Today I am getting our house in order and packing up the fam to head to Birmingham this afternoon. Tonight, Karl and I will be attending the Eric Clapton concert. Karl is super excited. For some reason, I don’t get all that excited about concerts until just before showtime. Even then my excitement is subdued. The strange thing is I was downright giddy when I saw a new shipment of books arrived from the publisher for me to review. Giddy, I tell you.

You might find it interesting that my appreciation for Eric Clapton predates my relationship with Karl. EC is one musician who needed no introduction from Karl. My mother had the honor of helping to form my musical tastes. She was a fan from her teen years and attended several of his concerts. She had several of his tapes (ah, the 80s) and I can remember listening to them in the car. In a way, EC is one reason Karl ever agreed to date me in the first place. He thought any girl who likes Eric Clapton can’t be bad! And here we are.

I really enjoyed the Clapton concert we went to in Memphis five years ago. Being in Memphis, where the blues were born, was icing on the cake. We aren’t wild concert goers. Karl and I clap and all that. If he really likes something, Karl might give a rousing “whoo-hoo!” Other than that, we’re pretty laid back. We just sit and enjoy the music. As with anything, when it’s over we’ll pick it apart and discuss every detail. I usually take along some ear plugs–just in case it’s too loud. We went to a Plumb/Jars of Clay concert while I was pregnant with Hannah. I spent the entire time worried that I might damage her hearing because I knew her hearing was developing at around the same time as the concert. I know–first time mom syndrome!

Eric (yes, he lets me call him Eric) likes to make the shows special, I think. He doesn’t typically do the songs on the albums the same way they are recorded on the albums. In Memphis, he did “River of Tears.” On Pilgrim (I think), the song is good, but not terribly memorable. However, his performance of it that night in Memphis is one of the most memorable points of the whole show. His performance of that song was very moving and completely drew me in. I was speechless at the end. It was that good. From what I’ve read of the reviews of this tour, he has a great show planned for tonight!

I’m taking the camera! Since this may be EC’s last tour, Karl splurged and bought the expensive tickets. We’re supposed to have good seats. I hope I have some pictures to share tomorrow.

Until then, head over to Noneya (Hubby’s blog). He has a list of his highs and lows of concert going that is pretty interesting. See if you can tell his favorite style of music from the list of concerts he’s attended over the years.

Share your most memorable concert experience with us in the comments!