Disc 1: 1. Introduction, 2. Z. Rider, 3. Native Stepson, 4. Port Of Calling,   5. The Promised Land, 6. Further On Up The Road, 7. Blues Deluxe, 8. Going Down, 9. Chickens In The Kitchen, 10. Six Strings Down, 11. Jesus Just Left Chicago, 12. Foxy Lady, 13. La Grange, 14. In My Time Of Dying, 15. Long Road Home, 16. Who Did You Think I Was, 17. Forty Days And Forty Nights, 18. Five Long Years, 19. Miss You, 20. Soul Shine, 21. Coming Home, 22. Red House.

Eric Clapton s Crossroads Guitar Festival 2010 was a day long musical celebration featuring legendary guitarists and artistic collaborations by Eric and his friends including Allman Brothers Band, BB King, Buddy Guy, Jeff Beck, John Mayer, Sheryl Crow, Stevie Winwood, Vince Gill, Ron Wood, ZZ Top and more. This newly released Double DVD set presents the long Crossroads Guitar Festival that happened at the end of June of this year in Chicago. This is an audience recording from at least 3 different sources, one from the 2^nd row, that is very very close to the stage and another a distant one (about 20^th row from center stage) which also has a lower volume sound output; then there is footage coming from high above the stage too: however it is filmed in 16:9. It featured a great array of performers in practice it will be easier to mention which guitarist wasn t there (as in Ron Wood words) rather than who played. Missing from the line up here are Bert Jansch, Stefan Grossman, Vince Gill that was joined by Albert Lee, James Burton and Keb Mo, Citizen Cope and Earl Klugh). This concert will be released officially on DVD in the fall, and it will be interesting to see if the whole show will appear or if something will be left behind too. Northern Disc packaging is not the greatest though as the front cover is pretty dark and in order to read the back cover tracks listings a magnifying glass is needed. Footage is quite good, apart from the occasional shaking due to the taper position, the concert after Clapton's introduction starts with Sonny Landreth that plays an energetic set with his blues rock flashy guitar approach: the camera focus on him from few feet distance and for guitars aficionados it is easy to spot chords and fret work as well as his particular way of playing some solos.   The first three songs are played solo and then on "The Promised Land" (not the C.Berry song) Eric Clapton joins Sonny Landreth on stage together with a full band. Next is Robert Randolph & The Family Band, shot from far back but with good zooming in; they are supported by Joe Bonamassa that plays guitar and sings and is joined by Pino Daniele from Italy on   great versions of the slow "Blues Deluxe" from Jeff Beck Group and of Don Nix "I'm Going Down". Robert Cray is after with his band on "Chickens In The Kitchen" and flanked by Jimmy Vaughn and Hubert Sumlin on "Six Strings Down". ZZ Top come after with three songs: the first being "Jesus Just Left Chicago" and closing with their anthem " La Grange", in between an homage to Jimi Hendrix with their version of "Foxy Lady": unfortunately their set is shot from a distance. Shot from the stage screen Doyle Bramhall comes on stage then joined by Gary Clarke, Sheryl Crow and Derek Trucks with his wife Susan Tedeschi for a mainly acoustic version of "Long Road Home" followed by "Who Do You Think I Was" (cut) from John Mayer trio introduced by an Elvis impersonator. It is Buddy Guy's turn: joined by Johnny Lang and Ron Wood he plays some classic blues from Muddy Waters and Eddie Boyd and then a slow version of "Miss You". The first disc ends with "Soul Shine" shot from front stage and then "Coming Home" that was shot from high above the stage; then a bunch of players come on stage after Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks: Warren Haynes, David Hidalgo, Cesar Rojas, Chris Stainton, Sheryl Crow and Johnny Winter playing a hot version of Hendrix's "Red House". The second disc starts with Jeff Beck that is heavily featured with 8 songs, the first song is shot from close to the stage with excellent sound, the second from a distance center stage; the rest is close again but with saturated sound through Sly and Family Stone "I Want To Take You Higher", while excellent sound comes for the final track an unusual rendition of "Nessun Dorma", completely out of place in a blues festival (let alone the other tracks).

For Eric Clapton set Citizen Cope, Jeff Beck, Chris Stainton and Stevie Winwood come to the stage as well. The first song has great audio but the video footage is terribly shakey, from the second one onwards it is much better. This part of the concert features at first Clapton with his own band, then with Winwood playing an Hendrix tribute, a Blind Faith and Traffic song too the last one an extended version. Introduced by a blues instrumental the last performer is undoubtedly the biggest blues player still alive: BB King. His set is shown with the camera pointed at the main stage but also showing a side screen that makes it easier to detect who is playing with him. After two signature songs where all guitarists play seated in their chairs, the grande finale jam is obviously "Sweet Home Chicago" with everybody on stage; the only other guitarist that plays seated here apart from BB King is Johnny Winter. This long version of the Robert Johnson song closes the concert and while waiting for the official release to come out in early November we can dig this product.