Eric Clapton & Steve Winwood Live

In early 1969 both guitarist/singer Eric Clapton and multi-instrumentalist/singer Steve Winwood each were emerging from popular English bands Cream and Traffic, respectively as stars in their own right. They formed Blind Faith, released a studio album, mounted a sole US tour marred by problems on and off the stage and, after only seven months, broke up. Nevertheless, rock music writers have carried the torch for that long ago pairing of Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood ever since, keeping the memory of that musical unicorn  alive as much for its promise of what might have been.

Concertgoers to Clapton’s 2007 Crossroads Guitar Festival in Chicago got a thrilling glimpse of that potential when Steve Winwood accepted Clapton’s invitation to perform together, and the response was immediate. The duo decided to stage three nights in February the following year, and the reunion for which intrepid rock fans had longed for forty years became reality when Eric Clapton joined Steve Winwood  at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Fans of the fleeting one-off Blind Faith album were rewarded with muscular, time-tested versions of “Had to Cry Today”,”Presence of the Lord”, and “Can’t Find My Way Home” as well as some of the best of Traffic, Derek and the Dominos, and Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood solo catalogs! Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood guest here In the Studio. –Redbeard