This weekend I was in Dallas to attend Eric Clapton's Crossroad Guitar Festival. It was about the most amazing three days I can possibly remember or describe. I mean, everyone in blues and rock was there! The first day of the festival was exciting enough for me because at about noon, George Lynch came on stage and did some solo playing. This was great because I was a big Dokken fan when I was younger, and finally even saw them live as they were breaking up. So that was very exciting, except that the music sucked. Don't get me wrong, George Lynch is a plenty talented guitarist... but he was trying to play along with this shitty backing track.
Enough about him, let's hit some real highlights. About an hour later Jonny Lang played a blues set. It was pretty good, but all I remember is the oppressive heat and humidity of Dallas. Now, I can handle heat as I grew up in Phoenix. However, we were in the Dallas sun from noon to about midnight and I was beat!
After Jonny Lang, some guy named Dan Tyminski played an acoustic set with another guy. It was great music, very simple and soulful. I also noticed he sounded like the dude from 'Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?'. As I was thinking this, I noticed Eric Clapton sneak across the side of the stage and sit down in the wings to enjoy these acoustic guys. I freaked! I was seeing Eric Clapton in person only about 15 feet away from me (did I mention we got aREAL good spot on the lawn near the stage? That is why we got there at noon). Clapton was just hanging out and bobbing his head to the music, really digging it. I could see he was just there as a fan, so I thought that was cool.
Next was J.J. Cale. I knew the name, but wasn't sure how. Well, just as the band is tuning up I see Clapton sitting onstage. Then, I look closer and I see he has a guitar in his lap. Holy shit, Clapton is about to play! This was really exciting because Clapton wasn't supposed to turn up until tomorrow (Sunday) for the big Cottonbowl show. So they go into 'After Midnight' and I remember this is the guy who wrote that song (which Clapton made famous shilling Miller beer for in the 80s) Also what was cool is because we were so close, I saw this before anyone else. They had big jumbotron TVs on either side of the stage and when they finally showed Clapton on stage, people came running forward. Then, J.J. Cale does "Cocaine." Did anyone get JJ the memo that his whole festival is for one purpose and that is to get money to Clapton's rehab facility? I mean, it was surreal... Clapton was cool with it though, so I was too.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - sonny
j.j. cale wrote 'cocaine'
2 - Phillip Winn
Clapton also performed Cocaine during his set on Sunday night, and I thought it was a bit amusing considering the "cause" of the festival.
But then, if he hadn't played it, I would have been disappointed, too. He just couldn't win.
3 - Josh
Phillip,
What about Jeff Beck's performance? Didn't he play there too? How was he?
4 - Phillip Winn
He played only one song! I was pretty bummed about it. I suspect it was the fact that the schedule was about an hour late at that point.
He was supposed to come back later for the big jam session at the end, but that ended up not happening due to weather, so all in all a very disappointing evening for Jeff Beck fans.
Fortunately, everybody else completely kicked butt.
5 - Josh
Phillip,
What about John McLaughlin? How was HIS performance?
6 - Duane
Where was Slash? I thought he was supposed to be the greatest guitarist alive. Or was it that Angus dude from AB/CD?
7 - Eric Olsen
I did a little edit regarding who wrote "Cocaine," which was indeed Cale: Clapton covered both "After Midnight" and "Cocaine," making Cale a lot of money.
8 - Eric Olsen
And Lynyrd Skynyrd covered his "Call Me the Breeze" - more on Cale, who has a brand new album out this week, here
9 - Phillip Winn
Josh (#5), I'm embarrassed to admit that I missed McLaughlin's performance. It was a heavy schedule, and since I only made it down to Fair Park on Sunday, I still had the exhibits and clinics to explore, so I picked one of the lighter sections of the schedule to go walkabout. Sadly, that meant missing McLaughlin. :-(
I'll write up a real review tonight, probably, and I'll mention everybody I saw. :-)
10 - Lono
I too missed McLaughlin on Sunday. After being out for 12 hours at the Saturday concert, I was not racing back for another 12 hour day so fast. I was pretty bummed that Jeff Beck only played for about 3 minutes on stage (one song). People say he is a mastermind of guitar, I guess I'll never know. You know who gave a really great fun and lively set? Joe Walsh!
Also, I never realized how influential JJ Cale was. Thanks for your interest everyone, it was a great show. Remember, there will most definately be a DVD of the show sometime this year.
11 - Colin Oxberry
I was also in Dallas for the festival, we travelled out from England especially for it. JJ Cale has always been a major influence on Clapton and other than the first song and Call Me The Breeze, Clapton has recorded all the other songs played that day with Cale, After Midnight, Cocaine and Travellin Light. Clapton has recorded other Cale tracks as well. It was easy to tell that Clapton was in his element playing with Cale. Other highlights for me were Robert Randolph who played some blistering lap steel on the Saturday, Joe Walsh, BB King, Buddy Guy and of course Clapton himself. The guy who won the guitar competition on Saturday was pretty good too. The problem is that so much of it was great it's hard to pick out the best bits, I doubt the DVD will do it all justice, but will be worth having anyway. I'd like to thank the people of Texas who made our stay so enjoyable, as well as people from Chicago and Tampa we met at the gig.
12 - Phillip Winn
Colin, I'm glad you had a good time here in Texas, we try to be hospitable. ;-)
Lono, I did finally write up my own review of the Sunday concert as well. I wish I had made it on Saturday, but it was a rough week!
13 - Lono
Hey all,
Please reference another great piece on the festival from another blogcritic >
http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/06/11/142328.php
14 - mike
The best part was listening to Jeff Beck jam in the Cottonbowl on Saturday night. There was a sound chaeck going on with Beck, ZZ Top, BB King and Clapton. Beck was paying out of his mind. You could hear it clearly just outside the fence and I got a little peak through the fence before some musclehead security guard came along to save the world from good entertainment.
15 - Reggie Boyle
Vince Gill was great!! Maybe your ears weren't working after too much music! The Saturday show started at 11A.M. with Styx & Skunk Baxter. You also missed a ton of music on Sunday!! Neal Schon, Steve Vai & Larry Carlton to mention just a few!!! GREAT REPORTER YOU ARE MISSING ALL THAT GREAT MUSIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!
16 - Lono
Reggie, with complete respect... you are wrong. Vince Gill sucked major ass, and I am not saying that because country music sucks... though mostly it does. I am saying that because his sound was muddled with too many people playing at the same time. They may have been great songs, but we'll never know because they were buried. Dude should have came out with just an acoustic and played.
As for the artists I missed early Sunday, it is true. However, I was at the 12 hour concert on Saturday. I was beaten and burned and hungover before the Cotton Bowl even started. The idea of rushing out to the Dallas sun did not intrigue me, so I did miss a few artists.
holy shit was that a great concert! It has been a week now and I am a little better able to process it. I think it may have been life changing, anyhow I can't wait until the DVD hits... which will probably be Christmas.
17 - Tim R
hi, 16 year old who came down from wahington the day after my SAT to see the show. My SAT was on Saturday (SAT on SAT) so friday and saturday's shows were a no go. Let me start off by telling you the complete passion i have for classic rock. I've never been to a concert in my life, because i wont settle for garbage. i saw this concert ad and i knew. Best day of my life, ended up seeing Vai (awesome) the "blues Crew" as i named them, santana (iffy) Taylor, Beck, and everyone else. A few genuine jam session moments you missed was when BB king 1) said that night was the highlight of his career, and 2) when everyone stopped for one more song, but no one knew what to do, so they all stop and start talking with eachother," BB...what do you wanna do?" ...."dunno...buddy, clatopn, lets do this.." "sounds good" lol, i was in tears i was so happy. Also, the dry lightning for hours at a time was an incredible natural light show...i could go on for days. FANTASTIC concert
18 - Mark H.
Guys I hadn't been to a concert in fifteen years when I heard about this one & I knew I just had to be there! And bou was it ever worth the wait. I do agree that Vince didn't sound too good not to mention the Indian Guru dudes who were amazing but just totally out of place. I too was truly impressed with Buddy Guy, so impressed I ordered a CD the next day. But let's not forget the crowd, geez I'm 46 and I figure that I was just a little over the average age of the people there. I'm sittin in my seat watching these 50 or 60 something old people pass joints around....remember the 60's hippies? I do and they were definately there along with everyone one else and it was just too cool. Joe Walsh was hilariously funny and he had everyone cracking up. James Taylor was good but I wish he would have done "Fire and Rain" or "Sweet Baby James". I have to admit that I was really looking forward to seeing him since I have been listening to his music since I was 14! I was not disappointed either and you could tell he really enjoyed being there. Clapton was awesome no doubt about it, clearly one of the greatest guitar players alive today. I also was disappointed by Jef Beck's short time on stage, made me wonder if he really wanted to be there but he was pretty damn good on that one song. ZZTop was great and yes they are "bigger than Jesus" here in Texas, but they were cool and even played into the rain. All in all one of the most outstanding days of my life, rates almost as high as the day my son was born if that tells you anything! If you weren't there do get the DVD, you won't be disappointed. And for you pickers, well just keep picking every day of your life and maybe someday you will be able to say that you were inspired by Clapton on a hot summer day in Texas.
Peace Out.....Mark
19 - Eric Olsen
I'm glad this was so worthwhile for such a wide range of people - thanks for checking in!
20 - James Neiman
Where can I get some Eric Clapton Crossroads Festival t-shirts from dallas June 4,5,6th?
21 - Reggie Boyle
I stood next to Eric Clapton for the last song of Vince Gills' set. Eric enjoyed Vince's guitar playing without a doubt. So I'll take the reaction of Eric over someone sitting in the cheap seats of a 60,000 seat football stadium!!!!
22 - Rolf Heidorn
I'm from Germany and I saw Clapton in Munich at the end of March. His guitar works was so marvellous, so that I decided to visit the Crossroads Festival in Dallas. And it was it worth!The highlights for me were the gig with JJ Cale and Clapton and the blues-session on Saturday and the jam with B.B.King, Clapton, B.Guy,R.Cray and others at Sunday. But all the others, specially at sunday, were also absolutely great! Not to forget Bo Diddley, I think he was the oldest one of all. Also great Clapton together with Santana. The only disappointment was, that Jeff Beck played only one song and the jam-session at the end of the concert was cancelled. But all together it was the greatest festival I've ever seen (and I saw a lot!) and I'm looking forward to the DVD about it!
23 - Tony
I am a bit surprised that someone who writes an article on a guitar festival in Dallas doesn't even know JJ Cale. For your info: JJ is one of the greatest guitar legends alive. Just like the Eagles gave birth to the phrase "Life in the fast lane" it was JJ who molded the term "laidback". He wrote Cocaine, After Midnight and influenced Claptons career maybe more than any other guitarist.
24 - Caveman
Like you, I got tickets from a radio station. It was an unforgettable 3-day event. I saw it all. Actually, on Friday night Honeyboy played and he's 89 so he was the oldest one there. I thought the funniest event was when Buddy did one of his songs on Sunday and John Mayer did a lead, then Buddy played lead and gave John a look that could kill challenging John to a dual. John being very uncomfortable with all these legends, laid his guitar down and bowed out to Buddy...
Didn't care for Carlos's set. Eric's set Sunday evening was great as he did songs from every segment of his career. I thought ZZTOP totally rocked.
Luckily we saw the "Woodstock" of the 2000's.
25 - Charlie O
Well folks as one who was at woodstock and who got to see Led Zeppelin at the NY Filmore, this was the best concert since Woodstock. It was cool seeing Clapton try to play Jingo with Santana, it almost looked like Eric got a little lost doing it. Robert Randolph playing Voodoo Child on the steel guitar on Saturday night was great. I agree that it's too bad Jeff Beck only played 1 song, but with baseball sized hail just to the north that night I guess they had to get ZZ Top in there for the home crowd and they were GREAT as usual. To Colin from England, if you were the folks leaning against the rail to the left of the small stage I enjoyed your company very much you and your wife were cool. The whole concert was great hope to see you all next year minus Buster Poindexter I hope !!!! bye from NYC. Charlie