In June 2004, some of the greatest living guitar players and their bands gathered at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas, for a three-day festival to benefit the Crossroads Centre in Antigua. It was the ultimate concert for a... more »ny music lover, featuring one legend after the other: Eric Clapton, BB King, Buddy Guy, Eric Johnson, James Taylor, Jimmie Vaughan, Joe Walsh, John Mayer, Robert Cray, Robert Randolph, Santana, ZZ Top, and many more. This 2-DVD set beautifully documents the event and contains over 4 hours of content. Planned extras include in-depth artist interviews, a mini-documentary, photo gallery, alternate angle, and more. Royalties from the DVD sales will benefit the Crossroads Center.« less
"I was lucky to attend the festival in Dallas this summer. While the songs selected for the DVD aren't always the ones I would have picked (Buddy Guy blew everyone else away, but he is conspicuously absent except for the ensemble numbers), this is nontheless sure to be a great DVD. Clapton was brilliant as usual, Santana was fantastic and ZZ Top were their usual eccentric selves.
John Mayer, Jonny Lang and Robert Randolph were all excellent newcomers in the mostly over-50 lineup. Jimmie Vaughan and his Tilt-a-whirl band served as a fantastic houseband, backing up the many blues legends on hand.
Some disappointing omissions ... Robert Randolph's "I Need More Love" ,a surprising show-stealer on the second day of the festival is not listed. Same with John Mayer's "Come Back To Bed". Styx put on a surprisingly good set of cover tunes, from the Beatles' "I Am The Walrus" to BB King's "The Thrill Is Gone". Also, Eric Clapton's set on the third day included a nice selection of songs from his new album of Robert Johnson covers that are omitted here.
That said, I still pre-ordered my copy as soon as I saw it announced. They could have made it a four disc set with more material and doubled the price and I still would have bought it."
A must-have presentation of a once in a lifetime event!
Jarrod Vrazel | Houston, Texas | 09/07/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The Crossroads Guitar Festival will go down in history as one of the greatest gatherings of guitarists ever. The 2 DVD set features performance footage in 5.1 Surround Sound, artist interviews and a photo gallery.
Disc one:
"Cocaine," Eric Clapton
"Love in Vain Blues," Robert Lockwood Jr.
"Killing Floor," Clapton, Robert Cray, Hubert Sumlin and Jimmie Vaughan
"Sweet Home Chicago," Clapton, Cray, Buddy Guy, Sumlin and Vaughan
"Six Strings Down," Clapton, Cray, Robert Randolph and Vaughan
"Rock Me Baby," Clapton, Guy, B.B. King and Vaughan
"I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow," Dan Tyminski and Ron Block
"Road to Nash Vegas," Tyminski and Block
"Copperline," James Taylor with Jerry Douglas
"Steamroller," Taylor and Joe Walsh
"Oklahoma Borderline," Vince Gill and Douglas
"What the Cowgirls Do," Gill and Douglas
"After Midnight," J.J. Cale with Clapton
"Call Me the Breeze," Cale with Clapton
"March," Robert Randolph & the Family Band
"Green Light Girl," Doyle Bramhall II
"Incident at Neshabur," Carlos Santana
"Jingo," Santana with Clapton
"City Love," John Mayer
"Your Body Is a Wonderland," Mayer
Disc two:
"Rag Bihag," Vishwa Mohan Bhatt
"Tones for Elvin Jones," John McLaughlin
"Josie," Larry Carlton
"Question and Answer," Pat Metheny
"Going Down Slow," Honeyboy Edwards
"Time Makes Two," Robert Cray
"Give Me Up Again," Jonny Lang
"Neighborhood," David Hildago
"Whispering a Prayer," Steve Vai
"Desert Rose," Eric Johnson
"Funk 49," Joe Walsh
"Rocky Mountain Way," Walsh
"I Shot the Sheriff," Clapton
"Blues in C," Clapton
"Cause We've Ended as Lovers," Clapton and Jeff Beck
"La Grange," ZZ Top
"Tush," ZZ Top
ZRock features exclusive Crossroads Guitar Festival coverage, including photos, interviews, event details, and media reviews. I was onsite for the full three days of the festival and witnessed the magic first hand. This DVD set captures the magic and preserves the history for generations to come. "Sweet Home Chicago" and the performances by Honeyboy Edwards and Robert Lockwood, Jr. were true history in the making. This is a must-have for music fans!
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You had to be there!
H. DEHAVEN | Houston, TX USA | 11/16/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This DVD set attempts to capture a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I was at the Crossroads Festival both days that there were performances. Sure, there are parts I would like to see on the DVD that were cut, but obviously they could not put TWO DAYS of music on two DVDs. As some of the other reviews indicated, I too would love to see a volume 3 and 4, but highly doubt that will happen.
It was a grand event for a grand cause and I would not have missed it for anything. I equate some of the complaints about the DVD set (yea, the sound could be a little better, but it is still VERY GOOD quality) to some of the whining I heard while walking back to my car at the Cottonbowl that Sunday night. People had seen hour after hour after hour of amazing music performances by the top guitarists in the world and were actually whining and cursing about the "finale" being cut. I don't blame the promoters, the weather was looking quite bad. At the end of the day, you had gotten many times your money's worth and then some.
The DVD set is but a small snapshot of a really fantastic music event. That is all. It is like the photo you take on vacation. It is but a small window, a reminder, of a really nice event that took place and I was truly glad to be there to see it.
Good DVD. I was ready to buy it the second that I read that there was to be a DVD released. If you were there, the DVD is a great reminder. If you were not there, the DVD will make you wish that you had been.
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So much potential...
Ian Martin | Auckland New Zealand | 11/29/2005
(3 out of 5 stars)
"If you love all things guitar then you won't go wrong with this DVD. Great sound, good visuals, huge variety. But the strength of variety is also the greatest weakness.
In some ways you do not want to criticise as there really are some superb tracks on this double DVD. The frustration for those like me who couldn't be there is that we missed so much. You can't help noticing this during the DVD. I saw Pat Metheny being hugged but didn't hear a note from him, as others have noted the great Dennis Chambers on drums, yet we don't see him while he solos and we hardly see the maestro, Steve Gadd. I suggest too diverse a range was attempted to be captured for the 2 disc DVD. I don't want to see two ZZ Top numbers at the expense of not seeing Jeff Beck. Why three tracks with Joe Walsh and only one of Larry Carlton? As much as I enjoy Vai, this track seems so out of place. This DVD should have rather just been a blues/Clapton DVD rather than an uneven hotch-potch.
Overall, I'll keep and enjoy this well recorded DVD, but there will always be a little frustration of what could have been. If you want a taster of the variety of guitaring on show then this will not disappoint."
Excellent!! (and how to find Layla on the DVD)
Kelly | USA | 01/07/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"What can I say? Clapton fan or not, this 2 dvd set is an awesome addition to one's musical collection. Over three hours of music which still doesn't cover all of the greatness of the Festival, yet it's easily a classic dvd. Eric, Jonny Lang, Jimmie Vaughan, Buddy Guy, B.B. King, Dan Tyminski, Doyle Bramhall II, ZZ Top, Larry Carlton, etc. There is such a vast span of the musical forum with these artists. Different styles, different ages, different tones, etc.
Some of the highlights for me.
First, of course, Eric. Cocaine is rockin'. I Shot The Sheriff shows why it's such a highlight through the years, but even more so this last tour. If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day is a just a steamroller of the blues, and Have You Ever Loved A Woman is beautiful as always.
Then of course there is the blues jams. Eric, Buddy Guy, Robert Cray, and Jimmie Vaughan onstage together. It's something to see them just having fun and is one of the showstoppers of the whole event. Then Hubert Sumlin joins for a song, and later B.B. King is thrown into the mix as well. This jam session basically allows for Buddy to really show off his style on Sweet Home Chicago. And to see Buddy urging Eric on during his solo until Eric just points and him and laughs. Classic.
Rock Me Baby let's us all see that B.B. King hasn't lost any showmanship even if he does approach his music from a different direction than he did 40 years ago.
Jonny Lang has one song on this dvd, and it's from his latest album, Long Time Coming. The song, Give Me Up Again, is one of my favorites from the new album, so it's nice to see it live. Jonny is one who is the future when it comes to guitar. He's amazing for his age, and he's been just about that good since he was a teenager. I love his expression and passion when playing. And hopefully when you see him, if you don't know much, you'll be tempted to find out more. Maybe he'll be one of your favorite guitarists as he is one of mine.
Doyle Bramhall II has one song on this dvd as well with Green Light Girl. He gives a great performance, and you can see Eric really enjoying the song over to the side of the stage. Why wouldn't he? Doyle is fantastic!
It was good to see Santana for one song which brought out Clapton again. You can tell they really enjoy playing together, and the song rocked the house.
J.J. Cale gave two nice performances with After Midnight and Call Me The Breeze. Clapton played guitar on both songs, and right before After Midnight Cale tried to get Eric to sing. You can see Eric shaking his head and saying no. I guess that goes back to him enjoying being the sideman for a bit of time.
One person I discovered while watching this dvd was Dan Tyminski. I had heard his music before with I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow, but I guess I never paid a lot of attention. Naturally, being at the show, he's a good guitarist, but I loved everything about the song including the guitar work. He also did a song called Road To Nash Vegas which isn't too bad.
ZZ Top were very good, but I thought for an ending it could have been better. At least feature one different ZZ Top song over the very well known Tush and La Grange. Speaking of ZZ Top it's too bad the final night's pending storm stopped their stage time with Eric. That would have been killer to end the dvd I'm sure.
It goes on and on -- Rocky Mountain Way - Joe Walsh, Neighborhood - David Hidalgo, Josie - Larry Carlton, Steamroller - James Taylor w/ Joe Walsh, etc. It could have kept going such as Eric and Jeff Beck doing Cause We've Ended As Lovers which was omitted along with other performances. All in all a dvd well worth the money. Besides the performances their is artist interviews, photo gallery, and you can access solos of the songs.
And before I forget I should mention there is a hidden song on this dvd. Go to the extras section on disc 2, press the left button so nothing is highlighted on the menu, then press enter. Now, sit back, and enjoy LAYLA!!"