The concert begins with some lightweight and pretty gratuitous joking from Bill Murray, who introduces Clapton, who in turn quickly passes the torch to Sonny Landreth, who plays a fiery "Uberesso" before quieting things down (a little, anyway) in a duet with Clapton on "Hell at Home." John McLaughlin of Mahavishnu fame brings his incredible dexterity to the stage next with the peaceful "Maharina," one of the jazzier tunes of the concert. Doyle Bramhall's set has more of a swamp-Boogie feel, with lots of wah-wah. The Derek Trucks band accompanies the next several artists, including Susan Tedeschi, who sounds like a rawer version of Bonnie Raitt, and Johnny Winter, who does a nice version of Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited," even channeling Bob's unique vocal "stylings" for the tune. Robert Randolph rocks the house with his great pedal steel work on "Nobodysoul," followed by Robert Cray's fantastic group performing by itself and with Jimmie Vaughan, Hubert Sumlin, and, most impressively, B.B. King, who glides effortlessly through "Paying the Cost to be the Boss" and "Rock Me Baby." The concert then takes a seeming right turn when country star Vince Gill takes the stage and acquits himself quite nicely on a great shuffle "Sweet Thing" with punchy brass, followed by a unique duet between Gill and Albert Lee on "Country Boy," which has a little of the manic energy of "Foggy Mountain Breakdown." Sheryl Crow then joins them and slows thing down for a soulful "If It Makes You Happy," followed by a boogie-wonderlandish "Tulsa Time." The first DVD wraps up (at well over two hours) with Willie Nelson performing "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" and his trademark "On the Road Again."

DVD 2 starts with baby-faced John Mayer proving that Clapton's influence is continuing on for another generation (though Mayer dedicates his set to B.B. King), as Mayer fairly rips into his guitar on the blistering "Belief" and more mellow "Gravity." Los Lobos bring their usual exuberance to "Don't Worry Baby" and "Mas Y Mas," showing that the blues know no cultural or political borderlines. If time travel were possible, George Harrison may well have been thinking of Jeff Beck's eloquent, almost human voice sounding, guitar work on "Cause We've Ended as Lovers" when he wrote "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." Beck's young female bassist Tal Wilkenfeld also contributes an impressive solo. Beck ramps up the energy quotient next with "Big Block," which serves as a fitting introduction for Clapton, who finally takes the stage to perform "Tell the Truth," "Isn't It a Pity," and "Little Queen of Spades," before joining Robbie Robertson and Steve Winwood in a series of impressive duets, highlighted by Winwood's "Can't Find My Way Home." Blues legend Buddy Guy then closes out this second half with "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and "Damn Right I've Got the Blues," before he is joined by Clapton, Cray, Mayer, Sumlin, Vaughan and Winter for an apt concert closer, "Sweet Home Chicago," a rockin' tour-de-force with some superb soloing.

Overview: This 2 DVD set provides such a surfeit of pleasures in so many different genres and grooves that it's hard to absorb it all on the first, or even the second or third, viewing. Clapton is to be commended not only for his good works with regard to his substance abuse center, but for bringing so much good music to our ears.

The DVD

Video:
An excellent looking enhanced 1.78:1 image makes the image quality match the excellent sound. A lot of the concert was evidently shot using hand-helds, so expect the occasional wobbliness and misframed shot.

Sound:
Both the PCM stereo and DTS 5.1 soundtracks are pretty much perfect--superb fidelity and reproduction. This is yet another DVD you want to crank up to 11.

Extras:
Disc 2 contains a 7 minute short highlighting performers on another Crossroads stage, names who might not be immediately familiar unless you (like I) like to scan credits on the back of CDs, including Tab Benoit, Skunk Baxter and Harvey Mandel.

Final Thoughts:
At over 4 hours of concert footage, this 2 DVD set provides more than ample opportunity for any and all air guitar-heads to get plenty of exercise as they "play along" with their favorites. This is one of the finest concert DVDs of the past several years, let alone 2007.

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"G-d made stars galore" & "Hey, what kind of a crappy fortune is this?" ZMK, modern prophet