Eric Clapton/Nippon Budokan performance December 3, 1979 Tokyo,Japan 12.3.1979

This is an audience recording at Budokan on December 3, 1979, which has recently become a hot topic among fans of past live recordings. Surprisingly, it sounded so clear and the sound quality was quite high for an audience source at the time. Not only is it well-balanced and easy to listen to, but it also captures well the ferocious sound unique to rock concerts at the time, when huge PAs were stacked on both sides of the stage. On the official version, you can hear most of the MCs that were cut, and although it’s not as bad as in 1974 right after their comeback, back then they were in a bit of a drunken mode (they were pretty cheerful when introducing the members). There was applause at the beginning of Lay Down Sally (even though it was a single), and huge applause when the medley of Rambling On My Mind > Have You Ever Loved A Woman changed to Have You Ever Loved A Woman. Our Past Time is a very plain song, and even when the vocals changed to Albert Lee, there was applause (although it was Rick Danko on the record)…I think the enthusiasm of the audience was a little different from now. Country Boy, played by Albert Lee, had a thick, bright, sparkling guitar sound that echoed throughout the venue. In addition, I am amazed at the powerful cutting arrangement in After Midnight. I was also surprised by the wah-wah solo in Cocaine (I didn’t really have the impression of wah-wah in EC at the time)…to be able to relive it with such a high-quality sound source. 6:30PM Monday 3rd December 1979 Budokan Dai-Hall Band members Eric Clapton: Guitar and vocals Henry Spinetti: Drums Chris Stainton: Keyboards Albert Lee: Guitar, keyboard and vocals on “Country Boy” “Setting Me Up” and “Cocaine” Dave Markee: Bass guitar Re-masterd and EQ’d Version Disc 1; 01. Appear on stage 02. Tulsa Time 03. Early In The Morning 04. Lay Down Sally 05. Wonderful Tonight 06. If I Don’t Be There By Morning 07. Worried Life Blues 08. Country Boy 09. Double Trouble 10. All Our Past Times Disc 2; 01. Blues Power 02. Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door 03. Setting Me Up 04. Rambling On My Mind 05. Have You Ever Loved a Woman 06. Rambling On My Mind 07. After Midnight 08. Cocaine 09. Layla 10. Band Introduction 11. Further On Up The Road 12. SE