Eric Clapton goes back to the crossroads this weekend as his Crossroads Guitar Festival returns for the first time in six years. The Friday and Saturday night shows are in Dallas, where the first official one was staged in 2004. But, instead of holding it outdoors again in the Cotton Bowl, he’s taking it inside the American Airlines Arena. All profits from the two shows will benefit The Crossroads Centre in Antigua, the treatment and education facility Clapton founded in 1998 for chemically dependent people.
Eric Clapton on the first Crossroads Guitar Festival in Dallas in 2004:
“We’d been there a couple of weeks and everyday there was, you know, like a major thunderstorm and a couple of times, you know, hailstones, and lightning like I’d never seen. And I had no idea. I mean I kind of planned for this whole thing without really taking that into consideration, weather there, and everyone said, ‘Well it’s always like this. Didn’t you know?’ And it stopped just for those two days, you know. So we were really lucky. And the only thing was that we had to get off quite quickly at the end ’cause there was a big one coming apparently and they were frightened that everything would collapse, you know.”
This is the sixth all-star benefit Clapton has put together. The first was a one-night affair in 1999 at New York’s Madison Square Garden followed by 2004 at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, 2007 and 2010 at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Illinois, and 2013 back in the Garden. If you can’t make it to Dallas, the show is available worldwide on pay-per-view, satellite, Telco and digital systems in North America, as well as on any Internet-connected device through Nugs.TV. The price for each night is $39.99.
In addition, Hard Rock Cafe locations across the U.S. will host viewing parties, as will selected music venues, performing arts centers, bars and restaurants. To find a location near you, go to JoeHandPromotions.com/Venue-Search.
Both nights are expected to run for at least four hours.
Line-up for tonight, Friday, September 20th:
Citizen Cope
Eric Clapton & Andy Fairweather-Low
Gustavo Santaolalla
James Burton & Albert Lee
Jeff Beck
Jimmy Vaughan
Kurt Rosenwinkel with Pedro Martins
The Marcus King Band
Pedro Martins & Daniel Santiago
Peter Frampton
Sheryl Crow
Sonny Landreth
Line-up for Saturday, September 21st:
Buddy Guy
Doyle Bramhall
Eric Clapton & His Band with Alan Darby
Gary Clark, Jr.
James Bay
Keb Mo
Lianne La Havas
Los Lobos
Robert Cray
Robert Randolph
TBD Satellite
Tedeschi Trucks
Tom Misch
Vince Gill & Band
These performers will be playing in surprise collaborations on Friday:
Alan Darby
Billy Gibbons
Bonnie Raitt
Gary Clark Jr.
Jamie Oldaker
Joe Walsh
Keb’ Mo’
Saturday’s collaborations:
Albert Lee
Bradley Walker
Jerry Douglas
Joe Walsh
John Mayer
