Audience

CDR

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lineage: Audience recording. "Midland Maniac" (Tarantura TCDECSW-2-1,2) Silvers>EAC(secure mode)>FLAC

After stops in Sapporo and Yokohama, the Eric Clapton & Steve Winwood tour played in Osaka for two nights. The first night is presented on Midland Maniac by Tarantura. Sourced from a Mr. Hanatan tape, itís close to the stage and has very good sound quality. Only a slight dullness prevents it from being an excellent tape, but the dullness curiously enhances the guitar sound and makes this one of the most visceral documents from this tour.

There is a special quality right from the start of the show when the artists play dueling leads in ìHad To Cry Today.î At times they echo one another, and at other times they play ìcompare and contrast,î and make it quite interesting before.

Winwood gives ìAfter Midnightî a slight boogie vibe underneath Claptonís joyful vocals. The segue into ìPresence Of The Lordî is seamless and the performance of the Blind Faith classic is gorgeous. The artists take turns singing the verses and Clapton plays a magnificent wah-wah solo in the middle.

The transition from Trafficís ìGladî into ìWell All Alrightî is another highlight early in the show. The rhythm of the latter changes from disco to a marital and serious beat in a second, and they both stand in contrast to the insane Chris Stainton keyboard solo in the middle.

After ìKey To The Highwayî play ìMidland Maniacî instead of ìPearly Queen,î the Traffic tune they played the previous night and end the first half with ìGeorgia On My Mind.î

The acoustic interlude begins with ìDriftiní.î The Robert Wilkins cover ìThatís No Way To Get Alongî is played with a chilling quality in Claptonís vocals. They follow with the acoustic arrangement of ìWonderful Tonightî which debuted the previous night in Yokohama, and end with ìCanít Find My Way Home.î

They start the finale with a rather limp version of ìGimme Some Loviní.î Maybe they were still thinking about the awesome heights of the acoustic set, but it sounds like theyíre not really into the song. ìVoodoo Chileî sounds frightening as every, and is a worthy set closer.

The encores remains the same as all the shows, a long ìCocaineî followed by the Traffic classic ìDear Mr. Fantasy.î

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