You were wonderful tonight.
— Eric Clapton

Eric Clapton is still god.

The words of the graffiti prophets from more than 40 years ago, when one of music’s greatest pure guitarists emerged from the London underground to take his instrument to never before dreamed-of heights, still rang true Tuesday night when the 65-year-old Clapton played to a packed house at The Arena at the Gwinnett Center in Duluth.

Who but a rock ’n roll deity could convince one of music’s great voices, Roger Daltrey — yes, Who lead singer Roger Daltrey — to serve as an opening act?

And from the soul-stirring blues licks of the one-two opening “Going Down Slow” and especially “Keys to the Highway,” to the closing, pandemonium-inducing encore “Crossroads,” Clapton on this night was nothing if not a rock god. The impossible-to-duplicate fretwork that he made look effortless rained down on a crowd that applauded each solo, each fill, each ringing note.

There were plenty among the 13,000 who lamented afterward Clapton’s decision not to play his magnum opus “Layla,” but it’s more likely these were not music fans there for the once-in-a-lifetime experience of seeing a larger-than-life legend. These are people who would sit down to a lobster dinner and complain that there was no shrimp cocktail to go with it, who would dine on caviar and champagne and gripe that there were no strawberries in the mix.

Daltrey — who told the crowd, “I appreciate those of you who came and settled in early. I’ve been doing this since 1963 with The Who, and the last time we were a support act was with the Rolling Stones, and they did all right.” — was surprisingly excellent as Clapton’s opening act. He and a crack band that included Simon Townsend — Pete’s younger brother — on guitar tore through 10 songs before leaving to a rousing ovation.

Daltrey did not give the crowd what it begged for after a marvelous take of “Baba O’Riley” — an encore — but he gave the people plenty to remember. His set included mostly Who numbers, superbly done, but Daltrey did get equally effusive response to his non-Who selections: Taj Mahal’s “Freedom Ride,” the David vs. Goliath parable “Gimme a Stone,” his “Days of Light,” and a rousing cover of the standard “Young Man Blues.”

From the opening notes of the “Who Sell Out” hit “I Can See for Miles,” Daltrey quickly won the crowd over. Before he was through, he’d torn through “The Real Me,” “Behind Blue Eyes,” “Who Are You?,” “Going Mobile” and the “Who’s Next?” closer “Baba O’Riley” and had the crowd on its feet.

Clapton’s performance got off to an inauspicious start when the house PA system lost his vocals, leaving the crowd to cry out in protest. Clapton sang on, though, oblivious to the audience’s inability to hear him. When the PA kicked back on and the crowd let out a lusty roar, it was just the first of many on the night.

The first display of guitar wizardry from the man known as Slow Hand came on his second number, the slow blues of “Keys to the Highway.” By the time he’d finished, an awed crowd knew it was in for a magical evening.

Clapton soared to guitar-god highs during his next three numbers — “Tell the Truth,” “Old Love” and the Bob Marley classic “I Shot the Sheriff” — before settling in with an acoustic guitar to do the instrumental “Drivin’,” “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out,” “Running on Faith” and his hit-turned-T-Mobile-ad “Rock and Roll Heart.”

Mortal musicians wish they could get the sound from their amped-up axes that Clapton rang out of his acoustic.

He closed his final segment with the Cream classic “Badge,” the beautiful ballad “Wonderful Tonight,” the rollicking “Before You Accuse Me,” more transcendent blues licks on “Little Queen of Spades” and the crowd-pleasing “Cocaine.”

After an extended plea from the audience for a return, Clapton and his band came back to do “Crossroads” in what would be his only encore.
For those who choose to quibble, there are any number of songs Clapton could have done to please the masses — “Layla,” “Tears in Heaven,” “White Room,” “Bad Love,” “Sunshine of Your Love,” “Motherless Children,” “The Core,” “Let It Rain,” “After Midnight,” “Bellbottom Blues,” “Lay Down Sally.” I’m one of those weird people, I guess, who chooses to focus more on what he’s given than what he doesn’t get.

And on this night, March 9, 2010, I saw Eric Clapton ... live ... playing his guitar. For at least one in the crowd, that was enough.

E-mail Carlton Fletcher at
carlton.fletcher@albanyherald.com.