Crossroads 2010: A few key moments
11:45 a.m.: Emcee Bill Murray emerges to demonstrate that even he has learned a few things since the last Crossroads festival, in 2007, by playing a very out-of-tune version of Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away,” before a smiling Eric Clapton strolls onstage to rescue him. Everyone’s laughing, the sun is shining, and Clapton urges the audience to say “a quiet prayer” to keep the predicted thundershowers away.
12:07 p.m.: Clapton re-emerges to play call-and-response – or is it cat and mouse? – with Sonny Landreth’s guitar on “The Promise Land.” It’s fierce stuff, a good sign that Clapton is ready to mix it up (not always a given in the last two decades). “Well, how about that?” Landreth says after his lengthy head-to-head with Clapton ends. “Not bad for 12:15 in the afternoon.”