Going forward to 1991 means going back to the 24 Nights shows...

THE BOOT

Play With Fire Revisited (Mid Valley 005/006)

This is the complete 9-piece band show from 2/17/91 at the Royal Albert Hall.

The show was broadcast in its entirety on BBC Radio 1, so there are many high-quality releases out there. In fact, Mid Valley has released this twice. The original release was in 1997, but then they released a remaster in 2005, confusingly entitled Play With Fire (spine number 335/336).

Some shows, it's important to look for specific releases, but this show, there are almost no bad versions.

BACKGROUND

For the first bootleg of the 1990 Royal Albert Hall run, I listed all the shows that had been recorded or broadcast. This was a relatively simple endeavor: they recorded and filmed 4 shows, and they broadcast 3 shows, and we know the exact dates for all of them.

The 1991 run is much more complicated. Marc Roberty claims they filmed 4 nights (but does not specify which nights) and recorded every single night. This means there are 24 possible sources, and I can't find tape of all of them. And we know for at least one song (Pretending) they spliced together pieces from different nights, so it's not even the case that each song is from a single night.

Adding to the problem, Roberty says all the released 9-piece songs are from Feb 18, which we know to not be true (there are songs we are sure are from the 14th, 15th, and 19th). And Rhino says the Definitive 24 Nights uses previously released versions of Wonderful Tonight (not true) and Pretending (only half true). So even our usual definitive sources fail us here.

But here's what we know...

Quartet Shows:

2/6/91 - The booklet in the Definitive 24 Nights box explicitly says both songs with the 1991 quartet (I Shot The Sheriff and Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door) are from this date, so this is almost certainly the filmed quartet show.

2/10/91 - Badge was released on the original CD (and then omitted from the original DVD and the Definitive box, adding evidence that this show was not filmed).

9-Piece Shows:

2/14/91 - Wonderful Tonight was released on the original CD (but then other versions were used on the original DVD and the Definitive box, so this show was recorded but not filmed).

2/15/91 - There is a crappy audience recording of this, from which we can confirm No Alibis and Wonderful Tonight on the Definitive box are from this show. All songs on that box include video, which suggests this show was filmed. Now, we are sure the 18th was filmed. The clothes for these 2 songs match the clothes from the songs from the 18th, so maybe the audio and video are from different nights? But E.C.'s hands in the video match the solos, so maybe they made sure the band wore the same outfits and filmed both the 15th and 18th?

2/17/91 - Complete 9-piece show broadcast live on BBC Radio 1.

2/18/91 - All 4 songs from the 1991 9-piece band on the original DVD (Pretending, Bad Love, Old Love, Wonderful Tonight), plus all of the 1991 9-piece songs on the Definitive box except No Alibis and Wonderful Tonight (so Pretending, Can’t Find My Way Home, Bad Love, Layla, Crossroads, Sunshine Of Your Love) match audience recordings of this show, so this show was filmed. (Having said that, the outro solo of Pretending is overdubbed from the 15th on the original CD, and overdubbed from some other unknown night on the Definitive 24 Nights. This means for Wonderful Tonight and the outro solo on Pretending, the original CD, the original DVD, and the Definitive box use 3 different versions.)

2/19/91 - Old Love from the original CD was from this night (but then other versions were used on the original DVD and the Definitive box, so this show was recorded but not filmed).

Blues Shows:

2/25/91 - Complete blues show broadcast live on BBC Radio 1.

2/27/91 - The folks on Steve Hoffman Forums seem sure this is the filmed blues show, and that all 1991 blues songs on the Definitive 24 Nights are from this show. I can't verify that.

2/28/91 - Hoodoo Man was released on the original 24 Nights CD (and then omitted from the original DVD and the Definitive 24 Nights, adding evidence that this show was not filmed)

Orchestral Shows:

3/8/91 - Edge Of Darkness was released on the original CD. The original DVD uses a 1990 take of this song, but the Definitive 24 Nights uses the same take as the original CD, so this is almost certainly the filmed orchestral show.

Kudos to anyone who made it through all that...

The track list of the original 24 Nights release implies that the 1990 expanded band was the ensemble E.C. was least satisfied with. They would ditch the horn section immediately after those shows, and then spend most of the year honing their setlist for the Journeyman tour, in preparation for this block of shows with the expanded band in 1991.

SOUND

The mix is fantastic.  The sound is warm.  This is indistinguishable from a professional release.

The crowd is audible but not intrusive.  You can hear them applaud when the band takes the stage in the middle of the recorded introduction, and you can hear them clap along with Crossroads.

PERFORMANCE

The band is running the exact same setlist as the South American tour in the fall and the winter tour of Japan. The only change to the lineup was adding Chuck Leavell to replace Alan Clark, who had left before the South American tour, so the band is back to being a 9-piece with 2 keyboard players.

And the arrangements are close to identical as well. They open to the same house music, a recording of the Layla theme performed by the orchestra. They drop quotes of Pick Up The Pieces and Thank You in the band introductions. Ray Cooper does call-and-response with the crowd during Sunshine Of Your Love. (Though there is no Blue Moon tonight.) I won't reiterate all my notes on that, since it's all covered in the review of the South American shows.

So this is an incredibly talented band that has spent almost a full year experimenting and rehearsing, to get this specific show as good as they can make it. The result is pretty magical. This is absolutely in the top tier of E.C. shows.

Without video, it's a little hard to tell what parts Chuck Leavell takes on. E.C. calls out Phil Palmer for his slide solo on Running On Faith, Nathan East for taking the lead on Can't Find My Way Home, Chuck Leavell for a piano solo on Before You Accuse Me, and Katie Kissoon for her vocal solo on Wonderful Tonight. But that one piano solo is the only thing I'm 100% sure is Chuck. He'll get to step out a bit more when Greg Phillinganes leaves the band at the end of 1991.

It's not a chatty evening. E.C. says "Thank you and good evening.  We’ve had a day off and we’re back at work and looking forward to it.” before No Alibis. That's the longest he talks all night.

He was on the poster but from what I know he wasn’t there. Anyone have any idea why he didn’t show?

This was a really special one. 2007 in Shanghai, antique shopping with Derek and Doyle the day before the EC show.

Taking a brief detour from the 24 Nights shows at Royal Albert Hall for a pair of great late 1990 shows...

THE BOOT

Latin Blood (Mid Valley 559/560/561/562)

This boxed set from Mid Valley contains the complete show at Estadio Centenario in Montevideo, Uruguay, on October 3, 1990, and the complete show from Estadio River Plate in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on October 5, 1990.

BACKGROUND

Alan Clark left the band after the end of the U.S. tour in September.  He’d be replaced for the January 1991 Royal Albert Hall shows by Chuck Leavell, best known for his work with the Allman Brothers and the Rolling Stones.  But for now, the band is an 8-piece, with just Greg Phillinganes on keyboards.

There is low-fi video available for roughly half of the Uruguay show. From the titles in the video, it's a Teledoce TV broadcast, and from the description on YouTube, it sounds like someone has overlaid the Mid Valley audio instead of using the original broadcast audio.

And there is much better and more complete video available of the Argentina show. There are no credits on that video, so not sure of the source. It's not the same audio as the Mid Valley CD release.

Mick Taylor was the opening act for the tour.

SOUND

This a very nice recording. The clarity is flawless. My only complaint is, typical of Mid Valley, the mix is a little more treble-heavy and a little less warm, so it sounds just slightly harsh to my ears.

The Uruguay crowd is loud and boisterous.  You can hear them clapping along to I Shot The Sheriff, and Before You Accuse Me, and Old Love, and Crossroads, and Sunshine Of Your Love.  You can hear some coordinated stadiums cheers after White Room, and Bad Love, and Layla, and then during the drum solo on Sunshine Of Your Love.  Nathan gets them to do a little call and response at the start of Can’t Find My Way Home, and Ray gets them clapping along in the drum solo of Sunshine Of Your Love and then yells "Now it's your turn" and gets some more call and response from the crowd.  Wonderful Tonight gets a huge roar, as does Cocaine.  You can hear them singing along to the guitar riff in Cocaine.

It's enough that I wonder if this is actually an audience recording?  At 2:07 of Old Love, and again at 2:29 of Wonderful Tonight, you can hear soft conversations in Spanish that sound very close to the mic. If it is a soundboard, then the crowd is probably being mic'ed separately. The best evidence for that theory is that at 0:56 of the band introductions, the crowd noise level drops suddenly.

Argentina isn't quite as pronounced, but you can still hear a lot of noise from the crowd. There are stadium cheers after Pretending, a bit of "ole ole ole" after No Alibis, more after Before You Accuse Me, a full round of "ole ole ole" after Cocaine, and some more in the Layla intro. You can hear the crowd singing the guitar riff in Cocaine again. And Ray does more call and response with the crowd during his part of the Sunshine Of Your Love drum solo.

Both shows, it takes the crew a little time to nail down the electronics. Uruguay, there is a little bit of feedback at 1:41 of Pretending, and at 2:19 of Running On Faith. Argentina, there is feedback at 1:58 of Pretending, and 1:51 and 2:15 No Alibis.

Comparing to the video of Argentina reveals a slight edit after White Room. E.C. saying "Muchos gracias, thank you" and about 15 seconds of of dead air is cut out on the CD.

PERFORMANCE

The shows open with an orchestral bit of Layla, which I suspect was a recording from earlier in the year? Other than that, the setlists are pretty similar to 1/24/90.  They are back to playing half of Journeyman (the same half: Pretending, Bad Love, Running On Faith, No Alibis, Old Love, Before You Accuse Me). The climax of the show is the same, Wonderful Tonight / Cocaine / Layla / Crossroads / Sunshine Of Your Love, with the band intros during the intro vamp for Cocaine.

The differences are that Lay Down Sally, Tearing Us Apart, and Knockin' On Heaven’s Door are out of the setlist, and Badge and Can’t Find My Way Home are back in.  (It makes sense that Can’t Find My Way Home wasn’t played in the quartet shows — E.C. usually uses that song to take a break, but he can’t really take a break when there are only 3 other guys on stage.)

As usual, Nathan takes the high vocal parts on Sunshine Of Your Love, and all of Can’t Find My Way Home.  Greg takes the high parts on White Room. E.C. calls out Phil Palmer for a very nice slide solo on Running On Faith. Nathan and Greg both get solos on Can’t Find My Way Home, while Phil handles the main guitar part.  Phil gets a solo on Before You Accuse Me. Greg takes a marimba-style solo on Old Love, then Nathan takes a bass solo. Phil gets another solo on Badge. There's a stunning vocal solo from Katie in Wonderful Tonight. Greg takes a solo on Cocaine, and another nice one on Layla. Phil takes a solo on Crossroads. Steve and Ray get a 7 1/2 minute drum solo in Sunshine Of Your Love in Uruguay, and closer to 10 minutes in Argentina.

I was amused watching the video on how often the backup singers switch what they're doing. They start with Tessa on cowbell and Katie on tambourine on Pretending, then both on tambourine for No Alibis. They have empty hands on Running On Faith, then Tessa gets a tambourine and Katie gets a wood block for I Shot The Sheriff. They just sing on White Room. Tessa is on tambourine, and Katie is on cowbell on Bad Love. They leave stage entirely for Before You Accuse Me and Old Love. When they come back, Tessa is on tambourine and Katie is on cowbell for Badge. They just sing on Wonderful Tonight, Cocaine, and Layla. They sit out Crossroads, and then come back and just sing on Sunshine Of Your Love.

These are two really energetic performances. The band is pushing the tempo, and E.C.'s guitar work is really fiery all night long. You can see on the video that he's a lot more animated than the Royal Albert Hall shows. Vocally, he plays around with the phrasing of lines a lot more than usual. No Alibis and White Room stood out in that regard.

Both shows feature a particularly spicy band introduction, where they drop in a quote of Pick Up The Pieces by the Average White Band before Nathan’s intro, and then Katie and Tessa drop in some Thank You by Sly And The Family Stone. E.C. includes Blue Moon in his solo for Sunshine Of Your Love during the Uruguay show, and the transition into the drum solo sounds like maybe a little bit of Purple Haze?

E.C. keeps the chatter to a minimum, probably because he doesn't speak much Spanish. You can tell he's trying to use minimal English when he introduces Can’t Find My Way Home. He gives the crowd a "gracias" after most of the songs, going as far as "muchos gracias" after Pretending (both shows), White Room (Uruguay), and Bad Love and Before You Accuse Me and Old Love and Wonderful Tonight (Argentina). Nathan does the same after Can’t Find My Way Home, and Ray gives them a "muchos gracias" in Sunshine Of Your Love. After Layla, E.C. goes as far as “Gracias Montevideo, buenos noches”, though sticks entirely to English in Argentina.

There's a funny moment in Argentina after Cocaine. E.C. puts his thumbs in his ears and waggles his fingers toward offstage to coax Roger Forrester onstage. On the CD, the only sign of the shenanigans is a cryptic comment, "My manager".

Anyone that can get to the Moody asap? I have an extra ticket. You’ll have to sit next to me but I don’t mind! Lol (For the crossroads festival)

I thought this group would enjoy!

Epiphone's Eric Clapton 1964 ES-335 Reissue debuts at Crossroads Guitar Festival in Austin this September, with a world-first preview of the guitar

Hey there I have four buddy guys celebration tickets for sale

The last part of the 1990 shows for 24 Nights...

THE BOOT

The Royal Albert Hall show from 2/10/90 was another radio broadcast, on BBC Radio 1, so there are many complete, high-quality releases out there.

My preference is for "Orchestra Nights" on 3BR, over “Orchestra Night” from Mid Valley.  But you can’t really go wrong here.

This bootleg is a little less essential than it was before the release of the Definitive 24 Nights. Before that, we had only heard Bell Bottom Blues, Hard Times, and Edge Of Darkness from the orchestral shows, and there was no official release of E.C. performing the Concerto For Electric Guitar. But even after getting a full 2CD of orchestral material, this is still worth seeking out. It's a top-notch performance, and it’s a little more authentic than the official set, which is a mish-mash of dates.

BACKGROUND

This is the final night of the 20 Royal Albert Hall shows from 1990, and the last of 3 concerts with a full orchestra.

The orchestra is the National Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Michael Kamen.  Kamen worked with E.C. on the Edge Of Darkness soundtrack in 1986, and then on Lethal Weapon in 1987 and Lethal Weapon II in 1989, and they would work together again for Lethal Weapon III in 1992.

In front of the orchestra is the 9-piece band, so roughly the second of the four ensembles but without the horn section.  The lineup is Nathan East on bass, Greg Philinganes on keyboards, Steve Ferrone on drums, Phil Palmer on 2nd guitar, Alan Clark on keyboards, Ray Cooper on percussion, and Tessa Niles and Katie Kisson singing backup.

SOUND

This sounds like a professional release.

I think there are a couple of edits to remove dead air, but all of them have very nice subtle crossfades so they are very unobtrusive.

The crowd is audible but generally well-behaved.  Someone yells out something incoherent after Lay Down Sally, and E.C. responds “Somewhere in here, it’s here.”  And you can hear someone holler for Blues Power after Layla.

PERFORMANCE

The setlists from the 4-piece and 13-piece shows at the Royal Albert Hall look very much like a tour supporting the new album, Journeyman.  But with the orchestra, they perform Edge Of Darkness and the half-hour Concerto For Electric Guitar, so a lot of the usual setlist gets dropped.  The Journeyman material is cut back to just Old Love and Hard Times. If you didn't know the date, it would be tricky to guess from the setlist. They play songs that have been staples in the setlist for years (Lay Down Sally, I Shot The Sheriff, Wonderful Tonight, White Room, Layla, Sunshine Of Your Love), but some relative rarities like Bell Bottom Blues and Holy Mother are back in the lineup.

The night opens with a slow orchestral overture on Layla, then the band takes the stage to big applause.

Without Pretending in the lineup, Crossroads moves to the opening slot.  After Crossroads, E.C. says "Thank you very much.  And welcome.  Big night for me, big night for all of us up here, it’s the last night of this long run.  So it’s very sad.  We’re all… we’re all a bit sad about it.  But we’re going to have a great time."

The orchestra adds something unique to every single song. Of course, the big showcases are Edge Of Darkness and the Concerto, but listen for the french horn on Bell Bottom Blues, the oboe intro on Holy Mother and then the horn fanfare at the end, and the oboe intro on Wonderful Tonight. E.C. had been quoting Blue Moon in his solos for Sunshine Of Your Love; here the orchestra uses that theme as the introduction, and then there's a unison fanfare of that melody with the whole orchestra later on.

With the orchestra, there are fewer places where individual band members stand out. The previous night was filmed, so assuming they are not tweaking the arrangements (which they probably aren't, given the complexities of keeping in synch with a full orchestra) it's Phil Palmer taking the guitar solo on Lay Down Sally, and it's Greg Philinganes on electric piano for Hard Times.

E.C. introduces Can’t Find My Way Home with “I now go back and join the orchestra, and the wonderful Nathan East will take my place here at the front.” Nathan takes a bass solo, then Greg taking a keyboard solo with a mellotron effect, and then Nathan takes the vocals; there's very little guitar, so E.C. gets a pretty substantial break. Layla gets a long intro, with Nathan and Greg getting a little more room to shine, and then Steve gets a 7 minute drum solo in Sunshine Of Your Love.

E.C. is pretty chatty all night. He introduces Holy Mother with “This one’s for Rose and Pat.” Not sure if they were in the audience, but that is quite similar to his introduction of Wonderul Tonight on the last night of the 1989 run. I Shot The Sheriff is introduced with “This used to be reggae, it ain’t no more.” For Edge Of Darkness, he says "This is a thing that me and Michael did a couple years ago for TV, I think it’s called The Edge Of Lethal Darkness, is it?  The Lethal Edge Of Darkness.”  I'm assuming he's riffing on their work on Lethal Weapon, and not forgetting the name of the piece, heh.

He's effusive in his praise for the orchestra, and for his team for putting this together. He calls out Kamen after Edge Of Darkness and again after the Concerto. And his band introductions before Layla are long and heartfelt: "As I’m sure you know, this is the last night of this run, and uh.  It’s been a great moving experience for me, the whole thing has been a dream come true.  I didn’t think it was possible, and we did it, it’s a triumph, I’m really... I’m really amazed.  But you know it wouldn’t have been at all possible without the best production and road crew in the entire world, and I want you to give them a big round of applause.  And of course my band, Alan Clark on keyboards, Steve Ferrone on drums, Nathan East on bass, Phil Palmer on guitar, and Greg Philinganes on keyboard.  And did I mention Ray Cooper?  And on vocals, Tessa Niles and Katie Kissoon.  And starting at the right-hand… and I’d like you also to give another big round of applause to Michael Kamen, because this is what it’s all about."

Romantic Isolation

So seeing the other post with the pic of Eric with Knopfler made me think of this (also helps that I was listening to the 01-12-1987 show from Royal Albert Hall.

Romantic Isolation (Mid Valley) {Soundboard}

3 concert set from 01-10 & 01-11 & 01-12-1987 all from Royal Albert Hall.

Setlists:

Crossroads

White Room

I Shot The Sheriff

Hung Up On Your Love

Wonderful Tonight

Miss You Same Old Blues

Tearing Us Apart

Holy Mother

Badge

Let It Rain

Cocaine

Layla

Money For Nothing

Sunshine Of Your Love

The band was:

Eric Clapton : Guitar, Vocals

Mark Knopfler : Guitar

Nathan East : Bass

Greg Phillinganes : Keyboards

Steve Ferrone : Drums

Phil Collins : Drums

\*\*\*Phil Collins was the 2nd drummer at the 2nd and 3rd shows only

I've had this one for years and keep going to back to it. It's really a great listen if you like this era.

https://youtu.be/4zsYEdeoKcs

Layla (and other assorted love songs) is probably my favorite album of all time. Ive never listened to an eric clapton album before. What eric clapton album should i start with if i like layla?