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Back Home: Eric Clapton’s Love Affair With The Royal Albert Hall

The rare relationship between the artist and the Royal Albert Hall has spanned his entire career.

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Eric Clapton at the Royal Albert Hall in 2015; Photo by Christie Goodwin/Redferns

Eric Clapton’s return visits to his beloved Royal Albert Hall in London are a frequent reminder of the history of this rare relationship between artist and venue. In September 2018, it was literally carved in stone, when he became one of the 11 inaugural recipients of the Royal Albert Hall Star. If you’re visiting the famous building, the star is located outside, between Door 12 and the Stage Door.

The great guitarist first played at the celebrated concert hall at the beginning of his career, but has become famous for his residencies of multiple nights there. The first started on January 6, 1987; the 2019 edition was his 19th, and took his total of performances there to 211, including 184 headliners. On December 3, 2019, he was there yet again to perform two acoustic hits, accompanied by an orchestra, as part of the British Fashion Council’s Fashion Awards 2019 gala.

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That debut appearance of all came in December 1964 when, at 19, Clapton was still a member of the Yardbirds, who were part of the bill for a BBC TV recording. They shared it with Brian Poole and the Tremeloes, Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders, the Nashville Teens, Brenda Lee, and, still relatively unknown to the UK, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles.

Within three months, Clapton had left the Yardbirds, for two brief spells with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers and then, of course, Cream. His next visit to the Albert Hall was among his most famous: it was the power trio’s farewell concert, in November 1968.

Clapton was back at the Albert in 1983, as part of what became known as the ARMS Concert. Raising money for the Prince’s Trust and for Action for Research into Multiple Sclerosis, the show was prompted by the news that Ronnie Lane, formerly of the Small Faces and the Faces, was suffering from the disease.

Prince Charles and Princess Diana were there that night, to witness Clapton in a band of all the talents, with Steve Winwood, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts, Andy Fairweather Low — and, at one stage, a remarkable teaming of three ex-Yardbirds, as Eric played with Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck.

As we mentioned, it was 1987 when Eric established the idea of an Albert Hall residency, with his A-list band that featured Greg Phillinganes on keyboards, Nathan East on bass, and Steve Ferrone on drums. That year’s shows also featured a very special guest in the form of Mark Knopfler.

Over the following nine years, Clapton played at the Albert Hall 134 times, and at least six times every year. In 1991, his remarkable stand of 24 nights there produced the live album of the same name. In 2002, he was a central figure in the never-to-be-forgotten Concert For George that took place after the death of his close friend George Harrison.

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In 2005, when the momentous Cream reunion took place with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker, there was only one address where it could be staged. Then, when Eric returned in 2015 for the Slowhand At 70 shows, his second night in the run – his 200th time on the Albert Hall stage – was dedicated to his friend  and hero B.B. King, who had died the day before.

“It’s a very comfortable, homey place for me. I tend to think of it as mine,” said Eric in a BBC interview in 1990.  “It’s got a very genteel, sophisticated and yet comfortable atmosphere.”

Listen to the best of Eric Clapton on Apple Music and Spotify.

4 Comments

4 Comments

  1. Roger Peek

    March 21, 2017 at 12:04 am

    You’re out by one year about the Cream reunion. It was in 2005

    • Todd Burns

      January 2, 2024 at 11:47 pm

      Thank you! We have amended the article to reflect that.

  2. Shawn Rosvold

    January 6, 2018 at 1:57 pm

    Clapton lives a lot of the time in New York City, and has said that he loves playing at Madison Square Garden. I was at one of the Cream reunion shows in 2005 at MSG.

  3. Rob MacNeill

    March 17, 2023 at 6:15 pm

    My friend,Tom Dowd got me tickets to Eric Clapton’s All Blues show in 1990 with Robert Cray and Buddy Guy. I was sitting in the artist’s section and as the house lights went down a gentleman took the only empty seat which was on my immediate left. The show was a blues lover’s dream! As the house lights came on, my girlfriend scooted past the man who was sitting next to me. The man was now standing, turned around and speaking to someone in the row behind us. I couldn’t get around him as the aisles were narrow. After a couple of “excuse me sirs” and no response, I nudged him so that he would step forward out of my way. When he turned around obviously annoyed with my manners and his face was 2 feet from mine, the light bulb went off in my head.
    “Holy s***, it’s f******
    David Gilmour!!” I guess David loves the blues also. He’s my favorite guitarist!
    Sorry Eric…

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