Crossroads Guitar Festival
Eric Clapton and Bill Murray kicking off the Crossroads Guitar Festival in 2007
GenreBlues, country, rock, bluegrass
DatesSummer
Location(s)1999: New York City
2004: Dallas, Texas
2007, 2010: Bridgeview, Illinois
2013: New York, NY
2019: Dallas, Texas
2023: Los Angeles, California
Years active1999, 2004, 2007, 2010, 2013, 2019, 2023
Founded byEric Clapton
Websitehttp://crossroadsguitarfestival.org/ [Official website]

The Crossroads Guitar Festival is a series of music festivals and benefit concerts founded by Eric Clapton. The festivals benefit the Crossroads Centre founded by Eric Clapton, a drug treatment center in Antigua. The concerts showcase a variety of guitarists, selected by Eric Clapton personally. To the 2007 audience, Clapton declared that each performer was one of the very best, and had earned his personal respect.

The first concert was held on June 30, 1999, at Madison Square Garden in New York City, and there again in 2013. The 2004 concert was held at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, while the 2007 and 2010 festivals were held at Toyota Park, Bridgeview, Illinois, just outside Chicago. The festival returned to Dallas in 2019 at the American Airlines Center.

1999 festival

The first Crossroads Benefit concert was held at Madison Square Garden, New York on June 30, 1999. It was held under a different title which was Eric Clapton & Friends In Concert: A Benefit For The Crossroads Centre At Antigua. The first official Crossroads Guitar Festival did not happen until 2004.

Performers

Some performers at the 1999 Concert were David Sanborn, Sheryl Crow, Bob Dylan and Mary J Blige. Backup musicians included Nathan East (bass), Steve Gadd (drums) Andy Fairweather Low (guitars), Tim Carmon (keyboards) and Dave Delhomme (keyboards). Back-up vocals were by Tessa Niles and Katie Kissoon.

2004 festival

Held at Cotton Bowl stadium in Dallas, Texas, from June 4, 2004, to June 6, 2004. A two-disc DVD containing 250 minutes of footage of the 2004 concert was released in the same year.[1] This became the first official Crossroads Guitar Festival even though the 1999 concert had a different title. It was also the first benefit concert under the Crossroads Guitar Festival name.

Performers

Some performers at the Crossroads Guitar Festival such as Jeff Beck, Pat Metheny, Neal Schon, and Styx were not included on the DVD.

2007 festival

The 2007 Crossroads Guitar Festival was held at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Illinois on July 28, 2007. Tickets were estimated as sold out for the 28,000 capacity park in twenty two minutes. A DVD of the concert was released on November 20, 2007.

Performers

Eric Clapton played alongside various performers, and there were many one-off collaborations during the show. In order of appearance, the performers on the main stage were

On the second stage at the Festival Village, performers included:

2010 festival

The 2010 Crossroads festival was again held at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, IL (outside Chicago) on June 26, 2010.

Performers

In order of appearance. Artists in bold have received star billing in advertisements.[3] Comedian Bill Murray MC-ed.

^ - artists who also performed at the 2004 festival. * - artists who also performed at the 2007 festival.

2013 festival

The 2013 festival was held April 12–13 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.[4]

Performers

Performers included:[4][5][6]

2019 festival

The 2019 festival was held on September 20–21 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.[7]

MC: Bill Murray

Performers

Performers included:

Outdoor Venue: Among the Village Stage performers will be surprise main stage artists, along with special guest guitarists such as Eric Johnson, Joe Robinson, Andy Timmons, Paul Reed Smith, Boscoe France, Bryan Ewald, Ryan McGarvey and Peterson Brothers, with others. In addition, next-gen guitarists Jacob Reese Thorton and Brotherhood of the Guitar, the Ernie Ball Play Crossroads national contest winner, and Gibson’s G3 trio will make their Crossroads debut on the Village stage.[8]

2023 festival

A 2023 edition of the festival is scheduled for September 23–24 at the Crypto.com Arena in Downtown Los Angeles.[9]

Announced performers

Notes

  1. ↑ Guy canceled his performance on September 19th because of a medical issue
  2. ↑ Robertson died in August 2023, before the festival

References

  1. ↑ "Crossroads Guitar Festival : June 4-6, 2004". Archived from the original on April 5, 2004. Retrieved 2015-12-21.
  2. ↑ "Tyler Bryant | abc7chicago.com". Abclocal.go.com. July 1, 2009. Archived from the original on June 29, 2011. Retrieved December 8, 2012.
  3. ↑ "Crossroads 2013". Crossroadsguitarfestival.com. Retrieved December 8, 2012.
  4. 1 2 "Crossroads Guitar Festival - 12-13 April 2013 Madison Square Garden!". Eric Clapton Music News. June 12, 2012. Retrieved December 8, 2012.
  5. ↑ "Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival 2013". Thegarden.com. Archived from the original on December 4, 2012. Retrieved December 8, 2012.
  6. ↑ Official DVD performer credits for Crossroads Guitar Festival 2013
  7. ↑ Blistein, Joe (March 28, 2019). "Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival Returns With Gary Clark, Jr., Bonnie Raitt". Rolling Stone.
  8. ↑ "ERIC CLAPTON'S CROSSROADS GUITAR FESTIVAL 2019 ANNOUNCES GUITAR CENTER VILLAGE". Whereseric.com. 24 August 2019. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
  9. ↑ "Crossroads Guitar Festival". crossroadsguitarfestival.com. 18 May 2023. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
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