Roger Daltrey & Eric Clapton

Tim C. · #1 03-07-2010, 02:29 AM

Last night I was treated to an excellent concert in Memphis, with Roger Daltrey opening for Eric Clapton.

First, I want to say to all the nay-sayers about The Who and Daltrey these days: the man can sing. I heard his voice crystal-clear through the PA for the whole show, and he is still great. Older, yes, and that means a diminished upper-range. He can't scream like he used to. Such is life. I'm over it. They did "Young Man Blues" and it rocked. And I absolutley look forward to seeing The Who whenever they decide to go on tour again. Simon, Pete's brother, was fantastic as well singing "Going Mobile", which Roger informed us has never been performed live by The Who.

But Roger's bassist, session/touring guy Jon Button, was notably good. The opener, "I Can See for Miles", had some volume/mix problems and it was apparent that the sound engineers were still working out the fine details.

Button is a fantastic bassist and alternated between a Fender Precision, what I believe was a Sadowsky Jazz, and an EUB which also sounded good. I've been to plenty of arena concerts, and Button's mix was the best bass I've ever heard in a big concert venue. The low end from the drums was turned down, and the low end and lower mids from the bass were very audible and clear through the PA. Daltrey did "The Real Me" and the bass was fairly clear, but "Who Are You" and "Baba O'Riley" had the bass mixed to where it was as audible as the guitars and it sounded great.

His Jazz bass, whatever brand it was, sounded much better than the Precision. It sounded like it had more low end and alot more top, too. I'm not sure how it worked out but the Jazz he used definitely sounded better through the PA than the Precision. He used the EUB for just a few parts of songs and I was surprised, because I have never heard the bass as low and loud in a big arena setting as I did when he used the EUB. A ton of low end, but alot of definition too. So that was a pleasant surprise.

Willie Weeks, Clapton's bassist, disappointed me. This is the second time I've seen him, the first being just a short while ago with Clapton and Steve Winwood. The guy is a fantastic bassist for sure - but I absolutely could not distinguish a single note he played. His tone, whatever it is, gets burried completely. He didn't even play a single noted between songs, which made it hard to even know what his sound even was.

HailCorduroy · #2 03-07-2010, 08:32 AM

I saw them in Nashville and you are spot on. I didn't know Jon's name, so thanks. He sounded great.

At first I thought Willie was just doing a good job supporting the song, then I realized the lack of flash was because I couldn't hear him. I did hear him a bit during the acoustic set. I wonder if it is the 2 keys players stepping on his frequencies?

varunkapahi · #3 03-07-2010, 08:47 AM

i love it when Nathan East plays with Clapton, in the past it used to be a lot. dunno anymore though

pierreganseman · #4 03-07-2010, 08:50 AM

Willie weeks is amazing on donny hathaway live album...

scott123 · #5 03-07-2010, 11:28 AM

I saw them in Tulsa a few days ago, and agree that it was a great show. I thought the P bass tone on "The Real Me" was awesome!

Tim C. · #6 03-07-2010, 12:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HailCorduroy

I saw them in Nashville and you are spot on. I didn't know Jon's name, so thanks. He sounded great.

At first I thought Willie was just doing a good job supporting the song, then I realized the lack of flash was because I couldn't hear him. I did hear him a bit during the acoustic set. I wonder if it is the 2 keys players stepping on his frequencies?

The bass was alot more audible in the acoustic set. The keys players definitely had alot of low end and I think they were sort of covering up what should have been the frequencies for the bass. Oh well. Clapton was phenomenal, at any rate. But he always is.

gttim · #7 03-10-2010, 08:51 AM

I caught Clapton and Daltrey in Atlanta/Gwinnett last night.

Daltrey was very good The bass player stood in his little "room" and did a good job. Interesting seeing him bow the stand up electric.

Clapton was just amazing. Funny bit was about 30 seconds into the opening number, the PA goes out. The only sound was coming from the amps and monitors. I don't think Clapton realized what was going on. After about 90 seconds they got the PA back on and everybody goes nuts, Clapton was singing a verse and just jumped- like "What the hell?"

I loved hearing Willie Weeks. Good sound through the PA and a nice tone. He just held his groove steady. Nothing phases the guy. No solo or anything, he just held his groove and let everybody do their thing. The guy is just smooth.

After reading the big/small amplifier thread, I was checking out the amps and laughing to myself. Clapton had two small combos and Weeks had one cabinet- looked like one 15 inch speaker. I guess Weeks doesn't need all the "air movement."

The keyboard players were on. Eric let them play a bit, and they showed some talent.

There was not a song that Clapton did that I did not want to hear, but there are a bunch of songs I wish he would have played. Such a big catalog of music. I was a little shocked he did not do Layla, but I guess he mixes it up.

Again, Willie Weeks was a treat in Atlanta.

Tastyfreise · #8 03-10-2010, 01:37 PM

I saw Clapton and Daltrey in Tulsa Last Week. I was sitting in the back of the arena in the upper section. The sound was fantastic up there. I could hear both bassists really well.

I loved the fact that Daltrey's band all had big amps and cabs. Clapton had two old Single speaker combo amps, and Willie had a Aggie 750 into a single Aggie 4-10. It was a great show except for the drunk girl who had to get up and go to the restroom 20 times during the night.

HailCorduroy · #9 03-11-2010, 11:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gttim

I was a little shocked he did not do Layla, but I guess he mixes it up.

I had heard he wasn't doing it on this tour, but he did it in Nashville during the acoustic set w/ Vince Gill playing rhythm.