Eric Clapton

In 1966, a spray can wrote on the walls of Islington tube station: “Clapton is God”.

Eric, after leaving the Yardbirds, joins John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and, with his Gibson Les Paul plugged into a Marshall amp, literally drives the English music scene wild. After the release of the seminal “Bluesbreakers With Eric Clapton”, in fact, almost everyone wants to play like him. Forty years on from that graffiti, Eric Clapton is no longer a god and, perhaps, doesn't even want to be one anymore. Blues' Slowhand is, today, a quiet sixty-year-old who still likes to roam the world with his “Blackie”, searching for a musical path that will “bring him home”.

It's not just a play on words with the title of his new album: Clapton has genuinely gone back in time, to his first solo records of the 1970s.

After all, his artistic and personal life hasn't been easy at all. From the constant clashes with Cream to his desperate love for Patti Boyd-Harrison, from heroin to accusations of going soft musically, a swinging constellation of falls and comebacks, scarred by the untimely death of his little son Conor.

Right up to this chilly summer evening in Perugia, in the beautiful setting of the Santa Giuliana arena, just below a historic centre buzzing with the new edition of Umbria Jazz. On this rediscovered musical journey, Clapton returns to the style of “461 Ocean Boulevard”, blending the blues of his roots with soul and tamed, polished pop.

With a vibrant horn section and two backing singers, the band launches into rousing, near-funk numbers like “So Tired” and, above all, a radically reworked version of one of Derek And The Dominos' classics, “Got To Get Better In A Little While”. Ever attentive, Eric generously hands over his guitar parts. And, at times, it turns out that left-hander Doyle Bramhall II and the superb, intense Derek Trucks even manage to outshine the old blues-rock deity.

“Old Love” (with Robert Cray, the concert's opening act) stretches out almost endlessly, amid weeping slide guitars and liturgical keyboards. Sure, Clapton's voice can no longer bite the way it did on the abrasive “From The Cradle”, but when the riffs of “Everybody Oughta Make A Change” and “Motherless Children” arrive, everything seems to stop, if only for a few minutes, in front of his black-and-white Fender.

The musicians step back and Slowhand settles in, picking up an acoustic guitar. Thus begins the mellow part of the show, unfortunately spoiled by Perugia's own audience.

While Eric plays the mournful “Back Home” and the gem “I Am Yours”, many among the seven thousand paying fans keep up a chatty stroll as if they were on the Reggio Calabria seafront. Had it been the Springsteen of the “Devils And Dust” tour, he'd have slaughtered them within seconds.

Clapton, instead, keeps weaving melancholy chords, for the benefit of the few quiet, unsociable souls. And “Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out” and the magnificent “Running On Faith” are performed in a manner very close to the hugely successful “Mtv Unplugged”.

With the chair taken away, the big band returns to the stage because it's time to get serious. In the end, the concert's third act will drive the crowd into a frenzy with a handful of songs.

The Clapton-Bramhall II-Trucks triad launches into a genuine orgy of blues guitars, with “After Midnight” serving merely as the appetizer.

The intro to "Have You Ever Loved A Woman" morphs into a cover of Robert Johnson's "Little Queen Of Spades", played out with melodic slow-downs and sudden bursts of speed. The band rides the favorable momentum with the riff of "Let It Rain" and then lets Clapton go it alone with the immortal melody of "Wonderful Tonight", accompanied by the many couples in love, of every age.

The end draws near, and with it the concert's high point. The riff of "Layla", greeted by a genuine roar, sounds as fresh and powerful as it did thirty years ago, while the driving "Cocaine" stretches out and pulls everyone into the chorus sung by the two warm soul backing singers.

The lights go down and the band retreats backstage, but the crowd is fired up by now and has no intention of heading home. A few people leave early, missing out on a beautiful encore. Clapton digs back into the Cream repertoire, and "Crossroads" shines under the Perugia moon with fierce, biting blues guitar interplay. It really is over now. Slowhand smiles, and takes a bow.

On a July night in Umbria, I saw the face of God. He wears glasses and talked about cocaine.

Ride the wave of great music

Add OndaRock to your favorite sources on Google Discover. Don't miss our reviews, milestones and latest news straight in your feed.

Follow on Google