There is no doubt that Eric Clapton is one of the best, most influential guitar players of any generation. Earlier in the week, Eric Clapton announced that he is considering retiring after 50 years on stage.
From a stint with the Yardbirds, to Cream, Derek & The Dominoes, and his own expansive solo career, Eric Clapton has fulfilled everything that he possibly can in the world of music. He continues to sell out everywhere he plays, but it’s really okay for him to hang up the Stratocaster. While he may not be going out on top, Eric Clapton is certainly stopping while he is still credible and we applaud him for that.
Haven’t you ever been to a concert featuring an act that has just gotten almost pathetic? There are countless examples that we will not get into here, but Eric Clapton does certainly not fit that category. However, Clapton is past the point of gaining new fans. He will not be played on pop radio stations — we will only ever hear his classic rock and blues songs being played on classic rock stations.
There is also the point where classic acts get into that “grumpy old man” syndrome. Last week, Eric Clapton walked off stage in Glasgow, Scotland, much to the disappointment to his fans who paid quite the pretty penny to experience his show. The reason Clapton walked off stage was because of technical difficulties. Rather than coming back to perform for his deserved fans, he left the building. Once his fans realized he was not returning, they caused an uproar. Eric Clapton has since apologized to those fans. However, the incident has caused him to think about whether he wants to continue touring and ultimately he decided not to, the right decision.
Eric Clapton would have started to reach the disappointing point where his ticket price command would start dropping, making it less and less worth it financially to continue on. So for him to stop touring now while his ticket is hot-ish, could cause a great bump in ticket prices and sales as Eric Clapton fans will take “one last show” in.
However, if we’ve learned anything about these classic rock acts is that they can’t stay away. They quit and come back, again and again. Whose to say that we will never see Eric Clapton again? Hopefully we will not experience Eric Clapton falling into the downward spiral of pathetic acts who have overstayed their welcome.