The 2010 Crossroads Guitar Festival is in the history books. Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Buddy Guy, Jonny Lang, ZZ Top, Sonny Landreth… and that was only the beginning. What a day of music it was.
Check out this excerpt from Chicago Tribune concert review:
Blues uncut, high on musicianship and low on theater, was the order of the day. Though Clapton’s hand-picked lineup included nods to jazz (Earl Klugh), country (Vince Gill) and folk (Bert Jansch, Stefan Grossman), it skewed heavily toward the blues tradition that gave his young life purpose. The performers tailored their sets accordingly. ZZ Top ignored its biggest MTV-era hits in favor of grunge-encrusted boogie, with Billy Gibbons adding a couple shovels full of gravel to his insinuating baritone mumble. John Mayer abandoned his pop-idol persona to jam with drummer Steve Jordan and bassist Pino Palladino; indeed, a drummer as mighty as Jordan probably wouldn’t have tolerated “Your Body is a Wonderland,” so Mayer dug into Jimi Hendrix’s “Wait Until Tomorrow” and did a respectable job.
–Chicago Tribune Concert Review
Rich Murray from The Guitar Channel blog has posted a fantastic PHOTO GALLERY of shots taken from the event. CLICK HERE to view these photos and experience the event.
Videos are also starting to pop up on YouTube. Here is one of the first jams to include Joe Bonamassa and Robert Randolph:
I attended the all day event and will say the music was superb; it’s not often you get the caliber of guests in one event like you do with the Crossroads tour and the activities outside the main area were excellent.
I will say the hosts “Toyota Park” should be ashamed at themselves for driving up the costs of everything in hopes to capitalize on people as the temps reached into triple digits on the floor and surrounding areas. I mean $5.00 per bottle of water, $9.00 for a beer? Why they wouldn’t allow patrons to come and go back and forth to thier cars floors me? I personally witnesses several people suffering from exhaustion or heat stroke including one or two people vomiting. People were trying to help one lady and even escorted her back to her car only to be told they couldn’t re-enter the park without buying another ticket. I can only imagine the hosts were worried about safety as ones personal gain over someones safety would conguer up thoughts of a class action law suit. Toyota Park, it’s managing group and owners should be ashamed of themselves and I hope those who ended up in the hospital can forgive you.
Chris – thanks for sharing. It’s a shame that circumstances like these overshadow such a superb event. I would think that spectators health would be the #1 concern at public events… -GuitarDaddy
I was also there and I basically agree with Chris’ comments. Great artists and for a great cause. As far as the price gouging, one would expect that at a concert, but only to some extent. What was a shame is I brought my 2nd cousin (my cousin’s 17 year-old son). This was his first concert experience. Neither of us have a lot of money, so getting soaked for $5 for a tiny bottle of water was near criminal. Additionally, I brought a six-pack of bottle water (wrapped in plastic wrap), but I was told we could only bring in one bottle of water per person. And when I asked if I could leave to get something out of my car (yeah, it was some other bottled water I had), I was also told I could only get back in if I bought another ticket. Huh?
Some other prices: $35 for a lame T-shirt, $4 for a soft pretzel, $7 for a 6″ pizza. Fine, I could choose not to get ripped off buying those. But water on a hot, humid day is a human necessity. It sucks that they capitalized on that. It was my first big (corporate) concert in about five years and it soured me on the experience, so I don’t plan to go to similar events in the future.
Also, who was the redheaded singer who did the Gram Parsons/Emmylou Harris song?
My son and I also went to the Crossroads Festival. The music was phenomenal and the weather was HOT! I, too, was taken aback by the water situation. We bought our fair share of water and soda but were judicious at $5 per bottle. We tried refilling the bottles in the restrooms, but discovered only hot water in the men’s room and long, long lines for the ladies room. After waiting in line for over an hour, we made it to the water fountain. By then, I was totally sun-burned. I’m sure no one expected that kind of heat, but once it was upon us, a back-up plan would have been wise–even if they had allowed each person to bring in a six-pack of water/soda, they still would have made a killing on sales. Never thought I’d see people spending $5 on a bottle of water and then dumping the whole thing on their heads to avoid heat exhaustion!! I was also surprised at the number of people smoking (cigarettes) and that there were no limits on the number of beers you could buy. It was no big deal, just hadn’t seen that in a long time. Also found it funny since the proceeds were going to Clapton’s rehab center:) As for the music and musicians, they all were truly fantastic–if Clapton is God, so must be Jeff Beck and Buddy Guy!! AWESOME talent all day long. Despite the heat issues, we’re still very glad we saw this show.
Lou: unfortunately, that’s what happens whenever greedy people get their hands on a situation–they ruin it. You have the following groups of people involved: 1) musicians playing great music, trying to help out a great cause; 2) fans of music who simply wanted to come enjoy it; 3) capitalistic pigs who exploit the situation to its fullest, just for their selfish benefit–providing crappy products and services at insane prices, just because they can get away with it. Think of THEIR motives compared to the musicians’ and fans’ motivations. It’s always the greedy people in our society who cast a pall over the better parts of our lives. What was basically a wonderful experience was tainted (again) by the bean counters and money whores. I hope others are starting to see that these types of people need to be regulated and restricted on the kind of damage they do to the rest of us (i.e., BP, Halliburton, Enron, Exxon and the rest of those corporate bandits). Sorry for the politics but, let’s face it–it’s true.
On a comedic note: at one point, Bill Murray came on stage, saying that, just for the day, the backstage doctor declared that beer would be counted as hydration (of course, it isn’t really).
Now… imagine a world made up of people in group #1 and #2 ONLY! Heaven! -GuitarDaddy
@GuitarDaddy
Amen, GuitarDaddy!
@Stever Peever
She was the daugghter of Albert Lee and sounded fantastic!
@Chris
i also attended the show, and while the music was wonderful, i feel the need to agree with the people who are commenting about how terribly the heat situation was handled. i was disgusted with having to pay $5 for a bottle of water, but also figured i could refill in the restroom, only to discover as others did that the only water in the restrooms was scalding hot. i understand that the corporations are going to drive up prices, etc., however, on a day that hot and sunny, people needed water. it got to a point where a friend of mine took his shirt off and dunked it one of the ice buckets to keep the water cold so that we wouldnt pass out from the heat!!! however, the day was definitely worth it as each performer was amazing and the music could not have been better. i just wish the hosts would’ve planned better for a hot sunny day and the basic needs of people!!
While I am jealous that I was “not where you were” last Saturday, I feel your frustration. Hey! This is AMERICA!!! Water? $5 Bucks? When the temps are 90-100 degrees? $5 bucks? Come on EC… We love you and your music… always have and always will… but this should be as embarrassing for you to read as it is for us to write. I mean… I will still buy your next CD (on iTunes) but hey, can you spare a parched fan a glass of H2O without gouging our last dollar? I mean… hey… we paid good money to get in to the sauna….. and we may want to buy a T-Shirt…. but we are dry! -GuitarDaddy
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@Mary
Mary & GuitarDaddy: Thank you!!! I often feel I’m alone out there. I went to the official web site to voice my concerns but there is nowhere to do that: http://www.crossroadsguitarfestival.com/). I happen to know somebody who (at least claims that) is communicating with Clapton via MySpace. I want him to please pass the message along: please don’t screw us! I tried to convey this message to the official website (http://www.crossroadsguitarfestival.com/) but there was no blog or no other way to communicate to them. Anyone out there got a way to get a message to the performers so that they understand our frustrations?!?!? Thanks in advance.
Stever – you are not alone. I was not in Chicago – but I feel your pain! -GuitarDaddy.
@Stever Peever
it was Albert Lee’s daughter
@Stever Peever
Hey I’m probably days out with the reply but the Crossroads Festival has a Facebook page so you could join & comment on that
what a great show…what a GREAT show…..
I met some of the Crossroads charity trustees. They were disgusted at the people who ripped off people $5 for bottles of water. They assured me that it was not down to them and it will not be allowed to happen again. ps – there was free water in the first aid tent but you had to pretend to be half dead to get it!!