Eric Clapton’s 2007 Crossroads Guitar Festival started at roughly 11:45 today in Chicago. If you were not lucky enough to get tickets in the 10 minutes between the time they went on sale and were sold out you can watch it live for free on MSN. Click the image above to go to the stream page on MSN.com.

Just a note… this is currently only streaming in some kind of Microsoft compatible format. This stream didn’t work on my girlfriends Mac or on my computer running Kubuntu. You seem to have to watch it on Windows in Internet Explorer. If you try from a different OS or browser it just gives you a message saying the Flash version will be available later.

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past few months you should already know about the Crossroads Guitar Festival. The concert is featuring a handful of famous guitar players in support of Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Antigua drug and alcohol rehab center. Crossroads, created by Clapton in 1997, was originally intended to help support people from the island of Antigua and the Caribbean who wanted to overcome their substance addictions. The center is now internationally recognized as a Treatment Center of Excellence.

Many guitarists are playing at the festival to raise awareness about substance addiction. Artists on the block include Jeff Beck, Cheryl Crow, Robert Cray, Buddy Guy, BB King, Los Lobos, John Mayer, Willie Nelson, Eric Clapton himself, and many more.

Yngwie Malmsteen is auctioning off his 1983 Ferrari GTS 308 QV on eBay. Malmsteen purchased the car while recording the album Eclipse and has owned it for 18 years. Currently the highest bid is $19,100 with 2 days remaining.

Ozzy (and presumably Zakk) will be the musical guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on May 22nd - the release date of his new studio album Black Rain. EDIT: Looks like he will be playing twice, both the 21st and the 22nd!

Blabbermouth has two links to articles about Chuck Schuldiner. The first is a tribute by Greek Hard Rock magazine originally published in December 2006, and the second is a tribute published by Guitar World in the April 2007 issue.

Will this Dean ML painted by modern artist Mark Ryden sell for one million dollars? He’s a wicked artist, but I doubt it will. It’s a sweet looking guitar though.

After Eric Clapton was reported to have made just under five million on the sale of the rights to Clapton: The Autobiography, Keith Richards is now also shopping around to sell his book. Apparently he wants to beat Clapton’s 5-mil deal. I say good luck with THAT.

Eric Clapton was awesome. This is a concert that I really never thought I would get a chance to see, and it was amazing. My favorite Eric Clapton is Blues Clapton, and this concert was 100% blues.

Sadly, when I purchased the tickets they had a different seating plan showing on Ticketmaster than the actual one they used. In the plan they show it looked like we were on the 6th row to the left of the stage. In actual fact we were in the 36th row. I know, sucks. Still, it was amazing to be at the show and I would have paid what I did again any day.

Robert Cray was Clapton’s opening act. He came on at about 7:30 and played for 30 minutes. He has a cool style and an amazing voice. I thought he was really good. By 8:30 Clapton was playing. He stuck to the blues this time and every song turned into an extended solo for every member of the band. He played songs including Keys to the Highway, Got to get Better in a Little While, Tell the Truth, Motherless Children, and Little Queen of Spades. At roughly 10pm the band left the stage but soon came back for an encore. For their encore they whipped out Crossroads and Little Wing. Oh yeah, and there was an acoustic set in the middle of the show. I loved hearing Running on Faith live.

On top of the amazing musicians, the sound setup was pristine. I have no complaints. It sounded just like it would if you had the DVD playing on your home stereo system. Whoever did the sound setup should give themselves a pat on the back. I was impressed.

I think the 14,999 other people at the Saddledome will agree with me that it was one of the best concerts they have ever seen. Anyone who likes Clapton would have been in heaven. I know I said I would try to get photos, but it was much too dark and nothing seemed to turn out on my digital camera.

Wel’p. Tomorrow night is the big night, Eric Clapton at the ‘Dome. I’m pretty stoked about it. I have never seen Clapton live and I never expected to see him. I am really happy about the seats I got too (6th row). They always say no cameras, but every show I have been to I have yet to be checked and every time I see other people with their cameras taking pictures. It kills me a little inside every time. You watch, I’ll try it this time and get busted.

I’m just going to go for it and see what happens. I’ll post pictures tomorrow if I am able to get some.

Ooohhh shit yeah. I’ll be going to see Eric Clapton at the Saddledome here in Calgary on March 26th. A buddy and I both got on ticketmaster at 10am. I happened to get the better tickets, so we bought mine. We got floor seats row 6. It is pretty much going to be the pimpest event of my life. I am super excited. Eric Clapton is one of the guys that I never though I would get a chance to see live. A couple of years ago he was saying it was his last tour (we all know how that goes though) but this is just awesome. I am going to head down to ticket master next week to pick up the tickets along with my Jesse Cook tickets for may. Next year is going to be a good one. Now if I can just see Jimmy Page my life will be complete.

Continue reading Going to Eric Clapton at the Saddledome March 26th ‘07