"Hello Old Friend"!

Eric Clapton in New Orleans!

If you read my recent post, you know that I was lucky enough to win a pair of tickets to the Eric Clapton concert in New Orleans.  The concert was this past Saturday night, and after spending the day working on our rental we were looking forward to a night out.  We met up with our daughter's future in-laws, who were also going to the concert.   After a few drinks at the Hyatt and meeting some other great folks, we made our way to the arena nearby.  

We were pretty pleased with our seats, and had a pretty good view of the stage.  "The Wallflowers" were the opening band, which should have been pretty good but the sound quality was terrible!  We really like some of their songs and were looking forward to hearing them, so we were disappointed.  We were hoping that Eric Clapton would sound better.

We love the guitar, and Eric Clapton is one of the best.  Ken and I had never seen him in concert before, so we were pretty excited about my win.  We weren't sure if Eric Clapton would turn out to be like our recent "Meatloaf" experience, which wasn't so good.  Poor guy used to have an amazing singing ability, but it's time for him to retire. 

As the stage lights came back on Eric Clapton and about six other guys (plus two female back-up singers) walked on the stage, grabbed their spots, and started jamming.  The first song was "Hello Old Friend", which we thought was a pretty good way to start the night.  Hearing so many of Eric Clapton's songs that we hadn't heard in so long was kinda like reuniting with an old friend.  Luckily, Eric Clapton sounded much better than "The Wallflowers" ... and "Meatloaf"!

  After all these years, Eric Clapton's still got it!  He picked up several guitars throughout the night, and played one familiar song after another.  About two hours later he sang a Joe Cocker hit, "Ain't It High Time We Went", and then he and his band "went".  

We really enjoyed the show and again felt lucky to be able to see such a legend.  Ken and I have been to a lot of concerts, and this one was one of the best.  There were no fancy laser shows or theatrics ... just good music.  

I started thinking about all the musicians we've seen over the years, and here's a few ... Greg Allman, Queen, Rush, Journey, Edwin McCain, Our Lady Peace, The Fray, Lifehouse, Eddie Money, David Bowie, Cheap Trick, Pink Floyd (one of my favorite bands), Jimmy Buffett, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Lenny Kravitz, KISS, Cowboy Mouth,  Irma Thomas,Walter "Wolfman" Washington, Rockin' Dopsie, Tab Benoit, Kid Rock, Bozz Scaggs, Meatloaf (he was great the first time), James Taylor, Hillary Duff (with our daughter), Jessica Simpson (again with our daughter), Counting Crows, Black Crowes, The Black Keys, Jerry Jeff Walker, Jerry Lee Lewis, Tony Bennett (another contest win),Van Morrison, Dr. John, Fats Domino, Steely Dan, Steve Miller Band, Better Than Ezra, George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic, World Leader Pretend, Joe Cocker, Paul McCartney ... and so many more I can't remember!  Other than Rush (boring) and the second Meatloaf concert, I'd say all of these performances did not disappoint ... even Hillary Duff and Jessica Simpson were pretty good.  We love music, and we're lucky to live so close to New Orleans ... a city that always has a good band playing somewhere.  We saw a lot of these bands at the New Orleans Jazz  Fest that's always the last weekend in April and the first weekend in May.  There's also our favorite, the French Quarter Fest that's always mid-April and provides lots of free music throughout the quarter ... come on down!

By the way, Lenny Kravitz and Kenny Wayne Shepherd are also amazing guitar players and are on our "favorite concerts" list.  If you get to see any of these guys, don't miss it!  Did you know that Kenny Wayne Shepherd is NOT the singer?!  We had no idea until we went to see him play.  It turns out the young blonde-haired guitar player is Kenny Wayne Shepherd.  He mentioned the fact that most people don't realize that he's not the singer and that he doesn't sing as well as he plays the guitar so he needed a singer.  This young guy is really good, and we were pleasantly surprised to learn who he really was.

We look forward to listening to all the local island music once we start cruising!

Hasta luego ... until then.  Mid-Life Cruising!