Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival 2019 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.5

Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival 2019 Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 22, 2020

Not to make light of what is obviously a very serious subject, but if you need to go through rehab, wouldn’t you prefer to do it in some place like the Caribbean, perhaps at the Crossroads Centre founded in Antigua by Eric Clapton? Clapton is also responsible for founding something else with Crossroads in its title, the intermittent aggregations of guitar gods Clapton has assembled for his Crossroads Guitar Festivals, which not so coincidentally have been held in order to raise funds for the Crossroads Centre itself. There haven’t been annual outings of the Festival, and instead excepting the first two (which were about five years apart) and until this most recent event they tended to be put on every three years or so, with the founding festival debuting in 1999, and then subsequent festivals being held in 2004, 2007, 2010 and 2013, prior to this 2019 festival. A lot of fans, while impatient, are most likely going to think this latest six year stretch was worth the wait, since this Crossroads Guitar Festival includes a really incredible assortment of musicians from a variety of different backgrounds and niches, performing both singly and in curated groups in sessions that left fans clamoring for more, according to both reports and first person anecdotes I've either read or been told.

Unfortunately, not all of the previous Crossroads Guitar Festivals have made it to Blu-ray, but for those interested, I have reviewed two prior releases in the series:

Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival 2010 Blu-ray review

Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival 2013 Blu-ray review

Even a cursory glance of the artists and songs offered over the course of this Crossroads Festival should be enough to whet even the most jaded fan's appetite, but a list can't quite communicate the brilliant array of styles and especially the camaraderie that is on display throughout virtually every performance. There are a couple of surprises that aren't in the official credits listing below, with one of them being the perhaps overly snarky presence of Bill Murray as emcee. Murray is undeniably funny at times, but he's a little pushy on more than one occasion, and he actually gets booed by the audience early on when he tells them they don't deserve the next performer (who turns out to be Clapton, so maybe that's an accurate assessment).

The contents of both discs are as follows:

Disc One
Friday, September 20, 2019

• 1. Introduction


• 2. Native Stepson
  Sonny Landreth


• 3. Wonderful Tonight
  Eric Clapton & Andy Fairweather Low


• 4. Lay Down Sally
  Eric Clapton & Andy Fairweather Low


• 5. Million Miles
  Bonnie Raitt, Keb' Mo' & Alan Darby


• 6. Son's Gonna Rise
  Citizen Cope with Gary Clark Jr.


• 7. Lait / De Ushuala a la Quiaca
  Gustavo Santaolalla


• 8. I Wanna Be Your Dog
  Doyle Bramhall II with Tedeschi Trucks Band


• 9. That's How Strong My Love Is
  Doyle Bramhall II with Tedeschi Trucks Band


• 10. Lift Off
  Tom Misch


• 11. Cognac
  Buddy Guy & Jonny Lang


• 12. Everything Is Broken
  Sheryl Crow & Bonnie Raitt


• 13. Every Day is a Winding Road
  Sheryl Crow with James Bay


• 14. Retrato
  Daniel Santiago & Pedro Martins


• 15. B Side
  Kurt Rosenwinkel with Pedro Martins


• 16. Baby, Please Come Home
  Jimmie Vaughan with Bonnie Raitt


• 17. I Shiver
  Robert Cray


• 18. How Long
  The Marcus King Band


• 19. Goodbye Carolina
  The Marcus King Band


• 20. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
  Peter Frampton with Eric Clapton


• 21. Space for the Papa
  Jeff Beck


• 22. Big Block
  Jeff Beck


• 23. Caroline, No
  Jeff Beck

Disc Two
Saturday, September 21, 2019

• 1. Cut Em Loose
  Robert Randolph


• 2. Hold Back the River
  James Bay


• 3. When We Were On Fire
  James Bay


• 4. Mas y Mas
  Los Lobos


• 5. Am I Wrong?
  Keb' Mo'


• 6. Slow Dancing in a Burning Room
  John Mayer


• 7. How Blue Can You Get?
  Tedeschi Trucks Band


• 8. Shame
  Tedeschi Trucks Band


• 9. Is Your Love Big Enough
  Lianne La Havas


• 10. I Say a Little Prayer
  Lianne La Havas


• 11. Feed the Babies
  Gary Clark Jr.


• 12. I Got My Eyes on You (Locked & Loaded)
  Gary Clark Jr.


• 13. Pearl Cadillac
  Gary Clark Jr.


• 14. Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down
  Vince Gill with Albert Lee & Jerry Douglas


• 15. Tulsa Time
  Vince Gill with Bradley Walker, Albert Lee & Jerry Douglas


• 16. Drifting Too Far From the Shore
  Bradley Walker with Vince Gill, Albert Lee & Jerry Douglas


• 17. Happy Birthday (to Bill Murray)
  Eric Clapton with Alan Darby, John Mayer & Pedrito Martinez


• 18. Badge
  Eric Clapton


• 19. Layla
  Eric Clapton with John Mayer & Doyle Bramhall II

(Encore Finale)


• 20. Purple Rain
  Eric Clapton & Ensemble


• 21. High Time We Went
  Eric Clapton & Ensemble

(End Credits)


• 22. Going Going Gone
  Doyle Bramhall II with Tedeschi Trucks Band

Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival 2019 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival 2019 is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Rhino Music with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1 (there are a few split screen moments that are in wider aspect ratios). While there are still a few of the focus pulling issues that hobbled Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival 2013, they're nowhere near as ubiquitous or problematic, and even better this presentation is not littered with the same kind of noise that the previous release had (though there's just a hint of it a couple of times in the darkest moments). This is by and large a very sharp and well detailed looking transfer, one the preserves potentially problematic elements like the crosshatched pixellated display in back of the players, or even the vibrating strings on any number of axes being strummed or otherwise massaged. There's really good coverage of the players from a variety of angles. Occasional shots from the audience's perspective are blocked by eager fans who jump up and the like, but that's the exception rather than the rule.

Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival 2019 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival 2019 features DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 tracks, but like a glut of concert fare I've reviewed lately, this is another release where the discs have been authored to default to the stereo track, so have your remote handy if you want to experience the music in surround, which is my advice. Aside from just a couple of "technical errors" like near feedback a couple of times (listen as Sheryl Crow begins "Every Day is Winding Road" for one example), this is a sterling track that offers crystal clear fidelity and very nice reproduction of all frequency ranges. Everything from some of the quieter acoustic moments to other, more electric and arguably head banging, performances register with a full bodied tone and generally well prioritized vocals. The surround track preserves the ambience of the arena environment, with crowd noises occasionally spilling over the performers. No subtitles are offered.

Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival 2019 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There are no supplements on either disc of this two disc set (and the score above reflects that fact), but the DigiPack includes a nice oversized booklet with some pictures as well as performer and song credits.

Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival 2019 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Since we're just on the cusp of thinking about holiday gifts, if you have any nascent "guitar hero" in your life, this set might make for a perfect present. A glut of iconic performers and a ton of memorable songs make this one of the best Crossroads Guitar Festivals yet (at least that have made it to home video). Some may feel as I do that a little less Bill Murray might have been preferable, but that's a small price to pay for such incredible music. Technical merits are solid, and Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival 2019 comes Highly recommended.