Eric Clapton: Slowhand at 70 Live at The Royal Albert Hall Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		4.0

Eric Clapton: Slowhand at 70 Live at The Royal Albert Hall Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 13, 2015

A lot of folks tend to get a little sensitive about how old they are once they reach that territory known euphemistically as “middle age” (and what’s middle age for one person may indeed not be the same thing for someone else), but hopefully Eric Clapton didn’t mind too much that he had made it to the ranks of septuagenarians, as advertised right in the title of Eric Clapton Slowhand at 70 Live at the Royal Albert Hall. Culled from a run of several appearances at London’s iconic venue in celebration of Clapton’s inimitable anniversary, Slowhand at 70 proves that age seems to be doing very little to actually slow down Clapton’s always amazing guitar technique. He may be a trifle rough sounding on vocals now and then, but with an ace supporting band, this concert makes it easy for everyone to help celebrate the long life and accomplishments of one of the true guitar heroes of our time.

This largely blues inflected concert includes the following tunes:

Somebody's Knockin' On My Door
Key to the Highway
Tell the Truth
Prestending
Hoochie Coochie Man
You Are So Beautiful
Can't Find My Way Home
I Shot the Sheriff
Driftin' Blues
Nobody Knows When You're Down and Out
Tears in Heaven
Layla
Let It Rain
Wonderful Tonight
Crossroads
Cocaine
High Time We Went

Eric Clapton: Slowhand at 70 Live at The Royal Albert Hall Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Eric Clapton Slowhand at 70 Live at the Royal Albert Hall is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Universal Music Group and Eagle Vision, an imprint of Eagle Rock Entertainment, with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.78:1. This concerts has relatively few of the "arena rock" bells and whistles that often accompany concert videos, and as such it offers fewer problems like banding and posterizing that also tend to accompany these videos. There are some minor posterizing issues when blue bathes the stage at a couple of moments, but generally speaking, this is a problem free presentation, and one that offers a clear and precise looking image. The palette looks natural and lifelike and the interlaced presentation offers no real issues with combing artifacts and the like.

Eric Clapton: Slowhand at 70 Live at The Royal Albert Hall Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Both the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 tracks included on Eric Clapton Slowhand at 70 Live at the Royal Albert Hall offer a vibrant and vigorous accounting of the music, though there is a substantial uptick in the low end on the surround version, as should probably be expected. Even with that more emphatic low end (and midrange), prioritization of Eric's voice and the backup singers is still excellent most of the time, and Eric's guitar is always mixed beautifully, blending with the rhythm section but darting out to claim its own sonic territory during solos. Fidelity is excellent and there are no problems of any kind to warrant concern.

Eric Clapton: Slowhand at 70 Live at The Royal Albert Hall Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Little Queen of Spades (1080i; 16:58)

Additionally, two CDs of the concert are included.

Eric Clapton: Slowhand at 70 Live at The Royal Albert Hall Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

70 kind of seems like the new 30 as far as Eric Clapton is concerned. This concert finds the rock icon in fine, relaxed form, and the backup band is simply stellar. Clapton moves through a variety of hits and at least relatively lesser known tunes, offering superb musicianship and even more proof as to why he's so widely admired. Highly recommended.