Opened in theaters on August 13. This is the fourth go around for Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival.
I love the blues — they are part of who I am. This festival is like a time capsule of heaven for me. You get the best living blues players gathering for charity (Eric Clapton owns a few drug/alcohol rehab centers) and to honor old bluesmen. The concert is not just a meeting of today’s best blues players, like Sonny Landreth, Derek Trucks, Gary Clark Jr. and Robert Randolph. This blissful meeting of musicians also pays tribute to the masters who helped shape the blues by having Buddy Guy and B.B. King present for some songs during the show and the final jam of the last three festivals (the theatrical version does not have a final jam, but it’s a great bonus on the DVD). Eric Clapton also sprinkles what the blues world may consider the “middle generation” in the line-up — Players that include Clapton himself, Jeff Beck, Keith Richards, Robert Cray, Johnny Winter and Greg Allman of the Allman Brothers band.
Since the last Crossroads Festival, the music world lost Mr. Hubert Sumlin who was responsible for mentoring Stevie Ray Vaughan and influenced everyone from Jimmy Page to Santana. Although Santana appeared in the first Crossroads festival he was not present for this one. Also missing from the last festival (or at least for the film version was Jonny Lang and Ronnie Wood). However, us blues fans got some great surprises and some stuff we all expect if you love the blues.
Either way you’re in for a treat. My college music teacher always says “the best thing about music is, no matter where you enter the game, it’s all good”. If you don’t know the blues or are just getting into them, this a great place to dive deeper. You get to see John Mayer doing more than pop music. You get Keith Richards playing a classic Blues tune “Key to the Highway” that dates back to the ’40s, but Keith gets to sing and lead the band. For those who have not seen or experienced Mr. Buddy Guy on DVD, grab your socks and get ready. He appears in all four Crossroads festivals. For this film he invites on stage 15-year old Quin Sullivan who Buddy has been letting take the stage with him since Quinn was 8 or 9. Let me say this, Sullivan didn’t win a contest and wasn’t voted on stage by America, he floored Buddy Guy and to do that you have to have skills, not “appeal”.
*****
This festival gave us great performances from Clapton (both acoustic and electric), he sat in with Keith Richards in an all too rare performance of just the two of them. There was an excellent version of Booker T and the MG’s Green Onions. Booker T. was there and Keb Mo’ sat in. For true blues fans this was another rarity, Mo’ did an electric guitar solo. Keb Mo’ of course plays his acoustic guitars plugged in, but in concert you seldom see him solo on a straight up electric guitar. It was magical.
For some of you, this may sound like who? What? Why? Well, I write this, because I want you to be excited and discover these names. If you like Eric Clapton take note that he hand-picked any name in this article to play this event. That means Clapton not only admires their playing or contribution to the blues, but attaches his name to their name for charity (and history). The blues is a never-ending journey.
When I walked in the theater I’d seen over 100 concerts, heard about 600 Blues CDs heard over 3,000 blues tunes over various ipods, and collections. Then comes Gary Clark Jr. and he knocks me out of my chair. A new lick Derek Trucks created made my bones quiver. It was incredible to see Keb Mo’ jamming with Booker T. I could go on and on and on. I left the show saying to myself, “wow, I don’t know a thing about the Blues. Even though I’ve seen 75% of the line-up live” (and own the rest on CD).
I highly recommend the DVD this fall. Release date TBA very soon. In the mean time, check out the Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival 1 (2004), 2 (2007), 3 (2010).
INFLUX Score: 9.5/10
Review by Paul Booth
