EC at The RAH 25th May 2009

I've waited until today to post this as I didn’t want to put anyone off going to see EC at the RAH on any of the subsequent dates – I know how tetchy some can be about negative comment on EC However, last night was the final concert of EC’s residency at the RAH, so here goes.

Last Monday Kathryn and I went to see EC for the 7th night of his recent run at the RAH supported by Arc Angels. A very brief résumé of my thoughts on their set is here: http://www.jbonamassa.com/forum/viewtop … 03#p110703
Unfortunately, they suffered the dreaded support band sound problems at the RAH, although not to the extent that Scott McKeon experienced supporting Joe.

The setlist for EC was:
01 Going Down Slow
02 Key To The Highway
03 Old Love
04 Anything For Your Love
05 I Shot The Sheriff
Acoustic slot:
06 Driftin'
07 Layla
08 Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out
09 Anytime For You
10 Somewhere Over The Rainbow
Back to electric:
11 Badge
12 Little Queen of Spades
13 Before You Accuse Me
14 Wonderful Tonight
15 Cocaine
Encore: (just the one - all very stage managed too)
16 Crossroads

We’ve seen EC at the RAH many times over the years and we were really looking forward to this gig after having our aural appetites whetted by his appearance on stage with Joe and the sparks that flew on that occasion. I’m sorry to say, however, that this one was nothing like the 4th May and almost like watching an EC gig from 20 years ago. Nearly all the stuff he played I'd heard and seen him play umpteen times before in exactly the same way. Hearing the same versions of Badge, I shot the Sherriff (ugh), Wonderful tonight (I put my fingers in my ears ) Cocain and Crossroads was very dull. It was formulaic and we felt he was just going through the motions. Someone recently told me that EC never plays the same solo twice – I don’t believe it. There were a couple of songs I hadn’t heard him play before and he did play the opening song, Going Down Slow, more in line with the studio version than the weaker style he adopted on One More Rider, but overall we were very disappointed. A positive was that he used his pedals and the wah-wah in Anything for your Love. Something that I think has been sadly lacking in his playing in recent years, ie how can he play White Room without wah-wah? We agreed that if we'd known the setlist before buying the tickets we probably wouldn't have bothered. To be honest, we might just as well have stayed at home, closed our eyes and listened to the live albums 24 nights and One More Car, One More Rider. It would have been almost the same.

Not surprisingly, the other reviews and comments I’ve read on this run of concerts have been mixed, with the most die hard EC fans and those who I suspect have not seen EC before seeming the most enthusiastic. I never thought I’d be writing this, but maybe I’m just getting cynical in my old age. I think in future I’ll only want to see EC when he’s on stage with another noteworthy guitarist when the chemistry is right and sparks fly. Sadly, one doesn’t usually get advance notice of such events and he’ll be in the US when I see BB later this month. There’s always the chance of a link up with Jeff Beck at the RAH on 4th July. Now, that would be special.

The band line up:

Guitar: Andy Fairweather Low
Drums: Steve Gadd
Keyboards: Chris Stainton
Keyboards: Tim Carmon
Bass: Willie Weeks
Backing vocals: Michelle John & Sharon White

I’ve never been a fan of Andy Fairweather Low’s playing and why he persists with him I don’t know. Phil Palmer and Tim Renwick, to name two he’s previously employed on rhythm, are far better. He's not too bad on rhythm, but out of his depth when EC let him play a solo. No complaints about the other band members.

An interesting but very bright lighting display made up of several 2 metre (6.5 feet) high panels across the rear of the stage was something new and this doubled as a rather wide TV screen during the acoustic set. The rest of the time it just had lighting effects. My reason for mentioning this is that I wondered if it was intended to prevent photography as the stage was almost completely bleached out on the shot I took. This shot was taken with my camera phone, so may not be representative of all pics taken.

Sorry about the whinge, but after seeing EC trading licks with Joe we were really looking forward to seeing him, but it was a big let down. Maybe if Doyle had been onstage with him it might have been different, but there was just no spark. I guess the 4th May won’t be surpassed for me for a long time.

Phil and Kathryn