Eric Clapton 'Backless' Tour Nov/Dec 1978 w Muddy Waters

Still puzzling over the details of this magnificent tour. I'm pretty certain I saw seven of the ten gigs on this tour but I am only sure of five of the venues. I know we saw him at Victoria Hall, Hanley, Gala at West Brom, Gaumont Southampton and twice at the Hammersmith Odeon and I feel reasonably confident we saw them at Brighton Centre but if I saw seven then was the seventh City Hall Newcastle of the Manchester Apollo? Perhaps I'll never know. What I can say was that the sets and the gigs didn't vary that much - from an extremely high standard I might add. It was a real privilege to see Muddy Waters seven(?) times and Clapton was pretty much near his peak. There was blues a-plenty, 'Crossroads', 'Double Trouble', 'Worried Life Blues', 'Key to the Highway' and so on and long blues solos plus the now mandatory 'Layla', 'Cocaine' and so on. 'Tulsa Time' used to feature at this time and that was real buzz live as was 'Badge'. The Clapton band was: Eric Clapton - Guitar / Vocals George Terry - Guitar Dick Sims - Keyboards Carl Radle - Bass Jamie Oldaker - Drums They were all formidable musicians - loved the George Terry guitar period and Jamie Oldaker on drums was as good as it got on Clapton bands Muddy Waters was superb as well. He played all the famous stuff and his voice was as bluesy as it gets. I followed a Clapton tour in 1980 as well - good times to remember as we stay in Lockdown from the virus with not a gig in five months and we probably won't see one for at least another five.