 10/10/2024 - Los Angeles, California - Our trip to LA started the day prior with me driving thru Lockport to pickup my brother Mike and then on to Buffalo Niagara International Airport to catch and afternoon flight taking us from Buffalo to Atlanta and finally to LAX. The flights were ontime and without issue and we arrived late evening in Los Angeles. We definitely rented a car this time in LA and got to our hotel the Hilton Garden Inn LA/Hollywood very late. We were up early the first day in LA and we started with breakfast at the hotel that was pretty good. We walked Hollywood doing the tourist thing seeing all the stars as we walked down Hollywood Boulevard. We stopped at Grauman's Chinese Theatre seeing all the classic foot and hand prints from stars current and past. We stopped at Hard Rock Cafe to pickup the mandatory pin and checkout the memorabilia. We hopped in the car and headed southwest down the busy LA freeway heading to Palm Desert to see Eric Clapton and opener Jimmie Vaughan perform at the Acrisure Arena. The road trip was supposed to take a little over 2 hours but with traffic ended up being almost double that. We drove past the Palm Springs Windmill farm that turns out to be one of the largest in the country with over 3000+ windmills that seemed endless as we drove along the desert freeway. We arrived later than expected to the venue and paid the outrageous parking fee at the Acrisure Arena, which is home to the AHL's Coachella Valley Firebirds, who knew hockey in the desert, today's temps just over 100 although it did not feel it in dry desert. We entered the arena and had time to check out our seats that were pretty good center ice about fifteen rows up and grab some decent food. Tonight, Jimmie Vaughan would be the opener and he and his band hit the stage on time around 7:30. He played his typical Texas blues set that included D/FW and Six Strings Down. The band was good and Jimmie continues to entertain. After Vaughan's almost hour set and a brief intermission Clapton and his band hit the stage just after nine and played a great hour and forty minute plus set. He opened the show with a good jam on Sunshine of Your Love. He was joined on guitar with sidekick Doyle Bramhall II, Sonny Emory on drums, Chris Stanton on keyboards, Katie Kissoon and Sharon White on backup vocals, new addition Tim Carmon on keyboards and of course Nathan East anchoring on bass guitar. He closed the first electric set with a good cover of Badge and then went into the acoustic set playing classics like Running On Faith, Change The World, a song from his new album The Call and closing the acoustic set with Tears In Heaven. He opened the second electric set with one of my favorites Got To Get Better In A Little While and a nice job on another favorite Old Love. He closed the set with Cocaine and came out for one encore of Before You Accuse Me. A great show by the 79 year old who continues to entertain with excellent guitar work and still great vocals. We got out of the venue quickly and made it back to our hotel in the appropriate two hours minus the traffic. An excellent first full day in LA.Slideshow |
