07/28/2007
Eric Clapton's Crossroads Festival
Toyota Park
Bridgeview, IL
What an incredible day of music! It was a very long day...I think that I'm getting too old :) We had general admission tickets, and didn't know that we could bring in blankets and pillows. Luckily, they gave us a brochure in the parking lot, and we grabbed some towels out of the truck to sit on. For July, the weather cooperated quite nicely. It was about 80 degrees, but cloudy (thank goodness!!) There was a wind out of the north, which helped to keep things cool.
The entire show was incredible. They had a stage that revolved around, so there was very little "down time" between artists. As one act was performing, they were able to set up the equipment for the next act...and then twirl the stage around. Bill Murray was the host for the day, and did a great job!
I was very impressed with Derek Trucks and his band. I could have done without Willie Nelson. It took him half way through the first song to remember the lyrics, and he was very boring! Shery Crow was great, but I wish that she played longer. Jeff Beck was good...and had a (very!) young lady bass player who was incredible...but an hour was a bit too long for all instrumental stuff. Robert Randolph was great, and B.B. King put on a great show as well.
We left a bit early, and missed the last part of Clapton, and Buddy Guy. But after nearly 10 hours of sitting on the ground, we were worn out. The good thing, though, was that it didn't take us two extra hours to get out of the parking lot!
I'm a bit sore after sitting / standing on the lawn for 10 hours, but that's okay :) This was an incredible event, with an impressive line-up, for a great cause. *AND* the did it in Chicago :)
Artist Listing:
Jeff Beck
Doyle Bramhall II
Eric Clapton
Robert Cray
Sheryl Crow
Vince Gill
Buddy Guy
BB King
Alison Krauss and Union Station
Sonny Landreth
Albert Lee
Los Lobos
John Mayer
John McLaughlin
Willie Nelson
Robert Randolph
Hubert Sumlin
Derek Trucks
Jimmie Vaughan
Steve Winwood
Reviews:
Rolling Stone 1
Rolling Stone 2
Rolling Stone Pics
Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune Interview with Clapton
MSN Clips
1 comment:
Re: Jeff Beck's bassist.... Absolutely AMAZING. Her name is Tal Wilkenfeld, she's 21 (we were guessing 15-18 while she was on stage!!!) and out of Sydney, Australia. And I was completely stunned by her abilities.
I was frustrated by how many times the control booth forgot to turn on the mike volumes. And I thought that was what happened to Willie. I was also a little disappointed that the only Traffic song Winwood did was Fantasy. I was really looking forward to hearing Low Spark and Glad (instrumental, horn- and piano-heavy, and very upbeat). Ah well. Can't have em all.
We stayed till the very end. The place really emptied out after the Clapton jam at 10:00 or so when they played Crossroads. But the stage rotated again we saw the roadies plugging monitors back in so we knew there was more. That's when Buddy Guy came out, doodled around for about 20 minutes with his band, then Clapton came out with him and they sang a couple numbers. Then several others came out, and they all did Sweet Home Chicago and one more.
Getting out was insane. We got to my car about 11:15. We were still in the parking lot at midnight. And then it took another half hour to travel a distance that under normal traffic would have taken 5-10 minutes (79th and Roberts)
But oh such an awesome night!!!
Jenn L
http://www.needleful-things.com/xsblog
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