Review: Eric Clapton Crossroads Guitar Festival Concert

by Mark Keresman.

Saturday, July 28, 2007, Chicago's Toyota Park -- the day and place for the second edition of Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival. It was an incredible nexus of old-school electric guitar titans and younger upstarts performing for the benefit of Eric Clapton's Crossroads Centre in Antigua, a rehabilitation facility for the chemically dependent. From noon to 11 p.m., this Toyota rocked 'n' rolled more than little Herbie ever could. The weather was nearly perfect (if you don't mind a little sunburn), a cool breeze wafting through the sold-out, multi-generational multitude.

Actor and comedian Bill Murray thanks Eric Clapton for his help on "Gloria". Murray served as the host for the 2007 Eric Clapton Crossroads Guitar Festival Concert on July 28. Photo © Joshua Jones / Pitkin Studio.

Hosted by the adorably smarmy wiseacre Bill Murray, the festivities kicked off in high gear with Louisiana guitar mini-icon Sonny Landreth. Looking every bit the slightly nerdy history professor, Landreth's gumbo was equal parts blues, rock, Cajun music, and churning New Orleans rhythms. His keen slide playing cut through you like the first chilly winds of October that catches you still wearing September's clothes. Clapton joined him for one song in a set that felt too short. See Sonny as a headliner if you know what's good for you.

Sonny Landreth performs at the 2007 Eric Clapton Crossroads Guitar Festival Concert on July 28. Photo © Joshua Jones / Pitkin Studio.

John McLaughlin has long been hailed as one of the greatest jazz guitarists ever and a leading light of jazz fusion. McLaughlin was there at fusion's inception, playing and recording with Miles Davis (his seminal albums Bitches Brew, In A Silent Way, and Live-Evil) and with Tony Williams' Lifetime (the incredibly caustic, criminally neglected-by-far-too-many-folks discs Emergency and Turn It Over), but how many folks know his beginnings were in the UK's blues-rock scene? As if to pay a historical/Karmic debt (or he's just a good guy), McLaughlin's quartet kicked off with a chunky, blues-inflected instrumental that soon segued into the fusion jazz scales for which he's known.

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