Dispatches - Saturday, March 8, 2008 - 1 Comment

Almost a Blind Faith Reunion, Hendrix claps to Winwood and Clapton’s three-night stand.

I have never missed my mothers pink tinted glasses as much as I did last Monday. I watch Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood open their three night saga with “Had To Cry Today”. They ravaged through the A side of their ’69’s Blind Faith, the sole album that the Gods of Blues released. I know because my inherited Mustang came with that tape in.

Bassist Willie Weeks, drummer Ian Thomas and keyboardist Chris Stainton formed the bejewelled backing band as Clapton and Winwood jammed to each other’s works.

“There’s some perspective material that’s quite intricate and tricky and has got a lot of stuff going on,” Winwood told Rolling Stone before the gig. “And in some ways it’s best to head for simpler territory and then let the performance take over. Otherwise you spend all your time trying to remember bits and remember parts. So we’ve kind of erred a little bit on the simpler side. There’s a shed-load of material and we don’t have time to do all. We’ve honed it down and kept things that are better and more enjoyable to play.”

Clapton’s ‘Crossroads’, ‘Forever Man’, and ‘After Midnight’ serenaded the crowd while Winwood belted out a guitar solo of ‘Dear Mr. Fantasy’. They played three numbers by Jimi Hendrix, honouring their mutual friend. The fourth, ‘Changes’ from the Band of Gypsies followed and enveloped all of Madison Square Garden in its pyschedelic-rock cove.

The cream and onion jam gave way as Clapton’s solos of ‘Little Wing’, ‘Voodoo Child’, and ‘Ramblin On My Mind’ jived the fans. Clapton ceded the stage to Winwood, who with his trademark B3 organ crooned ‘Georgia on My Mind’, which he first recorded with the Spencer Davis Group. It was a day when the Angels would have skipped work to be there.

I guess the Mustang is not the only thing I inherited.

* put in by a dear friend of the author.