Sheryl Crow joined on stage for one song with Eric Clapton at Sunfest, West Palm Beach, FL – playing “Higher Ground”

” Higher Ground” Sheryl Crow and Eric Clapton

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

WEST PALM BEACH — “This is Eric Clapton!”

And thus, we could have ended our review of Sheryl Crow’s headlining set on the opening night of SunFest. She’s good, OK? She’s awesome, actually, and so was George Clinton and the 3,000 members of Parliament Funkadelic bopping around dressed like pimps and babies or what have you, and also Michael Franti and his delicious reggae consciousness.

But Sheryl’s been here before. And so has P-Funk. But Slow Hand? That’s a special, special thing. He stole the night – even though he jammed out on only one song, adding a blistering guitar solo to a cover of Stevie Wonder’s Higher Ground before disappearing back into the night to wherever guitar gods live.

Because it’s freaking Slow Hand, seriously.

Before and after the Very Special Guest appearance, Crow was as solid and consistent as she ever is, spinning out hits like A Change Will Do You Good, I Can’t Cry Anymore and The First Cut Is The Deepest, with a singalong that started with that song and continued with the fantastic My Favorite Mistake. The funny thing is, there was always a rumor that Clapton had inspired that song.

Crow’s always denied it, and even if that was the case, all seems to have been forgiven, because as great as she was before the appearance of Slow Hand, a fire was lit afterwards. As he slipped away, she spun into Soak Up The Sun, the happiest song about having a mundane life ever written, and then the coda of Everyday Is A Winding Road and All I Wanna Do.

Another review (sun-sentinel.com):http://www.sun-sentinel.com/entertainment/music/sfl-crow0501,0,391124.story

Video report (sun-sentinel.com): http://www.sun-sentinel.com/video/?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=2439952

More photos at: http://mavrixonline.com/mavrixonline/2008/05/sheryl_crow_with_special_guest.html

The Palm Beach Post News