Welsh guitarist Andy Fairweather Low, a longtime Clapton collaborator who appeared on the famed "MTV Unplugged" session and has worked with Bill Wyman and Roger Waters, will open the show.
Clapton's most recent album, his 22nd, is "Meanwhile," released in 2024 and recorded with guest appearances by the late Jeff Beck and Van Morrison.
The musician's near-mythical status dates to 1965, when the phrase "Clapton is God" first appeared on a wall near Arvon Road in London's Islington district before spreading across the city. Clapton later wondered whether the graffiti may have been the work of his manager at The Yardbirds.
That same year the 20-year-old left The Yardbirds — after clashing with bandmates who wanted a more pop-oriented sound — and joined John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. He went on to co-found the supergroup Cream with drummer Ginger Baker and bassist Jack Bruce, moving away from traditional blues toward psychedelic rock. Cream produced classics including "White Room", "Sunshine of Your Love", and "Crossroads" before internal feuding broke the band apart.
In 1969 Clapton joined another supergroup, Blind Faith, alongside Steve Winwood, Ric Grech and Baker. They debuted before 100,000 fans in Hyde Park and released one album before dissolving after just seven months.
Fame took a toll. Clapton developed addictions to alcohol and drugs, and in 1976 delivered a drunken, racist anti-immigration speech at a Birmingham concert that sparked the formation of the Rock Against Racism campaign.
His most celebrated solo work came through Derek and the Dominoes, who recorded "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs". The title track was written for Pattie Boyd, wife of his friend George Harrison.
"I was tired of virtuosity, of long, endless, boring guitar solos. That's what people expected of me", he said of his reasons for forming the band.
Pete Townshend of The Who helped engineer Clapton's return to public life after a nearly three-year withdrawal to his Surrey estate. His 1974 album "461 Ocean Boulevard" yielded his first solo number one, a cover of Bob Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff".
His ballad "Tears in Heaven", written after the death of his four-year-old son, who fell from a New York apartment window, topped charts in 1992 and appeared on the hugely successful live "MTV Unplugged" album.
(jh)
Source: PAP