Audience

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lineage: Audience recording. "Earls Court 1998 2nd Night" (Beano-060) Silvers>EAC(secure mode)>FLAC

REVIEW FROM collectorsmusicreviews.com

Upon the release of Pilgrim in March 1998, his first album of original music since Journeyman in 1989, Eric Clapton toured the US and Canada for several months. He didnít play in the UK until October and, when the tour visited London for three nights on October 15th, October 16th and October 17th, he played in Earls Court instead of the Royal Albert Hall.
Along with his touring band (Andy Fairweather Low, Nathan East, Alan Darby, Tim Carmon, Kenneth Crouch, Steve Gadd, Katie Kissoon, Chyna, and Charlean Hines), he was supplemented with a 20-piece orchestra with Nick Ingman as conductor during the UK dates only.
Soon after these shows ECEC (Zig Zag Records) was released, a six disc set with the three shows in excellent sound quality. Earls Court 1998 2nd Night (Beano-060) debuts a brand new audience recording. It is an excellent stereo audience recording taped very close to the stage with absolutely no audience interference. There is a small tape defect at 5:12 in ìMy Fatherís Eyes,î but there are no cuts.
The tape opens with the band walking on stage and playing the song from the new album. ìThank you very muchÖ and good evening. Weíre gonna do for the first half of the show or third, songs form the album I put out this year Pilgrim. I hope you like it. Then weíll go back and visit the past. We hope youíll like that too.î
Itís overall an wonderful performance. In an online review, posed by Jan Armstrong, itís pointed out that ìEric however, was really chatty all the way through, introducing each of the new songs ñ explaining that the set was divided into three parts ñ with the Pilgrim stuff first. He laughed and joked with Nathan and Alan the whole time, and Iíve rarely seen him so cheerful on stage. He was obviously enjoying himself. For those of you are interested he was wearing a blue Nike T-shirt, jeans, and brown suede loafers. He wore his glasses for the Pilgrim set only, and he was clean shaven ñ a fact that took two whole songs to sink in!!!ì
The new songs have a much heavier and more raw quality live than their studio counterparts. Both the title track and ìOne Chanceî are extremely tight and creative. So passionate they are that Clapton jokes, ìI hope we donít ëpeakí too soonÖthereís always a danger of that, you know!î
The come close to peaking too soon with an intense ìRiver Of Tears.î Clapton and East sing in nice vocal harmonies at the end, a nice new arrangement of the piece. The cover tune ìGoing Down Slowî segues seamlessly into ìSheís Goneî where Alan Darby actually upstages the star in the dueling guitars solo in the songís middle improvisation.
ìDrifiníî from From The Cradle starts off a short semi-acoustic interlude in the middle of the show. ìTears In Heavenî receives a big response, as does the unplugged arrangement of ìLayla.î Tim Carmon has a nice jazzy little keyboard solo.
ìChange The Worldî starts off with Clapton and East jamming a bit before finding the well-known melody. The orchestra really helps the song, adding a stirring string section to the melody and adding an ephemeral quality to the track. For an acoustic song, it is extremely intense, and in the excellent sound tape one can almost see him bending the strings in the songís instrumental solo.
A nine and a half minute version of ìOld Loveî follows. Kenny Crouch dominates the improvisation in the middle, playing first a mellow, jazzy melody before playing in a quicker tempo Latin samba style. Although some criticized this, it fits perfectly with the mood of the piece, which is mean to display the musical interests of the other members of the band.


ìCrossroadsî is played close to the way Cream played it in the sixties, and it segues directly into ìHave You Ever Loved A Woman.î The backing vocals in ìI Shot The Sheriffî make it sound close to the Bob Marley original. The orchestra again adds much to the arrangement of ìWonderful Tonight.î Katie Kissoon sings mind blowing vocals in the end, prompting applause from the audience and acknowledgement from Clapton himself.
ìCocaineî closes the set. Before the encores, Clapton strolls back onstage and says ìLadies and gentlemen, Bonnie Raitt and ÖB.B. King!!!î Instead of ìBefore You Accuse Meî they rip into ìEveryday I Have The Bluesî with Clapton and King singing the verses and trading guitar riffs. Afterwards they play a slow blues with Bonnie Raitt making up the lyrics as they go along. Itís a magical moment for an already amazing concert.
Earls Court 1998 2nd Night is packaged in a double slimline with inserts containing several photographs from the event, including the guests during the encore. Given the sound quality and unique performance, this is one of the best Clapton titles to come out in the past couple of months and is worth having.

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