Blog 2

The reason I missed class on Tuesday was because I went to a Eric Clapton/Steve Winwood concert in NYC Monday night and couldn't make it back in time. It was an amazing concert and the music was great but I would have rather not seen it in Madison Square Garden. I think with an arena that big it is hard for the artists to establish any kind of connection with the fans, it is just one great big horde of people (close to 20,000 I think). It was obvious that the two of them (and the rest of the band) had practiced extensively, every song was really tight and there was little deviation from what seemed to be the plan. This was nice because the songs sounded great but I also would have liked to see them screw around a little more. I think because there was so much money involved in a concert like this though, they stuck to the plan and executed it perfectly. The highlight for me was without a doubt Voodoo Chile because it seemed that they cut lose more so than on the other songs. It sounded almost exactly like the 15 minute version that Hendrix did with Winwood in the 60's but Clapton still managed to add his own style to it. For me, this felt like the most improvised because with the drawn out jams and long solos from Winwood's organ and Clapton's guitar the crowd really had time to get into it and react, as opposed to the other songs which were shorter. I think that the reactions from the crowd probably affected the way that they played on this song more so than the others. It was a good concert but I would have liked to see it in a smaller venue where there wasn't so much pressure on them to be perfect and where more interaction with the crowd could be had.