At Last I Made It To An Eric Clapton Concert aka "Lady Baby Boomer, when you are 75 you might not realize where your seat is either."

Eric Clapton.

Eric Clapton is an all time favorite of mine, and there have been several occasions in the past where I just missed one of his concerts. But last night I was there. My friend Marcia and I celebrated her birthday by having dinner at the Arena Restaurant before attending the Eric Clapton concert at the PNC Arena in Raleigh.  It was a comedy of errors from the time we were in line for the Restaurant.  It seems my print out tickets were valid for the dinner but not for the Concert, and the gentleman scanning my tickets directed us to the help desk.  The man at the desk said "Let these ladies go up for their 5:30 seating."

Marcia in line to be seated at the Restaurant.

Now we are in the Restaurant having  our tickets scanned before they seat us.  The lady took both my tickets, and I explained that one of the tickets was for the concert and that we would need it.  She said "Oh, it's not, but don't worry I see that you have paid for concert tickets, and I'll get it fixed."  As Marcia and I enjoyed the scrumptious buffet, the lady "fixed it" and brought us tickets for the show.

The Arena Restaurant.

Dinner finished and on to the show!  Uh Oh, I didn't realize our tickets were way up in the "nosebleed section", and I explained to the usher that there was no way I could sit up there. I'm afraid of heights.  He very nicely told us to go back down to the first floor and talk to Guest Services and perhaps they could arrange another place for us to sit.  At guest services, we were being issued another place to sit when the lady behind me said, "Didn't you realize where your seats were when you bought your tickets?" (She was clearly irritated.) My retort, "Lady Baby Boomer, I'm 75 and when you are 75 you might not realize where your seat is either." (Wow, somehow that me feel much younger.) 

Jakob Dylan.

Our new seats were in a "handicapped section" right in front of the glass, still quite high but not "nosebleed."  I've always thought that acrophobia was a handicap and now that has been validated.  But good seats---nobody to stand up in front of you.

The Wallflowers with front Jakob Marly (son of Bob Marly) opened for Clapton.  They put on quite an entertaining show themselves.  

And then there was Clapton!!!! I was pleased that he sang two of my very favorites, "Layla", the slow version not the loud, long version.

And "Tears in Heaven", a ballad, written by Eric Clapton and Will Jennings about the pain Clapton felt following the death of his four-year-old son, Conor, who fell from a window of a 53rd-floor New York apartment. Clapton, who arrived at the apartment shortly after the accident, was visibly distraught for months afterwards. 

Oh my, despite a few snafus, it turned out to be a great evening.