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Originally posted by Ted's Cracked Head:

Clapton is hosting his Crossroads Guitar Festival in Chicago July 28. Tickets go on sale this Saturday and I will be trying with all my might to get as many as I can or 1 for that matter.

Clapton, BB King, Steve Winwood, Willie Nelson, Jeff Beck, Vince Gill, Sheryl Crow, Buddy Guy and John Mayer, Robert Cray, Allison Krauss and Union Station, Sonny Landreth, Los Lobos, Albert Lee, Jimmie Vaughn, Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, Robert Randolph, Derek Trucks. I am sure that several others will join him but these have been announced.

Not a bad lineup huh?

Posted by Lou:

No one loves music more than me(college DJ) but for crying out loud is there anyone who ISN'T 100 years old in that lineup?
Los Lobos may be the only one to have recorded on Cassettes and CDs only. The others are 45 and 8 track refugees... In repsonse: Maybe BB has lost a step or two but the rest of this group is pretty good. These are only the folks who are announced and it is very likely that several more will "show" up for this event.

BB was the first "act" I ever saw live way back when I was like 12 years old. He played at an old restaurant in Chicago Heights and my Mom, Dad, brother and his girlfriend had the first row of folding chairs. I have seen him numerous times since and even if he doesn't play guitar, I will show up for his performances whenever I get a chance.

I think that guitarists get better with age and there are several MASTERS in this group who will surely blow Chicago away.

I would pay good money to see any of the following and all together...it will be amazing: Clapton (stood next to his backup singers at Alpine when Stevie blew them all away), Beck (I thought my ears were bleeding the last time I saw him), Buddy Guy (love him), Randolph and McLaughlin (saw him with Paco de Lucia and Al Di Meola and was truly amazed).

Needless to say, I will be quite bummed if I do not get tickets.

10:00 a.m. through ticketmaster.

santana is one i would really like to see join up.

Eric Clapton to hold Crossroads benefit

03/29/2007 6:09 PM, AP


Eric Clapton is having a jam session with more than a dozen of his favorite guitar-playing pals, and everyone is invited. Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival, scheduled July 28 in the Chicago suburb of Bridgeview, Ill., will benefit Crossroads Centre, the drug-rehab facility he founded in Antigua a decade ago. Tickets go on sale Saturday.

Scheduled performers include B.B. King, Willie Nelson, Vince Gill, Sheryl Crow, Jeff Beck and John Mayer, among others — and Clapton is already excited about spontaneous collaborations.

"Some of it's mapped and some of it isn't," he said Wednesday by phone from Winnipeg, Canada, where he is on tour. "We have to leave a little bit of it to chance."

This will be the second concert Clapton has held to raise funds for the Caribbean rehab facility, which now includes a halfway house and community-education program. The first concert was in Dallas in 2004.

Many performers plan to return — "A great testament to how much everybody loves Eric Clapton," said Gill, who played at the first Crossroads fest.

Establishing the rehab center fulfilled a personal dream, Clapton said.

"I haven't had a drink or drug for quite a long time and it's changed my life completely. That's something I want to pass on and share with other people," he said.

Clapton said clinics such as Crossroads are "very necessary."

"I think it's suffered a little bit in some of the recent publicity with the celebrities who go there," he said. "It's a bit of a witch hunt going on in some of the news channels about rehabs in general. It's a little scary because ... the last thing we want is to lose any of the rehabs."

The 62-year-old guitarist is set to wrap up his world tour in April and "have a little break in England" with his family before the Crossroads concert.

"Then I'm going to disappear for a year or two," he said, "and have some fun."

___

On the Net:

Crossroads:

****://crossroadsantigua.org/

Eric Clapton:

****://www.ericclapton.com/

I was able to get thru twice and purchased 6 tickets. 2 seats and (4) 10 hour mob/GA standing tix. At least I will have a couple of seats to take a load off.

I didn't even try the $1000 seats.