Standing At The Crossroads Guitar Festival
Published June 11, 2004
Following him was James Taylor, who showed him how it should have been done. Clearly I prefer James Taylor to Vince Gill, but if you wanted a balanced review, you should have attended the concert yourself. J.T.'s set was much too short, but his acoustic style worked well sandwiched into a predominantly electric schedule, and things only got better when Joe Walsh wandered back on stage to play a song with him, still in those yellow shoes.
Next came the highlight of the day, as far as I'm concerned. B.B. King came out on stage and sat in a folding chair to play, with Jimmie Vaughan standing behind him leading the band. After a little bit of back and forth, King told Vaughan to sit down, so another folding chair was brought out. Then, a chair was brought out for Eric Clapton. Yes, Eric Clapton. Then, another chair was brought out for Buddy Guy. And the four of them sat and played a few songs.
Look at the picture and think about what I'm saying: Eric Clapton, B.B. King, Jimmie Vaughan, and Buddy Guy, all playing together in an extended jam session!
After a while, John Mayer came out (Eric Clapton announced him quickly) and sat on another quickly-produced folding chair. I had heard him play before, and was looking forward to seeing him at the show. When I noticed his set had been scratched from the schedule, I was very disappointed — I even called my wife to complain! No complaining now, though, as the others were clearly impressed with Mayer's playing. King gave him an okay sign and raised his eyebrows to Clapton, and Buddy Guy kept Mayer on stage for his own set, next.
This was a fantastic segment, and I can't say enough about it. Though my camera missed them, at one point I notice that the crowd standing behind the stage had grown, and I spotted a lot of people standing and watching, like the guys from ZZ Top, James Taylor, Joe Walsh, and Jeff Beck.
All day they used a dual-stage approach to keep things moving. As one act finished, the lights would go down on their stage and the lights would come up on the other stage, so there was never a long delay until late in the day when all of the big acts wanted the center stage. It worked very well. While these give guitar greats were sitting on the side stage, Carlos Santana was all set to go on the center stage. The schedule was very late when the jam session started, and the crowd kept egging them on every time King asked if they could do one more song. So Santana and his band did what anybody would do; once they were set up, they walked over to the side of the stage so that they could watch the show!
- Standing At The Crossroads Guitar Festival
- Published: June 11, 2004
- Type:
- Section: Music
- Filed Under: Music: Blues, Music: Jazz, Music: Rock
- Writer: Phillip Winn
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Comments on this articleComments
P, very nice job and the pics are great! thanks!
Metheny's guitar is called the Picasso and is make by luthier Linda Manzer.
i want one.
Mark, That first song, played with the Picasso, was beautiful, so much so that occasionally I took my eyes off the guitar. Not for long, though.
That is one sweet instrument!
Eric, funny thing is, I have a nice digital SLR, but no real telephoto lens. The ZZ Top shot at the end is what the view was like from my seat with my camera.
But a guy sitting in front of me noticed I have a Canon digital SLR, so he pulled a nice 300mm telephoto lens out of his bag and let me use it for a while. We can thank this anonymous Canon user for eight of the photos on this page, because they wouldn't look like they do without that lens.
Now, I've got to get a 300mm lens!
...there is no question that Larry can play well, and his new album, Sapphire Blue will probably be a good one.
Been out since January. It's not bad I guess, but I get a little tired of everybody wanting to do a blues album. Overall, I find the album a bit too slick, but then I tend to prefer gritty blues. There are a few jazzy licks, which is what I buy Larry Carlton albums for, but it's not his best work.
phillip, i'd be willing to bet that he opened with "Into The Dream" from Imaginary Day.
i keep hoping he'll put out a whole record of stuff just using that guitar.
Mark, I haven't heard that album in quite a while, but you're right. I dug the CD out of the closet, ripped it, and it's a match!
So where is J.J. Cale? One of the absolute highlights (along with Joe Walsh), the one who influenced Clapton's career more than anybody else, one of the greatest guitar legends alive, who wrote songs like "Cocaine", "After Midnight", "Call me the Breeze", Cajun Moon", "Carry On", "Sensitive Kind", and many more, and you don't even mention him in one word! Do your homework, buddy!
TOny (#9), I mentioned every single person who played on Sunday -- JJ Cale played on Saturday, and I was not there.
Do your homework, buddy!
My god! What a brutal schedule for any human to survive. If I was there all day, by the time Carlos Santana or Clapton made it on I would be completely out of my mind!!!!! I wouldn't be able to figure out what was going on....
peaceloveguidance
Hiablo de il Venestini.
I am sorry I meant to post under Anthony.
Phillip,
How did you interlace your piece with pictures amongst the text?
Thanks,
Lono (the other Crossroad author)
My father was at the Crossroads Festival as a vendor. He is the founder of Rowan Custom Guitars, some of the most beautiful guitars I've ever seen. Please visit his website at www.rowanguitars.com
Thanks!
Hey all,
The DVD will be out October 19th. It's going to be a two DVD set.
lono
You lucky bastard. I felt blessed just watching this great festival on DVD. Nice review and great pictures.
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More than anything, this concert demonstrated to me that I need (1) a better telephoto lens for my camera, (2) to take a tripod or monopod with me everywhere, and (3) to get out of my seat and get closer to the stage, using my press pass like it was meant to be used.
I was too busy enjoying the show to want to argue with security guards, though.