Mike Hall and Adam Howells from Classic Clapton, the world's No1 Eric Clapton tribute band, perform a rare acoustic concert at The Stables.
Classic Clapton were formed in 1985 in Newcastle upon Tyne long before the term “tribute band” was invented. In 2025 they celebrate their 40th anniversary. In guitar/vocalist Mike Hall, the band possesses a front man who not only looks like Eric, he sings and plays guitar like him too! In 1999, Mike won a national look-alike competition held at Madam Tussauds, London. Mike has met Slowhand twice, and even received a message of encouragement from the guitar maestro (written on a Concorde menu). In 2001 the band were honoured to perform at Eric Clapton's Fan Club Convention in London.
Tyne Tees Television were so impressed that they made a programme about them, called 'Cover Their Tracks'. It was shown in 2000 and received rave reviews, leading to national recognition.
Since then, the group have continued to perform throughout the UK including concerts at The Royal Festival Hall, London and a triumphant appearance on the Acoustic Stage at Glastonbury Festival in 2002. They have performed numerous concerts in Europe including Spain, Estonia, Holland and France. In 2009 they appeared for the first time in Mumbai. They were invited back for three more concerts in India in 2016.
In the past 40 years Classic Clapton has become something of a rock institution. The full band performed its final Classic Clapton tribute concert at Sage Gateshead in December 2023. However, Mike intends to continue with acoustic shows from now on.
For this unplugged concert, Mike and Adam will both sing and play acoustic guitar. Their show is based around Slowhand's multi-million selling album ''Eric Clapton / unplugged'' - Eric's best-selling album ever, winning numerous Grammies and being responsible for his resurgence as a world superstar in the 90's.
Classic Clapton unplugged will include many of the best tracks from Eric's unplugged album, including Tears in Heaven, Before You Accuse Me, Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out, Running on Faith, Alberta, Old Love and of course Layla. The concert will also feature new acoustic versions of other Clapton Classics such as Wonderful Tonight, Lay Down Sally, Promises, Change the World and While My Guitar Gently Weeps.
The whole of Clapton's illustrious career will be covered including Cream, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Blind Faith, The Yardbirds, Derek & The Dominos and the solo years.
