Crossroads Festival, Day 2

What can I say, other than it was the show of a decade -- perhaps even a lifetime! Nowhere before or again will I ever see that many musicians with that much talent sharing their craft with us and eachother.

After it was all said and done, I spent over 12 hours in the Cotton Bowl, treated to fantastic performances, one after another. Neal Schon opened the day with the Star Spangled Banner and led straight into a blistering rendition of Voodoo Child. Just the right way to start the day! Steve Vai was up next (celebrating his birthday) doing some guitar work that I can only describe as operatic -- with all the peaks and valleys of intonation, and so many different voicings you would not believe it unless you saw him work.

I had a great spot right to the front corner of the sound board, about 30 yards from the stage -- a perfect center spot to take it all in. My buddy Jimmy and his crew had 'seated' tickets in section 23/row 60, so I didn't really get to hook up with him (didn't want to lose my 3x4 spot of turf). Giancarlo (my guitar instructor) finally showed up later in the day, and he brought some friends over to share the view.

Of all the acts, it was clear that Jimmy Vaughn was the de facto stage master -- he did his own set around 3:00, and hung around with his band to support an old blues-man Hubert Sumlin on guitar and David Johansen (NY Dolls/Buster Poindexter) banging out gravely blues vocals. Booker T and the MGs took the main stage next and cranked up the Hammond organ for some classy old-school, but imagine our surprise when Booker T busted out the Apple powerbook (on top of his organ) while he and the band did their job as house band for Bo Diddley and Joe Walsh!! [Still don't know what the Apple was for?!?!]

Joe cracked the place up with his on-stage antics, and played lots of old favorites. Vince Gill began the 'ease off' period, capped by James Taylor's acoustic set -- I love James Taylor, but in a day of solid blues, he seemed out of place.

The real All Star Blues Jam of the day came in the late afternoon when BB King, Buddy Guy, Jimmy Vaughn, John Mayer and Eric Clapton pulled three separate 20 minute 12-bar extended jams. It was great to have them all in one place, and I hate to say it, but I got just a *tad* bit bored with it near the end -- I guess I just wanted to hea them pick it up in tempo after a bit. But hey, it's their show!

Santana sure picked it up, though -- rocking through the first cloud of stage fog of the day. It was finally getting dark, so they kicked on the lights and effects, and Santana seemed to be the right one to do it for. Clapton joined him for an encore and afterwards the crew cleared the stage and got it set for Clapton's turn.

Clapton and crew did a handful of acoustic blues takes from his recent Robert Johnson trib album, and then swapped the Martins for Strats and kicked in the overdrive. The all out versions of Layla and Badge were worth the ticket on their own. Wonderful Tonight was all emotion, and Cocaine spoke to the reason for the fest in the first place, raising $$ for the Crossroads Center.

I could have (and maybe should have) left after that, but ZZ Top took the stage after an equip swap. By then, the storms started moving in -- bringing the threat of wind, so the crew took down all the stage dressing that would have turned the whole thing into a big sailing ship.

The boys from Texas ran through an uninspired round of their hits, and unfortunately the finale with ZZ, Clapton and Jeff Beck (plus presumably everyone else) never materialized. Blame it on the weather.

In the end, the thing I remember the most is how humble ever artist -- every one -- was in thanking Clapton for the opportunity to be there. The respect that they have for eachother and the fact that they were clearly touched to be able to perform for us made it clear to me that these guys are real people, with real emotions, and are as taken in the same amount of awe that we are.

Very much a treat to experience the Crossroads Festival.