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TORONTO - Apparently the difference between Eric Clapton with a sore throat and Eric Clapton without a sore throat is subtle.
The guitar legend "sucked it up" last night -- both attitudinally and in terms of cold, hard cough drops -- and delivered a solid two-hour set at the Air Canada Centre.
Clapton was so sick on Saturday that he postponed a show at the Palace in Auburn Hills, Mich., citing a sore throat.
Now, the raspy voiced Clapton would be the first to admit he is a guitar player first and a singer second -- make that a distant second. But despite his condition, he actually sounded quite good as a vocalist last night, supposedly thanks to an extra 24 hours of rest.
Detroit's loss was Toronto's gain. If only hockey worked that way.
During the acoustic set that made up the middle portion of the show, Clapton could be seen motioning to a stagehand for some throat medication. Then, between songs, after barking "thank you" -- those words basically were the only ones he said to the audience all night -- he put his head down and aggressively sucked on the cough drop, looking for some form of relief from that horrible feeling we all know too well.
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Of course, it's safe to say the majority of patrons at any Eric Clapton show aren't there for the vocal histrionics, but rather to hear him make his Fender sing. And sing it did, proving that even at 61 years old, the man they call "Slow Hand" has not become the man they call "Arthritic Hand."
Clapton and J.J. Cale have partnered on a CD called The Road To Escondido, which is scheduled to be in stores this November. But last night Clapton played most of the songs an average fan would want him to play: Layla, Cocaine, Wonderful Tonight, etc.
The overall musicianship was stellar, with Clapton displaying an admirable tendency to let the other musicians in his band shine.
One nit-picky complaint, though: As good as the other two guitarists and the organist and the piano player were, there perhaps were a few too many extended solos by people who were not named Eric Clapton or Robert Cray.
Cray, a virtuoso guitarist himself, and his band provided way-above-average opening-act support. Then Cray joined the Clapton combo on stage for one song during the main set and the encore, which consisted of an extended version of Crossroads.
There was an amusing moment during Crossroads, when Cray and Clapton gathered around one microphone to sing a verse. For some reason -- maybe his voice was starting to give out -- Clapton cupped his hand around the side of his mouth, supposedly to direct the sound into the mike more impactfully. Then Cray started to do the same thing, and the two shared a laugh.
Hopefully the close proximity doesn't mean Cray will catch whatever bug Clapton has. Then again, last night showed that great guitar players can wail away in sickness and in health.