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Clapton Prepares Crossroad |
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Written by KZYR
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Wednesday, 10 February 2010 |
The Allman Brothers Band, ZZ Top, Jeff Beck, Steve Winwood, John Mayer, B.B. King and Sheryl Crow will join Eric Clapton
at his third Crossroads Guitar Festival, which will take place June 26
at Toyota Park in Chicago
-- where Clapton also held the 2007 event.
The day-long festival will feature 26 axe-wielding acts in total, also
including Robert Cray, Earl Klugh, Robert Randolph, Joe Bonamassa,
Sonny Landreth, Keb' Mo', Albert Lee, Bert Jansch, David Hidalgo and
Cesar Rosas of Los Lobos, Clapton Band member Doyle Bramhall II, Gary
Clark Jr., Hubert Sumlin, James Burton, Jimmie Vaughan, Joao Gilberto
and Pino Daniele. Proceeds will once again benefit the Crossroads
Centre in Antigua, an addiction treatment and education facility
founded by Clapton. Tickets are $100 and go on sale at 11 a.m. EST Feb.
20, at the box office and via Ticketmaster.
Clapton launched
the Crossroads Festival fundraiser in 2004 at the Cotton Bowl in
Dallas. Both of the previous festivals have been documented on DVDs;
the 2007 edition was also edited into a two-hour special for PBS'
"Great Performances" series.
"It's an amazing event," Derek
Trucks, who played the 2007 festival as a member of Clapton's band and
with his own group, told Billboard.com. "To be in the midst of all that
talent and all that great playing and music was just..unreal. It's like
a master class in guitar up there."
Beck added that "it was as
much fun to sit back and listen to everyone else play as it was to play
myself. It really was a great day." And Gill noted that the he was
happy to see country get to be part of the festival alongside blues and
rock; "I think that really speaks to (Clapton's) appreciation for
guitar playing and players in general. He's very open and generous."
It's not yet known who Clapton will play with that day. The 2007 festival was the catalyst
for subsequent dates with his Blind Faith bandmate Winwood, while
Clapton and Beck will be playing several shows together this year.
Beck, Winwood, Mayer, Gill, Crow, Guy, Landreth, Bramhall, Trucks,
Randolph, Cray, Sumlin, King, Mayer, Lee and Los Lobos are all
returnees from the 2007 show.
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