ERIC CLAPTON

Belle Vue, Manchester 1976 08 06

CD 1:
1. Hello old friend
2. All our past time
3. Tell the truth
4. Nobody knows you when you're down and out
5. Layla
6. Can't find my way home
7. Singing the blues

CD 2:
1. Rambling on my mind / Have you ever loved a woman / Stormy monday
2. Innocent times
3. I shot the sheriff
4. Further on up the road
5. Key to the highway

Line-up:
Eric Clapton - guitar, vocals

George Terry - guitar
Dick Sims - keyboards

Carl Radle - bass
Jamie Oldaker - drums

Sergio Pastora Rodriguez - percussion

Yvonne Elliman - vocals
Marcy Levy - vocals

Lineage: unknown, found via a blog - my guess - CD-R-Unknown extractor - FLAC

Notes:

Currently I am working on my project of reviewing the 70 best Clapton shows from all eras
for my future blog. I will eventually upload all the shows getting the highest ratings (9 and 10)
on Dime, unless they are on the tracker. This is the first of them.

Also, I would like anyone upload good sounding shows (from aud4/sbd4 up)
of the following
1989 and 1990 4 piece shows
1990 USA tour
1991 4 piece and orchestra
1992 any shows

Included is my review of the concert:

Eric Clapton 08 06 1976 Manchester England

Sound: 6-7 Boomy, distorted vocals but upfront, good bass, some tape
issues
Performance: 10

HP: Almost the whole concert
LP: Innocent times

Unfortunately, this has boomy, distorted vocals (although upfront),
and some annoying tape effects from the recordings, because this gig is smoking.
The setlist is pretty rare for 1976 too � much more like 1975. The two obligate new pairing of Hello old friend
and All our past times are opening the show, with the best version of the latter yet. The whole band
seems more engaged than earlier and George Terry plays a beautiful, melancholic countrified solo.
Tell the Truth is tight as usual, but has the plus of an engaged Clapton, who plays great wah wah leads
dueling with Terry, who lays down the slide for the outro soloing. The same goes for Layla.
Eric then launches into Nobody knows you, handling all the vocals. The few drinks he had
make him open up vocally, and he does an emotional, soul based version. It is mostly
in tune and it becomes the best ever singing performance of the slow version. The main solo
is short and aggressive Yvonne Elliman�s Can�t find my way home while good, does not match
the intensity of the previous numbers, but it is a good performance. Singin�the blues is hot,
perhaps the best version ever, with great rhytm section � check out the great basslines
by Carl Radle, Clapton doing a completely different vocal phrasing and playing blazing solos.
Terry holds up with some soloing of his own and Eric even leads the backing vocalist into a vocal
improvisation. The blues medley, combining lyrics of Buddy Guy�s My time after a while,
Have you ever loved a woman and Ramblin� on my mind is a monster version, with several key changes
and Clapton soloing all over the place. Great thumping bass once again. Marcy Levy�s Innocent times
is driven forward by Dick Sims� tasty organ, but she oversings, sometimes going into straightforward
yelling. A nice version of I shot the sheriff follows, probably the longest in existence, clocking
at almost 20 minutes. After the anticlimactic percussion solo by Sergio Pastora, the band starts
a long reggae/latin flavoured jam with Clapton and Terry leading the band, but the whole ensemble cooks.
It merges straight into a groovy blues, with both Clapton and Terry at their best and the band
jamming since the start, with Clapton even playing around with the riff from Spoonful. Clapton then
leads the band into an improvised version of Freddy King�s Tore down, and not Further on up the road
as most bootleg pages and the cover itself state. At the end, the band even sings happy birthday to his
boss at RSO records Robert Stigwood. The gig concludes with a nice shuffling Key to the highway,
with the audience clapping. Marcy Levy plays some nice harmonica, with Dick Sims adding flavor
on organ, while Clapton plays some aggressive solos. Vocally it is one of the best versions of the track since 1974 so far. A great gig, if zou can get over the sound limitations, it is one to get.