Eric Johnson in Concert

Yes indeed - I went to see Eric Johnson play live! Now that is a guitar player's dream for sure. I've been an Eric Johnson fan since the first day I heard his music (which was on one of those flexible plastic "records" that Guitar Player Magazine used to put in each month back in the '80's.) That was back in 1985 or 86. And the man is still getting better and better!

L-R: Eric Johnson, Tommy Taylor, Roscoe Beck

Eric's main pose...

Eric's other pose. Nah, just kidding... although there was a lot of this one all night! He's a guitar player not a choreographer.

Eric is famous for being an absolute, and I mean Absolute, purist when it comes to gear. This is his pedalboard - about as lo-tech as you could get. It must take hours to set up for a concert because he'd have to move each box and lead into the best position to minimize hum.

And out of the pedalboard into... a bunch more old stuff! But it sure did sound flippin' amazing!

Here's some live action. This is "Cliffs Of Dover", the song I originally heard back in the 80's. You'll see why I was hooked. If you have 10 minutes to spare watch the whole thing and see Eric doing freeform solo, if not jump in at 5:55 where the intro to the song starts.