Hi Eva,
Eric Clapton was recently in Tampa with Robert Randolph opening for him and we passed. If Derek Trucks had been playing with him, we may have reconsidered. But, first, let me say that I love Eric Clapton and I know he's a tremendous talent. But....
I'll jump in here and tell you what I do. If I listen to an artist's music regularly, then I'll go see them, providing the total price of the ticket doesn't exceed around 50 U.S. dollars. And, the only very large venus I attend are festivals because that is where you really get your money's worth. Large arenas? I don't care who's playing, I'm probably not going to fight the crowd to sit in the nose bleed section. I wanted to see the Foo Fighters recently at the Orlando Arena, but passed.
Ask yourself, do you like listening to Eric Clapton's music? If you do, then you should probably go. I'm sure you'll have a good time. But if you're like me, Unless the ticket price is reasonable, I'll save my money to see the guys and gals that I really like listening to.
And Dear JDawg, I hear what you're saying about playing what the crowd wants to hear. I just saw Jonny Lang on Saturday and if he had not played "Lie To Me", I may have been a little disappointed. But, Eric has been playing for so long, and I've heard his hit songs a million times and know the words to them all. I just can't get excited about them so much any more.
That just my 2 cents.
Susan
"Listen to the melody cause my love is in there hiding"