Eric Clapton releases ‘Crossroads Guitar Festival 2019’ box set
The legendary blues-rock guitarist, Eric Clapton, today announced the release of Eric Clapton’s Crossroad Guitar Festival 2019, which contains nearly four hours of highlights recorded across the event. It is available on 3CD, 6LP, 2DVD and Blu-ray formats from Rhino.
The two day concert, held at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, raised funds for the Crossroads Center in Antigua, the chemical dependency treatment and education facility that Clapton himself founded in 1998. With the first Crossroads Benefit Concert taking place in Madison Square Garden, New York City, in 1999. The Crossroads Guitar Festival was held every three years from then on, except in 2016.
The festival returned in 2019, following a six-year hiatus, and saw incredible performances from musicians including Peter Frampton, Sheryl Crow, Buddy Guy, Bonnie Raitt, Jeff Beck, and Gary Clark Jr, among many others.
One of the highlights of the show, The Marcus King Band’s blistering performance of Goodbye Carolina is available via Rhino’s YouTube channel, and can be watched below.
Stars shared the stage with Clapton for stellar performances, including John Mayer accompanying Clapton on Layla; and an acoustic performance of Wonderful Tonight which Clapton played with Andy Fairweather Low.
Elsewhere the on-stage collaborations provided such high points as a cover of The Stooges’ I Wanna Be Your Dog (performed by Doyle Bramhall II, Susan Tedeschi, Derek Trucks, Jim Keltner and actor Bill Murray – who was the festival’s MC), and a version of the Merle Haggard hit, Tongiht The Bottle Let Me Down, by Vince Gill, Albert Lee, Bradley Walker, and dobro master Jerry Douglas. For the encore, Clapton lead an ensemble performance of Prince‘s Purple Rain, and Joe Cocker’s High Time We Went.
Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival 2019 is released on November 20 on Rhino, and can be pre-ordered here