Eric Clapton Collaborates with John Mayer, Susan Tedeschi, Los Lobos and More at Crossroads Guitar Festival Finale

photo by Cooper Neill

On Saturday, Eric Clapton closed out the second and final day of his Crossroads Guitar Festival at American Airlines Center in Dallas, offering another packed day of guitar-oriented performances including sets from Clapton, Tedeschi Trucks Band, John Mayer, Buddy Guy, Gary Clark Jr., Keb’ Mo’, Los Lobos, Doyle Bramhall II, Vince Gill and more, and several of the sets featured the kind of all-star collaborations that the guitar summit is known for. (Check out our recap of day one, which included an onstage meeting of guitar icons Clapton and Peter Frampton on “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” here.)

After an afternoon of programming at the Guitar Center Village stage, the main-stage music got started with Robert Randolph, followed by a collaborative Bramhall set that featured Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi guesting for “That’s How Strong My Love Is” and “Going Going Gone.” Bramhall also welcomed drummer Jim Keltner for the full set.

A few sets later, Los Lobos offered the first Clapton sit in of the evening, welcoming the festival host for “Made to Break Your Heart,” which also included guest vocals from Tedeschi. After a set from Buddy Guy with Johnny Lang, Mayer took the stage for two songs, “Slow Dancing in a Burning Room” and “Neon,” and his set was followed by Tedeschi Trucks Band’s five-song set that included a tribute to the late B.B. King with “How Blue Can you Get.”

Gary Clark Jr.’s set closed out with his cover of The Beatles’ “Come Together” before Vince Gill took the stage for a performance that included multiple guests like Joe Walsh, Jerry Douglas, Albert Lee and Bradley Walker. Douglas and Lee joined in for “Hey Joe” before Walsh stepped into help Gill close his set with “Rocky Mountain Way” and “Life in the Fast Lane.”

Last up was Clapton’s own performance, following up an acoustic set on Friday with an electric offering Saturday night. Clapton kicked things off by singing “Happy Birthday” to Crossroads emcee Bill Murray, then followed with a set of blues classic and more, including “Key to the Highway” and “Hoochie Coochie Man,” both with Alan Darby, and a duo of tunes with guest John Mayer, “Layla” and “Crossroads,” (Clapton’s band also includes Bramhall) before wrapping up with an encore cover of Prince’s “Purple Rain.” The festival then closed out with many of the Crossroads performers coming together for Joe Cocker’s “High Time We Went.”

Check out some fan-shot video from Saturday in Dallas below, and see the full setlist rundown from the Crossroads finale over at Clapton fan site Where’s Eric?

“High Time We Went” (finale):