him
It is not clear how many of the problems that almost drove Eric Clapton out of music continue to torment him. Ten years ago he reported suffering from peripheral neuropathy that caused unbearable pain every time he tried to play the guitar. Shortly after, it became known that he suffered from tinnitus, the horrible ringing that tortures many musicians, especially when they have lived surrounded by dozens of amplifiers at full power. But last night it was clear that his love for music and the stage is stronger than the suffering it may cause him.
Spare in movements on stage but tuned on the guitars, Clapton took up the acoustic in the central part of the concert to remember Robert Johnson alone in Kind Hearted Woman Blues, with the audience happily accompanying him with claps. A club atmosphere continued with Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out before recalling the love triangle with Pattie Boyd and Beatle George Harrison, which gave rise to the slow Golden Ring, the most intimate moment of the night. It was followed by Layla, a love letter to Boyd herself, in the acoustic version immortalized by the 1992 Unplugged, last night a bit darker thanks to East’s double bass.
From the same album came Tears in Heaven, sweet and painful at the same time, where the light guitar slide and the soft drum syncopation sweetened the melody, which served to close the acoustic part and return to the electric with Holy Mother, slow-paced. It was not so with Crossroad Blues, where Clapton scraped the best of the voice he still retains while his guitar paid tribute to Johnson, the bluesman who made a pact with the devil, and which he repeated next with Little Queen of Spades, slow-cooked delta blues where Clapton’s rough guitar shared prominence with the electric keyboards and Bramhall’s sharp sting in a sonic waltz that once again drew applause from an audience that expressed their emotion with intense silences.
It was not so with Cocaine, which sounded funky at the start and very rock in its development, allowing the audience to join the party in which the whole band participated again. All the musicians had their share of prominence last night both in the music and on the screens, which generously followed them all.
‘Badge’ by Cream, with generous instrumentation and guitar solos, marked the course of the concert
The encore remained, and this time there was no jerk to spoil it as happened at the last Madrid date. Clapton said goodbye to the Barcelona congregation by gifting Before You Accuse Me with the swing that the final point of a concert deserved, with no other complaints than not having been able to enjoy it more times before and longer than the brief hour and a half of performance, although it would have seemed just as brief had it lasted twice as long.
