There are many live versions and the solos are too good in this song even the remix 40th anniversary version
Listening to these on repeat mode and I am obsessed
I've been looking forward to this week for quite a while...
THE BOOT
This is the complete 2/3/89 concert from the Royal Albert Hall.
For many years, "The Twelfth Night" was one of the absolute pinnacles of any E.C. bootleg collection. The Dire Straits song in the encore was cut to fit it on 2 discs. Then in 1997 we got the bizarrely-named "Beetle Clasher" from Tarantura, a complete version of the show on 3CD with somehow even better sound quality.
BACKGROUND
The band's tradition of starting the year with an extended residency at the Royal Albert Hall started with 6 shows in 1987. It expanded to 9 nights in 1988, and now 12 nights in 1989.
This is the first year E.C. used different lineups. The 12 nights were 6 nights with a 4-piece band, (E.C., East, Philinganes, Collins), and then the next 6 nights with a 9-piece band (E.C., East, Philinganes, Ferrone, Knopfler, Alan Clark, Ray Cooper, Tessa Niles, Katie Kissoon). This show is the final night of the 12.
Greg Philinganes is back with the group, having finished his commitments to Michael Jackson, so the band is running with two keyboard players. He will be a consistent part of the band for the next few years.
On the other side, this very show is Knopfler's last as a regular part of E.C.'s band. He would reform Dire Straits in 1990 to record On Every Street, and then spend over a year on a global tour supporting the album. (Despite spending over a year on a global tour promoting Brothers In Arms, and hating it.)
Buckwheat Zydeco was the opening act.
Shortly after the Royal Albert Hall run, the band headed to the studio to record the material that would become Journeyman.
SOUND
This release has truly stellar sound quality. The clarity and the mix are both remarkable. It is almost indistinguishable from the official releases from the 80s and 90s, and is honestly better than many of the official releases from the 60s and 70s.
Flaws are minimal. There's a little bit of feedback at 3:21 of Wanna Make Love To You.
This is one of the truly indispensable recordings.
PERFORMANCE
After Crossroads, E.C. says "Thank you very much. And welcome to the last night of our Albert Hall reunion. The band is very excited, I don't know what to tell you, but we're all very, we're up on this one. We're really looking forward to it. There's some special people for us in the audience tonight, but you're all very special, which is... thank you for being here."
He's not wrong. The band is really up on this one. It's about half an hour longer than most of his shows.
The setlist has been relatively static since 1986, but in 1989 a few more recent songs started creeping back into the mix. This concert includes Wanna Make Love To You (a b-side from the August singles), Forever Man (Behind The Sun), and Behind The Mask (August), in addition to the newer songs which have been standards in the setlist for several years, Same Old Blues and Tearing Us Apart. Knopfler's showcase number has switched from Money For Nothing to Solid Rock. But the real surprise is Bell Bottom Blues, which was only performed very rarely before now, even during the Derek And The Dominos years. It will stick in the setlist through the 24 Nights runs, and then disappear again until 1996.
The arrangements are also similar to what they have been for a few years. E.C. calls Knopfler for a solo on Crossroads, and again on Lay Down Sally, and again on After Midnight. He takes the lead acoustic part and a solo on Can't Find My Way Home, and plays amazing fills all night. Nathan does the vocals on the chorus on White Room, and the lead vocal on Can't Find My Way Home. After Midnight is the Michelob version. Nathan gets a solo on Same Old Blues, including some talkbox work, and he includes a little more talkbox during Can't Find My Way Home, like he did in Tokyo when the band didn't play Same Old Blues. Katie sings the Tina Turner part on Tearing Us Apart. Alan Clark does the Why Worry organ part at the end of Lay Down Sally, and takes a solo during Cocaine. The band lets the crowd sing the last "Cocaine" by themselves. They do band introductions in the Cocaine intro, which ends with Nathan saying "And on guitar, going for the record, 12 nights at the Royal Albert Hall, Mr. Eric Clapton".
There are just few arrangement changes. It seems like Greg lost his Same Old Blues third solo slot when he went off with M.J., but there is an organ solo at the end of White Room, which hasn't been typical. And bringing back Behind The Mask is almost certain his doing, since Greg introduced E.C. to the song after performing it with Michael Jackson (it was an outtake from the Thriller sessions).
Ray Cooper played with the band for a short stretch at the start of 1988, but this is the first review of a show with him. The one place I really noticed him was the chimes on Can't Find My Way Home.
It sounds like Mark asks "How'd I do?" after Solid Rock?
E.C. dedicates Wonderful Tonight to Rose, Heather, and Pat. His grandmother who raised him is named Rose, his mother who didn't is Pat, and Heather is probably his half-sister, Pat's daughter with her husband Frank MacDonald (who isn't E.C.'s father). Those are probably the special people in the audience that night.
The house music at the start is Funky Broadway by Wilson Picket. The house music at the end is Slip Away by Clarence Carter.
Am I allowed to post a youtube reaction to Tears in Heaven on here? Not mine but someone else's?
Blues-Rock Legend, Eric Clapton
