Have you seen Eric Clapton at his best?

All great insights! I have the Cream reunion DVD and Eric played as good as I've ever seen him. I pray that this recent tour produces a DVD also. I personally cannot rank guitatists. They all bring their own unique gifts. I wish I had seen Duanne and Eric together, but Derek does a more than credible job filling Duane's shoes either with Eric on this tour or playing with the Allman Brothers. I personally enjoy seeing Jeff Beck or Eddie Van Halen in concert because they haven't mellowed with age at all. They are both guitar gunslingers and are very exciting to watch play, but neither produces that sweet "woman tone" (Eric's own description) that Clapton makes. Again, if you have the chance to see Eric and Derek together - do it. Eric doing "Layla" songs is as good as it gets!

There is no debate that we all have our personal favorite guitarists and my thread was to alert you towards a great concert if you have the opportunity. I loved Eric with the Bluesbreakers, Cream, Derek and the Dominoes and the "From The Cradle" sessions. My personal favorite is Jeff Beck, but is irrevalent to the thread. I just thought if you love lead guitar talent, you would get a kick out of Eric and Derek's interplay, especially if you are as big a "Layla" album fan as I am. Hopefully I'll see him do "Keep On Growing" live before either of us goes, but he will need to have two other awesome guitarists sharing what he did with solo overdubs.

How many guitarists could play Eric's "Double Crossing Time" and "Have You Heard" solos from "John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers featuring Eric Clapton" or 28 years later play a solo like "Groaning the Blues" on "From the Cradle"?
Master of electric guitar - Da!

Thanks for all your input! Saying Derek Trucks is the greatest living slide guitarist was a mistake on my part. Should have said my personal favorite. Those of you that saw Eric with the Dominoes and Cream I sincerely envy. I was just so excited to see him do a concert for himself instead of doing "hits" for his audience. That was the "Slowhand" I had to see!

"Clapton Is God" Why? Because if it wasn't for him I, ( a poor dumb white kid) wouldn't have investigated Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Freddie King, Albert King, BB King, Taj Mahal, and Bob Marley, and I wouldn't love all the wonderful vibes I've gotten from their uplifting music!

All these icons said the same thing about Eric Clapton - "The boy feels the blues!"

Eric - Thank You Very Much!