Eric Clapton
Alpine Valley Music Theater
East Troy, Wisconsin
September 17, 1988

Lineage: Sony hand-held mic/Sony D-5 => cassette => Stand-alone Pioneer CD burner => EAC => Magix Audio Cleaning Lab => WAV => FLAC Front-end (level 8)

Disc one (73:56):
(1) Crossroads (7:41)
(2) White Room (6:21)
(3) I Shot The Sheriff (8:15)
(4) Lay Down Sally (5:30)
(5) Wonderful Tonight (7:05)
(6) Tearing Us Apart (6:29)
(7) After Midnight (6:09) ^
(8) Same Old Blues (14:50)
(9) Badge (6:31) =>
(10) Let It Rain (5:01)

Disc two (32:36):
(1) Band Introductions => Cocaine (8:03)
(2) A Remark You Made (1:46)
(3) Layla (7:56)
(4) Money For Nothing (6:13) *^
(5) Sunshine Of Your Love (8:36)

* Mark Knopfler - vocals
^ start slightly cut (tape flip)


Comments: Pretty good audience recording from 17th row left-hand side from Eric Clapton's brief "Crossroads" North American tour in 1988. This is best-known for featuring Mark Knopfler on rhythm guitar (as well as, of course, vocals on one song during the encore). Setlist-wise, nothing terribly adventurous except that I believe this show contained the last (or at least, one of the last) performances of the "Badge"/"Let It Rain" medley which he'd done every night through the '85-'87 tours. 

The recording is fairly well-balanced -- I remember it being REALLY loud -- although unfortunately the vocals are low in the mix (probably a function of being really far to the left -- the vocals must have been concentrated toward the center sections). There are some talkers around us. There are a couple of very small cuts due to tape flips and 30 seconds of "Lay Down Sally" are a little muffled (an usher came in wanting to see our ticket stubs, so my friend ducked the mike down for a moment). Otherwise, it's a good recording that has more "talkers" than I'd like but who are not overly distracting. I'd give it a 7-8 (on a 10-scale) for the era. 

This isn't my favorite EC tour, but Knopfler offers more interesting licks than Eric's typical rhythm guitarists do. All in all, a laid-back but enjoyable show. I digitized this recording mostly for myself to re-live the memory of a great late-summer day with long-lost friends and thought I would share it; perhaps it will fill a gap for many, and/or bring back some memories. It's surprising to me that this concert is now nearly 18 years in the past.