Eric Clapton started his 2026 tour Monday night with the first of two warm-up shows in front of a very intimate crowd of just over a thousand at G Live in Guildford, England, less than seven miles from where he grew up in Ripley.
The theater sits on the grounds where the Civic Hall once stood, a venue Clapton played many times between 1963 and 2004 when it was demolished to make way for G Live.
At Monday’s show he did 16 songs, five of which were acoustic, including “Layla” and “Tears in Heaven.” The set list was as follows:
- Badge
- Key to the Highway
- Hoochie Coochie Man
- Old Love
- White Room
- Kindhearted Woman – acoustic
- Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out – acoustic
- Back Home – acoustic
- Layla – acoustic
- Tears In Heaven – acoustic
- Tearing Us Apart
- Wonderful Tonight
- Crossroads
- Little Queen of Spades
- Cocaine
- Before You Accuse Me
The second warm-up show is tonight (Tuesday) before moving onto eight arenas starting on Friday in Amsterdam.
The European tour runs through May 17th in Munich, Germany, followed by a one-off on the grounds of the Royal Family’s estate in Sandringham, England on August 23rd.
Then it’s off to the U.S. for six shows starting September 6th in Detroit through the 19th in Kansas City, Missouri before his two Crossroads Guitar Festival shows in Austin, Texas on September 26th and 27th.
