Bill Murray brought the laughs, and B.B. King took care of the tears. Susan Tedeschi, Derek Trucks, Jeff Beck and Steve Winwood kept stealing the show from one another. Robbie Robertson made a rare appearance. The rain stayed away. Presiding over it all was the Artist Formerly Known as God, Eric Clapton.

    Clapton was raised to the level of a deity in ‘60s England, a label that he couldn’t possibly live up to. But Saturday’s epic Crossroads Guitar Festival at a sold-out Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Ill., was one for the ages. Logistically, there were difficulties: food and water ran out at many concessions stands, and the sound cut in and out, sabotaging several performances. But as morning clouds gave way to a sun-splashed afternoon, conditions were ideal for the type of collaboration and cross-generational bonding that one rarely sees at more narrowly defined festivals: Sheryl Crow and Vince Gill with Willie Nelson, Crow with Alison Krauss, Robert Cray and Jimmie Vaughan with Hubert Sumlin, Sonny Landreth with Clapton, Johnny Winter with Trucks, and Buddy Guy and a cast of dozens for the encore.

         Crossroads is an excuse for Clapton to gather some of his friends and favorite artists to play an 11-hour show for his pet charity, the Crossroads Centre for the chemically dependent in Antigua. The first gathering, in Dallas in 2004, produced a 4 million-selling DVD. This one was even better.

    It had Murray, who served as comically genial emcee, cheerleader and budding guitar hack, attempting to play Van Morrison’s “Gloria” before a grinning Clapton took over. It had Tedeschi, who nearly upstaged a set by her husband, Trucks, with a two-song cameo that including a thundering version of Derek and the Dominoes’ “Anyday.” Trucks was a standout in a day of stellar guitarists; during Clapton’s set, he lifted every song to a higher plane with his passionate slide work, and wouldn’t let the band leader coast. Clapton took the challenge, slugging it out toe to toe with his young protégé on a towering “Why Does Love got to be so Sad.”

       Robertson, who quit the Band and the road in 1976 and hasn’t played live much since, paid tribute to Bo Diddley by growling out “Who Do You Love.” But after jamming on “Further on up the Road,” Robertson exited, and it felt more like a missed opportunity than a triumphant return.

        That was not the case with Winwood, who parted ways with the festival’s namesake in 1969 when Clapton abruptly quit the group they had formed, Blind Faith. The singer quickly re-established what had been lost. His soul-dipped vocals elevated “Presence of the Lord” and “Can’t Find My Way Home,” and his underrated guitar-playing came to the fore on a spiraling version of Traffic’s “Dear Mr. Fantasy.” Was it possible? A musician best known as a singer and keyboardist also walked away with the day’s best guitar solo?

    Beck might have an argument with that. With his rooster hair and vest making him look as though he’d stepped out of a 1970 concert poster, the British virtuoso didn’t so much play his guitar as make it speak in tongues. His jazz-fusion quartet kept pace, particularly bassist Tal Wilkenfeld, who played with a confidence and panache that stamped her as a future star. Beck closed his set with a stunning reinvention of the Beatles’ “A Day in the Life,” re-creating the elaborate vocal melodies and orchestrations with little more than six strings. 

       King gave what amounted to a farewell performance, and just about everyone in the place knew it. Clapton’s eyes glistened as the 81-year-old master performed. He playfully leered through “Rock Me Baby,” talking trash with his guitar, Lucille. Then he switched on the rage for a scarifying “The Thrill is Gone.” King raised a cup to his fans: “When they lay me off to rest, may the last voices I hear be yours.” Flanked by Cray, Vaughan and Sumlin, and with Clapton looking on from the wings, it was King’s moment and King’s show from then on.

       greg@gregkot.com

Exclusive audio interview with Eric Clapton

Eric Clapton’s epic Crossroads Guitar Festival arrived Saturday at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Ill. The 11-hour festival, topped by Clapton, Steve Winwood, Jeff Beck and Robbie Robertson, presented 22 artists and bands in a benefit for Clapton’s Crossroads Centre for the chemically dependent in Antigua. Here’s a rundown of how it all went down:

11:50 a.m.: Host Bill Murray makes a prediction: “This is gonna be the greatest day in the history of Bridgeview.” He also dons a guitar and attempts to play the chords to Van Morrison’s “Gloria.” He is bailed out by Eric Clapton, who enters grinning in plaid shorts. The guitarist hints that today’s Crossroads may not be the last, even though he’s 62 and has said he’ll take a few years off to spend time with his wife and three young daughters. “I think there could be one more,” Clapton says.

12:15 p.m.: Sonny Landreth is a fine slide guitarist, but just as impressive is the rolling, born-on-the-bayou groove laid down by his rhythm section. When Clapton joins in, Landreth channels a leering Jerry Lee Lewis twang on “Hell at Home,” and the two guitarists go toe-to-toe, presaging a day of six-string extravagance.

12:47 p.m.: Former Mahavishnu Orchestra guitarist John McLaughin jumps into deep abstract waters with his quartet. They flicker around, and the arrangements sound episodic rather than fully formed. McLaughlin’s improvisations arrive in fleet-fingered spasms. When he finally does stretch out into a full-blown solo, he flies without breaking a sweat.

Crossroads Festival photo gallery
Exclusive audio interview with Eric Clapton

Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival on Saturday brings 22 artists and bands together for what should be an 11-hour day of rare collaboration. The sold-out event at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Ill., begins at 11:45 a.m., with host Bill Murray. Clapton will then introduce the event’s first performance, by Sonny Landreth, at noon. Here’s a rundown of the performers in alphabetical order, and what to expect from each:

Doyle Bramhall II: Clapton has recorded several of this Texas blues-rock guitarist’s songs, and cowrote “Superman Inside” with him and Bramhall’s wife, Susannah Melvoin.

When he was just a directionless teenager at Kingston Art School in England during the early '60s, Eric Clapton began a passionate, long-distance love affair with Chicago. Upon hearing the blues of Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, Otis Rush and Hubert Sumlin on vinyl records, Clapton saw his future as a guitarist. Since then, he’s gone on to sell millions of albums, and become one of the touchstones of rock guitar. But he never forgot his Chicago connection, and remains one of the greatest champions the city's blues scene has ever had.

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A few minutes after ending a rehearsal with his band at a South Side arena Tuesday, Clapton, 62, sat down for an interview with the Tribune. Dressed down in a white T-shirt and fraying jeans, the bespectacled guitarist was in a garrulous mood, clearly thrilled at the prospect of sharing the stage this weekend with some of his boyhood heroes.

Kot: Why Chicago?

Clapton: A combination of things beneficial to everyone. To start with, it has to be on the continent, because of the music heritage. Economically it makes sense. I'd actually like having it in my garden [in Surrey, England]. There is some beautiful countryside where I come from that would be ideal. But it's very rare to get an open air show in England where it doesn't rain. America is a perfect solution, because all the musicians can get to it easily. Chicago is central. It also has the added benefit of being the birthplace of modern blues. It came up from the South, and the good stuff that I was listening to was coming out of Chicago. For me it had a certain resonance. And I was confident we could find somewhere to play here.