2011-12-31
Woking Leisure Centre, Woking, Surrey, UK
'Half Measures' (MVR 701/702)
Audience Recording (Mid Valley Records), Good sound quality
Available in Lossless (FLAC) and Mp3 (320 kbps) versions
Happy New Year (and hope for a better one) for All! For this year's New Year's Eve show, we go back to Eric Clapton's string of 'Sober Dance Party' NYE shows in Woking UK. The New Year's Eve Sober Dance was an alcohol-free party and was hosted by Eric Clapton and Friends almost every year from 1992 to 2012. It was a private event and tickets were not put on sale to the general public. Each year, the band billed themselves under an unusual name. This year I am presenting the penultimate show, from 2011, where the band was billed as 'Half Measures' and consisted of Eric's usual band at that time, plus the addition of Gary Brooker (Procol Harum), who frequently joined in for Eric's regular NYE shows. The show features an emphasis on the blues and early RnR and is a wonderful presentation of Eric's band at this time. The 2012 NYE was the last of these events, however, but I have not been able to find any recording of that show, so here is the penultimate sober NYE show from Eric in 2011.
Disc 1 (MVR 701) Half Measures
01-Introduction
02-Knock On Wood
03-Reconsider Baby
04-Unchain My Heart
05-Hey Bo Diddley
06-Travelin' Light
07-Route 66 (False start)
08-Route 66
09-Cryin' Time Again
10-Rock me Baby
11-Willie And The Hand Jive
12-Shake Rattle And Roll
Disc 2 (MVR 702) Half Measures
01-New Year Countdown
02-In The Midnight Hour
03-Hoochie Coochie man
04-Jambalaya (On The Bayou)
05-Blueberry Hill
06-Lay My Burden Down
07-Gin House
08-Five Long Years
09-Whiter Shade Of Pale
10-Cocaine
11-Old Black Joe
Band:
Eric Clapton - Guitar And Vocals
Chris Stainton - Keyboards
Dave Bronze - Bass
Andy Fairweather Low - Guitar And Vocals
Gary Brooker - Keyboard And Vocals
Henry Spinetti - Drums
Judy Blair - Vocals
mp3 - Eric Clapton_2011-12-31_NYE_WokingUK_mp3.rar
5 comments:
That's Gary Brooker, with an 'r', not Booker. He's the longtime singer/pianist/frontman for Procol Harum.
Thanks a lot BB and a most welcome addition despite Eric's recent collapse into Van Morrison's anti-vaxer anti-Covid conspiracy theory madness, we still gots to love a Clapton gig and look at that line up! Most of the old Grease Band plus Eric long-standing stalwart Andy Fairweather-Low and Gary from Procul Harum. Top stuff! Thank you and may I take this opportunity to wish you all the best and stay safe and well throughout the coming New Year. Thanks for ALL you make available to us
Jonathan,
Of Course, I know precisely who Gary Brooker is, and I correctly identified him in the text of the post. The misspelling in the band lineup was not by me, but in the info file that came with the files I received. I just failed to notice that they had misspelled Gary's name before posting this. Fixed now. Thanks.
Hello,
A good way to wish Happy New Year. Many thanks for sharing!
Best regards,
drogos
Wow! I can't believe this audio is available. I was a 15 year old budding young guitarist stood at the front of the crowd for this. I lived in Woking until I was 10 years old and was always sad to have left, and as I discovered the guitar and Clapton's music in particular I felt a serious draw to his playing. Being able to attend this concert (and the 2012 one the following year with Steve Winwood) is one of the most important memories of my childhood. What an unbelievable opportunity it was to see Clapton do his thing up close. My family was just my mum and I, and instead of going on holidays she would take me to gigs up and down the country. We must have seen Clapton about 10 times. But nothing can come close to seeing him play at the Woking Leisure Centre those 2 times. Thank you SO much for uploading this audio. I never thought in a million years that there would be a recording of this event due to how small it was. I'm 30 years old now so it was half my life ago, but I still think about it all the time. I recently framed and hung up my setlists I got from the stage at both of those shows... but finding this audio! Man, thank you so much. Funny enough, my mum first went to his new years party there in 1994 whilst she was pregnant with me (her friend dated him in the 80s and that was her connection to get us the golden tickets). She said that it was a much smaller affair back then, with tables around the room and that Clapton was just in the room with everyone - he played an acoustic at her table for a bit and shook her hand when he met her. Huge thank you again for sharing this audio, so happy I get to relive this.
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