I am somewhat ashamed to say that I discovered Eric Johnson’s music relatively late in life – February 2015 in fact. Yes, it was his most famous composition Cliffs of Dover and the location was less than 20 miles from the actual Cliffs of Dover at Dungeness in Kent, U.K. Thanks to Erwin Laureano for playing this to me as we drove back to our hotel in Ashford.
What instantly struck me as preternaturally impressive about this instrumental track was the rare combination of mesmerising finger velocity with cheerful major scale melodies rather than repetitive, inharmonious shredding and over-reliance on common rock guitar modes such as the minor pentatonic. Add in a thematic structure that is more often found in classical music and mastery of legato and it is little wonder that Eric won a Grammy award for it.
Eric has been described as “the guitarist’s guitarist”. I occasionally wonder who is most deserving of the title “guitarist that Leo Fender might have invented the Stratocaster for”. Eric Johnson and Jimi Hendrix are certainly strong contenders. Can it be a coincidence that Eric was born in the same year as the Stratocaster?
I was unaware that Eric was touring and playing any U.K. dates so it was a pleasant surprise to discover that he was returning after an absence of 14 years while doomscrolling on Facebook in bed one evening. The Queen’s Hall on Clerk Street, Edinburgh is an easy 25 minute drive for us which is a bonus. Thank you Eric for choosing to play at smaller, intimate venues this time. I have removed another item from my musical bucket list.
The Texaphonic 2026 tour set comprises twenty numbers split equally over two 45 minute halves with a mixture of electric and acoustic tracks with a 20-30 minute interval. Eric was accompanied by Tal Bergman on percussion and Daniel Kimbro on bass guitar. The set list for this concert is included below. Daniel remarked that he has played with the Transatlantic Sessions and gave a shout out to local legends Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham who I’ve had the pleasure of seeing twice in concert.
Rather than compose a verbose concert review, I’ll summarise with a few observations. Eric’s clear, unstrained vocal and his speedy fretwork are a testament to his talent and longevity. I enjoyed the country style (Steve’s Boogie) and bluesy electric numbers played on a Gibson Les Paul and all the acoustic songs which were delightful. His trademark violin-like electric guitar tone which derives from vintage Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face and Ibanez Tubescreamer effects pedals has the treble reduced on the bridge pickup. Inevitably, this limits its ability to cut through the mix resulting in the main guitar channel being somewhat indistinct at times.
Eric hasn’t played a note-for-note perfect rendition of Cliffs of Dover live for some years. I doubt that’s possible with 70+ year old fingers anyway and he refrains from insulting the intelligence of knowledgeable and loyal fans by avoiding that man trap. To keep the piece interesting and fresh, he interprets the main themes and plays a long lead-in which I personally appreciated.
I took a few photographs and made a few recordings on my wife’s newer iPhone 17 Pro Max which I uploaded to my main YouTube channel. You can view these from the embedded videos in this article. Our position in seats R29 and R30 in the side stalls north made recording challenging. There are two short gaps in the Cliffs of Dover video while I rested my arms but I’ve done my best to segue the four segments together using DaVinci Resolve 18 (I use iMovie to edit my regular dsgb video content).
Set List (Part 1)
Righteous, S.R.V, Forty Mile Town, Caravan (Duke Ellington & His Orchestra cover), Friends, Stella By Starlight (Victor Young cover), E Flat Groove, True Heart Blues, Blues Jam, Bold As Love (Jimi Hendrix cover).
Set List (Part 2)
Resolution (acoustic), Abelia (acoustic), Chester (acoustic tribute to Chet Atkinson), Bass solo, Once Upon A Time In Texas (acoustic), Song For George (acoustic), Steve’s Boogie, On Green Dolphin Street (Bronislaw Kaper cover), Desert Rose, Cliffs of Dover.
Encore
Zap.
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