Eric Clapton Solos His Way To Success

Call it a classic case of Clapton.

For two hours, a sold-out ACC crowd was treated to an up-close and personal portrait of a love affair between one man and his guitars. From the trademark licks on Eric Clapton's trusty Stratocaster on "Pretending," which kicked off his sizzling set, to the endless solos, which saw his nimble fingers fly freely on the lowest frets, one thing was clear: the man can still make his instrument sing sweetly.

With each subsequent song, Slowhand pulled out long lost riffs and discovered newfound note combinations, all the while grooving on an oriental carpet placed at centre stage. Clapton didn't speak much — other than a few obligatory thank-yous when cheers met the endings of his solos — but he could be forgiven since he was getting over a sore throat that caused him to cancel his show the previous evening. Plus, whether he spoke to the crowd or not was irrelevant since his guitars are his voice anyway.

Five-time Grammy winner Robert Cray was his co-conspirator on this evening, opening with a candid, convincing and soulful set of his own.

Clapton was aided by a tight six-piece band and two powerful back-up singers. The band included a couple of young guitar gods in waiting — Derek Trucks on slide and Doyle Bramhall II on lead. Clapton allowed this pair to shine throughout and these disciples delivered, putting on a clinic of their own.

Clapton "Shot The Sheriff" early, brought out his leading lady late ("Layla"), jammed it out on the J.J. Cale classic "After Midnight," and dabbled in a little "Cocaine" near the end. "Layla" brought the crowd to its feet for the first time, as the baby boomers in attendance were awakened by the classic rock anthem. He also paid homage to mysterious bluesman Robert Johnson with a sweet sounding cover of "Little Queen Of Spades."

In between these tracks, Clapton switched weapons and gave a four-song unplugged session that included "Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out" and "Running On Faith." In case these superb pieces weren't enough to confirm Clapton is still a guitar genius, for the encore he headed down to the "Crossroads" with Cray.

Appropriately, Clapton left the last word to his guitar. And his trusty companion shows no signs of fizzling 40 years on.