Andrei Mihai
Eric Clapton is about to release his 21st solo album, Old Sock, on March 12th and head out on a spring U.S. arena tour – and you may want to pick up your tickets as soon as possible, because Slowhand announced he will only be touring for a year or two:
“The bit onstage, that’s easy,” Clapton, 67, tells senior writer Brian Hiatt. “If I could do that around my neighborhood, that would be great. You have guys in Texas that play their circuit, and it keeps them alive. But for me, the struggle is the travel. And the only way you can beat that is by throwing so much money at it that you make a loss. So the idea is I’m taking a leaf out of JJ [Cale]’s book: When I’m 70, I’ll stop. I won’t stop playing or doing one-offs, but I’ll stop touring, I think.”
And you can’t really blame him. He’s 68 now, he’ll be 70 in 2 years, so 2015 is just about the last time we’ll be able to see him live. Also, he mentioned that one thing he really hates about touring is airport security:
“I forget to take off my belt or I have change in my pocket. Next thing I know, ‘Can you come over here please?’ I just don’t want to do that any more.”
