Review: Eric Clapton at ScotiaBank Place

Mike, Joe, Trish and I went out to the Scotiabank Place last night to check out the greatest of all guitar players left on this Earth – Eric Clapton. Traffic was hell going there and back (curse you construction after midnight!) but otherwise, we managed to get there in time for a beer before going in to find Joe. I definitely didn’t want to be late this time considering I have heard through the grapevine that “I am always late.”. Hey, I don’t really care if I’m late once in awhile, but to be deemed ‘always late’…that’s just a low blow! 😉

After perusing the merchandise table and reminiscing the days of $20 t-shirts, we headed down to the floor to check out Robert Cray. This guy was great! I had never heard of him before and he put on a solid blues performance. I shall definitely pick up one of his albums. Trish and Joe said they had a few of his tunes and they dug him.

After a 30 minute set, we meandered around the complex and ended up back in our seats just as the house lights went down. Beauty timing on our part, eh? The touring band seemed like an army coming on stage. There were two guitarists besides Eric, a bass guitarist, two keyboardists, the drummer (who seemed gargantuan compared to this mini-me sized drumkit), and two backup vocalists/percussion shakers. What a crew!

They came out a-rocking. Very minimal stage setup – two vid screens for the closeups of some guitar solos. I must admit that I refrain from watching these screens as I feel that I paid good money to see the concert, not watch a screen that could be in my living room. However, it’s very tempting to watch them as you can see the amazing fingerwork over the fretboard!

They stuck to the classic tunes which was great for me – I enjoy the older Clapton; the newer, mellower stuff – not so much. It’s still good, but leave that for an intimate club setting, not a stadium tour! They had a three song accoustic session in the middle of the set which was excellent. Robert Cray came out for Old Love which was all around goodness. Everytime we looked at Mike, he looked like he had tunnel vision on the stage and stood there with his mouth open in awe. It was a truly awe-inspiring experience! Actually, I just read on Wikipedia that Robert co-wrote the song with Eric. Neato.

The set ended with some Layla, Cocaine and an encore of Crossroads with Robert Cray up on stage again. Four lead guitarists on a stage! Brilliant! My fave part of the show was what Trish deemed ‘the guitar-offs’ where one guitarist would go into 5 minute solo, then the other, and then Eric would nod to them with some telepathic message saying “Oh yeah? Watch and learn boys.” and then he rips into a solo only Clapton could pull off. Even the pianists had their time for extended solos. I think the last 30 minutes of the night were entirely solos. AWESOME.

All in all, two thumbs up for the performance. Boy, I hope someone bootlegged the concert.

And now, an open letter to the people sitting on the floor at the Eric Clapton concert:

The floor area is for one thing: to show the band how much you are appreciating the show. Also, to rock. The band don’t usually look up in the bowls of an arena to see the fans reaction. They can probably only see 20 feet in front of them.

Being in the 29th row last night, I was dismayed to see that everyone sat down for the concert. Blasphemy! This is Eric Clapton here!

I proceeded to stand up when Eric Clapton took the stage along with my cohorts in crime. A gentleman came to me and indicated to me that because I was standing up, some people could not see the stage. I shrugged my shoulders and he left but then I flashbacked to the time this guy was holding up an acoustic guitar at Bluesfest during Sam Roberts and we couldn’t see. Also, when we were at Tulip Festival and someone’s umbrella was blocking the way. Taking this to heart, I said “Let’s just stand in the aisle guys so we can allow everyone to be happy.” because there was no way I was sitting down at an Eric Clapton concert which I paid $130 to go see. The security detail kindly asked us to return to our seats and said that we are allowed to stand up if we want to at our seats and we should! When we returned to our seats, the gentleman who had come to me earlier went to the security guard and asked if we could sit down but she said that we have every right to stand up in our assigned area for the remainder of the concert.

So there we were…4 people out of 20 that I saw stand up for the entire show. Sure, they crowd all stood up for After Midnight, Layla, Cocaine and Crossroads, all appearing late in the set. In a sea of 1000s of people on the floor, it was pretty lame. Once again, the lame Ottawa crowds have risen from the dead and they stand predominantly in my mind. I will take Montreal over Ottawa any time, any place!

Do I feel bad for making people stand up to see the concert? A little. But the following options popped into my mind, some snarky, and some legitimate:

1) If someone wishes to ensure a great view of a concert, they should AUTOMATICALLY try and get concert bowl seats, and not the floor seats. They are structured so that even if someone in front of you is standing up, chances are, you’ll still see the show since the bowl is in the form of…a bowl. 😉 Floor area is a hit and miss. You may get a tall person in front of you, or you may not. He also may be a bastard and stand up all night and ruin your night which you paid $130 for. I just spoke with my colleague Kathleen who is a faithful concert goer and she agrees. She usually picks up bowl tickets because she is a little shorter so it’s her own problem if she gets floor seats and she can’t see well.

2) Perhaps the security detail could have been a little more lenient in their rules. Perhaps they should have allowed the four of us to stand in the aisle (which is…8 feet wide at least). That way, we would be happy, and everyone else would be happy.

In closing of my open letter, I suggest that every band take a little lesson from big bands who have general admission on the floor, such as Green Day and U2. With no seated area on the floor, you are free to move around wherever you wish to obtain the best view possible. There are no seats, but you automatically can judge for yourself when purchasing tickets if you feel like sitting or not, whereas when purchasing tickets to a seated floor, like I said – it’s a wild card.

Also, in further closing – live a little. It’s a rock concert. It’s Eric Clapton. Come on. The GOD of guitar. If you want to sit back and relax, go home and put on a compact disc, or even better, a little vinyl action.

PS – This post is dedicated to Mike from work who is against any man who wears a pink shirt. I just phoned him and he said he would STILL kick his ass for wearing a pink shirt, Clapton or not.