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Eric Clapton
1985-06 -28
Garden State Arts Center
Holmdel, NJ
Soundboard Recording
320 kbps
Artwork Included
CD 1:
01. Motherless Children
02. I Shot The Sheriff
03. Same Old Blues
04. White Room
05. Tangled In Love
06. Steppin' Out
07, Wonderful Tonight
08. Double Trouble
Cd 2:
09. She's Waiting
10. She Loves You
11. Badge
12. Let It Rain
13. Cocaine
14. Layla
15. Forever Man
16. Further On Up The Road
\Slowhand 1985 - #3: As promised, here’s the 3rd and last of 3 shows featuring Slowhand in 1985.
One of the recurring themes here at So Many Roads has been posts about concerts I missed for one reason or another. I’ve described how my buddies and I decided against buying tickets to see Paul McCartney and Wings in 1976, how I drew the short straw when it came to Led Zep tickets in 1977 and how we left a club in 1981 before U2 ever came on stage. Here’s another similar story. In spring 1985, Eric Clapton launched a tour in support of his latest album, Behind The Sun. The run included a stop at The Garden State Arts Center (today the PNC Bank enter) in Holmdel, NJ on June 28, 1985, 27 years ago today. At the time, I had lost interest in EC, having been disappointed with his work in the late 70s and early 80s. After all, tunes such as Lay Down Sally and Promises were hardly Sunshine of Your Love and Bell Bottom Blues. So, I passed up the opportunity to buy tickets. Just about 2 weeks after this show, Eric appeared at Live Aid, looking better than he had in years. More importantly, his 3 song set - White Room, She’s Waiting from Behind The Sun, and Layla - signaled his return to the top of the rock world. The video for Forever Man, another single from Behind The Sun, received extensive airplay on MTv, exposing a whole new generation to EC’s guitar magic. After seeing Slowhand on the Live Aid broadcast, I knew I had made a mistake not going to the show in Holmdel. I made sure not to repeat that mistake when he toured again in 1987, going to see EC at Madison Square Garden on April 27, one of my favorite all time concerts which I’ve posted on this blog. In any event, download this soundboard recording from June 28, 1985, 33 years ago today, to hear what I missed back in 1985!
5 comments:
Hi Speedy-
I went to the Nassau Colosseum show earlier that Spring by myself when I was a senior in High School. I can't remember if I bought tickets with friends or if just went by myself (which I was known to do if I couldn't get anyone to go). I'm pretty sure it was a Friday and I lived in Brooklyn but went to school in Manhattan (at the old Stuyvesant on 15th St between 1st & 2bd Avenues just north of The Village which I explored extensively and had when I went to Elementary School on 15th between 7th & 8th with 60 other kids in a converted brownstone -- the Fifteenth Street School based upon the total freedom (ah, the 70s) of the Summerhill School in England which has been written about in "Inside Summerhill"-- but our school only lasted for ~18 years - sorry for the digression.) so I often wen to concerts straight from school with a backpack FULL of hard covered textbooks when the shoes were at the Byrne or Nassau like when I made my way up to the barrier in front of Phil for one of the 1985 GD Dance concerts which meant it was general admission so I couldn't find my friends who traveled separately; THAT same week I saw Deep Purple at the Byrne and the Purple One - Prince back at Nassau.
Enough about me...(not really but back to the original story)...
So, since I was alone I remember making my way as close to the stage as I could and watching most of the some from the walkway between the Upper and Lower sections but Security didn't make me move but wouldn't let me down to the floor.-- until the last three songs. I still remember standing right in front of the man where I could see sweat from his face falling on "Blackie" and the flashing lights show during "Let It Rain".
I thought "Behind The Sun" was good stuff and I still prefer it to the other album Phil Collins produced for him -- the follow up, August.
I had mixed feelings about Phil Collins poppy solo stuff at the time but his participation along with EC's co-lyricist who's name escapes me made for two solid albums.
Even though I was only 15 in 1983, I knew that there was something half-hearted about "Money and Cigarettes" but I bought it anyway and went to the show at the Byrne to see The Legend that they called God for my second ever rock concert. After the debacle trying to get tickets to my first show ever -- the Ticketron printers at Grand Central got fried and they sent us away so at 14, I hoped in a cab with strangers and went to J & R but all 70 or 80,000 tickets were sold out. I can't remember if they waited a day or if it was later that day that they added a show a day earlier and I was finally able to get my tickets to see The Who, The Clash and David Johansen at Shea Stadium on October 12, 1982 just three weeks shy of my 15th birthday. Of course they were three rows from the top of the stadium behind Home Plate so we walked down and hopped over the dugout on to the field during the Clash's set and I kept my recorder going so you can hear us walking on the tape (which is why I never shared it). Sorry for an additional digression.....The Conclusion was that I picked the most obscure outlet in Queens to get tickets for that 83 EC Byrne show and learned the reality of how the scalpers paid off the shop owners to sell stack of tickets to them before everyone else -- they would often print out dozens of tickets before opening the door and then just slide those best seats afterwards since they knew they were guaranteed sales. Even though I was second or third in line, I got Upper level tickets which I upgraded at the show by swapping my two tickets and cash for two on the floor right next to the soundboard.
Sorry for rambling -- I had to cut my last comment in half - I didn't have time to edit it since I spent the last two hours writing it and I have to get ready for work.
Part Two follows
I was quite adventurous as a teenager and it was all about the concerts - these communal experiences that were often transcendent for this only child. There is something to be said for intimate shows but there is also something about being in a crowd of 10's of thousands.
From then on, any time my mom had trouble waking me up early, she would say "Just pretend that you are going to buy concert tickets." (It usually worked since deep down I knew that I had a lot more freedom than most and I should be agreeable and thankful for that fact.)
So in closing (to quote Bill Clinton), can you please repost this one and give another listen to those 80s EC albums. You may find something there that you didn't appreciate back then when you were comparing it to his earlier work. Personally, I found Unplugged a bit slow and lacking the tones of his electric guitar but it wound up being a top seller with the general public.
P.S. That Byrne 83 show wound up being my third concert since the tickets for the Dead at the Byrne 83 went on sale closer to the show date and that was my second concert (I already wrote about the Stephen Stills guest appearance on another one of your posts.)
Thanks for everything (including triggering these memories and self-analysis LOL).
And I still like "(I Have A) Rock and Roll Heart" from 83's M&C.
Cheers
The Brooklyn Kid In Exile In Binghamton
Thanks for sharing! Folks personal recollections always make this site more interesting. New link is up! Enjoy!
Looks like a good show, especially given your comments. The link is dead. Could you please repost this one? Thank you.
New link is up! Enjoy!
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