Eric celebrated his 25th Anniversary in the recording industry in 1988. He played dates at the Royal Albert Hall, toured a few US cities and ended the year with a four date tour of Japan. For the Far East outting, he was accompanied by Mark Knopfler and Elton John. Mark was in the band for the entire year.
In the succeeding years, very few quality recordings have surfaced. Fans are still waiting for some of the Albert Hall run to be made available.
The best Eric Clapton bootlegs from 1988 are:
Vivala Slowhand (Tarantura / SB6)
This disc was recorded during the American tour on 7 September in Philadelphia. Mark Knopfler was on second guitar for this tour. Features the standard mid-80s set list with “Motherless Children” tossed in as a nod to the back catalogue.
Les Trois Mousquetaires (MidValley / SB5)
In 1999, a COMPLETE recording with improved sound quality finally surfaced from Clapton’s 25th Anniversary Tour of Japan with Elton John and Mark Knopfler. Previously, fans made due with CDs of inferior quality such as A Wednesday Night At The Tokyo Dome (Great Live Records 1992). Included on the Mousquetaires release are late 80s takes of “Can’t Find My Way Home” “After Midnight”, “I Shot The Sheriff” and “Crossroads”. Elton takes a turn with some of his hits including “Candle In The Wind”, “Daniel” and “I’m Still Standing”. Knopfler tears it up on “Solid Rock” and “Money For Nothing.”
Honorable Mention:
Eric Clapton: Complete Japan Tour 1988 (EC is Here / 5)
For completists, all four shows were released by EC is Here in 2004. The set list was static, but the shows were consistenly good. Sting joins the band on 4 November at Tokyo’s Budokan. Also comes with a bonus DVD: an unedited MTV interview with Eric.
Where’s ERIC! does not encourage or condone the manufacture of bootleg recordings. They are illegal and artists do not receive royalties from their sale. However, Where’s ERIC! realizes that there are fans who collect these recordings. In that spirit, information about them is provided for fans’ research and guidance purposes. Where’s ERIC! does not sell, trade or provide free copies of bootleg recordings nor can we tell you how to obtain them.
