The concert was held at the Rainbow Theatre in Finsbury Park, north London, on 13 January 1973. The venue was popular during the 1960s and early 1970s; musicians such as The Beatles, Deep Purple, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull and Queen performed there. The concert was recorded using Ronnie Lane's Mobile Studio.
As 1972 came to a close, Eric Clapton had been musically inactive for nearly two years. The guitarist, singer and songwriter had enjoyed a burst of activity in 1969, a period during which he played live and in the studio with Blind Faith, John Lennon (documented on Live Peace in Toronto 1969) and Delaney & Bonnie and Friends (showcased on the duo’s On Tour with Eric Clapton). Near the end of that year, he took part in a one-off celebrity concert in London with Lennon, George Harrison and others to benefit UNICEF.
In 1970 Clapton played on sessions including Harrison’s All Things Must Pass triple-album. He continued his creative and productive streak with the landmark Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, crediting the release to Derek and the Dominos. That same year, the group, not including guest guitarist Duane Allman, toured and recorded a live album, In Concert; that double LP would eventually be released in 1973.
Clapton did surface briefly in the summer of 1971 in New York City to appear as a backing musician for George Harrison’s all-star benefit Concert for Bangladesh. But other than that admittedly high-profile project, Clapton was absent from the music scene for the better part of 1971 and 1972.
The primary reason for Clapton’s disappearance was his descent into the throes of heroin addiction. His condition was partly the result of (or exacerbated by) his unrequited love for Pattie Boyd Harrison, wife of his friend George.
Another friend, Who guitarist Pete Townshend, knew of Clapton’s plight and urged him to return to active musical duty. To that end, Townshend organized a pair of concerts—a matinee and an evening performance—to be held January 13, 1973, at London’s Rainbow Theatre.
Townshend assembled an ad-hoc band to back Clapton for the two shows. Ronnie Wood of Faces (and later of the Rolling Stones) provided support on guitar and vocals, as did Townshend, with Clapton playing lead guitar and (mostly) singing lead.
Two recent associates of Clapton also came to his aid for the Rainbow Concert: singer and multi-instrumentalist Steve Winwood and bassist Ric Grech had only recently concluded their time as band mates with Clapton in Blind Faith. And Winwood brought along some of his Traffic band mates, drummer-vocalist Jim Capaldi and Ghanian percussionist Rebop Kwaku Baah (the latter is credited on the original Rainbow Concert LP simply as “Rebop”). Adding even more percussive foundation to the performances was Jimmy Karstein, late of Delaney & Bonnie and Friends as well as J.J. Cale’s 1972 album, Really.
In a form in which individual instrumental feats are often self-indulgent and superfluous, Eric Clapton’s music remains an anomaly. His greatest guitar playing has been as passionate as Otis Redding’s best singing and as articulate as Bob Dylan’s best songs. Clapton at his peak is as good as it gets.
His music has always been autobiographical, even when he was working off older approaches rather than creating new ones. His frequent modifications of styles and roles, alternately pushing him into the spotlight and moving him into the background, suggest a fragile, idealistic man, vacillating between hopefulness and disillusionment.
If Derek and the Dominos’ In Concert, recorded at the outset of the group’s lone American tour three years ago and released only this year, showed Clapton on the upswing, then Rainbow Concert explores the lower reaches of his psyche. The Rainbow performance was his attempt at starting all over again, but done without the exuberance that was the hallmark of the early Domino period (as a back-to-back listening to the two albums illustrates).
Rainbow Concert is a recording of monolithic melancholy. One might suppose that hard rock and despair are antithetical but Clapton, aided by Townshend, Winwood and Wood, as well as an able supporting cast, makes the union viable and compelling. But not fun.
Disregarding a few awkward moments in which the musicians betray their short rehearsal time, the music is rich in its make-up and sad in tone its mood remains exceptionally elusive. Townshend’s and Wood’s guitars and Winwood’s organ surround Clapton in a protective aural capsule. He, in turn, works cautiously, but caution isn’t Clapton’s way — his art is founded on risk-taking in its absolute form, spontaneity. The kid glove approach may have been necessary: Clapton is occasionally indecisive and confused. But he also cuts loose as much as his setting allows in “Badge,” and he’s solid, if not inspired, for most of the show.
The material contributes to the pervasive melancholy. The six songs chosen from the evening’s longer program are either moody, slow-paced or both. Even “Roll It Over” and “After Midnight” get moderate, deliberate treatments. The album’s excitement, such as it is, comes from the layered instrumental textures, the solemn measured movement into climaxes that are majestic if not explosive, and the nuances of Clapton’s restrained singing and playing. In these respects, the first and last tracks, “Badge” and Hendrix’ “Little Wing,” are most impressive.
A remastered expanded edition of the album was released on 13 January 1995, the 22nd anniversary of the concert.
Track listing:
1 Badge 3:29
2 Roll It Over 6:53
3 Presence Of The Lord 5:37
4 Pearly Queen 6:58
5 After Midnight 5:11
6 Little Wing 6:32
Personnel:
Eric Clapton – guitar (lead) & vocals
Pete Townshend – guitar (rhythm) & vocals
Ron Wood – guitar (rhythm and slide) & vocals
Ric Grech – bass guitar
Steve Winwood – keyboards & vocals
Jim Capaldi – drums & vocals
Jimmy Karstein – drums
Rebop Kwaku Baah – percussion
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