Eric Clapton’s 2023 Crossroads Guitar Festival will be available to view live on pay-per-view. The two-day event, the sixth edition and first since 2019, will take place on September 23-24 at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. Viewers can purchase it for $24.99 for either day or as a two-day special at $39.99 via Nugs.net and PPV.com. The Festival, which has become legendary in its own right for hosting performances and impromptu collaborations from the world’s most renowned guitar players, will feature such legends as Stephen Stills, Carlos Santana, ZZ Top, Sheryl Crow, Joe Bonamassa, and Roger McGuinn joining Clapton.
On Sept. 19, it was revealed that 87-year-old Buddy Guy would not be participating due to what was described as a “standard medical issue.” That same day, it was announced that Peter Asher would be joining his frequent touring partner, Albert Lee, on Sept. 23. Want more? Also scheduled to perform are Jakob Dylan, Gary Clark Jr., Vince Gill, Jimmie Vaughan, Los Lobos, Taj Mahal, John Mayer Trio, Keb’ Mo’, Samantha Fish, Doyle Bramhall II, Andy Fairweather Low, and others. The Festival takes place a week after Clapton concludes a brief U.S. tour. Tickets to the Festival may still be available here and here.
In an interview Clapton posted on YouTube on May 3, he explained the rationale behind the timing of the 2023 edition. “It was kind of about time,” he said. “I had watched [the documentary] Echoes in the Canyon which Jakob Dylan made… and there was a section with Steve Stills talking about our old adventures in the ’60s. And I said to Jakob, ‘Do you think Stephen would be interested in going out and playing again?’ And at the same time I said to Carlos, ‘If there was any likelihood of any festival coming up, what would your kind of attitude be?’ and he said, ‘I’d jump into it feet first.’
“And I had those two people… historic legends, great musicians and I thought we’ve got two headliners. And the other person that [I] would always contact was Jeff Beck. I started inviting everybody almost two years ago, and in that time, you know, we lost so many people, and most of all, Jeff. So there’ll be a memorial part in the show where his current band will be featured and we’ll have guests… try to emulate Jeff. I’ll be involved but I wouldn’t even dare to try to do that.” The segment begins at the 2-minute mark.
In addition to the concerts, Guitar Center, a co-sponsor since 2004 and a strong supporter of the Crossroads at Antigua Foundation, will once again host the Guitar Center Festival Village on-site adjacent to the arena on Xbox Plaza and Chick Hearn Court at L.A. LIVE. Some of the world’s best guitar and gear manufacturers will host interactive exhibits where guitar enthusiasts can plug in and play new products and classic favorites. In addition to the guitars and gear exhibited throughout the Village, Guitar Center will again be exhibiting important selections from its must-see Legends Collection of historically significant guitars, including Clapton’s “Blackie” Strat and cherry ES-335, as well as Stevie Ray Vaughan’s “Lenny” Strat.
Since its inception, Clapton’s vision for the Crossroads Guitar Festival has been to create an event where his friends and contemporaries can have fun and perform together for the benefit of a good cause. The Festival will partner with Heritage Auctions to once again conduct an online, global event for three weeks in October following the Crossroads event, culminating in a live auction on Oct. 21. All profits from the Festival and auction will benefit The Crossroads Centre at Antigua, a treatment and education facility founded by Clapton for chemically dependent persons.
The first Crossroads Guitar Festival, held June 2004 at the Cotton Bowl and State Fairgrounds in Dallas, was an unprecedented collection of guitar icons from blues, rock and contemporary music. The sold-out show was chronicled in a two-disc DVD that has since gone on to become one of the world’s top-selling music DVDs. The Crossroads Guitar Festival 2007 and 2010 were the second and third such concerts by Clapton and were staged at Toyota Park in Chicago. The fourth event, in 2013, was held at New York’s Madison Square Garden. The most recent sold-out festival was held at the American Airlines Center in Dallas in 2019.
Watch Clapton and Jeff Beck perform at the 2019 Festival
Related: Links for 100s of classic rock tours
4 Comments
This sounds like a great show. I’m so glad Eric Gales is going to be there. I think he fits right in with all those guys. Looking forward to getting the DVD!
So much mostly humble talent, which seems to be more notable amongst the Blues aggregation. It’s just “such a shame” (as Ray Davies once sang) that the world has been losing so many lately it seems. But the good news is there hopefully will always be a new crop of talent (most of whom will go unheard by the masses, as always) inspired by these legends. God bless ‘em all…
It sure would be a classy, and memorable, gesture if the scheduled ensemble performed a dedication medley of songs from Jeff Beck, Robbie Robertson, and Gary Rossington, sometime during the Festival, considering the close associations many of these featured guitarists had (especially Clapton with Beck and Robertson), with these legendary guitarists.
I went to the shows both nights. They had scheduled that Jeff’s band was going to do a tribute to him. I was extremely disappointed when it didn’t happen on either night. A couple of bands played a grand total of 2 or 3 of his songs, individually, but that’s it. Very sad. And of course no mention of Robbie Robertson or Rossington.