Coming on June 23rd is Eric Clapton's The Definite 24 Nights. The new expanded set expands Clapton's classic 1991 live album with several hours of unreleased performances from "Slowhand's" record-setting residency at London’s Royal Albert Hall. The package will be available in six-CD/three-Blu-ray and eight-LP/three-Blu-ray configurations. Both versions come with three Blu-ray discs for the video content, a hardbound book, and an individually numbered lithograph featuring a photograph of Clapton by Carl Studna.
Standalone versions of the individual concerts — 24 Nights: Rock, 24 Nights: Blues, and 24 Nights: Orchestral — will be released the same day in two-CD/DVD and triple-LP (Rock and Orchestral) ($49.98) and 2-LP (Blues) configurations.
Among the special guests appearing on the set are Johnnie Johnson, Jimmie Vaughan, Chuck Leavell, Phil Collins, Robert Cray, Buddy Guy, Albert Collins, Nathan East, Greg Phillinganes, Steve Ferrone, Ray Cooper, and Jerry Portnoy.
On May 17th, a newly compiled feature film, titled Across 24 Nights, will be screened in cinemas worldwide.
Eric Clapton's 24 Nights was originally released on October 8th, 1991 at peaked at Number 38 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. The set was culled from 42 shows performed in 1989 and 1990 at London's Royal Albert Hall. The shows alternated Clapton performing with a four piece band, a nine-piece band, a scaled-back blues ensemble, and the nine-piece band along with the National Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Michael Kamen.
One of the highlights on the expanded 24 Nights is the new 14-track blues disc. Eric Clapton told us point blank that listening to blues icon Robert Johnson's songs made him want to be a musician: ["It got me moving, really. I mean, it got me moving in terms of understanding the power of music in my life. I knew I was responding to this stronger than other people were, and I didn't really talk about it very much to anybody — I just kind of used it as a starting point."] SOUNDCUE (:14 OC: . . . a starting point)
Eric Clapton told us, that like any seasoned performer, he does his best to make sure fans leave the concert satisfied, but his first priority is actually the people standing next to him on stage. He said things only work when he and his fellow musicians are in sync: ["I really play for the band — y'know, we play for one another. That's the first priority, is 'Are we all clicking?' And then, once you've looked inward, you look out and see if everyone's okay out there."] SOUNDCUE (:09 OC: . . . okay out there)
On Saturday night (April 15th) Eric Clapton kicks off a six-night run at Tokyo, Japan's Nippon Budokan.
