Vol. 5, No. 5, May 2008
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Guitar ‘God’
Eric Clapton appears at the Borgata Event Center Sunday, May 25 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $195, $295, $395 and $500.
He was perhaps the only ’60s-era musician to inspire comparison to the Deity. Back in that pharmaceutically fueled age, it was not uncommon to see graffiti from London to LA and everywhere in-between declaring “Clapton is God.”
It’s hard to believe, but after all these years, Eric Clapton’s one-night-only May 25 show at Borgata will be the his Atlantic City casino debut.
The guitar legend was here with the Stones in 1989 for three arena concerts. It should be sensational to see and hear him in the relatively intimate 2,000-plus-seat Event Center at Borgata.
The multiple Grammy Award winner known as Slowhand has been inducted three times into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame—for his solo artistry as well as stints with the Yardbirds and Cream. A cofounder with Steve Winwood and Ginger Baker of rock’s first so-called supergroup, Blind Faith, Clapton also cobbled together the ensemble that became Derek and the Dominoes. He was ranked fourth in Rolling Stone’s list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists and Number 53 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
Clapton deserves every accolade. Despite a downright messy personal life marked by extravagant drug addiction and destructive relationships (all recounted with unsparing candor in his recent autobiography), he is a peerless instrumentalist and a true innovator in the genres of blues-rock (Derek and the Dominos), psychedelic rock (Cream) and even pop rock (his 1997 collaboration “Change the World” with Babyface). He also tried his hand at scoring a mid ’70s hit with a cover of Bob Marley’s “I Shot the Sheriff.”
With the Dominoes, he produced the 1970 album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs; the title tune is one of rock’s most tortured and enduring love songs.
Though he crashed and burned several times during his long love affair with drugs and alcohol, Clapton sobered up in 1987, and his career surged. His MTV Unplugged CD (it included the tender “Tears In Heaven,” a lament for the death of his son) won six Grammys. His 2000 album with blues legend B.B. King, Riding with the King, went gold immediately on release.
Expect samples from every era of the career of the guitar giant when Clapton comes to Borgata.
