Eric Clapton
Ball Arena
Denver, Colorado, USA
September 16, 2023

Band:
Eric Clapton – guitar, vocals
Andy Fairweather Low – guitar, vocals
Chris Stainton – piano, keyboards
Paul Carrack – organ, keyboards, vocals
Nathan East – bass
Sonny Emory – drums
Katie Kissoon – backing vocals
Sharon White – backing vocals

lineage: Sony ECM-717 (mic) / Sony PCM-M10 (recorder) > 24/96 > 16/44 (downsampling and limiter on loud claps and nearby yelling using Audacity) > CD wav (track splitting) > MP3Tag (for file tagging) > FLAC (using Traders Little Helper) Level 8

Tracklist (1:44:53)

01 The Shape I'm In
02 It Makes No Difference
03 Key To The Highway
04 Hoochie Coochie Man
05 I Shot The Sheriff
06 Driftin'
07 Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out
08 Call Me The Breeze
09 Layla
10 Tears In Heaven
11 Tearin' Us Apart
12 Wonderful Tonight
13 Crossroads
14 Little Queen of Spades
15 Cocaine
16 High Time We Went

Notes: This was our 3rd concert of the season, and a highly anticipated one at that: Eric Clapton, returning to the Mile High City for the first time since his tour with Steve Winwood in 2009. This was my 3rd time seeing EC, but my wife has seen him at every visit to the Denver area since 1983 (!) - he is definitely her favorite performer, so, even at $270 per ticket (!), we were definitely going.

And, Slowhand did not disappoint. He sounded great, his playing was great, the setlist was a nice cross selection of favorites and blues, with a lengthy acoustic section in the middle. Great band, too - Sonny Emory is not a player I was familiar with before this show, but he was a monster. As the show was winding down, I was thinking to myself "too bad Clapper couldn't find a way to give Paul Carrack a lead vocal" when they came out for the encore and Paul took the lead for High Time We Went, which also features Jimmy Vaughan (the opener, which I also recorded).

Enjoyable as it was, this was a tough show to record - the venue was, alas, completely sold out and the crowd was very enthusiastic. Everyone we sat next to was polite and kind, but they were there to get into the show - not that I blame them. Plus, we weren't exactly in the sweet spot of a cavernous sports arena - 17 rows up from the floor on the right side. Still, all things considered, this isn't a bad capture. The acoustic section took a bit of boosting and quite a bit of clapping and hollering was limited - this is definitely an audience recording - but, it's an entirely enjoyable listen. I'm sure we'll be listening to it for years to come.

At least one more show to go this year, my favorite non-Beatles band up next...

Finally: please don't sell the recording, but, otherwise, do with it what you wish. Share it and trade it, and remember: these and other greats will not be around forever, so, let's enjoy them while we have them. Best wishes to all of the fans out there and Namaste.