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The concert that he performed at Birmingham NEC on March 7th 1995, served as a fitting testament to the determination, persistence, and pure unadulterated talent that has marked Eric Clapton as one of the world’s most guitarists. The concert covered many diverse musical styles, ranging from the acoustic styles of the early Robert Johnson, to the more urbane and refined playing of Muddy Waters and BB King, all three of whom had a tremendous influence over Eric Clapton during his formative years, growing up in a middle class household in Surrey. Support for the evening came from Clarence ‘Gatemouth’ Brown, who showed himself to be an able guitarist, singer, and a talented country fiddle player. Eric Clapton has always been recognised as a brilliant guitarist, but not as a singer. Age, and time has allowed his voice time to mature. His singing now carries the necessary weight and authority to be able to convincingly sing about the suffering of the human race. His relaxed and easygoing singing style on ‘Five Long Years’ and ‘It Hurts me too’ sound completely different to the much more urgent and anxious singing style that marked his earlier work, such as ‘Layla’ and ‘Badge’. The vast majority of the songs were taken from his latest album ‘From the Cradle’ with only a couple being taken from earlier albums. The emotional delivery of ‘Have you ever loved a Woman?’ and ‘Before you Accuse Me’ being the exceptions. The songs were all played in tribute to Clapton’s musical influences, but at the same time, it was clearly Eric that was playing them. His influential and melodic guitar style was still recognisable., even though some of the material was originally written in the 1920’s. The concert started with a flurry of acoustic numbers, all of which were warmly received by the audience. The first song, Barbecue Bob’s ‘Motherless Child’ was an acoustic neo-country song, and the following two songs were both written by Delta Blues legend Robert Johnson. The set also featured a lot of 1950’s and 1960’s music, with a lot of music by Buddy Guy, Muddy Waters and BB King. The band members were all competent musicians, and lent sympathetic support to their leader. The group included a harmonica player, a brass section, keyboard, drums, rhythm guitar, and bass, and were able to produce a very good full sound. The group encored with Muddy Water’s ‘Got my Mojo Working’. It may not have been a mojo, but something was working for Eric Clapton on the night. It may or may not be the case that White Men can’t play the blues, but whatever the case, Eric Clapton as a guitarist, and now as a singer, shows that sometimes they can.
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