Eric Clapton to play St. Paul for the first time in 14 years in September

Ross Raihala, Pioneer Press
Updated ·2 min read
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Eric Clapton, the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, will return to St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center Sept. 14 for his first local concert in 14 years.

Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday through Ticketmaster. Neither the venue nor the promoter announced prices. Blues guitarist Jimmie Vaughan will open.

Clapton, who turns 78 on Thursday, began performing as a teenager. In 1963, he joined the Yardbirds, a British band that played Chicago-style blues. He left the group two years later, after their single “For Your Love” became a chart success. He then joined the power trio Cream, rock music’s first supergroup.

Cream only lasted 28 months, but sold more than 15 million albums and scored hits with “White Room,” “Sunshine of Your Love” and “Crossroads.” Clapton’s next group, Blind Faith, included Steve Winwood, with whom he shared the stage when he last played the X in June 2009.

After joining yet another band, Derek and the Dominos, Clapton embarked on a solo career that earned him 18 Grammy Awards and second place, behind Jimi Hendrix, on Rolling Stone’s list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time list. His many hits include “I Shot the Sheriff,” “Lay Down Sally,” “Forever Man,” “It’s in the Way That You Use It,” “Bad Love” and “Tears in Heaven.”

Clapton was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist and as a member of the Yardbirds and Cream. His St. Paul concert is one of just five he announced Monday.

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In recent years, Clapton has earned headlines as an outspoken anti-vaxxer, going so far as to release a pair of singles with Van Morrison about the subject, “Stand and Deliver” and “This Has Gotta Stop.” In July 2021, Clapton said he would “not perform on any stage where there is a discriminated audience present.” The following May, he tested positive for COVID-19 after headlining Royal Albert Hall in London.

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