There’s nothing like the rush of music.

Used to be you went to the show, shared the excitement with the throng in attendance, went home basking in the glow and…told a few friends over the next couple of days. Now you go, and if you’re not sending a message from your BlackBerry FROM the show, as soon as you get home you e-mail everybody you know. A concert that happens in New York City can have GLOBAL REACH!

If you read Jon Pareles’ review of the Winwood/Clapton show in the "New York Times" you get a skewed view. You see reviewers are dispassionate, they’re not FANS! Why the fuck are they going ANYWAY? The question is, if you love the act and couldn’t go, WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO BE THERE?

And I can tell you, to be in Madison Square Garden last week was akin to having your head explode, if you’re a fan of Stevie Winwood and Eric Clapton. If you know every lick of the first side of the one and only Blind Faith album, everything from "Had To Cry Today" to "Presence Of The Lord". How do I know? From the enraptured e-mail I received from everybody in attendance. But now I know they were right, because I’m listening to an MP3!

I can’t tell you how many times I listened to "Can’t Find My Way Home" on headphones lying on the floor of my bedroom. Who was this angel singing? Yes, Stevie Winwood sounded like he was testifying from heaven. No one on earth sounded like this. And the acoustic guitar and percussion, even the "woos"… "Can’t Find My Way Home" is a MASTERPIECE!

Do you have the Bonnie Raitt version? Done with John Hammond, Jr. and Lowell George? I got it the very first day I used Napster. Listen to the guitar licks, only Lowell can play them this way… And Bonnie has a way of singing that makes you believe she wrote the song. She sings a song with EXPERIENCE!

Alison Krauss does a pretty good take.

But I love the instrumental version by this guy Jim Wilson. It’s got all the dreaminess, the ethereal feeling of the original.

Which, of course, was written by Stevie Winwood forty years ago. But played live with Eric Clapton last week.

I got an e-mail asking me if I wanted the 2/25 show. Did this guy have access to the soundboard? I didn’t think so. I figured sound quality would be sketchy. So I told him to e-mail me only ONE TRACK!

Little did I know he’d pick the classic, my all time favorite. The file said "Can’t Find My Way Home".

I don’t import stuff like this immediately into iTunes. I fire it up in QuickTime to check it out. And when the guitar came in, right after the crowd noise, I was stunned, the audio was great, it was JUST LIKE BEING THERE!

What was being there like? I can tell from listening. You can hear the audience going up and down in time with the music. You can hear the assembled multitude roar as the famous guitar lick fills up the arena.

This is the Clapton arrangement. That he cut on "E.C. Was Here". It’s Stevie’s song, but Eric plays it live. Eric’s arrangement is less angelic and more an amble through the garden. But now Stevie is singing…

Ever so subtly you can hear the audience sing along in the background. Well, not that subtly. It sounds like a religious revival meeting. Which, in fact, it is. Of souls who lived through an era when rock and roll was king. And when Stevie finishes singing the chorus, the audience breaks into spontaneous applause!

This take of "Can’t Find My Way Home" won’t get Top Forty airplay. Not even on a rock format. Satellite will play it, but nobody is listening. Not in quantity! Does that mean the song’s not good, that no one cares? NO, it just means that the paradigm has shifted. It’s not about growing a small cadre of fans into a conflagration overnight. Rather, it’s about satisfying a niche, and growing this niche SLOWLY! Not at a snail’s pace on purpose, but because THAT’S AS FAST AS YOU CAN DO IT!

I assume these shows were recorded for a live album. Maybe a DVD. They’ll be released next Christmas, for the selling season. THAT’S WRONG! This shit should come out NOW!

Not that many people are interested. But they’re interested NOW! They don’t care about warts in the recordings. They love the immediacy. They want to feel the glow. Listening to this MP3 I feel the glow. I feel the attachment to last week’s shows. I feel like I BELONG!
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Ok, well fuck me. Down there somewhere I made a remark to the effect that the Clapton / Winwood show would be a "nice evening in the old days but I can’t deal with all the hype, blah, blah, blah", so today a friend calls (I didn’t even know the shows started tonight) and says he has an extra ticket for the Garden show and would I like to go. I say no, my kid’s in town from college and we’re going to catch There will be Blood, and then I start to think – Blind faith was to be THE supergroup – maybe this is worth checking out if there’s reasonably priced tickets outside the Garden. Well, no chaep tickets, but great seats at a "fair" price and the show was so fucking monumental I’m still shakin’.

The problem with the Cream show was Clapton, without a strong Baker and Bruce had to carry too much of the load and let’s face it, their material was generally only fair. It was well worth it since I never (along with most others) never got the chance to see them in the old days. But still, for history and to show my son, definitely worth it. But THIS – Clapton SOARED, SHREDDED, WAILED, (enough?). The MATERIAL, Winwood’s VOICE, Clapton’s ability to be free to concentrate on nuanced solos with the help of the cushion of dual keyboards or Winwood’s underrated guitar playing on and on and on. Clapton needs no Viagra – he came over and over again, as good, in some ways maybe even better, than ever. He’s STILL GOD.

I can’t remember everything (my Ambien’s starting to kick in) but a Hendrix tribute, of sorts, with THE GREATEST Little Wing and Voodoo Chile (which Winwood played organ on the original Electric Ladyland version, remember? (with Jack Casady on bass!). Clapton pulled a note out of his solo that sounded like a 500 lb catfish from the bottom of the Mississippi River – balls, balls, balls – these guys grinned through the whole thing – opened with an amazing Had to Cry Today – only minor disappointment was no Gimme Some Lovin’ encore. No throwaway mid-period solo album stuff – all great selections and they only scratched the surface of they’re vast potential repertoire – they hinted at extending the project – let’s hope so. The Boomers in the audience primal screamed like they haven’t in 20 years. Goodnight!

Rob Wolfson

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They are now doing voodoo child after littlewing…following a set of both artistes very best

Steve of course played on the original recording by jimi

Eric has not rocked this hard in years….both are having a great time and in fine voice

I would venture to say this is eric at his best since wheels of fire

More later

P.s. Rap says hi

Danny Z

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Imagine going to see the Cream reunion and being disappointed because although Jack Bruce sang his heart out and Ginger Baker played a terrific drum solo, Eric Clapton, for some reason decided to just phone in his lead parts, none of which even echoed any of his original licks or phrasings.

Now imagine going to see Steve Winwood and Eric Clapton in the exact same arena (MSG) and hearing this set list played NOTE for NOTE, except for the parts where a real band opened up and just jammed together! Oh, and the band? How about Chris Stainton on keys, Willie Weeks on bass, and Ian Thomas on drums!!!

01. Had To Cry Today
02. Low Down
03. Forever Man
04. Them Changes
05. Sleeping In The Ground
06. Presence Of The Lord
07. Glad / Well Alright
08. Double Trouble
09. Pearly Queen
10. Tell The Truth
11. No Face
12. After Midnight
13. Split Decision
14. Ramblin On My Mind (EC solo acoustic)
15. Georgia On My Mind (SW solo hammond)
16. Little Wing
17. Voodoo Child
18. Can’t Find My Way Home
19. Dear Mr Fantasy
Encore: 20. Crossroads

I swear, if I new it was going to be this good, I would have broken down and dropped mescaline! With out a doubt, it was the best Eric Clapton I’ve seen in years. I can’t remember when he’s rocked this hard. There was a moment in "Voodoo Child" where I swear it seemed like a lightning bolt shot through him thrown by Jimi himself, and the fire that came out of that guitar was clearly coming from another planet! That solo alone made everyone’s insides just explode!

But enough about Clapton for a second. What about Winwood?!!!!! That voice!! And I’d forgotten about HIS guitar skills! Oh my God! And the two guitars together? Oh my God, squared!!!!

The best part was that the musicians were CELEBRATING these songs and riffs and not playing them as just a gig for money based on nostalgia. And, if you closed your eyes you wouldn’t know if it was 2008 or 1969! Except for the fact that all those guys on stage were actually even better because of years of musical growth.

I have seen thousands of shows and concerts (lucky guy), but this one will go down in history as one of the all time best shows I ever saw and got to be a part of.

Paul Rappaport

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Bob,
Went to the Winwood-Clapton Jam last night at the Garden.

I have been a Clapton fan since the age of 12 when I first heard "white room" by cream. By the time I delved deeper into Cream and heard Eric’s version of "Crossroads" I knew I had to save up and buy a Les paul. I am proud to say that I still steal Clapton’s licks to this day. He’s a genius, and when it comes to straight feeling and transition there’s none better in the field today. He’smy definition of a living legend. He has touched every piece of the puzzle since the insception of modern rock.

At first when I learned that the tickets I got from my brother for christmas were "behind the stage" I was a little disapointed. They were in fact the best seats I have ever had at any venue ever.
I sat right above the drum kit with no obstructions at all. I saw the crowd as they saw the crowd. I could feel them playing TOGETHER. It was the closest I have ever come to being on the stage and imagining myself playing with Legends.

I run a live music venue in NYC, and I am also a musician myself. I have been to many shows. I have played many shows. I have never seen that kind of free flowing magic. You could feel them re-unite.
I made a point to read Clapton’s new book before I went. I mean, I knew everything in it already, but felt it only appropriate to hear it from his viewpoint. It only added to the magic of the show. You could feel their history in every note.

Bob, you were 100% right about the way Clapton plays when he’s allowed to sit backseat to Steve’s voice and a screamming Hammond. Indescribable.

Oh, and by the way, Steve may be know for his fingers tickling the keys until they fall off, but he is absolutley no slouch on the 6 string either. It looked like a solo competition up there. It was remniscent of an allman brothers concert at times (except with Fender Strats). Truly amazing how Steve Winwood held his own toe to toe with Eric Clapton.

Anyway, Great show, Great Night, Great Energy, Great memory!

Best,

Andrew Gerardi

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Clapton – winwood was a great show.
100 percent value even at mishegenah prices.
I’m sure u heard.

Steven E. Fenster

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Clapton + winwood = religion.

David Brinker

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The show was spectacular….just like the good ol’ days…..great playin, great singin, great songs!
One of the many highlights….15 minute version of "voodoo chile"….

Brad Rosenberger

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Harvey Leeds:

At msg winwood clapton right now doing can’t find my way home. Cream shows were just ok this is great. Clapton is smiling. In the last decade he has put me to sleep in concert. U would love this.
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