Osaka Joh Hall Night 1 (Arms 142-143PR)
Osaka Joh-Hall, Osaka, Japan – February 12th, 2009
Disc 1 (64:24): Hoochie Coochie Man, Key To The Highway, I Shot The Sheriff, Isn’t It A Pity, Tell The Truth, Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad, Driftin’, Travelin Alone, That’s Alright, Motherless Child, Running On Faith
Disc 2 (50:23): Motherless Children, Queen Of Spades, Everything’s Gonna Be Alright, Wonderful Tonight, Layla, Cocaine, Crossroads
Eric Clapton’s 2009 Winter Tour began at the Castle Hall in Osaka on February 12th, playing a two hour set before a packed audience. The show included some of Eric’s best-loved songs and some real surprises like Isn’t It A Pity,”That’s Alright and Everything’s Gonna Be Alright.
ARMS presents another excellent quality audience recording of the event which, in contrast to Tarantura’s tape on Lots Of Smile, has much deeper emphasis upon the bottom end.
I prefer Eric playing in small bands – as this is the case – rather than in bigger ones. The band for this tour comprised Doyle Bramhall II (guitar), Chris Stainton (keyboards), Abe Laboriel Jr. (drums), Willie Weeks (bass) and Sharon White & Michelle John (backing vocals).
This Japan Tour of 2009 will always be one of my favourite tours because EC gets much more room for him than he’s got lately. Also, there is more intensity in his playing too. The first part of the show is a highlight in itself. By the way, if you are a statistics-lover, you should note that Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad? is played tonight in Osaka for the first time since 1974!
The acoustic set that closes Disc1 sees another historic moment: the first time that EC performs Travelin’ Alone – an obscure blues number that, I am sad to say, would not survive this Winter Tour as it would be dropped by the time EC played the RAH in London on May.
Layla steals the second disc in its entirety for me (Little Queen Of Spades is a close second though)…. It is absolutely irrelevant whether EC makes a couple of mistakes on it or not. The performance of this song alone is worth acquiring this 2CD set.
“Osaka Joh Hall Night 1” is housed in the same thin trifold plastic gatefold that ARMS have been using lately for their latest releases “Saitama Super Arena Night 1″, “Saitama Super Arena Night 2” and “Budokan Night 3″. All of them feature the same sleeve and just their back covers are different.
This is an excellent document of EC’s first show of his Japan Tour of 2009. With the performance being equally excellent, this is a release that is worth having.
